Just in case you're wondering....the picture background for the heading of my blogspot is of an olive tree with shoots coming up from it's roots.
Romans 11:18b If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Yeshua's Baptism
This isn’t about Yeshua baptizing but it's about the baptism that Yeshua had John the Baptizer perform for him.
Question: Why did Yeshua say that John had to baptize him in order to fulfill all righteousness? John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. Surely Yeshua didn't need to repent, he was the sinless Son of God. The other most common baptism used at this time was for proselytes to Judaism. Nope, that doesn't work either since Yeshua was already a Jew of the tribe of Judah. Yeshua wasn't joining one of the sects of Judaism of the time either (Essenes, etc.).
Mat 3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John to be baptized by him in the Jordan River.
Mat 3:14 But John tried to prevent him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?"
Mat 3:15 So Jesus replied to him, "Let it happen now, for it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then John yielded to him.
Mat 3:16 After Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming on him.
Mat 3:17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight."
Answer: Well, I've read some great commentaries by the typical "western" thinking theologians. And while I'm sure they have some valid points let's not forget who Yeshua was and His mission.
Yeshua was not only to be a servant and savior but He was to act as our great High Priest. A priest intercedes between men and God and only the High Priest could offer the Day of Atonement sacrifice. What did the Torah dictate for the ordination of the High Priest? Well, let's take a look....
Exo 40:12 And you are to bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and you are to wash them with water.
Exo 40:13 Then you are to clothe Aaron with the holy garments, and you are to anoint him and sanctify him that he may minister to me as a priest.
The anointing was done with oil. Oil we know from Hebraic typology is a type of the Holy Spirit. What happened at that baptism scene? Yeshua emerges from the water and the Holy Spirit (the real thing, not the typology) comes down onto Yeshua to anoint Him to do the Father’s will. Messiah means “Anointed One.”
Now, imagine being a Jew in those days and watching this scene: a prophet from God baptizes a man upon whom the anointing of the Holy Spirit then comes upon. Do you think the visual was totally lost on them as it has been on us? I doubt it. I believe that's why some of John the Baptizer’s disciples (the apostle John among them) immediately left John and started following Yeshua.....they understood what they had just witnessed. Would Israel be reminded of the words of their greatest prophet, Moses:
Deu 18:15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to
him.
Next time you read about Yeshua’s baptism and the Holy Spirit descending on Him....keep that in mind.
Question: Why did Yeshua say that John had to baptize him in order to fulfill all righteousness? John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. Surely Yeshua didn't need to repent, he was the sinless Son of God. The other most common baptism used at this time was for proselytes to Judaism. Nope, that doesn't work either since Yeshua was already a Jew of the tribe of Judah. Yeshua wasn't joining one of the sects of Judaism of the time either (Essenes, etc.).
Mat 3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John to be baptized by him in the Jordan River.
Mat 3:14 But John tried to prevent him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?"
Mat 3:15 So Jesus replied to him, "Let it happen now, for it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then John yielded to him.
Mat 3:16 After Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming on him.
Mat 3:17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight."
Answer: Well, I've read some great commentaries by the typical "western" thinking theologians. And while I'm sure they have some valid points let's not forget who Yeshua was and His mission.
Yeshua was not only to be a servant and savior but He was to act as our great High Priest. A priest intercedes between men and God and only the High Priest could offer the Day of Atonement sacrifice. What did the Torah dictate for the ordination of the High Priest? Well, let's take a look....
Exo 40:12 And you are to bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and you are to wash them with water.
Exo 40:13 Then you are to clothe Aaron with the holy garments, and you are to anoint him and sanctify him that he may minister to me as a priest.
The anointing was done with oil. Oil we know from Hebraic typology is a type of the Holy Spirit. What happened at that baptism scene? Yeshua emerges from the water and the Holy Spirit (the real thing, not the typology) comes down onto Yeshua to anoint Him to do the Father’s will. Messiah means “Anointed One.”
Now, imagine being a Jew in those days and watching this scene: a prophet from God baptizes a man upon whom the anointing of the Holy Spirit then comes upon. Do you think the visual was totally lost on them as it has been on us? I doubt it. I believe that's why some of John the Baptizer’s disciples (the apostle John among them) immediately left John and started following Yeshua.....they understood what they had just witnessed. Would Israel be reminded of the words of their greatest prophet, Moses:
Deu 18:15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to
him.
Next time you read about Yeshua’s baptism and the Holy Spirit descending on Him....keep that in mind.
Why Study the Hebrew Roots of Christianity Anyway?
You know, rather than reinvent the wheel here, I'm just gonna copy and paste the first entry simple because it's stated so well. Here's an excellent article by Kenneth R. Mullican of HaKesher
"Why should I be interested in the Jewish roots of my Christian faith? My faith has served me well for many years just as it is. My salvation is secure: I am heaven bound: I am working for the Lord. I am a retired medical microbiologist, not a theologian. Why study Hebrew language and culture when I am not even Jewish?
I believe the answer can be summed up in just one word -- Jesus.
Yes, Jesus who came as the Jewish messiah, Yeshua, whose name means “salvation.” God, in His infinite wisdom, made the plan of salvation so simple that it can be understood in any language, in any culture, at any time in history. Yes, I know Jesus in an experiential way -- He is my personal Saviour. And yet, how much better can I know Him if I can relate to Him in the context of the language and culture of the time period and place He walked the earth. To know Jesus even more intimately, I must meet Him in the context of Jerusalem, rather than in the context of Athens or Rome. That is, I must somehow reach behind the centuries that separate me from the first century body of believers in Jesus. I must strip away the accretions of western thought, interpretation and practice and attempt to think like the people thought who wrote the Book, or at least to understand how they thought.
What did the text mean to those who wrote it? What did the text mean to those who read it and practiced its precepts.
Jesus was born a Jew in a Jewish culture, received a Jewish education, studied and lived by a Jewish Holy Book, the Old Testament portion of our present Bible. He kept the Jewish feasts and gave added meaning to them through His own life. When He taught He used Jewish methods, and used Jewish idioms when He spoke. He expressed Jewish humor. He trained Jewish disciples who became the leaders of His body of believers on earth. The first church, established in Jerusalem during the feast of Pentecost was Jewish. The first missionaries who carried the Gospel to both Jew and non-Jew were Jewish. So right away I can see that a lot of Jewish effort went into bringing salvation to me. In light of all this knowledge, how could I choose other than to study the language and culture of my Lord, the language and culture of most of the Bible? How could I harbor even the slightest amount of anti-semitism in light of my debt to Jewish people.
Since I have begun my quest for the Jewish roots of my faith, the Bible has literally come alive. Names of people and places which were once glossed over now have meaning as I discover their Hebrew derivatives and pronunciations. The Lord’s supper, or communion, which Jesus instituted as a memorial to Himself, has clearer meaning since I discovered that Jesus chose a portion of the Feast of Passover to which He gave special meaning. Biblical passages have become clearer with the understanding of Jewish customs and methods of teaching. And one of the most exciting things I have discovered is that many of the walls of partition that separate believers come down when we view Jesus and His Church in the first century context, devoid of the accumulated burden of western thought and customs. Am I suggesting that most believers today do not really know Jesus and are not engaged in a meaningful relationship with Him? Am I suggesting that our churches have become so cluttered with pagan ritual that they are devoid of meaning and offer no pleasure to God? Of course not! I am simply suggesting that we take a long, hard look at the religious condition of ourselves and our churches in the light of the Jewish origins of our faith. Are we willing to examine our traditions in the light of Jewish language and culture, or do we feel threatened when we consider the potential loss of our comfortable traditions?
Finally, we must consider whether we are content with our present religious experience or do we dare to consider Jesus and His Church in its original Jewish context. Choosing not to study Hebrew language and culture certainly will not keep you out of heaven and certainly does not make you a second class church member. But please consider the possibility that you could be missing an opportunity to experience our Lord and the Biblical message in a fresh and meaningful way. May we never become complacent in our attitude and thereby limit our understanding of Biblical truth. Rather, may we keep an open mind in our pursuit of Biblical understanding that we may fulfill the imperative of Timothy 2:15, “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”. "
http://www.hakesher.org/
"Why should I be interested in the Jewish roots of my Christian faith? My faith has served me well for many years just as it is. My salvation is secure: I am heaven bound: I am working for the Lord. I am a retired medical microbiologist, not a theologian. Why study Hebrew language and culture when I am not even Jewish?
I believe the answer can be summed up in just one word -- Jesus.
Yes, Jesus who came as the Jewish messiah, Yeshua, whose name means “salvation.” God, in His infinite wisdom, made the plan of salvation so simple that it can be understood in any language, in any culture, at any time in history. Yes, I know Jesus in an experiential way -- He is my personal Saviour. And yet, how much better can I know Him if I can relate to Him in the context of the language and culture of the time period and place He walked the earth. To know Jesus even more intimately, I must meet Him in the context of Jerusalem, rather than in the context of Athens or Rome. That is, I must somehow reach behind the centuries that separate me from the first century body of believers in Jesus. I must strip away the accretions of western thought, interpretation and practice and attempt to think like the people thought who wrote the Book, or at least to understand how they thought.
What did the text mean to those who wrote it? What did the text mean to those who read it and practiced its precepts.
Jesus was born a Jew in a Jewish culture, received a Jewish education, studied and lived by a Jewish Holy Book, the Old Testament portion of our present Bible. He kept the Jewish feasts and gave added meaning to them through His own life. When He taught He used Jewish methods, and used Jewish idioms when He spoke. He expressed Jewish humor. He trained Jewish disciples who became the leaders of His body of believers on earth. The first church, established in Jerusalem during the feast of Pentecost was Jewish. The first missionaries who carried the Gospel to both Jew and non-Jew were Jewish. So right away I can see that a lot of Jewish effort went into bringing salvation to me. In light of all this knowledge, how could I choose other than to study the language and culture of my Lord, the language and culture of most of the Bible? How could I harbor even the slightest amount of anti-semitism in light of my debt to Jewish people.
Since I have begun my quest for the Jewish roots of my faith, the Bible has literally come alive. Names of people and places which were once glossed over now have meaning as I discover their Hebrew derivatives and pronunciations. The Lord’s supper, or communion, which Jesus instituted as a memorial to Himself, has clearer meaning since I discovered that Jesus chose a portion of the Feast of Passover to which He gave special meaning. Biblical passages have become clearer with the understanding of Jewish customs and methods of teaching. And one of the most exciting things I have discovered is that many of the walls of partition that separate believers come down when we view Jesus and His Church in the first century context, devoid of the accumulated burden of western thought and customs. Am I suggesting that most believers today do not really know Jesus and are not engaged in a meaningful relationship with Him? Am I suggesting that our churches have become so cluttered with pagan ritual that they are devoid of meaning and offer no pleasure to God? Of course not! I am simply suggesting that we take a long, hard look at the religious condition of ourselves and our churches in the light of the Jewish origins of our faith. Are we willing to examine our traditions in the light of Jewish language and culture, or do we feel threatened when we consider the potential loss of our comfortable traditions?
Finally, we must consider whether we are content with our present religious experience or do we dare to consider Jesus and His Church in its original Jewish context. Choosing not to study Hebrew language and culture certainly will not keep you out of heaven and certainly does not make you a second class church member. But please consider the possibility that you could be missing an opportunity to experience our Lord and the Biblical message in a fresh and meaningful way. May we never become complacent in our attitude and thereby limit our understanding of Biblical truth. Rather, may we keep an open mind in our pursuit of Biblical understanding that we may fulfill the imperative of Timothy 2:15, “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”. "
http://www.hakesher.org/
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