The Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Essenes, and The Way (Christianity)

The exchange of yokes, from the Greek to the Roman taskmasters, did little to alleviate the previous pressures endured during the Greek occupation. The Pharisees were once again thrust against another attempt to assimilate their culture; this time their captors attempted to “Romanize” the Hebrew culture. The inability of the Jews to gain freedom and independence in their religious beliefs lent understandably, toward a tendency of seclusionism and disdain for their Gentile captors. The Gentile captors had been accustomed to the practice of assimilating the religious beliefs of their captives and creating a syncretic union that they felt was advantageous in their struggle to consolidate and to maintain control of these nations. When confronted with the Jewish monotheistic religion, they were faced with a core group of believers that refused to create a syncretic amalgamation of pagan and Jewish beliefs. Many of the Jews knew the truth and there was no room for capitulation and compromise, to the great frustration of the Greeks and Romans.

These same pressures to conform to a satanic compromise will, once again, play out in the history of Yisra’el, for when the Prince of Darkness comes that will make Jerusalem desolate, it will be because of the abomination that Daniel has prophesied. What is this abomination? There is no doubt in my mind that it will be the desecration of the Temple by the Antichrist, claiming that he is the Messiah and God. No doubt, he will be peddling his pantheistic, occult, syncretic, One World Religion; claiming that we can all become gods, through initiation into the occult and subsequent demon possession. Of course they will not refer to it as demon possession, they will guise their sinister plot through clever phrases to misinform the masses (see “The Ancient Wisdom”, New Age, Occultism and Pantheism.).

Although Israel’s isolationist mentality, at that juncture in their history was originally motivated by their desire to disassociate, with those that were trying to water down their truths, it eventually led to an overcompensation, which went against God’s purpose to use them as ministers of the light, to the unbelieving world.

The Essenes went one step further, than the Pharisees and actually established colonies removed from the big cities, where they would practice their faith, without contact with the unbelievers. These functioned essentially as monasteries, in the sense that their whole mentality was complete isolationism. Most scholars believe that the Qumran community was in fact an Essene village. In an attempt to create a greater gulf between the Sadducees and Gentile rulers, the Pharisees and the Essenes began to create a cumbersome set of traditions and customs that would further remove them from the influence of the despised Romanizers. It is unfortunate that sometimes as humans in the heat of a crisis, we are often not able to ascertain a proper balance and moving backwards so far in order to not fall down the cliff in front of us, we end up falling down the cliff, on the opposite side.

The Pharisaical movement was largely a lay movement that initially began, with a pure underlying motive, but during the reign of Jannaeus, it was dealt a great blow, when 800 of their most educated leaders were crucified. In their zeal for spiritual purity, in the midst of those falling prey to the Hellenizing and later Romanizing influences, they began to overcompensate, adopting a hyper-separatist attitude and adding numerous, man made laws, and regulations not written in the Word of God. They developed what they termed, as the ‘oral law’; an unwritten adjunct to the scriptures that claimed to provide the proper interpretation of the Word of God. This eventually led to a formalism that was far removed from the true spirit of the original Jewish religion. A cursory analysis of the history of any religion shows that this is the norm for all of humanity. There is a universal tendency to embellish and encumber the original core truth, with ever more elaborate and complicated demands.

Flavius Josephus, who had been a Pharisee, living about the time of Yeshua and was later employed by the Romans, wrote the history of the Jews, during that turbulent period, and documented this fact, quite succinctly and to the point.

“The Pharisees have imposed on the people many laws from the tradition of the fathers not written in the Law of Moses.” (Antiquities of the Jews 13:297)

The Essenes, on the other hand, rejected these Pharisaical laws, considering them anathema. These to some extent remained more orthodox to the Law of Moses, although they also had a few of their own, extraneous and unbiblical traditions. The Essenes chided the Pharisees’ superficial religion and their elitist attitude, calling them the “flattery seekers’. A survey of their writings reveal a more humble and sincere group of worshippers, with a deeper spirituality and of the first three initial groups, they were probably the closest to the truth, in spite of their tendencies toward asceticism.

The Sadducees on the other hand rejected these man made laws also, but for the most part rejected the literal interpretation of the Law of Moses, as well. These did not believe in the resurrection or in the existence of angels and were comparable to what we would classify today as the liberal or Neo-Orthodox theologians of our day that simply dress secular existentialism with religious words to create a connotation of spirituality, when by strict definition it is devoid of any true spiritual content. By the way, they are neither new nor orthodox; the title is a complete misnomer; they should be more properly be entitled, “The Archaic Counterfeit Religion.”

Flavius Josephus tells us, in his “Antiquities of the Jews,” that there were seven religious sects thriving in at the time of Yeshua. Of these seven, there were four who were the main competing views or sects of Judaism. The Pharisees at this particular time enjoyed the most popular support of the people and the Sadducees, who were politically astute, therefore attempted to placate their wishes. I must also make mention of the fact that the occult interpretation of the Mosaic Law, through the medium of Kaabalism, must also not be ignored, for no doubt they had a foothold amongst many Jews of that day. Their influence extends even until today, and many who ignorantly fall for their diabolic interpretations are not aware of their sinister designs.

At the time that Yeshua entered into space and time, in the form of a human, these sects had largely diverted from God’s original intention for Yisra’el. As previously stated, it was not the intent of God for the priests of the Most High, to become isolationists; this is certainly made plain in the Book of Jonah. And concurrently, it was not the intent of God for man to elevate his wisdom to the equal level of the wisdom of God, by placing man’s ideas of religion on the same level, with the Law of God. This is nothing less than claiming a right that belongs only to God.

God has set, as a standard, certain absolutes in the areas of morals and truth; this is what we refer to as the Word of God. When we mix in, the relativistic traditions of man, with God’s Law, we elevate our intelligence to the same level of authority as the Laws of God. Since the world views both as a single unit, they naturally stumble over the relativistic traditions and end up rejecting both in the process. Actually, what we manage to accomplish in a very practical sense is to lower God’s Word to the same level, as the intelligence of man, since the world sees them as a single unit. We, therefore, defeat God’s purpose in that the world is unable to differentiate, between the relativistic mores dictated by our traditions and the real and absolute concerns of God. By doing this, we make the Word of God of no effect; this is no light matter to God.

The Pharisees began in earnest to preserve the Hebrew faith, but proceeded to change the faith by adding more rules and regulations than God had intended; the consequence of which changed the perception of the law and the content of the religion. At this point, they shared guilt equally, with the Sadducees, in moving the people away from the design of God’s nation, creating a stifling formalism that obfscunded the truth.

It was this that inflamed Yeshua, because the sect had begun to take on a superficial and artificial spirituality. That is they were more concerned with the outward observance of their humanly contrived rituals than, with the real internal submission to the Holy Spirit; this is called formalism. To one extent or another, this has always plagued mankind; the problem being here that it became the rule, rather than the exception. The true religion was converted into superficial religiosity for their vainglory and financial gain of its practitioners.

Modern archaeology has substantiated this in the excavations that have been done in Jerusalem . A walkway was found from the building that quartered the wealthier priests above the crowds below, so that in entering the Temple to perform their duties, they would not have to mix, with the common folk. Such elitist and egalitarian mentality is at complete odds, with God’s Way. Thus, sadly, the external appearance began to take preemi­nence over the internal condition of the heart, and again Satan successful­ly deceived mankind to step away from God’s intended will. Historical evidence has also corroborated this religious superficiality in that the Priests in order to gain financially from the worship in the Temple, kept closely guarded the secret of making the incense, which was necessary for their sacrifices. They then charged the worshippers exorbitant prices, turning the Temple of God into a lucrative business. So the Pharisaical priesthood erred in two major areas: they became overly formalistic and self-righteous, and they used the ministry for sordid gain.

This time, instead of denying God and turning to worship idols, as they had previously done, the Pharisees drifted into the opposite extreme; becoming, superficial and hypocritically self-righteous.

In effect, their rituals and man made traditions literally swallowed the teachings of the Scripture and perverted God’s pure law, converting it into an oppres­sive and legalistic system that destroyed its’ origi­nal spirit. As stated earlier, these man-made laws, when placed on the same level as the absolute truths of Scripture, simply shroud­ the absoluteness of God’s truth, with a canopy of relativistic standards.

On the first end of the spectrum there was a denial of God’s law and an acceptance of idolatry through outward rebellion. In other words, before the Babylonian captivity, rejected God’s Way and was swayed for the most part to follow after Baal and the surrounding mystery cults of their time.

Although, historically, the majority became idolatrous, a minority persisted that unwaveringly endured in their faithfulness to the Lord. It was this minority that was taken captive into Babylon and was subsequently allowed to return 70 years later to rebuild the city and the Temple . On the latter end of the spectrum, there is equally a denial of God’s law through the distortion brought about, by the acceptance of all these extra Biblical, manmade laws. The end result, in both cases, is the disrepute of God’s law.

This should not be hard for us to conceptualize today, since most of present day organized religion falls squarely in this category. It can be safely said that most Christian churches today are more concerned with looking spiritual than being spiritual. Most Pastors are concerned with building their own kingdom than with building the Kingdom of God. From a human perspective, it is much easier to conform to an outward set of traditions and laws than to wrestle, with the real internal issues of true spirituality. The real religion begins with the inward dethroning of the ego and the self, recognizing the Lordship of God and humbly acquiescing to His will; this is one of the main elements of the message of Yeshua to the religious establishment of His time and the main reason He was so abhorred by them, for he unmasked their hypocrisy.

The New Testament records an exchange between Yeshua and the Pharisees, as He confronts them on this issue.

“Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men…You set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition…thus invalidating the Word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things like that.” (Mark 7:6-8,13) (Emphasis mine)

“The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusa­lem, gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with unclean, (that is ceremonially unwashed), hands. (The Pharisees and all the tradition of the elders, when they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of the cups, pitchers and kettles.)  So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, ‘Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?’ He replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written. These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed. And you do many things like that’.” (Mark 7:8,13) (Emphasis mine) (Parenthesis is in the original text)

Now, there is nothing intrinsically wrong, with washing hands before eating, but when one makes it a religious duty, the result is a devaluation of the absolutes of God’s word. Yisra’el is passionately monotheistic and jealous of maintaining the fact that there is but One True God, but they wink at allowing Him to jealously guard His truth, as immutable and absolute. We must not wink! We must all be willing to come to the place, where we intellectually assent that only God can be the author of His perfect and absolute Law. We must come to understand that to add even one iota to His Law is tantamount to claiming the power, authority, position and wisdom that belongs only to God. It is another trick of the devil, telling us that we can be as God! We are in essence dethroning Him and placing ourselves on the throne, by dictating what is not ours to decide; be not deceived, this is no light matter to God!

There are two sides to the coin of rebellion. One is anarchy and the other is legalism both finally culminating in totalitarianism and error. Ironically, man tends to be much harsher than God, because of his lust for control and power, without the counter balance of grace.

As a side note, I think it pertinent to accentuate the fact that the anarchy promulgated, by the teaching of relativistic mores in our society today, is largely due to their natural and instinctive reaction to and subsequent rejection of the legalism that characterized a large portion of Christian religions, in the last century. In much the same vein, there is an inordinate number of young Jews that now claim to be agnostics or atheists and I am coinvinced that it is as a natural reaction to the legalism and formalism of the modern Jewish religion.

The Lord has always maintained that the outward appearance is insignificant; this He taught , when they looked upon Saul and were impressed by his height and masculinity choosing him as their king, while God, in contrast, chose a humble shepherd boy named David:

“Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7b) (Emphasis mine)

The Pharisees were completely engrossed in the act of looking spiritual to the public in order to feed their religious pride. There is no pride more destructive to the truth than religious pride. Pride is the sin of Satan and the folly of the ignorant. True humility comes from understanding that we are utterly destitute, without God; it is His power in us that allows us to accomplish anything that is good. When we take the credit for any worthy accomplishment, which He might have wrought through us, we are slapping the face of our God; we are denying Him the adulation that is justly due to Him, in an act of selfish and rebellious pride. Thus, Yeshua said to the Pharisees of that time:

“And when you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly I say to you they have their reward in full.

But, you when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who sees in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” (Matthew 6:16-17)

On the one end you have the Sadducees that deny the supernatural and on the other end you have the Pharisaical, hyper-spiritualists that are equally destroying the actual intent and spirit of the Word of God. Such was the reputation of the Pharisees that the Essenes, who were in the Qumran community, referred to the Pharisees as, ‘The Flattery Seekers’ because of their ostentatious observance of these oral laws. Therefore, the critical charge levied by the Qumran community in the Dead Sea Scrolls, against the Pharisees is quite serious, for it clearly manifests their lack of spiritual maturity and scriptural understanding.

“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth I hate.” (Proverbs 8:13)

“A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight. When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:1-2)

“Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling” (Proverbs 16:18)

Therefore, the Lord rejected Saul and chose David, for this little shepherd boy displayed faith and reliance on the power of God and not his own abilities. Thus when he confronted Goliath he accurately explained to him that his destruction would come, because he challenged the God of Israel. God responded by sending a lowly shepherd boy to defeat the Philistines most decorated warrior and seasoned champion; the power was God in David.

It is therefore clear why God chose David: “…The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart…”(I Samuel 13: 14b) But, this applied to all of and applies to us today, as well.

“For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His…” (I Chronicles 16:9a)

Eventually, the Essenes were completely annihilated by the Romans, leaving their treasured library hastily hidden in clay jars and sealed in caves, by the Dead Sea. These were not discovered until 1946, when a Palestinian shepherd boy, who threw a rock at a goat that had gone into one of these caves in an attempt to get him to come out, heard the sound of one of the clay jars breaking. Serendipity? I don’t think so! God revels in making the wise of this world understand their foolishness.

In the early twentieth century, Satan had promoted the lie that the scriptures could not be trusted because, “Surely after all these many years and numerous transcriptions, the text must be untrustworthy.” The miraculous discovery proved the exact opposite. All the books of the Tanach were found, with the exception of Ruth and the content has miraculously not changed in 2,000 years. Sadly, however, the Qumran community was completely exterminated by the Romans, leaving, with one less sector of the Second Temple Jews. But fortunately for us, as the result of the evidence brought forth by the Dead Sea Scrolls, we now have a window into the mind of the Second Temple Jew, from which we can compare, with the claims of the surviving Pharisees, in an attempt to understand the whole and the balance of the Jewish faith during the Second Temple time.

As a consequence of the Diaspora, the liberal Sadducees were eventually, readily assimilated into the mainstream of whatever nations they ended up in through intermarriage. The Pharisees, however, maintaining their isolationist mentality, were able to remain fairly cohesive and are the singular surviving predecessors of the Jewish sects and comprise modern day Judaism. Many of the laws and traditions observed by present day Rabbis go back to the time of the Pharisees.

I must here interject and clarify for the reader, lest he should misunderstand my intent in retelling this and misinterpret my motivation to speak the truth in love. I do not sense, in most modern day Rabbis, the same attitude which permeated the Pharisaical leadership that was described in the New Testament and in the writings of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is my contention that the many years of persecution and hardship have matured them in this sense. I perceive, in many of my Orthodox Rabbi friends, a genuine humility and a seeking after God that I know will be rewarded by Yahweh.

I cannot say the same about the more liberal Jewish denominations that more accurately reflect the view of the extinct Sadducees. These, I feel, preserve a sense of Jewishness as a matter of ethnic pride, more than belief in a God as explained in their Hebrew Bible. In the latter case there is a blatant transgression of God’s law and a deep-seated rebellion toward God’s truth. I sense instead an intellectual arrogance and pride that will surely be their downfall.

The dynamics of man’s quest to be God, that is to retain sovereignty over his own life, is at the root of our rebellion toward God in every nation and people of the earth. Whether that is expressed in a rejection of the concept of God, as the atheist, or in the establishment of a religion that counterfeits God’s laws and supplants it, with man made laws, the result is the same. God’s truth is supplanted and a new, manmade and satanically inspired religion is born. was at that point in time, simply a mirror and a microcosm of all humanity, in that they reflected the basic nature of all mankind; rebellion toward God and the denial of God’s truth.

Be careful not to assume that this was the case for the entire history of . There were moments, when Israel was a shining beacon of light, in a dark and dreary world; standing for the truth all-alone in a world, whose nations had turned their backs on God and were steeped in the occultism of the mystery religions that are today making such an impressive comeback in preparation for the coming Prince of Darkness.

Valiant Hebrew men stood tall, as examples of faith and courage, to us all. Men like Elijah that stood against insurmountable odds unflinching in his faith. All about them the religion of Satan had completely engulfed their neighbors. Sure, there were some failures, but through the blood of the Jewish nation a long list of warriors of the light have come forth, who against all odds stood tall in faith and conquered seemingly insurmountable odds. Men like Moses and Joshua and David, although fallible and human, accomplished superhuman tasks through their unflinching faith in God and His power working through them.

Unfortunately, in the end Satan divided and conquered the Chosen People; he won a temporary battle, but the war is not over. He might have won that battle, but will win the overall war; this has been prophesied from of old. The 40 years of wondering in the wilderness, before crossing the River Jordan with Joshua, is symbolic of the Diaspora. Israel had been wandering in the wilderness now for 40 Jubilees, since the dreaded Diaspora, which lasted some 2000 years. But, she is now back in the land, the stage is set for the Messiah to come and set up His eternal Kingdom from Jerusalem and the Third Temple will soon be rebuilt.

Israel has re-crossed the River Jordan for the third time. When they first approached the Promised Land, they lacked the faith necessary to enter and so, God caused them to wonder for forty years in the wilderness. When Yeshua appeared unto them, as their Messiah, they also lacked in faith and for this unbelief, God caused them to once again wonder in the wilderness for forty Jubilees.

Unfortunately, in each case they lacked the spiritual insight to believe. Unbalanced and erroneously focused on the outward appearance of the Canaanites, they feared to enter into the Promised Land. Twelve men were sent to reconnoiter the land, upon their return they reported that the land was surely good and flowing with milk and honey, but the majority of the Jews said that the land was occupied by the dreaded “anikem”, the giants which caused them to look like grasshoppers before them and they lacked the faith in the provision of God to believe. They were, as most of humanity, focused only on the externals. On the other hand both Caleb and Joshua said confidently, that with God as their help, they could take the land. There can be no doubt that this is exactly the same situation that faced Israel when Yeshua was among them, only two of the twelve believed and so only a minority believed Yeshua.

But, the consequence was the same, rejection from the Promised Land and confinement to the wilderness until the unbelieving generation had expired and a new generation of Jews would emerge with the faith necessary to cross the River Jordan. Similarly, during the time of Yeshua, they were also imbalanced and lacking faith in the prophetic message of the scriptures, they rejected the spiritual Deliverer because they were looking only for a physical Deliverer. was again focused on the exterior things; they read the scripture verses that spoke of the Messiah delivering them from the Gentile nations and they developed spiritual “horse blinds”. All the other verses that spoke of His suffering and the sacrificial atonement for the sins of the world were simply overlooked and deemed not pertinent to their immediate need of ridding themselves of their captors. They were not interested in attaining spiritual deliverance, as they were obsessed, in obtaining political deliverance.

It is amazing how much more we can see, when we learn to see without our eyes, when we learn to see with the spirit. Their denial of truth resulted in dire consequences, as they rejected the very Messiah, prophesied by their Hebrew prophets. It is interesting to note that all indications are that Caleb was not Jewish; he was most likely a proselyte from the lineage of Essau and his faith symbolizes the faith that would come from the Gentile nations, when stumbled. When the forty years were up and the land was almost completely conquered from the Canaanites, some five years later, Joshua parceled the land among the twelve tribes and although Caleb could have had the choicest land due to God’s promise to him forty years prior, he asked to be given Mt. Horeb . Mt. Horeb was the only remaining land, not yet conquered; it was the citadel of the anikem with enormously fortified high-walled, cities. Caleb, at eighty-five years of age, chose in faith to rout the most difficult of the enemy and for his faith this man is remembered throughout all time, as one of God’s greatest heroes. If you are of Jewish ancestry and are seeking the truth, then before putting this book down, I ask you to consider these points:

First of all, the Jewish God is not just the God of , but Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He is the Master of the Universe and God of all the nations of the world and of every creature in this universe.

He is the God of truth and all others are impostors. Before existed, all those who sought the truth worshipped Him. He was the God of Adam, Seth, Noah and Abraham all of them Gentiles, and today, He continues to be the true God of Truth.

He is not prejudiced against any person, nationality or color of skin for He looks beyond the superficial to the heart. In His sovereignty, He chose to use the nation of as an example to the world and as a beacon of light in a world of spiritual darkness. But if anyone rejects that light, either Jew or Gentile, he rejects the God of truth and is accountable for his choice. Our choices do have conse­quences, in spite of present day, popular opinion.

All, of the human systems, set up by God, to propagate the truth, from the very first, have eventually failed. Some have lasted longer than others have, but all have fallen prey to the machinations of the Impostor. Each time that the truth was squandered, God stepped in and instituted a new system, doing away with the old. With , however, the plan has not been as in the past, for they will be reinstituted. For 2,000 years had been, once again wondering in the wilderness, but God has raised up a Joshua to bring them across the River Jordan and He is the Moses that will deliver them out of and bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey. Although for 2,000 years has been disciplined by God, they have not been utterly cast out. The experience in Babylon was a symbolic precursor of the coming restoration of . The experience in and Sinai was equally a symbolic precursor of the 2,000 years they have suffered in the captivity of the Gentile nations.

But, all of this will come to an end, when the Prince of Peace, spoken of by Isaiah, will stand on Mt. Zion and roar, as the Lion of and then, will be completely resurrected. At the given hour, in the morning of the third millennia, they will resurrect, in the same manner as the One called Joshua, that is Yeshua, who also resurrected on the morning of the third day, 2000 years ago.

If you are of Hebrew ancestry, then I challenge you to investigate what it really means to be a true Hebrew. I would ask you to consider the fact that the Modern Hebrew religion, which exists today, does not represent the entire religious beliefs of the Second Temple Jews, which were living at the time of Yeshua. There were seven distinct factions with varying beliefs in their doctrinal positions. The modern Jewish religion is in fact, the singular product of the sect of the Pharisees; one out of the seven sects, which were existing at that time, and they can therefore, hardly be considered theologically, as the exclusive representatives of the nation of Israel.

Yeshua was accepted by an enormous number of Jews that were, every bit as Orthodox, if not more than the Pharisees. The only difference being that they simply did not accept as canonical, the extra-biblical traditions imposed by the Pharisees in their oral law. Yeshua expressly taught that He came to fulfill the Law in its entirety. My challenge to you is to research the claims of Yeshua and decide for yourself, who holds the truth. I challenge you to research the following prophecies of the Hebrew Prophets and see for yourself, if the claims of Yeshua are legitimate. If the truth is not in Yeshua, then what do you have to lose?

There was yet another sect or group of Jews, which at that time was the seventh group of the seven sects that competed for the minds and hearts of the Second Temple Jews. These were initially called The Way. They believed in the Law of Moses and in the prophets and looked for the birth of the child that Isaiah had prophesied would come as the Anointed One, the Hebrew Messiah. This group accepted the whole counsel of God and searched out the scriptures in order to know the entirety of the prophecies regarding the Messiah.

A great many of the Jews accepted Yeshua as the Messiah and for some time they remained wholly Jewish, abstaining from contact with the Gentiles, having initially carried over the same cultural prejudice exhibited by the rest of Israel at that time. But, when the preaching of Rabbi Saul to the Gentiles was met with such acceptance, the number of Gentile converts soon dwarfed the number of Jews that had accepted Yeshua as their Messiah. It was then that Christianity was wrongfully and incorrectly branded as a Gentile religion and after some time The Way became known as Christianity.

But, was Yeshua the true Messiah prophesied in the Holy Scriptures? In considering this ques­tion, one should ponder the following:

Did not God promise that they would dwell in the land and prosper as long as they worshipped Him and did not reject His truth? Then why after they rejected Yeshua as the Messiah, were they ex­pelled from the land for almost 2,000 years?

It is imperative therefore to know precisely what this God of truth has written in the Book of Truths the Bible in regards to the Messiah.

There are two choices, either one accepts, what the Hebrew prophets in the Tanach say about the Messiah or one rejects it. There are those that adopt their belief from their parents simply because they are born into that particular religion, they feel naturally constrained to follow after the belief of their parents and family out of familial duty. I can understand that pressure, but, ultimately we must put God even before our family, this is the lesson that we are taught by Abraham taking his son to be sacrificed. We should never put our heritage or family or community before God. It is our responsibility to seek after God and search out the scripture for the truth. Simply put, to evade this prerogative will have eternal consequences. The example of Abram was that he left his home to enter into the Promised Land, because he believed God rather than men. Abraham chose the Way of God above all else; this is the Hebrew legacy.

If you were to ask a Jew today what is the most important element of the Jewish faith he will invariably, almost unanimously, refer to the Torah, the Law of God. But, why was the Temple, the center of worship, the point of communion between man and God, built on Mt. Moriah and not on Mt. Sinai , where the Law of God was given to Moses? Because, it was on Mt. Moriah that Abraham offered his son, as a sacrifice to God and this was the preeminent lesson that God wanted to impart on His people. God did not need the life of Isaac, this was a picture lesson that would teach Israel the most important element of truth in all of history for all humanity, namely: “God would provide for Himself the Lamb” (Genesis 22:8a) It is the redemption of humanity that is symbolized by Abraham and his son Isaac, do not turn a blind eye to His Word! He is pricking your spirit; incline your ear that you might open your eyes!

Seek the ancient path and not the path corrupted by man, and you shall find rest for your soul.

“Thus says the Lord, ‘Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you shall find rest for your souls.” (Jeremiah 6:16a)