WHAT DOES JERUSALEM HAVE TO DO WITH ATHENS?

David Hume and Immanuel Kant, two controversial philosophers of the 1700’s were so influential at one time that they led people to believe God is so different from man that he couldn’t possibly be known or even communicate with humans. To be able to communicate with God would mean that God would be something less than God. Despite being raised as Christians (Calvinists), a walk through the Hebrew Scriptures might have given them another more realistic perspective.

Long before He opened the Gates of the Kingdom to Gentiles, Hebrews knew that God gave us the Scriptures in order to know Him and to know how to live.  It was clear from the beginning that God speaks and expects that we will know what He’s saying and be able to respond to it.  God breathed life, into Adam nostrils.  Not apes or any other being.  Made in the likeness of God determined our destiny.  God Himself thinks rationally, ordering His thoughts. He plans and follows through by a choice of His will.  He conceives of ideas and uses language to communicate meaning and purpose.

God conceives of and uses language to communicate meaning and purpose.  He has a wide spectrum of emotions – joy to sorrow; anger to peace; love to hate; pleasure to disappointment.  Though He is never confused or out of control. He is creative and He is a spiritual being.

He made us, unlike other creatures, to resemble Himself in all these ways for one reason – relationship, with Him and with one another. The most significant things we can know about Yeshua is His relationship with His Father.  The highest goal for us humans is to be conformed to His likeness – and most of all, in a relationship with His Father.

It is with our shared personal characteristics that we can interact with God.   We can see why they would say that.  The Bible presents God not only as Creator of the Galaxies but everywhere at once, knowing all there is to know.  But had Hume or Kant been Hebrews or Spirit-filled believers  they would have understood that God gave man the ability to think abstractly, plan, rationalize and have creative ideas and are able to follow them through.  And to put His thoughts into spoken and written form, including as an expression of God speaking through man. We learned in the first lesson how God in all that He is chose to speak to man. He did so through one group of people through whom He chose to express Himself to all mankind.  The Bible records the words “God said” 618 times and “the Lord said” 1132 times.  I guess we can say He wants to speak to us!  

 

So, in short, we understand that man is personal because God is personal. We are creative because God is creative. Man is a spiritual being because God is a spiritual being. Of course, God is God and man is man. We have our limitations.  We cannot create something out of nothing.  But who among the creatures is like God?  Only mankind is in His likeness, in His design and plan – all the various kinds of us. 

How Good is God? 

When God created every aspect of the earth, He declared them to be good – ki tov!  Entirely good.  Good in the basic Hebrew meaning has the sense of being complete.  Every part in its place fulfilling that for which God intended it.  The opposite, ra, (rah) which we take to mean evil, means not good, or not complete.  That is, things are not in their place, for the purpose God intended.  If you consider how far we’ve come from  tov in what that would actually mean and how it would play out in our lives and our planet,  you can see how ra is the antithesis of good in every measure and expression of it. Don’t let the fact that these are two small words with few letters keep you from realizing the profound significance of each.  Ra carries with it everything that is not good. God’s warning to Adam was to avoid what would corrupt tov ­– absolute goodness - and give place to ra – all that is not good in any measure.  And so we are still dealing with Adam and Eve’s poor choice today.  Ra is all that is not of God.  It includes the likes of sad, sorrow, grief, sickness, fear, death, poverty, lack, hatred and unforgiveness …..  all, and so much more, can come under the category of ra.  

Apart from everything else, each person is an image bearer of God at any stage of life. Including conception each person is of immeasurable worth. David and Jeremiah knew they were known by God while still in their mother’s wombs.  No matter of race or nationality, gender, physical ability, financial worth or lack of it, of intelligence, of creativity, or education, helpless or able, well or feeble…. All are equally in God’s likeness and of equal value to God.

The one exception is that those physically defective in any way were not permitted into the inner court of the temple.  But that was a prophetic picture of the holiness that would be required of Messiah and the holiness He would accomplish so that each of us would be able to come into God’s presence having been made holy by His blood and taken down the middle wall of partition – in any measure of alienation.  Paul made sure his gentile disciples understood this in an even greater measure: No male or female, no Jew or Greek, no slave or free.  Indicating  no color, creed, race, abilities, intelligence, health….  This was Paul’s understanding of what God’s egalitarianism defined to Israel in Torah. Not even the priests were to have greater sway over the people financially in that they couldn’t own property. The king, required to write 2 copies of Deuteronomy (the recounting of the commandments) each year, was meant to keep him as accountable to God as any other Hebrew.  Example: Samuel holding David accountable for Uriah’s death and his infidelity with Bathsheba.  He was not above it.

What happens to a culture that fails to recognize the unique basis of human worth?  

In Israel, each child is treasured as a gift from God parents  as having great value and parents are charged by God with the responsibility for raising their children in His ways.  But in Sparta, when a baby was born he is evaluated by virtue of the inspection and approval of the city council.  If he is small, even if he is healthy, he is deemed unfit for life. The highest standard of strength must be maintained for a Spartan male. If he is regarded as unfit for the standard, he is taken to a high cliff and tossed over the edge. His helpless wail ended quickly. Then silence and his little life was over. 

At 7 years old the Spartan boy was taken from his parents to be brought up by the State under the most critical forms of discipline.  All for the State. Any forms of cowardice was a disgrace. At 12 he then slept in the open air on a bed of broken rushes from the river bank. Underclothing was not allowed and he lived in the same garment for one year.  Nothing was to be comfortable to create in him a ‘Spartan’ individual. These young men often became the homosexual objects of older man.  At age 30 he would be admitted to the rights of a citizen, and allowed to dine with the elders in the dining hall.

Girls trained through running and wrestling.  Plutarch told of women being bold and masculine, and overbearing to their husbands.  Even so, it was a crime not to marry and husbands were encouraged to lend their wives out to other men who were especially strong so that they would have strong children. Yet, every child was subject to its father’s right to infanticide.  The right of the State meant the interest of the State provided the sole basis of human worth and more values.  The State sets the standards of value – to be good was to be brave and strong, for the good of the group as a whole. The individual value was minimized and insignificant.

Sparta sough to eliminate the weak. Athens, on the other hand, based their value, including of their infants, on the basis of what might appear to threaten “the good life.” A baby or child appearing to be weak in that they might need special care would interfere with the parents “good life” and were so done away with.  As a safeguard against overpopulation or depleting of nature resources, a child who was deemed unfit were exposed to the natural elements by being put in a large earthenware vessel and placed in the temples of their gods.

Extreme limitations of the family size was one of the outstanding social marks of ancient Greece. Statistics of one family in twelve have only two sons and no daughters made the death rate higher than the birth rate. No society can survive on such statistics – with no second generation.  The same fate was considered one of the causes of the Fall of Rome as well including that Rome placed such a high value on the military that the majority of men were in the army where homosexuality was the norm, older men paired with younger men. With this and the infanticide, there was not enough in the next generation to fight their battles, making them vulnerable to loosing in battle.  Such information is critical.  It is meaningful that we keep these things in mind as our own culture leans toward some of these same values of infanticide and increased and national or state-sanctioned homosexuality.  Neither of these concepts have ever died. They keep reappearing on the stage of human history, in different cultures, in different locations and different times. Are we now one of those times and locations?

A Few Things To Ponder:

Greece, and subsequently Rome, saw man as the measure of all things. But you can see why Athens and Jerusalem could in no away co-exist.  Here are a few things to give some thought to:

• How does that reflect the relationship between the church and the world? How are we to navigate through these challenges
• How does man being made in God’s own image affect our position of accountability for our choices and actions?
• If we are image bearers of God, how might that reality affect the way we relate to others?
• Was God’s Hand in Creation a one-time event? Or is it a continuing action even into the present? 
• Is an Atheist (say, a Greek) as much a person of faith as a Believer?

QUESTIONS, CLARITY AND COMPASSION

Jersualem (before the Mosque)

A   number of questions have come to my mind recently. Here are a few of them for you if you care to join me in giving them some thought.  [Question #1]  Have you considered why it is that Yeshua has not returned in almost 2,000 years? Or why we should think that He would return now? There are reasons to think His return might be imminent. One of the most significant reasons is that after 1878 years Israel is now back in her land, a definite prerequisite for His return or… where would He come back to?  Jerusalem, right? The Word says that Yeshua will one glorious day take His stand on the earth – in Jerusalem! – as King! HalleluYah!!

[Question #2] Have you wondered just what is really behind all the conflict going on today about who Jerusalem should belong to and who has right to what land in Israel? I don't mean what you're hearing on the News, I mean what you think from what you know of the bible? This is not a new battle actually. It’s been going on for, oh several thousands of years, though it seems to have kicked up a notch lately with the U.N.’s recent vote regarding Israel’s right to her own land.  That there is such a battle to wrest that piece of real estate from Israel is enough to make one look up to see if our "redemption draweth neigh!!" (Luke 21:28). Perhaps we can bring some clarity to the issues going on in what really appears to be a most irrational situation.

What other nation, I ask you, does the U.N. attempt to exercise such authority over so as to  dictate the loss of a nations sovereignty over their own land? This isn't even really a legitimate issue. The whole thing is irrational  The only good decision the U.N. ever made on Israel’s behalf was to declare her a nation on May 14, 1948.  It’s been a battle ever since, beginning that very same week in May, 1948.  Which leads us to … 

[Question #3] Have you ever considered how irrational anti-Semitism is? Now it would seem we must call it anti-Zionism. Zion is the name David used to identify Jerusalem. Zionism is the belief that all Jews have the right to call Israel, and specifically Jerusalem, their home. The very basis for all these conflicts is because Satan is terrified that Jerusalem would be entirely in Jewish hands because it would mean Yeshua’s return and his (Satan’s) demise. It would mean that every word in the Bible will be proven to be true and he, the Liar and his deceptions, will be exposed and ultimately his power on the earth will be done away with.  Oh, yes, I almost forgot to add that he will find himself “hurled alive into the Lake of Fire” (See Revelation 19:20 Ampl.).  Satan, no doubt, never forgets that is his destiny,  so he’s attempting to instigating every challenge to God and His plan that he can.  Satan is so busy being deceiving he’s even deceived by his own deceptions so that he thinks he can still challenge God.  

[Question #4].  Is all that Middle Eastern conflict really only about territory? Are these really political issues or are we in a spiritual war?  In reality, it really is all about whether it is God’s territory or the devil’s, specifically the Temple Mount.   

[Question #5 – this is a deep one.]Did you know that the Temple Mount was supposedly once called Mount Moriah where Abraham, in obedience to God’s order to him, was about to sacrifice Isaac until God stopped him.  Abraham acted in what must have been an excruciatingly painful obedience to God by intending  to end the life of his son, even the son God had given to him. (See Genesis 22:1-12).  

As a result, might there have likely developed between God and Abraham a kind of  “sharing in the fellowship of His suffering” (Philippians 3:10) which Paul much later articulated?  Is there perhaps an insight here that God found in Abraham the heart of a father who would sacrifice his own son so as to remain in keeping with God’s sovereign plan, so that God seemingly considered Abraham worthy of being called His friend, a term that would hold deep meaning to Yaweh who called no other man His friend as He did Abraham.

Did He see in Abraham a man with whom He could one day fellowship (in heaven perhaps) who would know what it was to sacrifice his own son for God’s highest purposes?  What God did for generations, He often did, He said, for the sake of the Fathers, beginning with Abraham.  Was Abraham’s faithfulness to put even his most treasured son to death so that he remained in God’s will, a shadow of God’s own struggle to put His own Son to death for the sake of His ultimate will to restore mankind to Himself?   Mysterious as this is, it is worthy of a selah, and some significant meditation and pondering into the heart of God.  

Back to today. Contrary to what some have been told, even by President Bush, the two Gods, Israel’s and Islam’s, are not the same god.  A god who wants to destroy Israel is not the same God who has restored and blessed Israel, who keeps His promises to her and Who protects her as He evidently does.  God, has devoted a good bit of Scripture to Jerusalem, while Islam’s ‘holy’ book, to the contrary, doesn’t even mention Jerusalem. Supposedly Mohammed, Islam’s one prophet, had a "night vision" that he was flown to Jerusalem (though not mentioned by name) on his mule or donkey (I recently read that it might have been a unicorn) and from there to heaven for a visit, but in fact he was never even in Jerusalem.  That he was there is all a fabrication, but millions of Muslims believe the story to be true when it is not.   

So [Question #6] if something is not true, where does it have its origin and incentive?  The devil, of course.  Yeshua made this clear about Satan:  “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).  Well, that’s pretty evident, isn’t it? 

Jerusalem isn’t even mentioned in the Koran and for centuries after the establishment of Islam somewhere around 622 A.D.  Yet, when Mohammad’s armies advanced on the entire Arabian Peninsula as part of the conquering they were doing, in 638 the Muslims conquered Jerusalem. Fifty years later, in 688, they began the construction of the Dome of the Rock. In 692, they finished the building project and there it still stands. For many years there was relative quiet on the Temple Mount, but then again, there were only a limited number of Jews in Jerusalem until 1948 when the conflict began. Today, even though the Mount is in Jerusalem and Israel's legitimate land, Jews are not permitted by Islamic rule on the Mount where the remaining wall of their temple once stood and even attending the Great Synagogue in that area is a challenge. I could draw you more word pictures, but let’s just say that at this time in history, the battle to win entire control of the Mount, is smoldering and threatening to erupt into an explosion at any time. (Note incidentally, that Jerusalem is on the top of a mountain, it is not flat territory so it is literally a mountain top, e.g., a mount.)

  

So assuming that the challenge of whose land it is ultimately comes from the devil for his own purposes of keeping Yeshua from returning, then if the devil can take control of Jerusalem, then he can postpone, or perhaps in his mind even thwart Yeshua’s return altogether.  To thwart means to oppose successfully, prevent from accomplishing a purpose or a goal. From a global perspective, there is no goal or purpose more prophetically significant taking place on the earth today than whether Israel maintains her land, specifically Jerusalem, and imperatively, the area of the Temple Mount. 

That is what is being threatened presently by the UN which itself is under Islamic influence and which now is demanding that Israel has no right to her God-given territory. God said Jerusalem is one place on earth that is His and where He will one day establish His Kingdom upon the earth. Jerusalem is His!  And so satan wants it and, just as God can inspire men to godliness, Satan through his demons is able to ‘inspire’ men to deception and evil. 

[Question #7]. How shall we then pray? The psalmist Asaph sang this same concern out to the Lord in his day:   “O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God! For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads. They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones. They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!” For they conspire with one accord; against you they make a covenant....” (Psalm 83:1-18 ESV). We would do well to sing (pray) these words ourselves now, that He not keep quiet, that He make His will and His peace known, that He would fight on Israel's behalf and thwart the covenants they have made against her.   There are so many Scriptures that we can pray on Israel's behalf. Take a new highlighter to indicate in your bible what you can be praying for Israel.

Notice that Asaph in his prayer sees Israel’s enemies as God’s enemies.  From a biblical perspective, any person or nation who comes against or hates or has feelings against against Israel, or for that matter, in regard to today’s issue is in agreement with the UN’s decision against Israel, is acting as an enemy of God.  This is not because we agree with every decision Israel makes. In simple terms, we love Israel because God loves Israel! And we pray that God leads her according to His will in all that concerns her. 

[Question #8]  How then as the people of God’s love are we to regard the Muslims in all this?  I wish to balance this article out with some words of clemency and compassion. There are millions of people in this world who have been under the doctrines of the devil in their religions who believe their religion is entirely of God. They have been made victims of deceit, and of lies. Who knows but God what we all, meaning you and I, would have believed if we lived under Islamic rule? I have met a number of 'Muslim Background Believers' as they identify themselves. Many of those people fully believed in Islam and Muhammad’s words until somehow Yeshua entered their lives in a profound way. Once they realized the truth of who He is, their lives changed immediately, including that they lost their hatred for Israel and found a love for her instead. In fact, the statistics are that literally millions – yes, millions, of Ishmael’s descendants are coming to know Yeshua in our time. Quite remarkable, wouldn’t you say? 

Now if there’s one testimony that God is All Powerful and that He is Love, that would be it. I suggest reading a book entitled, “Ten Amazing Muslims Touched By God” by Faisal Malick. I’ve mentioned it before as I've read it several times as the stories in it are fascinating and they will soften your heart in the way Yeshua Himself reaches out to them so that you can/will pray also that He would bring truth to rescue Israel's enemies. It is my hope that when you pray for Israel's safety, you will also pray for    the Lord to make Himself known to Jews and to Muslims the world over. 

As a parting thought, I once had a little kind of mini vision of Abraham, it was that he loved each of his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, and Jacob and Esau and that he wept for the division between them. He longed for their sons and daughters who have come down through the generations to join him in heaven.  While we may stand against the ideology of Islam, let us have no hatred or animosity for the people, even for the most deceived of them. Perhaps they might be like Paul before he found the Lord on the road to Damascus, (today a Muslim city, btw) and turn to the Lord to be a mighty witness for Him.  If God loves them, so must we.  Amen.  

SEEING THE BIBLE THROUGH JEWISH EYES

Looking at the Good News through Jewish eyes, opens up a whole gamut of new interpretations of what Yeshua said and did, as fulfillment of Torah down to the least detail of His life. The original stories all originated in a Hebrew context, in a Hebrew culture. Me and the Israeli flag here is just a small symbol that what God set in place thousands of years ago still flies as a banner of the fullness of His intentions to redeem the earth. He does so by fulfilling every prophetic word in both the New and Older Bibles. So it is important that we understand just what was being said, wouldn't you think?

So we have a bit of a problem here. Our English translations are based on a translation and even yet a previous translations of that one and in the process, some misperceptions of what God intended have arisen.  Words in Hebrew often have various meanings. For instance, Bayt  can mean house, family, synagogue, school or just a building. Translators much choose one word out of several available and in doing so, often lose a wider and deeper message that is meant in Hebrew.  The results of some of these choices of words has led to misrepresentations even of God Himself as we will see.  

True meanings do not have to be a mystery to you. You can google the Hebrew meaning of almost any word and find it’s true significance.  Or go to “Ask.com” and ask there.  You can also look up the meanings of words in various study materials available [1] and see for yourself what the wider significance of what might catch your interest could be.  

Understanding the words of Yeshua, and then of Paul, from a Hebrew perspective, clears up a lot of confusing verses that, if truth be told, make little sense to us and seem a bit mysterious.  The fact is, the original gospel was communicated in Hebrew, and spoken in terms that would have been familiar to Hebrew speakers that don’t translate well. Translators sought to present the text word by word, but the problem was that there are many Hebrew idioms which word-by-word translations make Yeshua sound, well, weird.  Imagine trying to translate some of our own English idioms literally – such as “It’s killing me,” or “Eat your heart out,” or "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse” or “it’s raining cats and dogs.” What might translators think those statements, if taken literally, would seem to indicate about the culture?  You get the idea.   

The entire New Testament can really only fully be understood when we see it as coming from a Hebrew perspective.  Both the OT and the NT are highly Hebraic. Even where parts of the NT was expressed in Greek, the background is entirely Hebrew.   Take a look at how Hebrew the bible really is: 

The OT comprises approximately 78% of the entire Biblical text, more than ¾. The NT comprises only 22%.  When we add the highly Hebraic portions of the original bible material in Matthew, Mark, Luke and Acts 1:!-15:35, which is approximately 43% of the NT, to the OT, the percentage of biblical material originally written in Hebrew rises to 88%.  Or 87% if we leave out the portions of Ezra and Daniel, less than 1% of the OT, composed in Aramaic.  There are 176 OT quotations in the New Testament writings (14 OT quotations from John and 162 from Acts 15:36 to the end of the NT). To sum it up, originally the percentage of the Bible that was composed in Hebrew rises to over 90%.[2]

The assumption that the entire NT was originally communicated in Greek has led to considerable misunderstandings.  But today, scholars and pastors alike are realizing that the key to fully understand what Yeshua is saying is that Israel is that key.  Greek doesn’t get us to the true Hebrew meanings. Happily, there is quite a shift today to the study of Hebrew history and culture which is providing great insights into what the Brit Hadashah, the New Covenant, has to say.  

The gospel, like everything else, is explained in words.They define how we see everything. Our primary concern in our relationship with God is with “salvation,” isn’t it?  In Hebrew there are many synonyms for “salvation.”  The word salvation itself is little used. Only 7 times actually.  Other words express it even more powerfully, such as  “Righteousness,” one of the synonyms for “salvation.”  Zion is called “The city of righteousness" (Isaiah. 1:10).  When we are aware that the devil is behind all the persecution against Israel, and specifically against “Zionism” (which under Arab influence  regards Zionism as a hate crime according to the UN!), we can see why the enemy of God keeps trying to do away with Zion, "the city of righteousness.”  

Zion is a synonym for Jerusalem, just as righteousness is a synonym for salvation; they go together as is God's apparent intention. And the devil wants to destroy both. All that God has promised and His call for righteousness has its roots in Zion. Consider how much of the bible is centered around what took place in or around Jerusalem. Even the place where Abraham was to sacrifice his son Isaac was the location of where Jerusalem would one day stand.  As we know, God's word is immutable and the ultimate establishment of Zion in righteousness means the devil's demise, which is why he works so hard to 'inspire' antagonism against her. 

We must be careful to stand with Israel for the reason that God’s name and His calling is upon her.  Stand with Israel and you stand with God.  We are told to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they will prosper who love her” (Psalm 122:6).  That doesn’t mean to pray for peace with her Arab neighbors or in the eyes of the world; it means to pray for peace with God to come to every Israeli for each one to realize that the church’s persecution of Israel which has taken place, as has been inspired by the devil, is NOT the heart of God toward Israel or the Jews. The church is to make Israel, whether they are living in the land or elsewhere, jealous of their relationship with Israel's own God. And thank God, that’s  beginning to happen. Will you take a few moments each day to be one of those who pray for her?  How about now?

When we see the word righteousness, read it as also meaning salvation. .Jesus exhorts his disciples to “seek first the kingdom of heaven and His (God’s) righteousness” (Matt 6:33). Those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed" (Matt 5:6), literally, "Of such people the Kingdom is made up." (See Matthew 12:18; Isaiah 42:1). Notice the change in your thinking if you replace “Salvation” where “righteousness” is mentioned. This brings up another point of concern. We have an erroneous idea, many of us, that we say a prayer and we  are “saved.” That a one time verbal expression brings us salvation that seals us in. Period.  But when we think of "seeking righteousness" we realize that it is a life-long   sanctification process. it is a situation-by-situation decision to walk with God regardless of what it is or costs us; it is a way of life, not a one-time recitation.  

Consider  the Hebrew word “judgment” or “justice” which  can also mean “salvation. A judge declares, with the bang of a gavel,whether a person is “Not guilty” as well as “Guilty.” In the same way, the verb “judge” often means “save” or even “rescue.”  When David is in trouble he cries out, “Judge me, O God.”  (Psalm 43:1). He's calling for rescue according to how he's sought to live before God. The judges of the OT were saviors or deliverers of the people, not judges in the modern sense of the word which we often think of as those who bring sentence to people who have violated the law.   

For one thing, as hopefully you are aware, the English usage of the word “law” for the “teachings” or “Instructions” in the Torah (books of Moses), is not found in all of the OT.  There is no Hebrew idea of “law” in all of Torah.  To think of the word as “law” is to make us think of God as Judge just waiting for someone to make a mistake.  How misjudged the Judge has been!   And to take it further, many think that Jesus came to save us from the wrath of Israel's God whose main activity is to always be looking for our mistakes. But.... 

Didn’t Yeshua say He came not to “judge’ the world but to save it. Not to condemn, to bring accusation, but to reveal forgiveness in the heart of His Father.  Isn’t He the exact representation according to Hebrew 1:3 of God the Father, "being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person"?  Could God be an angry wrathful God and Yeshua represent Him as gentle, compassionate, merciful and a God of covenant love and, yes, salvation?  This inconsistency has its roots in the translations that are now being rectified, thank God.

God is called “the Judge” (Judges 11:27; Is 33:22) or “the judge of all the earth” (Gen 18:25; Psalm 94:2).  “Righteousness and Judgment” are the foundations of His throne” (Psalm 89:14).  Rachel named the son that Bilhah bore Jacob “Dan” meaning “He judged” because she said, “God has judged me” (Gen 30:6), meaning God has decided in her favor, He has acted on her behalf.  Over and over the Prophet Isaiah uses judgment as a synonym for salvation and righteousness interchangeably: “Therefore judgment is far from us and righteousness does not reach us. We look for judgment but there is none. For salvation, but it is far from us…. Judgment is turned back, and righteousness stands at a distance” (Isaiah 59:9, 11, 14). It is judgement on their behalf that he was longing for.

Jesus promised his disciples that they would sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt 19:28, Luke 22:30).  Are the disciples at some future time to sit as judges meting out punishment to members of the tribes of Israel?  No, they are to be meting out deliverance as saviors. We look forward to, as the Bible describes, “the city of salvation” – Jerusalem – as the city to which the tribes of Israel will go up, and there thrones (plural) of judgment (i.e. salvation) will be set up when Yeshua returns to establish the Kingdom – “in Zion!” 

Judgment  is not always a synonym for salvation in the bible.  It can mean “destruction “or damnation.  Summing this up, we must be aware that the text is a translation from Hebrew words and concepts which may not exist in English.  Knowing this, we can decide on the basis of context which meaning of “judgment,” for instance, is meant. (See Acts 3:22, 23 and Deut.18:15, 18, 19). Make this a study of your own and see if it adjusts your understanding of how you see God. Knowing this can impact how we have unconsciously interpreted His character and nature and His ‘doings’ among men, and even in your own life. We might need to reevaluate when we see God as harsh and demanding toward Israel when when really He was Israel’s savior all along – and still is.     

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[1]  For helpful study helps, The standard look-up of definitions is the Strongs Concordance in which you can look up words in English and follow the number listed either in Hebrew (OT) or Greek (NT), even though it is somewhat cumbersome.  The best tool I have found for finding immediate definitions is the NASB Key Word Hebrew-Greek Study Bible. (It may possibly be available in NKJV.) It also has very insightful footnotes.  The One New Man Bible: Revealing Jewish Roots and Power has good footnotes and a Glossary that is extremely helpful.  And The Complete Jewish Bible, presents the Scriptures with Jewish insights and a very valuable Introduction that clears up many of the misunderstandings that English translations lean toward.   

[2]  See Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus: New Insights from a Hebraic Perspective by David Biven and Roy Blizzard, Jr.