Messiah Before the Foundations - Part 6

[00:00:00] Speaker A: It. Who's up to date on messages? Well, actually, don't even worry about it. Don't raise your hand, because, you know, I thought about that for myself. It's hard for me sometimes to listen to recorded messages, like, if I'm not there. I mean, I just. It's. It's sometimes hard for me, but sometimes. And in a. In a topic of this magnitude, that's why I sent you that encouragement to listen to these, because I do not want you to be confused. And the thing is, if you stopped last week, if you just heard last week, and that was the only message from this series on Yeshua before the foundations, you would be extremely confused, probably. And you would wonder where I was going from. And that is the point, first of all, of staying up to speed, but also sticking with me to the end. Because even if we get to the end of today and you say, I don't believe that, okay, that's fine. It's a synagogue. You can. But stick with me to the end. Okay? So last week, we talked very specifically about who or what. Yeshua, of course, but what title, what name? The name that he used for himself more than any other name. What was it? Son of man. And I told you that this week we needed to transition from son of man to son of God. I made a mistake. We do need to make that transition. But there's a place we have to stop first, and that's what we're going to do today. And I'll keep you in suspense as to where that place is. It's a physical place, it's a spiritual place. It's all kinds of things. But first and foremost, last week was all about his humanity, right? Son of man, human being. But it does bring to mind a question that I wonder if you've asked yourself, given everything that surrounded Yeshua's birth, his life, his death, everything, the fact that we've established that he was indwelt with this logos, with this peace of God, this essence, the full image. Hebrew says, philippians, they all say he's filled with this. How could he not have been radically different than everyone else who was walking around on earth? Well, let's establish something. He was. He was but Aval in Hebrew. Aval. But remember this? Shepherds and angels and this announcement and everything that was going on, and people were coming from far away to see him, right? And all this amazing stuff about his birth. And then in the temple, we have Shimon. You remember Shimon the righteous, Tzadik. Shimon who? I think Shimon knew more than anyone else who Yeshua actually was. More than his own mother, more than his father, more than his brothers, more than Jochanan the immerser, not Johnny the Baptist, not Johnny the Methodist, Yohanan the immerser, John the Baptist. Shimon said he was a righteous, devout man. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel. And listen to this, the Holy Spirit was on him. And he knew something, because what more did he know? He knew that it wasn't just Israel. He even saw the light of the nations, that Yeshua would be the light of the nations. But he was already old. He'd probably died pretty quickly, we don't know. But he was thanking God that he had been allowed to make it this long so that he could see this, right? That would indicate that he's fairly old. But Yeshua's mother, his own mother, after the shepherds visited, did she then proceed to go all throughout Israel saying, my son is the messiah, he's the king of the world. He's going to die on a cross and the world will be redeemed. He's the Christ. After the shepherds, Miriam guarded these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke two. They were astonished at his understanding and his answers. I told you there was something different about him. They were astonished at his answers, strangely enough. Remember, this is Luke two. This is where he's gone to the temple at twelve years old. He's having a drosh, he's having a conversation with the teachers and the scribes, and he's asking questions and giving answers, and they're amazed. And even his own parents were astonished. But when they said, why did you do this? And he says, where else did you think I'd be in my father's house? So often that is said, right? There is a declaration that he is God, son of God. There he is in my father's house. Is he your father? Do you ever refer to God as your father? Of course. We can't get from point a to point b in that statement. But his own parents didn't even understand it. That's what the text says. It says they were confused by his answer. They were astonished and didn't understand. Doesn't it seem, given everything that had transpired, that they would totally understand that answer? When he says, I'm in my father's house, and knowing what Anna had said and what Shimon had said and what the shepherds had said and the angels had said, doesn't it seem that that would be crystal clear? When he says, I'm in my father's house, yes or no? You would think, but what does it say at the end of Luke 251? But Miriam, his mother, kept all these things in her heart. This was a taste of what was to come for Israel. See, Yeshua would astonish for years, and especially in the last few, he would astonish. But we have a very limited sense of his young life, his son of man, his human life. It's not that it wasn't important, but I have this sense. I have this sense that, and I think it's easy to derive that we don't hear a lot about his young age, his young days. Because why? He was growing and wisdom. Growing in wisdom and stature before man and God. He was living his life, and he was doing all the things that we talked about last week. He was being tempted in all things. He was doing what you and I do. But he was growing in stature, favor and wisdom before the Lord as a human being. Aval. But something happened. This something is reported in all the gospels, including John, who, by the way, omits a lot of things. [00:08:15] Speaker B: I don't know if you've ever really. [00:08:16] Speaker A: Paid attention to how different. Of course you have to how different John is, which is why it's, of course, not called a synoptic gospel. It's not one of the three that all are similar. It's radically different, very mystical. And John does not share very important things in his gospel. The temptation, the transfiguration, the last Supper, the baptism. You won't find those in John. But this thing, this thing that happened, this event, this you will find in all four. Any guesses? Any guesses? Right. Let's let Yohanan the immerser tell us. John 129. The next day. You can read along if you have your text, it's easier to follow. The next day, he saw Yeshua coming toward him, and he said, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me. I myself did not know him. Okay, I'm already confused. I myself did not know him. But for this purpose I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness. I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him. But he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the spirit descend and remain. This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen, and I have borne witness that this is the son of God, man. There is a lot in that. There is a lot in that text, but some interesting tidbits. This is John the Baptist, cousin of Yeshua, whose parents intimately knew the story of who Yeshua was. Or in some way. Right. How do we know? Elisheva says, who am I? That the mother of my master, the mother of my lord, would grace us with her presence. John himself, what did he do when he first met Yeshua? Right. Surely he knew the story, but that does not seem to be the case. How is it that these years later he says, I didn't know him? It's interesting. And there's a chronology there that's very confusing, that we'll talk about after, because he says, I saw him, that he was the lamb of God. But then he says, I didn't know him. Which one? Well, it could be both. And we can't really know. But the thing is, maybe, just maybe, when he saw him, just the same type of holy spirit reaction that he had in his mother's womb took place when he saw Yeshua coming. And he jumped and he knew and he said, and he saw, however, he did not know. And then it says, I confirmed it. He says, I testify that I heard God tell me, the one who the spirit comes down, lands on and descends, this is him. And then he says, this is the son of God. For this purpose, I came, that he might be revealed to Israel. I've seen in Borden, witness I did not know. But I can testify with my own eyes something has happened here. Where? Something has happened where? At the place I told you we needed to stop between son of man and son of God. And that is at the Jordan river. That is at the immersion. That is at the incarnation, if you will humor me as we go that far. And I will say at this encounter, this awakening, this. I don't even know how, I don't have the words to say everything that happened here, but I want to say this as a caveat before we move forward. I want you to remember from the beginning of this series and everything I've told you this. I am telling you what I believe to be true. Someone told me, I said, I'm giving a message on christology. They said, oh, that's easy, because there's no real answers because no one can really know. So it's less burden of proof. Well, not really. This is extremely difficult material. But I'm telling you what I believe based on prayer and study. I'm not telling you. You have to believe this? I don't know how you couldn't, but. No, just kidding. We spent all that time last week talking about Yeshua's humanity and its vital importance. But I also told you the danger of stopping there. It's like stopping at the cross. You know those people. How are you, man? Oh, I'm just staying at the foot of the cross. I'm just remembering what a despicable, foul human I am. And how I look up and see my messiah hung there. Don't stop there. Don't stop there. Go on to the cave. Go on to the rolling away the stone. Go on to where he says, the same way I ascend is the same way I'll descend. Don't stop there. But that's the same thing that can happen if we just stop and say, oh, son of man. Okay, I got it. He's good guy. So I'm saying, listen to me. Here in the Jordan river, something happens. Something happens. A massive transformation, awakening, explosion. Though we may not see it with the naked eye. John saw something. The spirit descends. Ministry begins the very next section. What happens? He meets Nathaniel. And what does Nathaniel say to him? You are the son of God. Something happened there. And last week I asked you this difficult question. If Jesus were God dressed as a man walking on earth, is it significant that he did not sin? If Yeshua were a man, really just God, but in a man's suit, is it significant that he did not sin? Who knows? My answer. The answer is no. It's not significant that he didn't sin. Because God can't sin. God is unable to sin. What is absolutely remarkable and worthy of constant consideration in your love of adoration, of gratitude toward Yeshua is a man who could live that way. Who could live spotless, tempted in all manner of temptation, but sinless without sin. Perfect. And we can't say from there. Yeah, but he was God. Yeah, but he was God. Well, the son of God. Well, super special. Why the immersion? Why the baptism? There are two massively important questions that I want to suggest have two answers. Though I believe both are simultaneously correct. First, I wish that I could take credit for this first answer in particular. But I must give credit to those great minds who come before me. Rabbi Lichtenstein. GB cared. That's about as far a spectrum as you can get. New Testament theologian, masterful, brilliant mind. George Bernard cared Liechtenstein from the 18 hundreds. Orthodox messianic jew. But amazingly, they have a very similar understanding of what happened. Daniel Lancaster. I can't forget him. His series, chronicles of the Messiah is a must for people's shelves. It's a must. I describe it as an awakening. Of what? Of what? Yeshua's full awakening. As John says, he on whom you see the spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And he saw it and he said, this is the son of God. And at this moment, as Yeshua is filled to immeasurable quantity with the Holy Spirit the awareness of the me, the mission, the awareness of the position, the awareness, the full awareness of what he had been made for his foundations from before the earth, yes, but now a clear realization truly a blues brothers moment on a mission from Gad. And that may sound crazy, but listen to me. As Rabbi Lichtenstein suggests, if the logos, the spirit of Messiah, the Memra, the dibber, if that which is fully and completely God were revealed in all its fullness in a man, the flesh is devoured. The flesh doesn't even exist in comparison to the logos. But somehow in God's miraculous power from before the foundations of the world in Yeshua's exalted soul that is at the right hand of God's throne he places still within him this logos which remains in a certain sense unconscious. Oh, Damien, I liked you so much and now you're going to go and start smoking spiritual weed going to get all mystical. John is mystical, Paul is mystical, Peter is mystical. Brought us into this marvelous light. As this spirit descended the voice from heaven cared says his human personality was taken up into the divine and just stay with me. I know that sounds confusing but I'm going to bring it back around. The word made flesh. The reconciliation of human divine. A human being. Yes. Who in a sense has up to this point merited the call by his perfection in his humanity but planned from the beginning nevertheless but still in some kind of sense like the other people that he interacted with seemingly unaware of sorts. And all of a sudden after the Jordan river people begin with the son of God. He begins with the son. The Son what the son does the father talking about this father son language and connection. Something happened there. Miraculous. Wonderful. [00:21:32] Speaker B: Amazing. [00:21:35] Speaker A: Man. As Lichtenstein says, exalted soul of Yeshua yet unconscious logos now awakened. Why would I have told you all that stuff about those other people not knowing him? Because the suggestion is that even, and I know you can say it's heretical but listen to me, it makes total sense that even Yeshua himself until the father, his father awakened within him the fullness of his glory, his mission, his purpose may even have been to some degree, existing without knowing. You're taking away Yeshua's divinity, Damien. No, I'm not. It's in there. And it will be revealed in all its fullness at the appropriate time. God does everything at the appropriate time. And that day was the time that Yeshua's mission and ministry goes out. And it begins. Where does he go? Immediately. And who takes him there? The spirit takes him to the wilderness. And who's waiting there for him? Hasatan. That's another message. I think. I want to do that next week. But why the Holy Spirit? Why would he need it? If he already has this logos, why would he need it? And thus, the first reason is because the Ruach Hakodesh in Yeshua was the ignition. It was the explosion. It was the light that lit the fuse. It was the beginning. It was the power. And everything is different from that day forward. Second reason. Do you remember the question? I forgot the question. The question is, what happened? Why the Holy Spirit? Second question. How did Yeshua perform the miracles that he performed? By what power did Yeshua perform the miracles that he performed? The logos, the divine essence, the fullness of God that was within him. Is that how he did it? How did he do it? Say it out loud, Kelly, and I didn't tell you this. How did he do it? The Ruach Hakodesh. That's how he did it. How do we know that he was doing that? How do we know that it was the Holy Spirit and not the logos? Well, let me tell you, it's very easily spelled out in something that's very confusing. People misinterpret, brother, you're going to grieve the Holy Spirit doing that, and that's unpardonable. If you see know doing a beach ball on their nose up and down the aisle like a seal and saying, praise the Lord, you don't know if that's the Holy Spirit. Don't grieve it. If you see somebody doing backflips in their underwear through the sanctuary and they saying it's inspired by the Holy Spirit, don't grieve it. That's not what that means. That is not what that means. We're in Mark three and Matthew twelve. Mark three says, truly I say to you, all sin shall be forgiven. The sons of men and whatever blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin. Because they were saying he has an unclean spirit. [00:25:36] Speaker B: Who did they say he was? [00:25:37] Speaker A: Doing the miracles by Bilzebub. Oh, that's a crazy name. Bilzebub. Matthew twelve. And whoever speaks a word. Listen to this. Listen to this. Whoever speaks a word. I'm sorry. 1232. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven. Did you hear that? But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. Unpardonable sin to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. And I asked myself many years, what does that mean? Have I done it? Am I guilty? Am I unforgiven? Am I going to hell? Christian commentary says Jesus is telling them, if you don't believe in me, you're destined for doom. And he does have some things he says. Basically, what he says is sovereignty to the Father, as always. As always. Now, scripture escapes me right now, but I'm thinking back to John, where he says, man, he says, believe. How does he say it? Believe not in me, but believe in the one who sent me, my father. That's a weird thing to say for traditional christian understanding, but this is just yet another instance of the Son of man, son of God's submission to the higher authority of his father. Who's doing the work? The Holy Spirit. Where is the Holy Spirit? From God. It is the spirit of God. So who's doing the work? God is doing the work through Yeshua in the Holy Spirit. And he is saying, how dare you give credit to Satan for what God is doing? Let's go to channel seven. [00:27:42] Speaker B: We'll just have to let Darren figure out how to edit this together because I don't want to miss it. Now I got to stay behind this thing, and if I fall asleep, that'll be bad. I like to move around. Don't you dare give credit to Hasatan for what my father in heaven is doing. You can even speak against me and be forgiven. But do not speak against my father in heaven. It is, in my opinion, not the divine logos performing these miracles. It is the Ruach Hakodesh, which he received from his father in the Jordan river when something happened. Amazing. Remarkable. That will be revealed. You see, the logos will be revealed. When will it be revealed? At the resurrection of Messiah Yeshua. At the ascension of Messiah Yeshua. At the return of Messiah Yeshua. He's working through this ruach Hakodesh which he received at the Jordan river. And the one who feels like I'm diminishing his position here by saying something negative about his miracles. They say, well, he did miracles like nobody else ever did Elijah raised from the dead. Elisha raised from the dead. They raised people from the dead. Peter, miracles. Paul. Miracles. Moses. Miracles. Honey, the circle drawer. [00:29:49] Speaker A: Miracles. How? [00:29:57] Speaker B: The same holy spirit with which Yeshua used to perform the miracles that he performed. Now, that is a blanket statement that can be misinterpreted. There are things that he did speaking with certain authorities that only he could say. I'm understanding that. But which one of those miracle workers. Which one of the guys I just mentioned, which one of them rose from the dead? [00:30:27] Speaker A: I know Elijah never died. [00:30:29] Speaker B: Which one rose from the dead and ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God? Which one? None of them, because they did not have the logos. And I know, my friends, that this message is going to be extended. I apologize for the length. But we can't shortchange this. We can't cut a corner here on something this important. And so while we're making sense of mysteries like grieving the Holy Spirit, let me pose another one. John 1412 truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do. And greater works than these will he do because I am going to the Father. [00:31:09] Speaker A: How? [00:31:10] Speaker B: How in the world can we do greater works than Yeshua? [00:31:17] Speaker A: How. [00:31:19] Speaker B: We can do greater works? That by the fact he received the Holy Spirit to do great works. By our belief in him, we too receive the Holy Spirit. And there are a whole bunch of us who have received the Holy Spirit. And 13 of them versus 4 billion of us, or however many there are that are supposed to have the Holy Spirit should be able to do greater things. By my example, the Father will send you the spirit. Now, listen to this. This is amazing. In 1426, we've talked so much about Shaliak Shlihim, about messengers. Maybe you got this, maybe you didn't. 1426. But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send. How will he send him? In my name. In my name. That's pretty significant for Yeshua's exalted position. In my name, he will teach you all the things. The spirit is our seal of betrothal to Yeshua. Why did he need it? To give it to us. [00:32:27] Speaker A: Again? [00:32:28] Speaker B: Not to beat my beloved. George cared to death with quotes. But this is just too good. If Jesus is to be the pioneer, he must open up a new road which others will be able to follow. He must therefore have no powers at his disposal which are not also available to them. What does that mean? It means he was not God man. Super God in a God suit. He possessed the ruach Hakodesh and worked through it, which he received at the Jordan, which he gave to you. And you have the same power and can do greater things. That's what that means. Well, why not just give us the logos? Why do we have to settle for the little Holy Spirit? It's not little compared to the logos. It might be, but let me tell you why you don't have the logos. You ready? Are you ready? Because you can't handle the truth. No, because you're not Yeshua. He's the only one. He's the only one. Human form filled in the image and the fullness of God. So you got the Holy Spirit. Don't grumble. And with that said, there's one last thing I don't want to miss about the Jordan river. Why was he even there? Why was he even there? What was John's baptism for? As far as we know, our whole lives are staked on this claim. [00:34:24] Speaker A: That. [00:34:24] Speaker B: Yeshua would have nothing to repent for. I mean, Mikvah immersion is a purity thing for sure. And believe me, Yeshua would have been in the mikvah. He would have been in the have. Are you ready for this? Shocker. He would have participated in ceremonial purity in Israel. [00:34:47] Speaker A: Why? [00:34:47] Speaker B: Because it's in the Torah. [00:34:49] Speaker A: Why? [00:34:49] Speaker B: Because he's Yeshua. Why? Because he followed the Torah perfectly. But he didn't need a baptism for repentance, did he? [00:34:58] Speaker A: No. [00:35:00] Speaker B: Furthermore, there's this strange statement in Matthew 313 15. Then Yeshua arrived from Galilee at the yarden, coming to John to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent him, saying, I have need to be immersed by you, and you come to me. But Yeshua, answering, said to him, permit it at this time. For in this way, it is for fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. And then he permitted him to fulfill all. Huh? He was righteousness. Adonai Sidkenu is a messianic title, right? In this case, to fulfill all righteousness, the right way of doing things. Messiah equals anointed one. Right? Smeared. Anointed. Pour the oil on. Do what you're going to do. Anoint him. [00:36:00] Speaker A: Messiah. [00:36:01] Speaker B: Anointed one. But in order to be the anointed one, according to all righteousness, there must be one who announces and anoints the anointed one. Logical, right? We have a biblical precedent for this. Who did Samuel anoint? Who did Nathan anoint? Shlomo? Solomon. So we see. What do we see? A prophet anointing the king. [00:36:41] Speaker A: And now what? [00:36:43] Speaker B: John, the voice crying in the wilderness, the prophet who is the Elijah to come. And there's so much we could say about that. But what comes next is most notable in verse 16 and 17 of Matthew three. After being immersed, Yeshua came up immediately from the water, and, behold, the heavens were opened. And he saw the spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on him. And behold, a voice out of the Heaven said, by the way, when it says, behold, you know what it means. Listen up. This is extremely important. Behold, a voice out of the heaven said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. That's a big deal. Some have argued, and I will not, that this was the point at which Yeshua became the son of God. I won't argue that, because I don't believe that. I believe he was the son of God from before the foundations of the earth. I believe that he is, was, and will be. And exactly how it is that when Yeshua says, restore me to my former glory, and you can't know, except the one who descended and ascended, there are some things there that are difficult to reconcile. I don't know if it is, as Lancaster suggests, that what I've already noted was that Yeshua, all souls are in. [00:38:26] Speaker A: Heaven with God before they exist. [00:38:28] Speaker B: All souls. It's a jewish thought. God just doesn't say, new person, new person. Jewish tradition says all the souls that will ever exist have been created and are in heaven at the appropriate time. Because God likes timing. He sends that soul, and it becomes a person. But you see, Yeshua's soul, which existed in its exalted form, whatever, however we can get there, I can't tell you exactly, was with God before, but not in the form of a human body. And not, I suggest, in a form that he, sitting here in Jerusalem, can think back to. Hmm. I remember when I was that formless spirit, exalted soul to the right hand of God. I remember that here becomes the awareness, the fullness in him, the fullness of deity dwelt. And there it is. Brothers and sisters, we have worked so hard to establish that from before the foundations of the world. Yehoshua, Yeshua, God is salvation, was chosen and existed as the coming messiah. But the whole point of today is simple. Yeshua of Natserit lived as a man for 30 plus years before that day at the Jordan river. Anything less than fully a man capable of sin, capable of failure, anything less diminishes his work. That day in that river, in the land of Israel, the Messiah, the son of man, son of God, heard the voice of who the Son's father directed to him. Who was he speaking to? Everyone else around. Everyone else around. He's speaking to Yeshua. And Yeshua accepts the mission. And he says though Yeshua may have sensed his calling prior, I mean he went to the Jordan river, he went to the temple at twelve and engaged. I mean he clearly was different. We're not going to try to ever say anything different than that. He may have sensed his calling but that day, via the Holy Spirit, he received from heaven the word my beloved son and the associated power of the Spirit would lead guide his mission on earth. And from that day until now and forevermore, Yeshua is the son of God. And in receiving this holy spirit at the immersion we see the ultimate humility, the acceptance of the mission and. [00:41:44] Speaker A: The. [00:41:45] Speaker B: Approval of his father. You are my son in whom I am well pleased. Now get out in the spirit and let Satan tempt you in the wilderness. We need to look at that next week. But you see, I got ahead on myself. I got ahead on myself because last week, son of man, to go right to son of God. If we don't stop here at the Jordan with Johannen and Yeshua, we miss something very vital. To see the activation of the logos, to see the power of Yeshua's miraculous deeds, to see the acceptance of the mission by truly becoming actually one of us. That's another side thought on the baptism, on the immersion is that Yeshua is becoming absolutely like one of us, being baptized for repentance when he had no need, the act of humility and submission to be like us. But in all these interactions through and with the Holy Spirit, a major question remains. If he did all this by the Holy Spirit, why did he need the logos? Why was it there? What is this? What is this crazy talk? What are you getting at? The logos? What did it do for him? If the spirit was the instrument and that was the awakening and the activator and all that, the logos, the fullness of God within him is the source of his sonship, the foundation of his relationship to the father and the source of divinity as the son of God. And next week we will explore the fullness of the son of God. Shabbat Shalom.