Shabbat Shalom everybody. Blessings. Braco today.
Let's turn to Galutia, Galatians and chapter 1. So last week we did the introduction into Galatians. I wanted to set that stage for you before we delved into the text because so many times people just jump right in with all these assumptions to what's going on, void of... the historical data and the textual analysis. So we wanted to spend that time setting that foundation last week. So now this week we can jump in.
But even before I do jump into chapter one, there's a few things that I think I need to mention so that we can be reminded of what we're dealing with in the world that we live in today. Because there's so many different interpretations, commentaries on Galatians. really, we need to be aware of this so that we can make an informed decision as how we approach the scriptures. So I want to talk about what I believe the key to properly interpreting Galatia Galatians is.
So I want to bring forth seven, seven things without which I believe you're just going to be using supposition and conjecture. So I'm going to bring forth seven things with a question and answer. Because if you don't understand what you're looking at, then oftentimes you can approach the book of Galatians with just supposition and conjecture.
And for me, that's just not good enough. So number one, what is the different gospel of verse six? We need to identify that. What is the different besorah of verse 6? And I believe that the answer will become obvious as we work through the preceding questions, the next questions.
Number two, what was changed and what has changed in regards to the role of brit milah, circumcision, and how... it is used. What are we talking about with circumcision?
Because Shaul talks about Brit Melah's circumcision in his defense of the true gospel in chapter 2 verse 3. And I believe what you'll discover, especially if you've walked with us in the Melchizedek Covenants of Promise, is the distinction between circumcision, which was a sign, An oath given to Avraham. It was a covenant entrance sign that was given to Avraham based upon the Melchizedek covenants of promise. Genesis 12, Genesis 15, and then the covenant sign of circumcision that he was in covenant with Yahuwah was given.
Now, 430 years later, the children of Israel come to the mountain and they say to Yahuwah, All that you have said that we will do. And they receive the book of the covenant. It's blood ratified. There was a proposal and acceptance, a blood ratification, and then Exodus 24 verse 8, a covenant confirming meal. And circumcision was the entrance sign to this covenant that culminated right there at the mountain.
But then the children of Israel broke the covenant with the sin of the golden calf in Exodus Shemot, Exodus chapter 32. And you'll notice then that all of those that came out of Mitzrayim, the mixed multitude and all of those that came out of Egypt, they were circumcised. But all of those that were raised up and born in the wilderness, they weren't circumcised. Even Levites, Kohanim, priests, they were wearing tzitzit, which are a sign of what?
That you're keeping the commandments. So you've got tzitzit-wearing Levites walking around uncircumcised for 40 years, plus the rest of all of those raised up. And there's not one rebuke by Yahuwah, not one rebuke. by Moshe Rabbeinu. Why?
This is the question about Brit Milare and circumcision. Because Israel realized that they had broken the covenant. So what's the purpose of putting the sign of the covenant on you when the covenant is broken that you cannot enter into it?
So, that is why. There was no point circumcising in to a broken covenant. Judaism does not understand this. They still think today that circumcision is about the circumcision of entering into the covenant of Abraham. But that covenant was broken.
Therefore, the children of Israel didn't circumcise into a broken covenant. There's no point. Now, you fast forward to Joshua 5, Yehoshua chapter 5, and the purpose of circumcision today Joshua tells us is a land entrance token.
So this is the biggest thing that we have to understand before we enter into the book of Galutia. Because Judaism doesn't recognize it. They still believe that when you're circumcising your son on the eighth day, that you're circumcising into the covenant of Abraham.
But that covenant was broken. When you circumcise today, you are circumcising into a land entrance sign. according to Joshua 5. And even when Ezekiel went historically and spoke to Israel when they were in exile, and he gave them a conditional covenant promise of restoration, which they rejected, what was the sign of them returning into the land? That you'll be circumcised of levim, heart, and circumcised of flesh.
So now we can understand that context of circumcision because you cannot circumcise into a broken covenant circumcision today is literally a land entrance token and that is what Joshua 5 is clear about so it's very important question number two in identifying what this false gospel was because those that were perpetrating the false gospel was saying that you needed to become a proselyte and keep the book of the law you needed to circumcise into their community become a proselyte and that you would then adhere to their interpretation of the book of the law number three the third question that will then bring forth an answer is what is the law that brings a curse to believers in light of Yahusha's redemptive work that is spoken of throughout the book of Galatia, Galatian? Is it the written law? Is it the written law that brings a curse?
Is it the oral law that brings a curse? Is it the civil law, the Roman law? The answer is found in Galatians chapter 3 verse 10. The law is identified as the book of the law that contains all of the curses, plural, because there are no curses, plural, in the book of the covenant.
There was only one limited family curse found within the ten so-called mitzvot, Exodus chapter 20. The fourth question that we would need to ask is, What is the meaning of the phrase works of law? What does that mean? Can we identify this phrase using only biblical text and the supporting data of the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Because, man, there's so much supposition. And if any of you has the complete Jewish Bible or a Messianic Bible in here today, I'd love you to read along and you'll see this. Just the supposition and conjecture in the translations that are not validated through any known text in existence.
So, it's very important that we understand what is the works of law that's spoken of in Galatians. Because the phrase is found within the context of the book of the law, Galatians chapter 3. And our second witness comes from the Dead Sea Scrolls manuscript 4QMMT. Because that manuscript, that manuscript shows that the community in Qumran, that they had a view, a particular view of inclusion as interpreted through the book of the law. And how many copies of the book of the law were found in the jars in Qumran? Multiple.
Just 25 copies of Devarim itself, the book of the law. That's not including Bamidbar, the book of Numbers. So just of the book of the law, we found 25 copies in Qumran amongst the fragments of the text containing this very word, works of law.
So, works of law, it means, and is connected to the book of the law, and it's connected to the community's inclusion of you being in the community as they interpreted the book of the law. So, we have a double witness there, Galatians chapter 3, and in context, the Dead Sea Scrolls. And many people will say, well, yes, it's in the Dead Sea Scrolls, but they won't show you that it's actually part... of the rule of the community's inclusion in how they identified inclusion based upon their interpretation of the book of the law.
It's very important that we understand that. Number five, the fifth question I have, is once identified, why was that law added? Why was that law added? The answer is that law, Galatians chapter 3 verse 10, Now identified is expounded upon further as being added because of transgressions until the seed would come.
Galatians 3.19 The transgressions that happened at the golden calf, the book of the law was added until Messiah would come, redeem you from the book of the law and bring you back into covenant Torah. Book of the Covenant Torah. It's not a renewed covenant.
You don't renew a broken covenant, you make a brand new covenant. It's a new covenant. Yirmeyahu, Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 31, given to Israel and Yehudah, and what?
It's the Torah written upon the Levim, which is what? A circumcision of heart, you see, the greater work. Number six, what are the two covenants? Singled out in Galatians chapter 4 verse 21 that connect back to Abraham.
What are those two covenants? The book of the covenant from the Jerusalem above, which is freedom and liberty. And this is what Shaul addresses. It's not freedom so that you can go and be lawless and adopt paganism and syncretism. Yarr forbid, right?
That is a common interpretation. It's... freedom so that you can return to book of the covenant Torah. And we know that the book of the law spoken of earlier in Galatians chapter 3 now is in the allegory in Galatians chapter 4 because that book of the law gives birth to bondage, which is fleshly.
It is carnal commandments that were what? Imposed upon them until the time of reformation. and it corresponds to the Judaic bondage of the present Jerusalem of Shaul's day. That different gospel was propagated by those who had infiltrated the Galatian community.
And finally, number seven, this question I have. What is the time frame of Galatians in context and relation to Acts chapter 15? We have to establish that.
What is the time frame of the writing of Galatians in relation to Acts chapter 15? The answer is, the issues Shaul addressed haven't been examined by the Acts 15 Jerusalem council. The clarity of that council, it didn't come until after Galatians was written.
So these are important things before we even get. into verse 1. Shaul, a Sholiach, not of men, neither by men, but of Yahushua Hamashiach, an Abba Yahuwah who raised him up from the dead. Amen? Sholiach, Sholiach means a sent one, an apostle, an apostle.
And we have the church highbrow, you know, well, I'm an apostle. And you even see that a lot in the Messianic community. I'm an apostle.
Well, really, we go back and we look at the language, and what does an apostle mean? We go back to the law, the Torah, to first mention, and of course, the first apostle in Scripture was the raven. So it's not a religious highbrow term. The raven was sent out for a specific purpose, and that's what an apostle is.
It's something or someone who is sent out for a specific purpose. The second apostle in Scripture... was of course the dove sent out for a specific purpose an apostle and a sholiach a sent out one for a specific purpose Moshe Rabbeinu Moses he was an apostle he was sent out for a specific purpose by Yahuwah Isaiah yeshiyahu he was an apostle Isaiah chapter 6 verse 8 he was a sholiach sent out for a specific purpose Jezebel She had an apostle go and speak to Eliyahu.
Melechim Olev, 1 Kings chapter 19 verse 1. So when you're in the text, you can see this isn't some highbrow church position. But it means that you are anointed and sent out by Yahuwah for a specific purpose. You are sent out for a specific purpose.
So we find that Shaul, he was commissioned by Yahuwah as a Shaliach. A Shaliach. which would have been very contrary to the claims of his forerunners, because some claim to be sent according to Yaakov, Jacob, chapter 2, verse 2. Chapter 2, verse 12, excuse me. Let's look at verse 2. And all the Israelite brethren who are with you to the Israelite congregations of Galutia.
Now, these were areas of community growth in Pisidian, Antioch, Iconium. Lystra and Derbe. Now we understand that Shaul, he's using Roman political designations for these areas. You see, Shaul, he used these Roman political designations. Today, 2,000 years later, I just use FEMA designated areas.
What are we, FEMA 10 up here? Is that what we are? So, you know, whatever FEMA region you are in, because, you know, the 50 states of America, really?
No, what is it, 14 FEMA regions? Something like that. So get ready in your FEMA region for political anarchy next week. My goodness, if you need gas, put it in your tank. If you've got water, fill it up.
Make sure you've got your beans and rice, but most importantly... make sure that you have the Ruach HaKodesh of Yahuwah to guide you in all things. Amen?
Amen. And the Israelite brethren who are with the Israelite congregations and the translation in the King Jimmy and many of our nearly inspired version Bibles is the church. The church. And I love that, you know.
It's like the church is this separate entity. Well, now you're in the church. You've got Christmas and Easter, because we're separate from Israel.
But you know what? Let's look at the word church, because we understand it's the Greek word ekklesia. It comes from the Hebrew word kachal, and the church was not born in the New Testament. The church was born in Bereshit, Genesis chapter 28, verse 4. This is the birth of the church.
You understand Moses was in the church. Moses was in the church in the wilderness and like you and I, he could not wait to get out of the church. He couldn't wait to get out of the church because he'd been in the church of the wilderness for 40 years and it wasn't his plan.
And I don't mean that in a derogatory manner, but we've got 2,000 years of traditions that we are just up against. But we understand that the church was born. and birthed in Genesis chapter 28, for Jacob Yaakov will be a church, given the blessing and the inheritance of the covenants of promise of Avraham. And the church, the kachal, it really means the bride is beautifully decked out in the commandments of Yahuwah.
Because if you love me, Yahushua said. You'll join my church. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments.
Keeping his commandments is being in the church. So why aren't we keeping his mitzvot, his commandments? You see, Moshe Rabbeinu understood there was a time to be in the church, but then there was a time...
to get out of the church and get into the land and have your eyes set on the coming of the Mashiach. But you have to have, and this is something that you should look into, you have to, you absolutely have to have an upper room experience and the birth of the church in Acts chapter 2 to separate from Israel, to separate. from the Torah covenants of promise.
And if you can prove that there was no birth of the church in Acts chapter 2, and that there was no upper room experience, then the whole premise of the church being born in Acts chapter 2, it dissipates. And it's very easy to do, because if you were to turn to Marsesh Lechim, Acts chapter 2, verse 46, that proves... the very point that they were never in an upper room they were at the temple because that's where you would be at shavuot you would be congregating in the temple and acts chapter 2 verse 46 it proves the fallacy that i'm speaking about how can you continue daily in the temple if you weren't in the temple but you were in an upper room.
That's my question. How can you continue in the temple daily if you weren't in the temple but you were in an upper room? So we can understand that this is what we have to overcome as we approach the book of Galatia, the book of Galatians. Verse 3, grace and peace to you and shalom to Abba Yahuwah and from our kurios, in the Greek, our master, Yahushua Hamashiach. Now, of course, grace and peace, this was a traditional first century Greco-Roman and Jewish greeting.
It was even used by the Spartans, the exiled 10 tribes in 1 Maccabees 12.6. Jonathan, the high priest, the senate of the nation, the priests and the rest of the Jewish people, and to their brothers, the Spartans. And then look at verse 3. The use of this word kurios, I don't want to sidestep this because it's very important, especially in the Hebrew roots and messianic movement where so many people are walking away from and denying Yahushua as Moshiach. Because kurios, kurios Yahushua, kurios is used in the Septuagint to render the divine name.
Yod, He, Wa, He. Shaul here has no problem identifying Yahushua publicly as the supreme Yahuwah. No problem. So why do people shy away from that today? Verse 4. He who gave himself for our sins that we might deliver us from the evil Olam HaZeh, this world, according to the will of Yahuwah our Abba.
To whom all be tithereth, le'olam v'ed, to be all glory forever and ever. Amen. You see, to say that Shaul is setting Yahuwah's grace and Yahuwah's Torah against one another is a false idea that has been propagated for millennia. But when you examine it, it has no historic, cultural, or Tanakh textual background. It's pure supposition.
Now you could have got rid got away with that 50 years ago. But today, when we have the internet and we have Bible programs and we can access the text and you can Google pagan roots of Christianity, pagan roots of Christmas, you can see that we don't have the excuses that grandma and granddad have. It's disingenuous to use the excuses of the prior generation. because this generation has more tools and more revelation.
So we cannot, cannot use the excuses of the prior generation when you had to go and look in the 80s on microfiche, and in the 70s you had to go to the library, and you better make sure it was the right kind of library, because your local library was still propagating the what curriculum of the globalists. So what I'm saying is we don't have the excuses that we once did because we understand that Yahuwah did not deliver us from slavery in Mitzrayim, Egypt, just to take us to the mountain and put us under slavery again, right? Because then we're saying that we just exchange one tyrant for another tyrant and we're calling Yahuwah a tyrant because he put us under the slavery of the law. May it never be. Because once you examine it, it becomes a ludicrous argument.
Something else must be going on in the text. And in your prayer time, just pray Psalm 119, and you'll realize that something else is going on in the text. So accepting the book of the covenant and how it is intricately fused with you being set free from sin is... the premise for what we're looking at in Galatians. Because adhering to the book of the law has nothing whatsoever with you being set free from slavery of sin.
Because the book of the law was the tutor given to a stiff-necked child until there was an inner awakening and a conversion, a circumcision of heart. And then once there's that circumcision of heart, there would have been an... embracing of Yahusha's blood ratification of covenant Torah. But the book of the law was added for transgressions at the golden calf. So we have to see what is it that they were enslaved to.
They were enslaved to sin. They would have died. And therefore Moshe Rabbeinu interceded, mediated, and Yahuwah imposed the book of the law, a tutor upon them, until the time of reformation. when Yahushua's blood would then cut a new covenant and return them back to covenant Torah. Not Levitical hierarchy, but there would be a division, a rightly dividing point of the word.
These are all things that we are familiar with, but many people are just coming in to this understanding. Look at verse 6. I am shocked that you are so soon turned from him, Yahuwah, that called you. to the unmerited favor of Moshiach, to another version of the Besorah, the gospel.
And the Greek word here for turned is meted chemi, meted chemi, meted chemi. But you see, it's important because this other gospel, what is this other gospel? Because the institutionalized church, not understanding the historical and cultural background of the text, jumps to the false conclusion that keeping the commandments or obedience to the law is another gospel contrary to the gospel of Christ. And that's what most of us have been subject to for a very, very, very long time, generationally even.
But the real issue is that those of the circumcision were forcing believers from the nations, non-Jews, to undergo the rights of a proselyte and keep the book of the law before they would be recognized as full covenant members of the community. That is the other gospel. That is the other gospel.
Now, oh, I don't know how long ago it was. It was over a decade ago. Like I shared with you last week, when I started to be convicted that I needed to keep the commandments, the Sabbath, the Feast of Yahuwah, I really was like, well, I need to deal with Galatians. And at that time, a gentleman called Avi Ben Mordecai, some of you may be familiar with his work, he came out with a commentary on Galatians. And I went and saw him, my wife and I went and saw him speak and talk about Galatians.
And he... He wrote that commentary, oh, it must have been over a decade ago, and I still have it, and I refer back to it, because I devoured that commentary, because it really tugged on my heartstrings, because Avi, the way he approached the text is there was a dichotomy between the oral law and the written law, and many of us in the Messianic in Hebrew Roots movement, we kind of attached and jumped onto that, so we could really understand Galatians. But as I've matured, I see that this is basically supposition, because it's actually not supported by the text.
And in fact, Avi got his translation from Andrew Gabriel Roth, which was a back translation into the Aramaic, in an Aramaic text that doesn't exist on the planet today. And in fact, many have said it's work of two other men. I think about...
4% change in the language of Andrew Gabriel Roth's text, and about 96% to 98% similarity to other translations of two other gentlemen. But we'll get to that later. The reason I bring up Avi Ben Mordecai and his commentary on Galatians is that Avi Ben Mordecai, he blows my mind in his translation and commentary on Galatians. Because he has a section in his commentary defining, and it's headed, I believe, the true gospel. Now, he dedicates a whole page to this.
In fact, it's page 132, if you have that commentary at home. And he even quotes in this header, defining the gospel. He blows my mind. He quotes the book of the covenant as the definition of the gospel. He quotes the book of the covenant as the definition of the gospel, but he drops the needle by concluding that the covenant was once again revived and ratified under Joshua, which is the common Judaic interpretation.
But Joshua never received a proposal, an acceptance, a blood ratification and a covenant-confirming meal that attached back to Abraham. There was no ratification of the book of the covenant under Joshua. You see, these are the things that we have to overcome. But Avi is very right in his asserting that the book of the covenant is the true gospel. He's dead on, but he just doesn't thread the needle.
Now, Avi even wraps up his section defining the gospel by quoting This just blows my mind. Hebrews chapter 6 verse 13. For when Elohim made the promise to Avraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply you. That's on page 137 of Avi's commentary. And what I'm saying is this.
They're so close. They just drop the needle and they can't thread the needle and finish the tapestry. But they recognize that the text of the true gospel is the book of the covenant.
And then that's it. They move on and then bring in all of that Jewish backlog of 2,000 years. But they're actually quoting the book of the covenant as the definition of the gospel, which is what this ministry is all about.
The book of the covenant is the gospel. Yahushua's blood. ratified a new covenant, returns us back to the covenants of promise, the book of the covenant. It is restoration, reconciliation, and it only happens by Yahushua, and it only happens by us accepting his blood.
And then, if you love me, keep my Torah. Not the book of the law that was added and imposed, and it's your tutor and schoolmaster until Yahushua returns you to something greater, the Jerusalem above. Why would you stay in slavery to the Jerusalem that now is in Shaul's day?
This is amazing. So I was really inspired yet again over a decade later, but for other reasons, in reading Avi's commentary. Look at verse 7. Which is not another, but there are some that trouble you and do pervert the Besorah, the gospel of Moshiach.
So the Judaizers, or the influencers as I'd like to call them, they had come to the Galut, the dispersion, Galatia, and they were slandering Shaul because they didn't understand him. And I understand what that feels like because... i get slandered all over the internet because people don't understand what i'm trying to communicate even though men before me have written commentaries and will actually define the gospel as the book of the covenant that inspires me because i know that so many people they have the heart and they're so close but they like many of us have to overcome thousands of years of either christian or Judaic dogma. And that's hard.
That's really hard because you have to make a choice. Who is it that you're going to follow? The culture, your blood, Yahusha's blood. These are the things that we have to weigh in the balance.
But the Judaizers, the influencers, they had come into the Galut to slander Shaul. Now, there's five distinct, I want to spend some time on this, five distinct groups. theological opinions as to what was the error of the Judaizers. Because if we don't understand what the error of the Judaizers is, then we're not going to understand the book of Galatians. Can we agree on that?
Because that's the point of the writing of the text. So we had better back up instead of just wading right in and saying, well, you're, you know, under the law, that's, you know, that's the false gospel or... No, we have to understand what is it exactly that was the error of the Judaizers?
And let's recognize and be honest that there are five distinct theological opinions and whatever you agree to is going to send you down that road. Number one, the institutionalized church view, we all know it. Faith in Yahushua and observing the law of Moses, that is the error of the Judaizers, right? Wrong, right?
Wrong. But that is the institutionalized church view that most of us have been recipients of. If you follow the law of Moses, you're adding to the work of Yahushua, and that makes you a Judaizer.
I think that's a name that I have been called. Haven't heard it for a while, but maybe 12 years ago that was quite common around these parts. Number two, there is what's called the new perspective of Paul.
Now, the new perspective of Paul view, local non-believing Jews were in fact welcoming the Galatian believers. They were non-believers. They were welcoming the Galatian believers into their synagogues for protection.
Because it was only the Jews recognized by Rome that had protection under Roman law to collect money. to congregate together and to worship Yahuwah. If you were not recognized as the Jewish people, you were some different sect, you would have to then, you would be persecuted under Roman law, even unto death.
So the new perspective of Paul is saying that these Judaizers, they were non-believers, that invited the believers into their synagogues for protection, protection from the Romans. And because of that, you had to undergo proselyte ritual circumcision to be welcomed into their Orthodox synagogues. That's the new perspective of Paul and what the error of the Judaizers was.
Now, the third interpretation of what the Judaizers were is, of course, the familiar messianic in Hebrew roots view. The Judaizers, well... They were following misguided human legalism in their approach to Torah.
And you'll see that oftentimes in the translations, especially of David Stern's complete Jewish Bible. He'll actually insert legalism into the text when it's not even in the text, taking huge, huge leaps with the text, which I'm not comfortable with. Because the Messianic or Hebrew roots view is the Judaizers.
had a misguided human legalism in their approach to Torah. Number four, the Karite view. Now, Nehemiah Gordon, Michael Rood, and Avi Ben-Mordecai, they propagate this Karite view.
Now, according to this view, and this is the view that I accepted over a decade ago until I started to become uncomfortable, and this is why. Because according to this view, the Judaizers were putting the yoke of the oral law onto believers, instead of leading them into the written law of Moses. But Karaitism, the Karaites, they didn't appear until the 9th century of the Common Era. And the only Jewish group in Yahushua's day that may have accepted anything akin To Karaitism, which is rejection of the oral law, were the Zadokhim, the Sadducees. And we know Shaul and Yahushua, they were not Sadducees.
They were Prushim. They were Pharisees, right? So this is making me very uncomfortable now. So based upon that alone, this view falls flat on its face without going into the fact that the juxtaposition of oral law Versus written law, it doesn't even appear in the Bible text. It's supposition.
You see, Avi Ben Mordecai's Galatians doesn't rely on any existing translation, but it turns to Andrew Gabriel Roth to back-translate the epistle into this mysterious, non-existent Aramaic, which is... hauntingly similar to Paul Yunnan's. In fact, like I said, there's a 4% change in the spelling and hauntingly similar to James Murdoch's translation with 95 to 98% similarity.
So these are things I'm like, well, it's not even a text that's actually on planet Earth. It was invented based upon a back translation. This is a lot to kind of throw your lot in with, you know? That's a lot to throw your lot in with.
That's a lot. And the fifth view, oh, it's hot in here. I'm fire. Can you put the cool on in the hallway and drop it to 69 too? There we go.
I'm going to faint. The fifth view, what was the error of the Judaizers? It's the Melchizedek view.
Jews were not comprehending the Melchizedek transference and blood ratification return to covenant Torah, the book of the covenant. They were holding on to the ritualistic proselyte conversion. as an entrance sign into the book of the law before full believers were included in Yahuwah's covenant people. It was Yahushua and proselyte conversion into the book of the law as they interpreted it. They were mixing a sign, the sign of circumcision, and attaching it to a broken covenant.
without realizing that it was in fact a land entrance sign. And this comes from 2,000 years of Judaism that then the institutionalized church has then taken that interpretation and gone forth to. But when you understand that they were mixing the sign, circumcision, attached to a broken covenant, the Book of the Covenant, with an imposed, not agreed to law, the Book of the Law, where circumcision...
is only a land entrance sign, Joshua 5. We face the same problem today, a lack of understanding. That's what it is, a lack of understanding between the book of the covenant and the book of the law and a circumcision sign, which was an entrance sign into a covenant, which they broke, and then circumcision, which was an entrance sign. into the land covenant under Joshua 5. The book of the covenant and the book of the law are not synonymous. And the circumcision of Abraham and the circumcision with Joshua are not synonymous.
We have to overcome that, but it's very hard for people because you're up against not only 2,000 years of Jewish tradition, you're up against 2,000 years of the institutionalized church as well. And all you get then is it all mixed up, and you get Torah, Torah, Torah, or lawless, lawless, lawless. But we've got to tack that narrow road in between because a Judaizer is a term that is... Who's ever been called a Judaizer here?
All right, there's a lot of hands. When I left Calvary Chapel, that was the guy. He's just a Judaizer.
Don't listen to anything he has to say. He's a Judaizer. And it's a term that is thrown around so easily today by many in the institutionalized church when you start talking about the Sabbaths and the... feast of, well, you're a Judaizer. We can write you off.
I don't have to listen to anything that you have to say now. Anyone who keeps the Old Testament commandments and teaches others to do so, well, they're a Judaizer. But that is not textually, historically, or culturally accurate. It's disingenuous when people say that.
Because a Judaizer was one who asserted that you must undergo the rites of a proselyte. conversion, ritual circumcision, and keep the book of the law before you would be recognized as a full covenant member of the community of faith, thereby partakers of the covenants of promise, Ephesians 2. You see, making membership among Yahuwah's people a work of the flesh versus a work of faith, that makes you a Judas, according to Shaul. And we see that today with the MJAA in the Hebrew Roots Movement. The same thing, the same thing. Look at verse 6, we come to this Greek word, methatame, or deserting the English.
And it's used in Hosea chapter 5 verse 10 in the Septuagint as Jews who remove the landmarks. If you're deserting, It's because Jews have removed the landmarks. They've removed the landmarks. They changed the borders of the covenant community.
Is that what we're up against today? Jews have changed the borders of the covenant community. And then, it has then crept into the church, who have also changed the borders of the covenant community.
And then you and I get caught up in the trap of... deserting the true Besorah until he stirs our hearts and we start to become convicted that there has got to be more. What happened to the Sabbath?
Do we not even keep the Ten Commandments now? And you start into an erected Christmas tree and you're feeling like this is wrong. What has this got to do with Moshiach?
As you're all like getting self-gratification with gifts and gifts and your own selfish carnal desires. You're like, this is not the faith that was once delivered to the saints. And what has the bare-breasted fertility goddess got to do with Yahusha's crucifixion? I see enough of bare breasts in the world. I don't need to go to an Easter service, which is the bare-breasted fertility goddess.
You see, these are the things that troubled me. Now, that doesn't mean that Yahuwah cannot work in those situations, because He has. I've seen people come to faith in those services.
That is his mercy. That's not his grace. Because grace empowers you to keep the commandments of Yahuwah. Mercy is the withholding of judgment that is just deserved.
And one day he's going to remove his mercy and those assemblies will be the assemblies of Amos chapter 5 where judgment will come. So now is the time to wake up because the borders have been changed of the covenant community. It's either lawless pagan syncretism or messianic Judaism's perverted definition of Torah as the five books of Moses void of acknowledging the Torah's covenants of promise.
Proposal, acceptance, blood ratification, and covenant-confirming meal, which is the new book of the covenant given as Torah based upon better promises, Hebrews 8, verse 7. Look at your translation. And you'll notice it says that in the book of Hebrews. Isaiah chapter 40 through chapter 66 defines the Besorah, the gospel. And what is the gospel?
It's the good news of Zion's liberation and restoration. That's the gospel. Isaiah 40 verse 9, Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, the Besorah. Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of the Besorah, the gospel, good news.
Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, Here is your Yahuwah, your Elohim. So, if that's the true gospel, then we can define what another gospel or a false gospel is.
Because the true gospel is, get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion. So another gospel must be the not so good news, the false gospel of Zionism. Right?
Right. Because Zionism is all about thwarting the plan of Yahuwah restoring biblical Israel into the land. And you...
replace it with a political entity, a beast power system funded and financed by Satan and the globalists. That's the false gospel. And it's infiltrated the Hebrew Roots movement. How many times do you see people up there speaking and they've got a flag of the Star of Rapham draped, or we're waving flags of the Star of Rapham?
It's Zionism and it's infiltrated. the Christian religion and the Jewish religion and the Messianic religion as well. Because Zionism in all of its forms drives the 21st century church and it does in fact drive the Hebrew Roots movement. It deters Yahuwah's plan of deliverance because that plan of deliverance is only attained through the Melchizedek covenants of promise. To the remnant, it's the good news.
because that was good news to Abraham, so it's good news to you and me. Look at verse 8. But though we, or a malak, an angel from the Sharmayim heavens, proclaim any other besorah, gospel to you, than the one you have received, let him be accursed. That's a serious sobering words, are they not? Accursed.
I mean, you think you're devoted to the church? You think you're even devoted to Torah? But...
The Greek word here, anathema, it reveals anything devoted to evil. Anything. Anything you're involved in devoted to evil makes you accursed. You become an accursed thing. Because either you've willingly rejected Yahusha's blood ratification, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 25, and you place yourself under a Judaic book of the law, or...
You're in syncretistic lawlessness in the nations. So either way, Yahusha's blood ratification did not give you entrance into the book of the law. Hebrews 10, 26, you reject that.
His blood gave you entrance into the book of the covenant. So you've got a messianic broad road, a Jewish broad road, and you've got a lawless, syncretistic church broad road. Now understand.
This is tough to navigate, but we can learn because Yahuwah has revealed it to his servants in these days. Verse 10, For do I now persuade men, or Yahuwah, or do I seek to please men? For if I still sought to please men, I should not be there ever the slave of Mashiach. We can't seek human approval. And you know how many times I'm approached by human beings and say, Oh, you don't want to do that.
You don't want to, you know. But we can't. We just have to continue on.
We have to be convicted and convinced by Yahuwah's word alone. Look at verse 11. But I certify to you, my Israelite brothers, that the Besorah, the gospel, which was proclaimed by me, it's not received from men. For I neither received it from man, neither was I taught it from men.
But through the revelation of Yahushua HaMashiach, for you have heard of my former halacha, my former conduct in the past of the Jewish, the Yahudim's religion, how I intently persecuted the Israelite congregation of Yahuwah, I even tried to destroy it. And I progressed in the Yahudim's religion above many of my equals in my own nation. Above all, I was especially zealous for the teachings of my avog, my fathers.
You know, right here, Shoal kind of gives you a bit of an autobiography, doesn't he? This is what I'm up to, this is where I've come from. And you know, I've done that to you as well. Because people want to know, where are you?
Where have you come from? What's your history? What have you gone through?
Because oftentimes we can learn from our mistakes if we are willing to humble ourselves and tell people, hey look, I spent 20 years totally secular. I had a black and white conversion. I spent a decade in the institutionalized church. I know the doctrine.
I was a leader, a teacher, a youth pastor. I know the doctrine. I spent a decade, over a decade, in the messianic in Hebrew roots. I was an ordained rabbi.
I know the doctrine. I know it. The arguments, I understand them.
I used to use them. I even have a cassette tape that I keep it somewhere. I don't know where it is. It says, when I was at Calvary Chapel giving a sermon to the whole church, well, of course, we can't keep the Ten Commandments.
I know the doctrine. Now, where I'm at now, it comes, like many of us, through what? Maturity and walking down a road, a narrow road, because He is going to finish the good work that He started in you. And sometimes we need to go through those journeys and not despise those humble beginnings.
Because I learned so much when I was at Calvary Chapel. And I learned so much when I was in the Hebrew Roots and Messianic Movement. Good and bad in both. And I do not despise that because now that allows me to see so much more clearly. Because I understand the doctrine.
I taught the doctrine. So now I can defend the true gospel and rightly divide the word of Torah. So we see this autobiography. And the word here in the Greek for the Jewish religion or the Yahudim's religion is idiosmos. Idiosmos.
And it's used only here in the whole Brit Hadashah, once in verse 13 and once in verse 14. Now, it's found in the Septuagint only five times, and there only in Maccabees. Idiosmos means a fenced-off area where Jews lived and lived. Because they lived within a fenced-off area.
They made constructs from which you were only allowed to enter into that construct if you submitted to their interpretation of the book of the law. And that's exactly what it is today. It's a fenced-off area of constructs. But the term... It identifies that the followers of Yahushua, well, they had a very, like us, a very different definition of covenant membership, don't we?
Very different. Because they had broken through the boundary. They had broken through the fenced-off area of Judaism.
They'd broken through the fenced-off area of Judaism, which had been defined by a book. of the law, Pharisaic schoolmaster, is how they viewed the covenant membership. That you could only have membership if you had ritual circumcision and then adhere to their interpretation of the book of the law.
This is the thrust of Galatians. Look at verse 15. But when it pleased Yahuwah, who chose me from birth, now this is very Nazarene. Nazarite excuse me language right here but when it pleased Yahuwah who chose me from birth and he called me by his unmerited favor to reveal his son in me that I might proclaim him among the heathen immediately I conferred not with flesh and arm not with flesh and blood neither did I go up to Yerushalayim to to them who were shlachim apostles before me but I went to a robe Arabia and returned again to Damascus. What's going on here?
Now all I'm saying, if what had happened to Shaul had happened to me, if what had happened to Shaul had happened to you, what would you do? You're like struck blind by Moshiach on the road to Damascus. What would you do?
Well, this is what I would have done and I think many of you would agree. I would have gone down to Mount Sinai to where Moses and to where Eliyahu hid themselves away and secloisted themselves away and sought Yahuwah in Elijah's cave for more revelation. I would have wanted to go down to Mount Sinai. I would have wanted to understand everything, everything, excuse me, from that inception point of the covenant forward. Because now my whole world has been turned upside down.
I would want to go back to where it was broke. If your truck breaks, where do you go to fix it to the point that it broke? When Yahushua went and spread the Besorah, where did he go to the point where it broke? He went to the Galilee because it was the Galilee where Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians.
When your truck breaks... you go to the point where it broke. And when Rav Shaliyach Shaul understood the book of the law and book of the covenant dichotomy, I believe that he would have gone down to Mount Sinai in Arabia.
He would have gone up to Elijah's cave. He would have secloisted himself away for how many years? For three years because he would have been reading the triennial Torah cycle with new revelation because that's what they were reading back there. The Torah cycle was a three-year cycle. And we find that he's down in Arabia, I believe, up in Elijah's cave at Mount Sinai, fasting, praying, seeking Yahuwah from the point where the covenant was, the inception point, Exodus 19 to 24, at the mount.
And he was there studying the whole of the Torah according to the triennial cycle because he now had fresh vision. He had new eyesight and he was interpreting everything differently. And this is what I believe happens because he had to re-evaluate everything in the light of Mashiach. And then, after I'd done that, I think I'd go up to Qumran. Because that's where Yahushua spent his time with Yochanan HaMapil from 12 to 30 years old.
And I'd meet with the community which was Malkit Zed eccentric. And I'd... go there because that's where Yahushua and his cousin grew up with, wouldn't you? Because Damascus is associated in historical literature with Qumran.
So he didn't actually go to Syria. I believe he went to Qumran. Look at verse 13 or even verse 18. Then after three years, there's your triennial cycle of Torah right there. Then after three years, I went up to Yerushalayim to see Kepha, and I stayed with him 15 days.
This, of course, is the Acts 9 verse 26 visit, and this would have happened around 35 of the Common Era. Look at verse 19. But the other shlechim, apostles, I did not see other than Yaakov. James, the master's brother.
So Shaul's purpose, his purpose here, was to meet with the two primary figures in the Jerusalem assembly. That's what he wanted to do. Because these were figures who knew Yahushua personally.
And we know from our studies that Yaakov, James, Yahushua's brother, was devout in his observance of the... Torah, was he not? And that he understood the book of the covenant as what? Being royal, which is kingly, and it was for Torah for all believers to follow in covenant.
So that's why I believe he would have gone just to those two primary figures. Verse 20. Now the things that I write to you, behold, before Yahuwah, I do not lie. This is akin to the vow that you'd find in Torah, Numbers chapter 20, excuse me, Numbers chapter 30, verse 2. Because we know from Yahusha's own teachings and the record of Scripture that oath-taking had become extremely frivolous in the first century, hadn't it? Because Yahushua, he chastised them, not for oath-taking, but for taking false oaths.
And this is where Shaul properly reflects his Torah background and upbringing with the Bamidbar Numbers chapter 32, excuse me, 30 verse 2 vow, verse 21 now. Afterwards, I came into the regions of Haram and Silica, and was not known personally by sight. by any of the Israelite congregations in the province of Yehudah who were in the master Yahushua. This of course now fits in with the testimony of Luke in Acts chapter 9 verse 30. And I can start to put all this together and find out where he's at as we travel through the scriptures. Verse 23, but they heard only that he who would persecute us in times past now proclaims the Besorah, the faith that he once destroyed.
And they esteemed Yahuwah greatly because of me. You see, this first chapter, if we spend the time, we can now see what the context of all the next verses and chapters is. But we have to spend the time as we go into the scripture. Because we've been given a... different definition of covenant membership.
That's what we have to struggle against. We've been given a different definition of covenant membership, but we understand that our covenant membership is through the Melchizedek, Yahusha. He is... The high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And it does fall outside our covenant membership.
It does fall outside the bounds of the institutionalized church. And yes, it even falls outside the bounds of Judaism and Messianic Judaism and all its variant forms. Because you've got to push the bounds.
Because they've set up walls to enclose the people of Yahuwah. I refuse to be defined by a lawless, synchristic view of covenant membership. But I also refuse to be defined by Messianic Judaism's Torah view of membership too.
Because they're getting it from Judaism. Five books of Moses is the Torah. But they're not understanding the distinction between the book of the law and the book of the covenant.
They're not understanding the distinction between circumcising into the covenant of Abraham, which was then later broke, and that's why they didn't circumcise the youth for 40 years, and circumcision into... the land entrance sign in Joshua, Yehoshua chapter 5. It's so easy just to ramrod it all through. It's synonymous. It's synonymous. Oh, they're synonymous.
It's the same thing. Book of the law, book of the covenant, it's synonymous. But every word of scripture, the book of the law was placed outside the ark of the covenant, which contained the book of the covenant, as a witness against them.
And then... When Josiah found the book of the law, the book of the covenant, when he found the scroll, if you find one, would you find the other? Because one was housed on the inside and one was housed on the outside. But that still doesn't make for a synonymous argument.
It's presupposition. Because you have to go back to the text and see that there is a clear delineation. And there's a clear delineation with circumcision.
These are things that we have to wrestle with like Yaakov. But if you don't understand the polemic, then it's easy to go headway into destruction. So let it rest alone on the parameters of Yahushua covenant membership. Rest alone on his blood ratification. Let it rest alone on the transference from the book of the law, which was the schoolmaster imposed upon them until the time of reformation, to the new book of the covenant.
That's royal. That's kingly. Because you are a royal priesthood, a chosen nation, and you now have. covenant entrance.
This is amazing. Galatians chapter 1. We are the priests, the Kohanim today, that are recipients of everything here. But we have to understand the polemic of Galatians to be able to walk in the faith that was once delivered to the saints. Questions, comments, anybody at all?
Deadpan silence. Well, blessings, blessings, yes and yes. Galatians is just a wonder to me, after preaching in the Christian church for all, you see it completely different.
And my wife on this journey, I read the book of Galatians again, it just seemed like it opened up. My eyes are seeing it differently. I had to call her on the truck, and we read the book of Galatians together. We both said, wow.
never seen those things before. It just opened up a complete different world in the book of Galatians and from there right into the book of Hebrews. Why didn't we see this?
I mean I wanted to survive with all my heart and I've always had asking me, I want to do what's true. I want to be to do the best of my ability. Why didn't I see this before?
What is it that you saw? I saw the Melchizedek teachings. I've seen the reality of Melchizedek. And that's, you just added to it, Matthew. That's why we're from Missouri and we now live in Oregon.
We want to be under the Melchizedek because we are a part of it. Amen. Today. Yes.
In the back. So maybe I'll touch on this later. If Saul knew that the covenant didn't mean that they had to be circumcised, why did he pay for those men to have circumcisions? Because he was on the cusp of the law, and there were false accusations that were being charged against him, that he was totally lawless.
And he was on the cusp of the law, because he was... speaking to those in the community that were of the Book of the Law community. They wouldn't have even heard his voice unless he proved to them that he wasn't doing away with the law totally. So he was on the cusp transition point.
And that's what I've had to deal with. Many people say, well, Torah to the tribes, you're lawless. Well, why are we called Torah to the tribes? Firstly, we're understanding the Torah differently. than Judaism and Messianic Judaism, but many people won't even hear you unless you meet them where they are at.
That doesn't mean compromise, but you have to be able to gain access to your audience to then be able to communicate truth to them. He was on the cusp of the law, and he did that. Yes.
We have the... Say that again. Let's give her a microphone because otherwise it won't come up on the audio. So if men are not circumcised today, can they still be with Heavenly Father?
Even back in the day, circumcision had nothing to do with being with the Heavenly Father. circumcision, excuse me, was never salvation. It was by emunah, faith, that Abraham entered the covenant.
And it was later that circumcision was a token sign of entrance into that covenant. It was never about... having access to the Heavenly Father. It was about showing the token sign. Today, what is the point of circumcision?
Well, Yahushua, Rav Shaliyakshah, all they're going to get into that. It is a land entrance token. That is it.
That's what it is. Because the sign of entrance into the new covenant is what? The circumcision by the hands of Yahushua.
So that land, so that... circumcision sign that was given to Abraham is now elevated into its heavenly status that they always were was brit me la ha lev and the circumcision of Yahushua so that's the point is there still reason for physical circumcision today yeah it's a land entrance sign but you don't confuse the two And now we will close with prayer, and then we will have some time of fellowship and food. And in fact, I think we're going to have... A few slides. Baruch Hashem, Yahuwah, we thank you for Shabbat.
Abba, we thank you for your Torah, that Abba, we are able to rightly divide the word of Torah, the word of truth. Abba, we thank you, and we praise your Kedosh, Kedosh name. Abba, take this message and send it out to your people in Yahusha's mighty name. Amen. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Amen.