John 3:16 is perhaps the most beloved and repeatedly quoted verse in Christendom. It is regarded as an axiom of positive affirmation concerning one's "belief" as "the" imperative for one's Salvation and rescue from this fallen world. On the surface, this is acceptable and true, given one's sincere belief.
What the Church Pastors and congregants fail to ask is: "What does 'belief' mean?" First, let's quote the verse and associated verses.
Note: ESV used throughout, emboldened emphasis mine.
Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Joh 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Joh 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Joh 3:19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
Joh 3:20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
Joh 3:21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."
In Summation:
God Loves the World, So Whoever Believes, Will Have Eternal Life, Not to Be Condemned but Saved, Who Believes in His Name, Who loves the Light, for there is a Judgement based on Works, Works Acceptable and Approved by God
In the last few blogs I have definitely presented a critique of the Christian Church. This has been done purposely. The critique is intended in the academic sense, not as a personal attack on individual believers. Next, I will present a new offering from 119 Ministries, in the same vogue.
Did you know, when the Catholic Church offers the Bread and Blood of Messiah and declares is has transmuted into the actual Blood and Body of Yeshua, this is a sin? Did you know it breaks Torah? Did you also know, when one accepts the Body and Blood of Messiah "unworthily", it means you don't realize it's referring to Torah?
Please consider ...
Churchy folks will argue with my recent studies on Eph. 2 and Romans 11. They will point to Hebrews 8 and say the Old Covenant and Torah has been done away with. 119 Ministries has made a wonderful study video on this subject and has explained it much better than I can.
Please enjoy!
Note: All biblical references are using the ESV throughout.
When studying the theology of most Christian Churches and denominations existing the last 1700 years or so one becomes aware of one unique doctrinal consensus; the Gentile Church has replaced biblical Israel. This incorrect teaching not only denies Yeshua's words but also destroys the very plan of Salvation, not only for the Jews of the diaspora but also for Gentiles wishing to be a part of Yehovah's Kingdom. Combine this erroneous dogma with bloody Church history and it becomes very clear; the Gentile Church is apostate in its Greco-Roman standing!
Please understand something. I am referring to institutions and organizations here, not individual persons!
After my study of Ephesians 2 two blog entries ago, I came to realize how well Romans 11 dovetails with it. Remember, in Eph. 2 it explains two things that should happen after you accept your free gift of Salvation. These are:
1. We should walk in the good works that God has prepared beforehand (the instructions in Torah).
2. The reason we should do this is to bring both the uncircumcised (Gentiles) and the circumcised (Jews, including the Northern Kingdom called Israel) together under one body, one assembly, by abolishing the man made commandments of ordinances (ecclesiastical man-made rulings and doctrine).
This was prophesied long ago in Ezekiel 37 with the joining of the two sticks together as one. The two halves of the stick are Joseph and Judah. The "stick of Joseph" is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel associated with him. This "joining" begins with the Renewed Covenant and comes to fruition with the establishment of Yehovah's Kingdom on earth with his Prince, a resurrected David, being their King. The "Church" presumes to follow this Covenant, as laid out in Jeremiah 31.
Why do I call this "New" Covenant "Renewed"? It's because it is the same Covenant as before using the instructions within Torah, but this time written on our hearts so we have no enmity against them. We will willingly abide by the instructions without the antinomian antagonism present in today's Greco-Roman Church.
In the B'rit Hadashah (New Testament) Yeshua said;
Mat 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,
Mat 10:6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (emboldened emphasis mine)
and,
Mat 15:21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
Mat 15:22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon."
Mat 15:23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us."
Mat 15:24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (emboldened emphasis mine)
Mat 15:25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me."
Mat 15:26 And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
Mat 15:27 She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
Mat 15:28 Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.
Clearly, Yeshua's Salvation extends to the Gentile and the lost sheep of the Northern Kingdom, Israel. But did the Israelites lose their place in history? Did they lose their chance for redemption and eventual return as the Prodigal Son spoken of in the parable, to be replaced by the Church?
Paul (Sha'ul) clears this up in Romans 11. In Romans Sha'ul is speaking of this great gift of Salvation that has come to the nations (Gentiles) and his intended audience is the Gentiles.
The Remnant of Israel (emboldened emphasis mine)
Rom 11:1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
Rom 11:2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?
Rom 11:3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life."
Rom 11:4 But what is God's reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
Rom 11:5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
Rom 11:6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Rom 11:7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,
Rom 11:8 as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day."
Rom 11:9 And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
Rom 11:10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever."
Gentiles Grafted In (emboldened emphasis mine)
Rom 11:11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.
Rom 11:12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! (meaning the Israelites)
Rom 11:13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
Rom 11:14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.
Rom 11:15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
Rom 11:16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
Rom 11:17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,
Rom 11:18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
Rom 11:19 Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."
Rom 11:20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.
Rom 11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
Rom 11:22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.
Rom 11:23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
Rom 11:24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
The Mystery of Israel's Salvation (emboldened emphasis mine)
Rom 11:25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
Rom 11:26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob";
Rom 11:27 "and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins."
Rom 11:28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.
Rom 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Rom 11:30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience,
Rom 11:31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.
Rom 11:32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
Rom 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
Rom 11:34 "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?"
Rom 11:35 "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"
Rom 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Folks, it is clear that we Gentiles are to be cautious, fearful, and grateful that we have been grafted into the Olive Tree called Israel! Yeshua did not come to earth to create a new Gentile oriented Church.
The Greco-Roman Antinomian Gentile Church instituted by man HAS NOT replaced Israel! Instead, it has adopted many apostate and erroneous ecclesiastical doctrines that might exclude most Gentiles from being grafted in to the Olive Tree, and in this sense, the Church has become quite irrelevant!
The Observer
Our world today is seemingly going insane. Where reason once prevailed, anarchy is present. Where moral values were once taught to our children, transgenderism and homosexuality is now taught. Where criminals and murderers were once hunted down and prosecuted, they are now released and told; "it's the fault of society", or the fault of a specific ethnic group; the 'Jews", in Bonhoeffer's time.
To many people this is "progress". To those who love God, it is lawlessness, the breaking of God's instructions, which is the biblical definition of sin!
Please listen to a man who lived through this madness before us and paid the ultimate price for it.
