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We are
getting close to the end of Yeshua’s earthly life
and ministry. He has one week left to live on
Earth. Other than the week of creation, this may
be the most important week in the history of our
planet. Great things are happening! Prophecies
of the greatest importance are being fulfilled!
Things that will impact not only Israel, but also
the nations, God and man, angels and demons, the
Earth and the universe, this world and the World-To-Come,
life and death, Heaven and Hell, are being affected
by the events of this very special week!
This is
the greatest week in history, but it was not an
easy week for the young Rabbi. It is a week filled
with great enthusiasm for the Messiah by most
of the people, but the hostility of the religious
leaders is coming to a climax. This is a week
of confrontation with the leaders. While confrontations
can be difficult, they can also be beneficial,
and good things can come from them.
We already
saw how on Monday, Yeshua had the courage to cleanse
the Temple from the mercantilism that was defiling
it. This is Tuesday, the third day of this special
week. Let’s see what happens: 11:27 They(Yeshua
and His disciples) came again to Jerusalem.
And as He was walking in the temple (so again,
He had the courage to go to the very center of
the nation, to the temple that He had just cleansed
the day before; but this was also the center of
the opposition), the chief priests and the
scribes (the Torah-teachers) and the elders
(the leaders of the nation, perhaps members
of the Sanhedrin) came to Him, and began saying
to Him, "By what authority are You doing these
things, or who gave You this authority to do these
things?"
“What
right do you have to challenge our authority?
We are in charge of the temple. Who gave you the
right to cleanse the temple? We are the rightful
leaders of Israel. We represent God. We speak
for God. The Word of God commands all to obey
us.” This is a test designed to trap Yeshua. If
Yeshua says, “I have authority because I am a
prophet of God, and God has spoken to Me”, perhaps
they can accuse Him of being a false prophet going
against their authority and thereby violating
the Torah. If He answers, “I have authority because
I am the Messiah”, perhaps they can challenge
Him with being a false Messiah and for blasphemy.
If He says, “I have authority because I am the
King of Israel”, perhaps they can charge Him with
treason against Rome, claiming that Caesar was
their rightful king.
Now, Yeshua
could have told them the truth - that He was a
prophet, and the Messiah, and the King, and the
eternal Son of God, who created the universe,
but He didn’t answer them directly. Perhaps He
didn’t want to give them ammunition against Him.
Perhaps it was because He didn’t want to throw
pearls before swine. Perhaps it wasn’t the right
moment to answer them directly. The time to answer
them directly will come very shortly (see 14:61-62).
Instead, Messiah responds to their questions with
a question of His own - a question that will force
them to deal with spiritual realities. Their answer
will also reveal to everyone present where they
are really are spiritually. And Yeshua said
to them, "I will ask you one question, and you
answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority
I do these things. "Was the baptism of John from
Heaven, or from men? Answer Me." John was
one of the very greatest prophets among Israel’s
glorious seers. He was first prophet to come among
us in hundreds of years. This God-inspired man
acknowledged that Yeshua was greater than he was;
that Yeshua existed before him; that Yeshua was
God’s special Son who was full of the Holy Spirit,
and was pleasing to God the Father. And, the leaders
of Israel had heard about these things.
They
began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If
we say, 'From Heaven,' He will say, 'Then why
did you not believe him?' If John was a true
prophet, with authority that came from God, and
if John acknowledged the greater authority of
Yeshua, then to recognize the authority of John
was also to recognize the authority of Yeshua,
and this the leaders were unwilling to do. That
brought the leaders to their second option: But
shall we say, 'From men'?" In other words,
“Dare we deny John’s authority, and deny that
he a true prophet, and that God didn’t send him,
and he didn’t speak the truth?” But they didn’t
want to do that either, since, as Mark tells us
- they were afraid of the people, for everyone
considered John to have been a real prophet. The
people knew that John was a real prophet, the
they leaders didn’t want to offend the people.
The people
had greater discernment and courage than the leaders.
They knew that John was a true prophet, and were
willing to say so. But the leaders were not willing
to lead. They were not willing to take a position
on whether John was a prophet, because they didn’t
like where the evidence pointed, and because they
feared man more than God.
Answering
Yeshua, they said, "We do not know." If the
leaders couldn’t tell if John was a true prophet,
then were they qualified to determine if Yeshua
was? No. And Yeshua said to them, "Nor will
I tell you by what authority I do these things."
The leaders tried to test Yeshua, to trip Him
up and discredit Him, but our wise Rabbi turned
the tables on them, and exposed them as insincere,
and unwilling to deal with the most important
spiritual realities before them, and unfit to
be the spiritual leaders of God’s people.
To make
sure that everyone understands that the leaders
of Israel are making a terrible mistake, and are
not wise and discerning, but arrogant and wrong,
and unworthy of their position and the continued
confidence of the people, and that Yeshua is the
One with the authority to do everything He is
doing, and say everything He is saying, Yeshua
told a story to all who were present at this confrontation.
12:1 And
He began to speak to them in parables: "A man
planted a vineyard (so he could grow grapes
in order to make delicious wine) and put a
wall around it (to protect it), and dug
a vat under the wine press (to collect the
juice of the crushed grapes, and turn it into
wine) and built a tower (for added protection,
for the men who would protect the crop from danger.
The owner of the vineyard did everything that
was necessary to have a successful vineyard),
and rented it out to vine-growers and went on
a journey. At the harvest time he sent a slave
to the vine-growers, in order to receive some
of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers
(that was part of the rent payment that was due
the owner of the vineyard). They took him,
and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again
he sent them another slave, and they wounded him
in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he
sent another, and that one they killed; and so
with many others, beating some and killing others.
He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent
him last of all to them, saying, 'They will respect
my son.' But those vine-growers said to one another,
'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and
the inheritance will be ours!' They took him,
and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard
(rejecting and killing him, and treating him with
contempt). What will the owner of the vineyard
do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers,
and will give the vineyard to others.
The man
who planted the vineyard, and the owner of the
vineyard, is God the Father.
The vineyard
is the nation of Israel. Our nation was created
by God to know Him, and be close to the Creator,
and fulfill some very special purposes.
The fruit
of the vineyard is the wisdom and righteousness
that results in salvation. We were to know the
principles of atonement through faith and the
sacrifice of an innocent animal, and live the
right way, and bring the message about reconciliation
to the God of Israel, and the good news about
the possibility of salvation, to the other nations
of the world.
The vine-growers
that rented the vineyard from the owner are the
leaders of Israel, who job was to help the Jewish
people fulfill our calling.
The slaves
sent to get some of the production of the vineyard
are the prophets of Israel. When we went astray,
which we did frequently God sent prophets to us
point us in the right direction, to help us get
back on track, and to encourage us. But, the leaders
of the Jewish people were almost always corrupt,
and instead of welcoming the prophets, rejected
them, and mistreated them, and sometimes killed
these men that God sent to help us.
The beloved
son of the owner of the vineyard, who was sent
last to Israel, is the Son of God. He is the greatest
of the prophets, and the greatest revelation of
God. He alone among all the ones sent to us shares
the Father’s name and nature, deity and essence.
He should have been treated by Israel’s leaders
with honor and respect. They should have understood
Him the best, and supported Him most. But that
is not what happened.
But the
leaders of Israel who were in power in His generation,
were again corrupt. Their motives were not pure.
They may have said they were in their positions
because they loved and served God, and wanted
to serve the people, but in reality they were
operating out of impure motives - personal interests,
not God’s interests; greed, desire for power and
honor for self. The truth was that they were not
close to God. They were far from God. And, by
rejecting God’s beloved son, they showed that
they opposed God. And, Nevi Yeshua (Prophet Jesus)
predicts once again that they are going to reject
Him and kill Him.
Yeshua
predicts that there will be severe consequences
for a failure of this magnitude. God the Father
will not allow such hypocrisy, such wickedness,
such willful stupidity, such negligence of duty,
to go unpunished. Judgment will come on the corrupt
leaders and the nation they lead - which happened
in the events surrounding 70 AD, and the 9th of
Av, which we remember at this time of the year.
That judgment has continued to affect our nation
for the past 1935 years, years of exile, diaspora
and great difficulties among the nations.
The faithless
leaders of Israel will be replaced by new leaders
- Messiah’s chosen men, the Apostles, the Emissaries
that Messiah sends to us. They will form the true
leadership of the nation of Israel. They will
rule over the faithful remnant of Israel, and
other peoples from other nations that join the
Commonwealth of Israel by placing their faith
in Israel’s Messiah. The apostles are the true
leaders of Israel. The faithful remnant of Messianic
Jews are the true Israel, the Israel of God.
And, Yeshua
adds, this is not a new revelation. This is what
was predicted hundreds of years earlier, in Psalm
118. 12:10 "Have you not even read this Scripture:
'the stone which the builders rejected, this became
the chief corner stone; this came about from the
Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"The
stone is Yeshua, the long-awaited Messiah. A stone
is strong, and stable and enduring. Messiah brings
strength and stability and endurance to our lives.
Just as stones are used for building, so we must
build our lives with Messiah. We must believe
in Him, follow Him, embrace His values, goals
and agenda, His mission and message. Just as a
stone may be used as a weapon, so Messiah is our
protector. Just as stones are used to erect memorials,
so Yeshua is the One we should continually remember.
The builders
are the leaders of Israel. They were entrusted
to build Israel up, and lead us well, and bring
us closer to God, and fill us with wisdom and
knowledge, and help us welcome the Son of God
when He came - like the prophet John did. They
should have listened to John, and to Yeshua, and
better understood the Scriptures. But the leaders
of the Messiah’s generation were not good builders.
They will reject the precious stone - the Messiah.
They will kill Him. But God will overrule the
errors and the sins of the leaders of His Chosen
Nation. They will reject Messiah, but God will
accept Messiah. They will kill the Messiah, but
God will raise Him up to everlasting life. They
have no use for the Messiah, but God will make
Him into the cornerstone of all that He is building
in time and eternity, in this world and in the
World To Come!
Messiah
is the cornerstone of the great building that
God is building. Just as the cornerstone adds
strength to the foundation, and supports the rest
of the building, so we must build our lives on
the wonderful Son of God. It is impossible to
have a stable and enduring life apart from Him.
It is impossible for human beings to be part of
God’s everlasting Kingdom, enjoy the resurrection
and eternal life, apart from Yeshua.
This parable
was clear, and powerful and offended the leaders.
And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet
they feared the people, for they understood that
He spoke the parable against them. And so they
left Him and went away. But, this is not the
end of the confrontations between Yeshua and the
leaders of Israel. There will be more on Tuesday
and Wednesday. Then, Thursday night Rabbi Yeshua
will be arrested, tried, abused and executed.
But, at
the close of this most important week, and the
beginning of a new week, a week filled with hope
for all of humanity, God the Father will overrule
the rulers, and raise His Son from the dead. And,
because of His death and resurrection, Yeshua,
our prophet, Messiah and King becomes victorious
Savior, our sin-bearer, out atonement-bringer,
our reconciler to God, our giver of eternal life.
Don’t
be like these religious leaders, who knew so much,
and yet understood so little, who were more committed
to a wrong theological position than to the truth,
who were more concerned about their personal position,
power and authority than the Kingdom of God, and
who were arrogantly confident that they were wiser
and more knowledgeable than anyone else. But,
not all of the facts lined up with their position.
And, they didn’t have the humility or the willingness
to modify their position. Be willing to investigate
the truth, and incorporate all of the facts, and
then, regardless of the fear of man, and the consequences,
stand for the truth. If you do, the truth will
lead you to men like John, and to the other prophets
of Israel, and to whole of the Word of God, and
to Messiah Yeshua, and to God the Father, and
to the Trinity, and to resurrection, salvation
and eternal life!
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