Whom Do You Say That I Am?
Messiah In The Wilderness
Thus far we have seen that in order to truly know Yahuweh, we must search for Yahushua! We have seen that we must search out His will for us, not only in the New Testament — but also in the Old Testament writings! We may see Yahushua hidden in every book of the Bible, disguised here and there in various personages, prophetically revealing Himself in the activities and sayings of various characters.
In this series, we are looking at the various Truths of Messiah, and how He will cause His people to enter His Rest, another euphemism for entering in to the City of the King. To see this more clearly, we will look at Messiah In the Wilderness, and His dealings with the Israelites in the Wilderness, as our example.
Messiah In the Wilderness
We shall now look for further clues to the true identity of Yahushua. Notice the following passage:
Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. 10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (1Corinthians 10:1-11)
We see in the above passage that it was Messiah that accompanied the Israelites in the Wilderness (verse 4), and that it was Messiah whom they tempted (verse 9). Now let us notice the following passage:
And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: 21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. 22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; 23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: (Numbers 14:20-23)
In the above Numbers passage, we see the title ‘LORD’ shown with all Capital letters [in most of the English Scriptures]. We know from the underlying Hebrew that this is the Hebrew word YHWH, which is the name of the Creator, the Heavenly Father Yahuweh. And so in this passage, we are told that it was Yahuweh that they tempted!
Beloved, we just saw above (1Corinthians 10:9) that it was Messiah they tempted; but in the Numbers passage, we are told it was Yahuweh they tempted ten times (Num 14:22).
Dear Reader, is this a contradiction?
First, we do know that there are no contradictions in Yahuweh’s Word. There are riddles, however, appearing as contradictions to the unlearned. This is a ‘riddle’ for the Bride! The revealing of the true identity of Messiah is the goal of the riddle, and the answer to the riddle can be found be seeking out Messiah’s identity, seen throughout the Scriptures.
The answer to this riddle is the essence of the apostle John’s words in (John 1:1, 14). John tells us that Yahushua Messiah is the Word of Yahuweh, the One who is mentioned in many places throughout the Old Testament Scriptures. For example, wherever we see the phrase, “the word of the LORD,” we know this is referring to Messiah.
Let us look at further Scripture. In the following passage, observe what Yahuweh said:
When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. 10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: 11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. (Psalms 95:9)
We read of the same event, even the same passage above, quoted in Hebrews — in the context that it is talking about Messiah Yahushua. Note the following:
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; (Hebrews 3:7-15)
So we see from Scripture that it was Yahuweh, and it was Messiah, and it was the Holy Spirit, each spoken of as the One who was tempted in the wilderness. Are they one and the same? In order to answer this, we must diligently seek Him out, and look for further clues in Scripture.
I Will Give You Rest: The Promise
Let us look closely at the following passage:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
Who is it, Beloved, that spoke the promise, “I will give you rest,” in the above verse? We know from the context, that it was Yahushua that spoke these words. Now look at the following verse:
And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. (Exodus 33:14)
Now again, who said, “I will give you rest,” in this verse? We see from the context of the above passage, that it was Yahuweh that spoke these words. Is there a contradiction? No, there is no contradiction, when we realise that the Spirit of Messiah is none other than Yahuweh’s promised presence. Messiah is also the Word of Yahuweh, the speaker of Yahuweh’s Words, as seen throughout the Old Testament. This is not only a revealing of who He is, but as we shall see in this series, a prophetic promise of how “Messiah-in-us” will be our hope of glory, and how He will allow us to enter in!
We could continue indefinitely. We shall show a few more passages, each revealing the true identity of Yahushua as Messiah — as the Son of Yahuweh, as the Word of Yahuweh, and as the presence of Yahuweh, as seen throughout the Old Testament:
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:58)
I and my Father are one. (John 10:30)
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? (John 14:7-9)
“Yes, yes,” we say. “We have long known of the above passages,” we insist. “We all know and believe that Yahushua is Yahuweh, that He is Yahuweh of the Old Testament,” we continue. “We believe in the deity of Messiah in our congregation — isn’t that one of the fundamentals of the Faith?” we ask.
What is the great irony here? We have now arrived at a fork in the road — and a great Divide! But first let us pause for a moment, to summarise what we have seen thus far.
We started out in seeing that those that do not do the will of the Father will not know Yahushua, and will not know His true identity; these will also not know the Father. We have seen that to lay a good foundation, one must be a “DO-er” of the sayings of Yahushua. We then started out on a search to determine what constitutes Yahushua’s sayings, so that we may be DO-ers of those sayings, and not hearers only.
We then found that we must search both the Old and New Testaments for those precious things that Yahushua has laid up for His Beloved. We then saw that Scripture reveals the identity of Yahushua as none other than the Word of Yahuweh, and the presence of Yahuweh, and as the One who is Yahuweh of the Old Testament. Let us now proceed to find the great and vast significance to these Truths.
If You Love Me: The Great Divide
Beloved, we have seen some clues in Scripture that indicate Yahushua is the Word of Yahuweh, and is Yahuweh of the Old Testament. Thus we must realise that the words described as the “sayings of Yahushua” are not confined to the New Testament. The sayings of Yahushua will be found in the Old Testament also! The sayings of Yahushua are the words that Yahuweh spoke. The sayings of Yahushua include what many call ‘Old Covenant’ words.
It is here, at this understanding, that the great Divide begins — the great divide between those who are later identified as the Wise Virgins and the Foolish Virgins!
Many Believers try to use their natural abilities to try to understanding spiritual things, and advance no further in the knowledge of Messiah. Many likewise ‘say’ they believe that Yahushua is Yahuweh. Yahuweh is now testing everyone’s foundation, to see if it is one built on the sand of hearing, but not doing, or on the Rock of hearing and doing, of ‘My Sayings’ as we saw in the parable of Mat 7:24-27.
We have now seen that ‘My Sayings’ are all the words in both the Old and New Testament.
This great importance of this understanding of who Yahushua really is, can be seen in one statement by Yahushua:
If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15)
Notice Yahushua did not say keep the ‘New Testament’ commandments, but keep ‘My’ Commandments. Yahushua is testing us, whether we know Him, and love Him, by looking to see which Commandments we keep.
Let’s now notice carefully the result of trying to keep only what we imagine to be the ‘New’ Testament commandments.
The Result of Trying to Keep Only the ‘New’ Testament Commandments
When we attempt to keep only what we imagine are ‘New’ Testament Commandments, what do we show — and what will be the result? According to Scripture, here is a brief summary:
Summary: Results of Trying to Keep/Obey ‘Only’ the New Testament Commandments:
- If we do not know who Messiah really is. . . [He is the pre-incarnate WORD of Yahuweh seen throughout the Old Testament, who gave all the Commandments to Moses].
- The result will be, “…I never knew you…” (Matthew 7:23a)
- If we do not Love Messiah. . . [He has told us, “If you love me, keep My Commandments” — that is, do not work iniquity] (John 14:15).
- Those who know Messiah, understand that ‘My’ Commandments include the Old Testament Commandments Messiah gave to Moses — but many today have been taught not to obey them, which disobedience is defined as working iniquity [Lawlessness].
- The result will be, “…Depart from me, you who work iniquity [‘Lawlessness,’ or not keeping the Law]…!” (Matthew 7:23b).
Today many spiritual Leaders have imagined that the New Testament writings are separate from the Old Testament writings. According to Scripture, however, what is popularly called the New Testament is simply the revealing of Messiah, through the living testimony of Messiah, and the testimony of those who follow Messiah — who is Himself a living testimony of complete obedience to all of Scripture. The Scriptures reveal that to truly obey the New Testament, is to obey all of Torah!
Thus we have the great Divide! Many have been told by their Pastors that the ‘Old’ Covenant has been done away with, but in reality the ‘Old’ Covenant is simply the fine print of the ‘New’ Covenant, with a few changes of the Sacrifice, and the Priesthood, all outlined in the Book of Hebrews for our inspection.
Other Scriptures, including the words of Paul, have been wrested or twisted (2Pet 3:16) by the Theological Seminaries and Bible Schools, then passed on to unsuspecting spiritual Leaders, who refuse to search out and read the Scriptures for themselves.
The result is that many of the people following these Leaders have been deceived, and will fail the first test of Knowing Him and of Loving Him. These will hear:
“…I never knew you!…”
“…Depart from Me, you who work ‘iniquity’ [‘Lawlessness,’ or not keeping the Law]!” (Matthew 7:23)
Beloved, what will you hear?
Conclusion
Many of the sayings of Yahushua have been relegated to today’s ash heap, because many Pastors and Teachers are teaching that the Old Testament writings are not for Believers to obey today. Some say that the Old Testament words and sayings are for information and encouragement only, but are not relevant, as if the words Yahuweh spoke were somehow separated from Yahuweh Himself.
The Scriptures, however, give us a magnificent revealing of Messiah, and who He really is. As we seek Him out in Scripture, He reveals Himself to the seekers as Messiah in the Wilderness, who gave all the Words of the Law [Torah] to Moses. Yahushua [and His Disciples] demonstrated for us how to keep the Torah, and He now looks for those who will emulate Him, and obey Him, because of our love for Him. It is these to whom He will manifest Himself, to make Himself plain and evident.
Because our Traditions and Commandments of Men can actually prevent Messiah-in-us from being made manifest in us, we will next look at some of the popular, man-made teachings notions in the Light of Scripture. The great Divide today is simply a ‘Great Gulf Fixed,’ a widening separation between those who hold to, and practice the Traditions and Doctrines of Men, and those who hold to, and practice only the Scriptures. This is an important issue — for It is Messiah-in-us who will bring us in.
Proceed to Messiah-In-You.
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