A Watchmen from Jerusalem Teaching Part 1 of 2

Chuck Cohen, Co-director, Intercessors for Israel

This two part teaching is an expansion on some questions I wrote down while preparing to speak to a group of British pastors and leaders. I knew that some in attendance did not have a solid understanding of God's plan for Israel's end-time restoration. I also knew that one of the main issues was the way many believers view the Old Testament – the Tanach – seeing it as somehow less valuable than the New Testament, or worse, no longer God's Word for them or for the world. This teaching will give believers a better grasp of these issues, supplying scriptural ammunition against some 'traditional' errors of man by which the Adversary tries to obscure the truth of God's Word.

These are the questions that will be addressed in part one:

• What should we tell believers about Israel's place today in God's plan?

• Upon what verse does all Scripture depend?

• Why does the New Testament start by looking backward?

• Why did Yeshua call His grieving disciples "fools and slow of heart"?

• How does Paul view the Tanach?

What should we tell believers about Israel's place today in God's plan?

Obviously the answer must be from Scripture. If objectors reject the truth of the Word, then that is between them and the Lord Yeshua, and we can trust Him to deal with His children. After all, the Greek word normally translated "preach" in our English language New Testament would be better translated today mostly as "proclaim/announce." Sometimes instead of trying to justify or explain what God's Word says, all we need to do is proclaim it and watch Him use it for His glory (Jer. 1:12; Isa. 55:11).

And while prayer-covered answers are more effective than those that simply come from good theology, yet prayer-covered answers must be based on good theology, on solid biblical teaching. We must speak the truth in love of course, but the truth nonetheless. Sanctify them in Your truth. Your Word is truth. (John 17:17; see Eph. 4:15).

Upon what verse does all Scripture depend?

A common problem causing many believers to misinterpret scripture is viewing the Bible backwards! Historically the only Bible the people in the New Testament [NT] had was the Old Testament [Tanach], the only Bible Yeshua read and taught from. Many Christians today learn to interpret the Tanach through the eyes of the NT, when in fact Yeshua and His disciples, the early Messianic Body and all the NT authors, used the Tanach to interpret and prove that what they were saying in the NT was God's revealed truth.

With that in mind, let's note the one verse in the Bible upon which all other revelations depend. Without the truth in this verse all the rest of Scripture falls apart. It is the absolute foundational revelation of God Himself, and He placed it exactly where a solid foundation should be – right at the start. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen. 1:1)

If God did not create all there is, then who cares what the rest of the book says? If the God of the Bible is not the Creator, we need to search for that true God, or recognize that there is no God and come to the conclusion that we were not created, but evolved randomly out of a swampy past.

Genesis 1:1 is essential for everything that comes after it. Some theologians have seen this as the beginning of a pattern and called it "informing theology." This simply means all biblical revelation is built upon what God has revealed previously. Yes, there are new revelations. Yes, there is progressive revelation. But there is no biblical abrogation.¹ YHWH, the God of Israel, does not lie, does not speak mistakenly and does not forget what He said (Num. 23:19).

By placing this truth about His creatorship at the beginning of His book, God is saying because He is the Author of everything True and Real, there is nothing He promises which He cannot do. Often in the Tanach, both God Himself and His people rejoice in this fact, proclaiming it in revelation, prayer and praise. When His people are in situations needing a supernatural touch, they recall that He is the Creator of all and able to do what He has said. When God states that He is about to do something seemingly impossible, He reminds those who have ears to hear, that He, the Creator, is speaking.²

Some biblical examples

A wonderful example is found in the book of the Prophet Jeremiah. While imprisoned, he was told by God to buy a piece of property in Anatot, just north of Jerusalem (32:6-7). Yet God had been declaring through Jeremiah that the kingdom of Judah was to go into exile and it should not resist the King of Babylon – God's instrument to send them there. Jeremiah wonders at the logic of buying a property when all that remains of Israel is going into exile. But when the one God said would ask him to buy this land, did just that, Jeremiah is convinced that this word is the will of God (32:8).

After the transaction, the prophet turns to God in obvious confusion and yet what does he do? Jeremiah starts to pray by declaring the truths about God of which he is totally convinced. Then he rehearses before Him what has happened to Israel from when in Egypt up to Jeremiah's time, and affirms that the judgment Israel is now receiving has been foretold in God's Word. Behold, the siege mounds have come to the city to take it. The city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine, and the plague. And what You have spoken has happened! Behold, You see it. (Jer. 32:24).

Yet in all of this, note how Jeremiah begins his prayer: Ah Lord GOD, behold, You have made the heaven and the earth by Your great power and stretched out arm; there is nothing too hard for You: (Jer. 32:17) And when God responds to Jeremiah's cry, the first thing He emphasizes is His Creatorship. Then came the word of YHWH unto Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am YHWH, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for Me? (Jer. 32:26-27)

Here is a second witness. After the 70 years of Babylonian exile, a small remnant returned to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple while most Jews remained in an exile that had become very comfortable –like the situation of the Jewish people in the West today. By Zechariah's time, Jerusalem was a ruin – its walls broken down and the house of God leveled. Even after some reconstruction, this city was not high on the "cities-I-must-conquer-before-I-die" list of any world ruler. Yet God, who knows the future and what He would eventually do with this, His city, declares through Zechariah that "in that day" Jerusalem would become the center of the world's attention. Context shows "that day" to be the time period just before Yeshua's return as prophesied in Zechariah 14.

Do you think this word was hard for Zechariah to believe? It was probably beyond belief! Yet again, God starts His prophetic declaration by reminding His prophet who it is that is speaking. The burden of the word of YHWH for Israel, says YHWH, who stretches forth the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. Since He created all reality, for Him to make Jerusalem a royal pain-in-the-neck to the world in these last days is definitely within His ability to perform. And so He continues, Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and Jerusalem. And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, even if all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zech. 12:1-3)

What we see today concerning Jerusalem looks a lot like what God spoke through His prophet over 2400 years ago. God is making Jerusalem a point of confrontation between Himself and the world. It is not Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. It is not the religious settlers. It is not Christian Zionists. It is not even the Islamists. It is God, Creator of heaven and earth who is using His city to challenge the world (Psa. 48:2; Matt. 5:35; Dan. 9:16, 19).³

Other examples of God using His creatorship credentials to remind His people of His ability to do what He wills:

When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you, even in the last days, if you turn to YHWH your God, and be obedient to His voice…He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them. For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day God created man upon the earth…whether there has ever been any such thing as great as this…Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you heard, and live?
Deut. 4:30-33

Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, 'My way is hid from YHWH; my justice is passed over by my God?' Have you not known, have you not heard, that the everlasting God, YHWH, Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or get weary? There is no searching out of His understanding.
Isa. 40:27-28

Thus says God YHWH, He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and made that which comes out of it; He that gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: I YHWH have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand, and will keep You, and give You for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Isa. 42:5-6

But now thus says YHWH who created you, Jacob, and He who formed you, Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name. You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon you.
Isa. 43:1-2; cp. 54:16-17

Thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel…say to your masters, I have made the earth, the man and beast that are upon the ground, by My great power and My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed right to Me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant … And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves from him.
Jer. 27:4-7

Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Messiah, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden by God, who created all things by Messiah Yeshua:
Eph. 3:8-9

You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for You have created all things, and for Your purpose they are and were created.
Rev. 4:11

I saw another angel flying in the midst of the sky, having the everlasting gospel to proclaim unto them that dwell on the earth – to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people – saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come, and worship Him who made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Rev. 14:6-7

Some verses in which His people encourage themselves with the truth that their God is Creator:

Hezekiah prayed…YHWH, the God of Israel who dwells between the cherubs, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth. YHWH, bow down Your ear and hear…the words of Sennacherib, who has sent him to taunt the living God.
2 Kin. 19:15-16

Hiram said, Blessed be YHWH, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son blessed with judgment and understanding, who will build a house for YHWH…
2 Chr. 2:12a

I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from YHWH, who made heaven and earth.
Psa. 121:1-2

Our soul has escaped like a bird out of the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of YHWH, who made the heavens and earth.
Psa. 124:7-8

…Lord, You are the God who made the heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who by the mouth of Your servant David said, 'Why did the nations rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against His Anointed.' For truly, against Your holy child Yeshua, whom You have anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your counsel determined before to be done. Now, Lord, behold their threatening, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your Word, by the stretching forth of Your hand for healing and signs and wonders to be done in the name of Your holy child Yeshua.
Acts 4:24b-30

Be encouraged. Regardless of how hopeless our situation may seem, our God is the Creator of all. He has more than enough power to rescue us. Whether we are discouraged, depressed, hurting, angry, frustrated, confused, or grieving, let us approach God by first declaring the truth of who He is, and letting that be the foundation of our trust and hope in Him. The more we understand His character – who He really is – the easier it is to trust Him implicitly.

Why does the New Testament start by looking backward?

What is the significance of the NT opening with this verse: The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ [Yeshua the Messiah], the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matt. 1:1)

First, we need to know what "Christ" means. "Christ" is an English transliteration of Christos (Greek); Messiah is an English transliteration of Mashiach (Hebrew). Both Christos and Mashiach literally mean "Anointed One."⁴ Yeshua was anointed by the Holy Spirit with power and authority more than any man before or since.⁵ In His calling He fulfills the three types who were anointed in the Tanach – the prophet (1 Kin. 19:16), the priest, especially the High Priest (Ex. 40:13; Lev. 16:32) and the king (1 Sam. 15:17; 2 Sam. 5:3; 1 Kin. 1:34, 45; 19:16; Psa. 45:7).

Although the fulfillment of these types can overlap, yet in general in the gospels we see Yeshua in His priestly and prophetic roles, interceding before God for the people (Gen. 20:7; Jer. 27:18; 37:3; 42:2-4) and explaining God's Word to the people (Lev. 10:11; Deut. 33:10; Mal. 2:7). In His role as prophet, He was the prophet like Moses whom Moses prophesied would come (Deut. 18:15, 18) and was seen as that by some of the people when He walked in the land of Israel. Then those men who had seen the miracle that Yeshua did, said, 'Truly, this is that prophet who should come into the world'. (John 6:14); Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, 'Of a truth this is the Prophet'. (John 7:40; see also Matt. 21:11; Luke 7:16; John 9:17)

Today in Heaven, He is fulfilling the role of High Priest, which He began to do when He ascended and presented His blood before the Father (Lev. 16:15-17; Heb. 9:11-14, 22-28). He is also fulfilling another aspect of the prophet-priest by His intercession for us (Isa. 53:12; Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25). And when He returns, He will be fulfilling His role as David's Son (1 Kin. 5:5; 15:4; Jer. 33:21; Matt. 9:27; 15:22; 21:9; Luke 1:32; Rom. 1:3), the King of the Jews (Matt. 2:2; 27:37; John 19:19), and the King of Kings (Rev. 17:14; 19:16), ruling all nations from Jerusalem (Zech. 14:16).

Yeshua is also introduced as "the Son of David" because the promises God made to David about his son find their final fulfillment in Yeshua. He is the One who sits upon His father David's throne forever (see above paragraph).

Yeshua is also named "the Son of Abraham" because God's promises to Abraham's son, his seed, find their fullest completion in Yeshua. It is in Him, the Seed of Abraham, that the gentiles are blessed. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the gentiles through faith, preached the gospel before to Abraham, saying, 'In you shall all gentiles be blessed'. (Gal. 3:8) Paul is saying in this verse from Galatians, that in God's initial promise to Abraham, in which he was promised a land, a name, a people and divine protection, one also finds the promise that through Abraham's seed the good news of Abraham's God would be available to non-Jews as well. Genesis 12:3b is a specific prophecy of the gospel, literally, the good news, to the gentiles and yet it is part of God's initial promise to Father Abraham.⁶⁷

Why did Yeshua call His grieving disciples fools and slow of heart (Luke 24:25)?

This quote is from Yeshua's post-resurrection appearance on the road to Emmaus. Now if I was Messiah and had just risen from the dead, I would want to comfort my followers in a much more demonstrative way. "Hey, brothers, look! It's me! See my hands and feet? Come on, touch me! Group hug! Stop being so confused and upset." Yet thank God I am not Messiah and Yeshua knew that what He was saying was the most loving thing to do – confront their unbelief, specifically their unbelief concerning the Tanach. They were "fools and slow of heart" because they did not have confident trust in all that God spoke through Moses and the prophets.

Does Yeshua have any cause today to confront many Christian pastors, professors and laypeople with the exact same charge? If these people really believed what Moses and the prophets said, there would be no question that before Yeshua's return, Israel must be restored to the land God promised over two hundred times to give them (Gen. 50:24; Ex. 33:1; Deut. 9:5; Josh. 1:6). The ruined cities would be rebuilt (Ezek. 36:35-36); Israel's army would become exceedingly great (Ezek. 37:10) and all Israel, as a nation, would come to trust in their Messiah in what the world calls "the occupied territories" (Jer. 31:3-7; Ezek. 36:23-29; Zech. 12:10). That means most of the Jews would come back home in unbelief; all nations would come against Jerusalem, i.e., Israel (Zech. 12:2-3), and divide it's capital city for a brief time (Zech. 14:1-2); and only then would Messiah Yeshua return to the Mount of Olives, on the eastern side of Jerusalem, in the physical land of Israel (Zech. 14:3-4; Acts 1:11).

Why then do some Christians say that this modern day State of Israel is not that which the prophets spoke about? It is simple. Many Western Christians are fools and slow of heart, not believing all that Moses and the prophets said must come to pass before Yeshua's return. Did Yeshua rebuke His disciples for this? Yes, and then He opened their understanding (Luke 24:27, 31-32, 44-45).

Another Jesus

This brings up a very disturbing question. Is our Jesus the same as the one in our bibles? He Himself said, For had you believed Moses, you would have believed Me for he wrote of Me. But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe My words? (John 5:46-47) Paul warned that unless we are diligent to test everything according to the Scriptures – in his day only the Tanach – we can end up believing in a different Jesus and a different gospel. We can also receive a different spirit which the Adversary sends, trying to corrupt the Church, and which God allows to test His Church (2 Cor. 11:4; Gal. 1:6-10).⁸

So if someone is ignorant of what the Tanach says about the Messiah, how can they know for certain that they are hearing about the real Messiah, the One prophesied to be born in Bethlehem as King of the Jews (Matt. 2:2; John 1:49), the One called in Heaven today the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root and Offspring of David (Rev. 5:5, 22:16), the Messiah promised to Israel?⁹

The foundations of our faith – God's prophetic word fulfilled

Another issue Yeshua addressed on the road to Emmaus is that the proof of His Messiahship is not that He was crucified, died and rose from the dead, but that His crucifixion, death and resurrection were the fulfillment of God's prophetic word in the Tanach. Paul says this clearly, Moreover, brothers, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and in which you stand. Also by which you are saved, if you keep in mind what I preached to you – unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, how Messiah died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the scriptures: (1 Cor. 15:1-4)

Since when Paul was writing there was no NT, obviously "the scriptures" he referred to was the Old Testament – those same scriptures Yeshua spoke of when rebuking His disciples. O fools and slow of heart [mind, emotions, will] to believe all things that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary for Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter into His glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all Scriptures [the Tanach] the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:25-27)

Later that night, Yeshua appeared to all of His disciples, saying basically the same thing. These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms about Me. And He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures [the Tanach], and said to them, So it was written, and so it was necessary for Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins be proclaimed in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:44-49)¹⁰

How does Paul view the Tanach?

As already mentioned, the only Bible Paul ever read or quoted from was the Tanach. When writing to his spiritual son Timothy, an elder of a congregation, Paul encouraged him to continue in the things that you have learned and been assured of…that from a child you have known the Holy Scriptures [the Tanach], which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith in Messiah Yeshua. All Scripture [the Tanach] is God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be mature, thoroughly furnished for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:14-17)

This passage was written by God's Spirit through His servant Paul specifically to prepare believers for the last days, and the description of the last days in this chapter accurately describes today's post-modern, "post-truth" world. Know this also, that in the last days perilous [harsh, ferocious, savage – think Islamic State videos] times shall come, for people shall be lovers of themselves, money-loving, braggers, proud, slanderous, unpersuadable by parents, unthankful, worldly, unfeeling, treacherous, accusers [Gk: diablos], without self-control, wild, not loving the good, betrayers, impulsive, inflated, pleasure-loving more than God loving, having a form of full devotion, but having ignored the power of it. And from these turn away. (2 Tim. 3:1-5)

The Holy Spirit uses our knowledge of the Tanach, "the Holy Scriptures," for our protection in these increasingly paganized times. What deception has captivated some believers who view the Old Testament as less important than how the Spirit of God views it! Is the Tanach as much the Word of Your God as the New Testament? Do you trust and believe in it as much as Messiah Yeshua and the early believers did? If not, why not?

Paul also writes that the Tanach contains all that is needed to proclaim the gospel (lit.: the good news) about Messiah Yeshua. Using only the Hebrew Bible, can you prove that Yeshua is Israel's Messiah? Again, if not, why not? This is how all the NT writers and evangelists did it. The Tanach is the only "Scriptures" the early Messianic Jews used, and they "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6). Everything from Messiah Yeshua's virgin birth, His place of birth, His miracles, His death and resurrection, His ascension and His being seated at His Father's right hand today to His Second Coming are all found in the pre-NT books of your bible. Also, the Tanach makes it undeniable that the promised Messiah was going to be YHWH, God the Son, in the flesh.¹¹

Finally, Paul affirms that "all" of the Tanach is God-breathed – that is, it is as if God Himself wrote it – which He did through His chosen vessels. All of it, in the original languages, is His eternal word to us, even those verses we do not like or cannot understand. And all of it is profitable – helpful and advantageous – for the Church for its doctrine, its teaching. Any teaching among believers that does not line up with the Tanach is not from God.

That is why I often say that there is no such thing as "New Testament theology" since all biblical theology in the NT must stand on God's Word in the Tanach. I prefer the term "biblical theology" to describe the teachings of the Bible that have their origin in Him. Obviously, this means that replacement theology and its modern iteration, fulfillment theology, or any other doctrine that removes Israel from its God-given place in His eternal plans, is not of God.

I am not a New Testament believer. I am a Bible believer. How about you?

In part two of this teaching, I will address the following questions:

• How did Messiah Yeshua interpret Tanach prophecies?

• How should we see Israel's modern-day restoration?

• God loves His Jewish people, but does God really care about Israel as a nation?