“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”
Isaiah 55: 6-7
_____________
#####
Understanding John 8: 31-32 Correctly
This SnyderTalk editorial is a continuation of the May 1, 2020 SnyderTalk editorial titled “Understanding John 8: 12-30 Correctly”. You should read that one before you read this one. Rereading it would be a good idea, since I have made substantial revisions to it.
John 8: 30 told us that a group of ordinary Jewish people who believed the Messiah were standing around listening to a conversation He was engaged in with a group of Pharisees.
This is the question: What did they believe?
The answer: They believed what the Messiah said.
So, what did the Messiah say?
The Messiah said that He is Yahweh and that the Pharisees had created a religion on their own, Judaism, and a set of laws to govern it, Halacha. He made it clear that neither their religion nor their laws came from Yahweh.
The group of people who believed the Messiah was not large, and they were not vocal. They were afraid to speak up, because they knew that the Pharisees would have punished them for moving in the Messiah’s direction.
In the Messiah’s day, Pharisees had real power over Jewish people in Judea. In Israel today, they do not have much influence unless you are in neighborhoods that they control. For instance, they exercise control in neighborhoods like Mea She’arim in Jerusalem. A word of advice: Don’t go there. They are just as dangerous today as they were during the Messiah’s day.
There were other ordinary Jewish people who heard the conversation that day, too. They didn’t believe the Messiah. Keep in mind that the conversation took place in the Temple complex. Jewish people who frequented the Temple area tended to be Pharisaic in nature. The same is true in Israel today, except today’s super-religious Jews in Israel are not called Pharisees. They are called “Hasidim” and “ultra-Orthodox Jews”.
John 8: 31-32
John 8: 31-32 are the only verses in John 8 that are addressed specifically to the ordinary Jewish people who believed the Messiah:
So, Yeshua was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8: 31-32)
The Messiah was telling the people who believed Him that His word is Yahweh’s word. When He said, “If you continue in My word,” He was telling them to go back to the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. That is the Tanach, i.e., the Old Testament. It is Yahweh’s word, and it does not include the New Testament. There was no New Testament at that time. See The Trilogy for a detailed explanation.
He said that if they returned to Yahweh’s word, they would know the truth and the truth would set them free. Returning to Yahweh’s word also meant turning away from Jewish traditions wrapped in religion (Judaism) and decorated with laws (Halacha).
The Pharisees and other super-religious Jews got that message loud and clear. I’ll explain that later.
A Final Point
Yahweh did not create Christianity, either. It came from the Roman Emperor Constantine and the church he created, the Roman Catholic Church. Again, see The Trilogy.
Christianity today is loaded with pagan traditions thanks to Constantine and the Catholic Church. The Protestant Revolution brought about some change, but not nearly enough. Getting Christians to examine their heritage is just as difficult as getting religious Jews to examine their heritage. As I said in “Understanding John 8: 12-30 Correctly”, bad habits and religious traditions are hard to break.
Worst of all, the main message in the Scriptures is intentionally masked. This is the message: Yahweh became a Man so that He could die as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He also came to restore the faith of Abraham (not religion) and the use of Yahweh’s Name.
Thanks to Halacha, most Jewish people who know Yahweh’s Name won’t say it, and most Christians don’t know Yahweh’s Name. They call him “Jesus” instead, despite the fact that His name at birth was Yeshua, not Jesus, and Yeshua told us plainly that He is Yahweh.
After reading John 8, anyone who doesn’t see the importance of Yahweh’s Name has a serious reading comprehension problem, and I include preachers in that group. Candidly, I have reservations about seminary education. How can anyone spend 3 years studying the Bible, and miss this message?
I have the same reservation about so-called “linguists” who translate the Bible into English. They know that they are hiding Yahweh’s Name in the Bibles that they produce, and they excuse their sin by saying, “We adhered to ‘time-honored’ traditions or principles.” Nothing is honorable about rejecting Yahweh’s commands or tampering with His word.
The current confusion about the correct pronunciation of Yahweh’s Name proves that stupid decisions have dangerous consequences. The rabbis in the mid-2nd century BC who forbade Jewish people from saying “Yahweh” probably never imagined that they would make it very difficult for anyone to obey Yahweh’s command to tell the world about Him by Name. They made arguably the worst decision in the history of the world. Satan is the only person who benefitted from it. Regrettably, that is a message that believers are not hearing in churches or in synagogues.
Thankfully, Yahweh has a plan for solving this problem. He is going to return and deliver the message Himself:
“Therefore behold, I am going to make them know — this time I will make them know My power and My might, and they will know that My Name is Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 16: 21)
This is not rocket science. In fact, it is so simple that anyone can understand it if he will look beyond traditions that make no sense. Problem is, believers are not doing enough thinking. That’s true for Jews and people who call themselves “Christians”. It’s doubly true for preachers and rabbis.
See “Christians Need to Start Thinking for Themselves”.
#####
_____________
#####
“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”
John 10: 14-18
