One of the most important names of Jesus is Immanuel, which means “God with us!”
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Matthew 1:23 (This is a direct quote from Isaiah 7:14)
Jesus, or Yeshua, means salvation. One of my new favorites is Yeshua ben Yehovah or Jesus Son of God. But the point of His name, Immanuel, is that Jesus, the Messiah, is Yehovah God with us manifested as the Son. It is a non-negotiable core belief of true believers. He was not just sent from God, He is God in the flesh. This is critical.
Muslims believe in a false god even though they have a “prophet” Jesus, or Isa in Arabic. But they don’t believe He is Yehovah’s Son. In fact, they consider it blasphemous. Yet, it is true whether or not they believe. When they accept Jesus as Immanuel, they are accepted into the house of faith.
Jews come at it differently. They do believe in the true God, Yehovah. But, even though the Bible speaks of His Son in Psalm 2 and Proverbs 30:4, they don’t believe Yeshua is the son of Yehovah. That is why this verse is so profound for Jewish believers.
Who has ascended into heaven, or descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has bound the waters in a garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name, and what is His Son’s name,
If you know? Proverbs 30:4O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of Yehovah!” Matthew 23:38-39
This is not a generic representation of the Name, but the exact embodiment of Yehovah Himself! You may understand why the Jews also consider this blasphemous. It is precisely why he was crucified. Some of the Jews in that day received Him as the Son of God, but others did not. Although the above quote speaks of judgment on that generation, it also speaks of compassion and the certainty of a future time when their descendants would indeed recognize that Messiah Yeshua is the actual Son of Yehovah God!
My book, Blessing Israel, speaks of the coming merger of Jew and former gentiles into the commonwealth of Israel as one new man in Yeshua Immanuel! His death served as the ultimate payment for the sins of the world as the LAMB OF GOD!
We pray for the salvation of Israel, the Muslims and for all the nations.
Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 10:32-33
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and pray for rain!
Les Lawrence, Voice of Christian Zionists (Read more)
Thank you for your prayers and financial support of our Elisha Vision Ministries. If you would like to make an end of year donation, just click on the “Donate” button on this site’s home page. Thank you again and may blessing and favor be yours in 2018.
Pass – over Easter?
19 04 2019Do Passover and Easter conflict with each other? As a Christian Zionist, this is important to me. There are three reasons they agree and one huge reason they conflict. It’s really not that complicated. The original events commemorated are in total agreement. It is only the later traditions added that confuse the issue.
So let me explain. Have you heard of this saying about the Old and New Testaments? “The Old is in the New revealed and the New is in the Old concealed.” This is a summary of the concept that, as Yehovah God was revealing His purpose, first with Israel and then all the nations, it was a progressive revelation.
Passover, and the other feasts of Yehovah in Leviticus 23, are the pattern for the entire Bible/human history. Before the Messiah came, the possibility of relationship with God was primarily national. After He came it was revealed to be intimately personal. This was not a new plan, but was hidden in the Torah, or Old Testament, all along. Abraham was saved not for who he was, but because he believed God. For example, here is a paragraph I recently wrote for a small group in my home town:
So, the three feasts of Passover week are fulfilled in Jesus with perfect symmetry. The same is true for Shavuot/Pentecost, and the Fall Feasts. (I gave a ten-minute summary of each Feast in this radio interview. Listen to the first part about Passover.)
The big deal about the clash between Passover and Easter, is certainly not about Scripture, it is about tradition. As I said in the above quote, Easter is a name traced back to the top Babylonian goddess, a pagan deity of fertility that appears by many names throughout history. This was never originally associated with the resurrection of Yeshua. It was later added intentionally to divert from Jesus.
The crazy fact is that even though the name Easter came into use many hundreds of years after Jesus, the name actually appears in the King James Bible in a mega translation error:
This is terribly unfortunate because virtually all other translations make the correction. The Greek word is “Pesach” which literally means “Passover.” If you look at the preceding verses in the New King James you see a direct reference to Passover (Unleavened Bread) in verse 3.
As for me and my house, we will celebrate two glorious historic days of deliverance this weekend. We will thank our Father God for the fabulous night almost 4,000 years ago that the death Angel passed over every house, which had the blood of a spotless lamb on the doorpost. We will also celebrate and worship the living Lamb of God who died and rose from the dead after three days; whose blood has washed over us who believe, so that we are clean before God. Death has passed over us by the gracious unmerited favor of God over all who believe in Him, who is the Living Passover Lamb.
HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and pray for rain.
Les Lawrence, Voice of Christian Zionists (Read more)
Share this:
Like this:
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Bunnies, Easter, Easter eggs, FirstFruits, Passover, Resurrection, Unleavened Bread, Yeshuah ben Yehovah
Categories : Israel Commentary