RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD - GOD OF THE LIVING - TRANSFORMATION OF THE BODY

 When we become Hebraic Foundation believers we begin to study and question many things written in the scriptures. As we study and dig deeper into our Hebrew Foundations and the “traditions” of the Pharisees and Sadducees we begin to see, hear, and understand the scriptures with a new found clarity and understanding. Here a few examples.

 Attack By Sadducees - Mark 12.18-27; Matt 22.23-33; Luke 20.27-40

 There are many key differences between Pharisees and Sadducees. Pharisees believed in the resurrection at the coming of the Messiah, Sadducees believed in no resurrection at all. That’s why they were Sad, you see? Ha! Pharisees also believed all of the Tanach/O.T. could be used to formulate doctrine as it was all canon. Sadducees said, no, you can only derive doctrine from the Torah, the first five books of Moses. You could illustrate your doctrine with the other writings, but doctrine must derive from the Torah only. This must be understood when trying to understand the answer Yeshua is going to give to this attack.

 a. The Attack

The Sadducees ask a question from the Torah about keeping the blood line of a brother alive. A woman marries and has no children and her husband dies. He has six brothers who in turn marry her w/o her having children and she eventually dies. Even though Sadducees don’t believe in the resurrection (because they do not see it written in the Torah) they ask Jesus this question--whose wife is she in the resurrection if all seven had her?

b. The Answer

Jesus does not answer this question with Daniel 12.2, Isaiah 26.19, or Job 19.25-26 because they are not in the Torah. His answer is a new interpretation of Torah that witnesses to Daniel and the others--he indicates that the resurrection is not merely an awakening from the dead--but it is a transformation of the body from mortal to immortal. This new body does not reproduce itself--there will be no marriage--they are as the angels in heaven who do not reproduce.

 Yeshua answers with Exodus 3.6 that God is the God of the living: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God made promises to each of them that could only be kept later as they did not see the promise come to pass. Abraham knew God was a promise keeper and that if he sacrificed Isaac, God would raise him up from the dead because God had yet to fulfill many promises through Isaac.

 All three of these patriarchs had been promised they and their seed would inherit the land--but none of them had at their deaths. This promise to them individually could only be kept if they were resurrected from the dead! Our God is a promise keeping God! God has a living relationship with the patriarchs and cannot leave them dead in the grave! Contained in the promise to inherit the land is the promise of the resurrection from the dead.

 This was a new interpretation out of the Torah and the people and leaders were astonished at the answer. The Pharisees were impressed as they now had new ammo to throw at the Sadducees and the Sadducees will not ask any more questions of Jesus. He has answered their entrapment question on their terms and at the same time confirmed the rest of the Tanach.

The Trial of Jesus and His Substitution for Bar Abbas

 Barabbas was a robber, insurrectionist, and murderer. He hated the Romans and was involved in harassing them in order to get them out of Palestine. Barabbas is his Hellenized name. The writers of the gospels did not want to confuse the readers. Bar = Son of, and Abba = Father. His name literally means: Servant of Yahweh or Son of the Father.

 His first name was Yeshua = Salvation, son of the Father is the meaning of the name. He had the title--but not the reality. He was the one guilty of serious crimes--not Jesus. This procedure is interrupted briefly when Pilate gets a note from his wife pleading for him to release “this righteous man” of which she had dreams about that very night. This gives the chief priests plenty of time to incite the crowd to demand the release of Bar Abba.

 The next attempt to release Jesus was to have him scourged. There were two types of scourging: Jewish and Roman.

Jewish was 40, save one (39). The Mosaic Law forbade more than forty lashes. The Jews would count 39 and stop in order to not err and give too many lashes. Jewish lashes were short leather that only hurt the person’s back. Painful but not deadly. The Apostle Paul survived five Jewish scourges.

 Roman scourging had no limits on the amount of lashings. The lashes were long leather with a piece of glass or bone on the ends to inflict severe bodily harm. The long leather lashes would wrap around the entire body or face inflicting great harm. Many did not survive--Jesus would have been disfigured by this scourging. This fulfilled Isaiah 52.13-53.12 in that he was maimed and disfigured. He suffered greatly--and had already been pummeled twice before this. Pilate hopes this will satisfy the mob and for the third time says he finds no reason to execute Jesus.

 He then tries to turn Jesus over the chief priests. They then change the sedition charge into Jesus proclaiming he is the Son of God. Pilate speaks to Jesus in private urging him to speak because he can have Jesus executed. Jesus tells Pilate, “All power is delegated from above.” Jesus also tells him those who brought him here will be guilty of greater sin than Pilate.

 Pilate makes a 5^th attempt to release Jesus. He is told if he releases this man that he is no “friend of Caesar.” Pilate responds by moving to the judgment seat in order to pass sentence. Why has this comment caused him to do this?

Pilate was in a difficult position because his good friend, Janus, who was captain of Caesar’s guard, had got him this position. Later Janus was involved in a conspiracy to oust Caesar and proclaim himself as emperor. Pilate would have been under close scrutiny because he was Janus’ friend--he did not want to be accused of treason by releasing a man proclaiming to be a king.

 He makes a final attempt to clear Jesus by bringing him out and proclaiming, “Behold your King!” The crowd responds by saying, “We have no king but Caesar.” Pilate makes no further attempt to release Jesus. He washes his hands in front of the mob saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood!” The crowd responds, “His blood be on us and our children!”

 Only Matthew mentions this in his gospel--he is the writer focused on the unpardonable sin. Notice they said, “Us and our children.” There is no mention of the 3^rd and 4^th generation. They will receive their wish in 70 A.D. when the temple and Jerusalem are destroyed.

 Pilate and the gentiles are not absolved either. Only Pilate could have Jesus executed--he gave into the mob out of fear. Acts 3 points out his guilt and the Apostle’s Creed. In 36 AD Pilate was disposed and banished to Gaul--he would later commit suicide--he paid his price.

 Jesus is given the death sentence and Yeshua Bar Abba is released. A symbolic substitution takes place--an innocent will die in place of the guilty!

1.      The First Trial Before Pilate - Mark 15.1-5; Matt 27.2, 11-14; Luke 23.1-5; John 18.28-28

2.      The Second Trial Before Pilate - Mark 15.6-15; Matt 27.15-26

 The Conflict Over the Law - John 7.53-8.11

The religious leaders have not been able to catch Jesus violating the Mosaic Law since he’s fulfilling it in full. Jesus, however, is not concerned about whether or not He breaks the oral or Mishnaic Laws. In this section the religious leaders are going to try and get Jesus to contradict the Mosaic Law when they bring a woman accused of adultery before Him in the temple courtyard.(Tabernacles is over, this is the 8^th day, a special holy day called Shemini Atzeret.)

 They bring a woman before Jesus who they accuse of “catching in the very act of adultery.” The law of Moses commands a person “accused” of adultery to be stoned to death (Deut 22.22-24; Lev 20.10). They want to know what Jesus says they should do hoping He will say something that violates Mosaic Law. Jesus stoops down and begins to write with His finger on the ground or dust on the stone pavement of the courtyard. They continue to ask Jesus and as He continues writing on the ground. He tells them, “He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.”

 One by one they begin to leave as Jesus continues writing. He looks up and sees no one there and asks the woman, “Where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She replies, “No”, and Jesus tells her, “Then neither do I, Go and sin no more.”

 In the Greek the emphasis is not on what Jesus is writing on the ground--the emphasis in on His finger. The reason for this is that there are 613 laws in the Mosaic Law of which ten comprise the Ten

Commandments, of which the sin of adultery is one. The Ten Commandments were written on stone tablets by the finger of God (Ex 31.18; 32.15-16; Deut 4.13; 9.10).

The other 603 were written on parchment by a man. The focus on the fingers show Jesus knows all that the Mosaic Law has to say about this sin. He is writing in the dust of the stone pavement with His finger--He knows exactly what the law says.

 There is a lot going on here that is understood only from the Hebraic perspective. First of all if they had really caught this woman in the act of adultery, where is the man that was caught with her? They are lying--they are trying to entrap Jesus. If they are accusing her of adultery they need two or three witnesses to speak against her. No one has spoken up as a witness, they are speaking as a group. Under Mosaic Law the witnesses are required to throw the first stones. Moses also wrote that the witnesses must not be guilty of the same sin (Deut 13 and 17) the accused is accused of!

 Jesus was not telling them if they were perfect they could throw the stones--this is not about judging someone as taught in many sermons--this is about the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law did not require a person to be perfect without sin to judge someone--otherwise there would be no executions. If Jesus was telling them they had to be perfect to judge this woman He would have been violating Mosaic Law. He was telling them if none of them had committed this sin themselves they could begin the stoning. They all slinked away. This was an illegal condemnation and not one witness was willing to throw the first stones. The Pharisees won’t try this ploy again--they will only accuse Him of violating Mishnaic Law from now on.

 The Conflict Over the Healing of the Man Born Blind - John 9.1-41

Here we have the sixth of John’s seven signs.

     1. Physical Healing - John 9.1-12

As Jesus passes by they see a man born blind. His disciples ask, “Rabbi, who did sin, this man or his parents that he should be born blind?” Conceivably the parents could have sinned and through a generational curse their son be born blind. However, the second part of the question is one of not understanding how this man could be born blind first and sin be the cause.

 New Agers use this passage to infer that 1^st Century Judaism believed in reincarnation--not true. This is a point of Pharisaic theology. The rabbinic belief was that when a child is conceived they have two inclinations--good and evil. This struggle continues throughout life. In this case the child is born blind because while in the womb the evil inclination took hold, the child kicked the mother’s womb, thereby dishonoring the mother--therefore born blind. In that event anyone born blind will never see until the Messiah comes--another Messianic miracle is needed.

 Jesus says the man did not sin but was born blind for the glory of God to be revealed. Jesus spits on some mud and smears it on the blind man’s eyes. He tells the man to go to the crowded pool of Siloam and wash his eyes. This is an example of Jesus purposely violating Pharisaic Law. It is the Sabbath and Jesus knows it is forbidden by their law not to heal on the Sabbath--there is also a law that says how not to heal a blind man on the Sabbath! You cannot inject wine into their eyes or spit on mud and put it in their eyes! Jesus seems to be enjoying this!

The man washes at the pool and is geographically separated from Jesus--Jesus is not performing public miracles--and the healing creates quite a stir. The people need an answer and they take the man to the Pharisees for an explanation.

  2. The First Interrogation - John 9.13-17

Now the man is being questioned by the Pharisees and they are looking for a loophole in his story. None of his answers satisfy--maybe, they say, he wasn’t born blind. They call for the parents.

   3. The Interrogation of Parents - John 9.18-22

When the parents are interrogated they confirm he is their son and was born blind. They cannot say how their son has been healed--they are afraid of being excommunicated from the synagogue if they appear to believe in Jesus as Messiah. There were three forms of synagogue discipline in those days. A seven day suspension, a 7 to 30 day discipline or suspension, and finally excommunication. Anyone believing in Jesus was being excommunicated by the Pharisees.

   4. The Second Interrogation - John 9.23-34

The parents say the son can speak for himself. They call the man in and tell him to give God the glory, that he is a sinner. The man says all he knows is that he was blind and now I see. He is telling them that he has been taught by them his whole life that he will never see until the Messiah comes--and now he sees, and they are telling him this man is not the Messiah. They should be proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah--explain this to me, please?

They ask the man again and he asks them what they don’t understand--maybe they would like to become Jesus’ disciples. They reviled him. He tells them this is a marvel--nobody has ever heard of a man being born blind and then healed--yet here I am with sight! The Pharisees kick him out of the synagogue.

   5. Spiritual Healing - John 9.35-41

He never saw Jesus so he doesn’t know what Jesus looks like. Jesus finds him and asks him if he believes in the Son of God. The man asks who that would be so he can worship Him. Jesus tells him the one speaking to him is He. The man believes and worships Jesus. For a Jew to worship another Jew was an acceptance of Messiahship.

Jesus proclaims those who cannot see now see, and those who see are blind. The Pharisees ask if they are “blind?” Jesus tells them if they were blind they would have no sin--but because they say they can see their sin remains.

Source: The Life of Messiah from a Jewish Perspective by Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum eleven disc study