Escaping Biblical Idolatry, Part 5: Knowing The End of The Beginning

So, the Old Testament, also called the Tanakh by the Jews, rambled on with the Nation going in an out of idolatry and also captivity.

In fact, once they came out of captivity in the second temple period, Israel had lost a great deal of content and insight into the ways of YAHAVAH.

Remember, before going into the promised land Moses himself said,

Deuteronomy 31:24 And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,

25 That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying,

26 Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, (not with the ten Words that were within and on stone) that it may be there for a witness against thee.

(LISTEN TO WHAT MOSES ADDS)

27 For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?

28 Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.

29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.

Well moving on out to the Book of Ezekiel, and after their repeated idolatry/adultery against YAHAVAH is described, Ezekiel chapter 20 outlines four of Israel’s main relationships or affairs with idols.

It begins when the elders of Israel came to Ezekiel to get “a word from the Lord” but they did not get the word that they wanted.

Years later, Zechariah the prophet also had a delegation come to him but he had no patience with them who also came to get a word from the Lord (Zechariah 7:1–14)

But in Ezekiel 20:4-12 the only word Ezekiel offered was to review the idolatry of Israel which started way back in the beginning in Egypt.

Remember, while in Egypt Israel grew from 70 souls to a million plus after about 400 years of contact with the Egyptians.

When YAHAVAH lead them free by the hand of Moses they brought with them in their hearts the idolatrous ways they had absorbed while in captivity.

At the giving of his Ten Words to the Nation God said to them,

“Cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on, everyone of you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt.” (20:7).

Why did God say this? Because they were so quick and ready to follow-after other Gods and to serve them, breaking the first Command of the marriage contract.

Even though we can claim that Israel’s idolatry started while in Egypt, the narrative of Genesis suggests that there were often times when the forefathers of the faith and their families dabbled with the temptation.

Later, in Joshua 24:2 Joshua says, “your fathers of old, living beyond the Euphrates–Terah, father of Abraham, and Nahor–served other gods”.

We know Rachel, Jacob’s wife, stole her uncle’s household gods in their escape back to Canaan. (Genesis 31:30–35). And then we read where Jacob later ordered his family to get rid of their household gods. (Genesis 35:2).

In Ezekiel 20:13–17 we read about Israel rebelling against God at Mt. Sinai, and said to Aaron in Moses absence,

“Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” (Exodus 32:1)

Then in Ezekiel 20:18–26 The second generation in the wilderness also rebelled, most most notable was when Israel “yoked herself” to Baal-Peor on the way into Canaan. (according to Numbers 25).

There God also withheld His hand from destroying them but swore that someday He would disperse them out of the Land—even before they got there. (Deuteronomy 30)

In Ezekiel 20:25, when Israel failed to obey God’s laws, she became subject to “other laws” that were not good and these included sacrifices of infants!

And Ezekiel 20:27–32 tells how in Canaan, Israel continued her idolatry, sacrificing to the gods and goddesses on every high hill and under any green tree.

Ezekiel 20:32 reads

“And even now the elders, sitting before Ezekiel in exile, were thinking that they should worship the idols like other nations.”

In Ezekiel 20:33–39 God says that He will judge them face to face in the “wilderness of the nations,” making them pass under the rod–individual inspection–as shepherds inspect sheep, and bring them out of Babylon, although not the rebellious (20:38) until later.

In Ezekiel 20:41 they would have remorse, hating themselves for the sins they had committed and following that in Ezekkiel 20:40-44 God will accept them back to Israel and they will know God’s grace, dealing with them “all for His Name’s sake.”

There are three views of Israel’s religious history.

• Israel was given a high view of God at the beginning in Mt Sinai and fell progressively into polytheism. This is a traditional view.

•Israel evolved her religion from animism to polytheism into monotheism and edited a biased and largely fictitious Old Testament history to hide it. It was done to help the morale of the exiles. This is part of the outmoded hypothesis created by Graf-Wellhausen.

•Some suggest Israel was acquainted with God from the time of their fore-father Abraham and remained so but her religious life was contaminated with idolatry throughout OT history, with God pleading with her to be reconciled.

I maintain that she would not – she would not be reconciled, she never obeyed Him as a whole, she went out from Him over and over and over again and when she was finally put in exile and came out again, she was lost, saw herself as Jews (instead of Israel) chose to continue to hide His name from other nations and refused to be a shining light to all the world.

YAHAVAH would pursued Israel in all her years but they became to ripe with iniquity. So they entered into two main dispersions—the first under the Assyrians and Babylonians.

The Nation came out even further alienated from Him and more inclined toward the pagan ways of their captors.

Interestingly, and 500 years later, Steven the first martyr of the nascent church, recites their history to them before being stoned and said,

“And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and rejoiced in the works of their hands. But God turned and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets. ‘And you took up the tent of Moloch and the star of the god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship, and I will remove you beyond Babylon.’” Acts. 7:41–43

A few verses later, Steven adds

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.” Acts7:51–53

Interestingly, it seems that the Nation via the captivity was broken of their idolatry to other Gods, but their crime was not so much a total focus and allegience to these false deities, it was appealing to them AND YAHAVAH himself.

There have been found fragments of pottery written by the Jews anciently with phrases like, “I serve My Lord JHWH and My Lady Asterte,” written upon them, showing that Israel was never completely separated from the Living God but constantly wanted Him to share the throne with others.

This would not do.

It broke the first ten words of the ketubah. But it seems Israel learned their lesson after coming out of Captivity relative to pagan God’s but we get the most unfortunate opinion of them as a whole which is incorrect and misleading.

Readers of the Bible today tend to think that Israel were so dutiful in their allegiance to God, so much to that when Yeshua arrived on the scene they were really great.

We beg to differ. In fact we suggest that they were still practicing polytheistic idolatry but instead of acknowledging the Living God alone, they took something that was Good for them, and started worshipping it.

And what was that?

The written Law. They looked to it rather than to Him. They judged and accused others by it, rather than looking to God. And in the end they took their promised Messiah and with the written book of the Law in hand, put Him to death by it through Roman hands.

Let me be very clear – I am not talking about Jews, the Nation of Israel or those who were true to the edicts of the Living God.

I am specifically speaking here and now about a religious sect comprised of Jews in that day who were, as Yeshua Himself calls them in Revelation,

The very synagogue of Satan.

These were NOT true Israel. They were children of the Satan whose father was the Devil that was a liar and murderer from the beginning.

So, after giving Israel a bill of divorcement in Jeremiah, and foretelling of the day when God himself would write on the hearts and minds of his own (Jew and Gentle, sons and daughters by faith) the last book of the Old Testament opens up in the second to the last chapter with the following:

Maachil 3:1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

According to Yeshua this messenger, who will open up the Apostolic Record, is John the Baptist FOUR HUNDRED YEARS LATER.

Then in the next chapter, Malachi writes the most prophetic words to wrap up the entire Old Testament collection, saying

Malachi 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

Pay careful attention to the specific words in that last line from this last chapter of this last book in the Old Testament as Malachi says–

“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”

Then those 400 years pass. FOUR HUNDRED! And suddenly the one who was promised to be sent as the Messenger to prepare the way before Him appears – John the Baptist.

Listen to some of his first words John the Baptist says to the religious leaders that had made the Law their idol and came out to investigate him:

“And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”

Remember the words of Malachi ‘s prophesy?

“and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”

And here comes John the Baptist, who prepared the way for the arrival of the promised Messiah, referencing the times that were at hand with terms like axes laid at the root of the trees, and “hewn” and “fire.”

See, John the Baptist, and Yeshua the Messiah, came to accomplish a whole slew of things on behalf of YAHAVAH in relation to first the Nation and all that had gone on and then the world.

This would usher in the days that YAHAVAH describes in Jeremiah 31.

One of the things that Yeshua was going to do was fulfill ancient prophesy about his work and life. Depending on who you consult, there are dozens and dozens of types, pictures and prophesies He would do. These things included the miracles, fulfilling the Law, setting the captives free and opening the prison doors to them that were bound.

The Jews of that day believed that this referred to their Messiah liberating the Nation from material bondage to Rome, but the fact of the matter is the prophesy actually speaks to Him liberating the Jews from the bondage of religious oppression and sin.

In their first two sessions of captivity, they Nation was held in material bondage by Egypt and then Assyria and Babylon.

In the last captivity, they were in bondage to Rome but even more-so to the law, traditions, false teachers, sin, pride and rebellion.

They had a means to escape such bondage in and through faith on the Messiah, but they were too full of hate, envy, and cunning wrath to receive Him.

Only true Israel had eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to feel. All the rest, centered in and around Judea, Israel writ large and especially Jerusalem were going to go up in smoke, along with the law, genealogies, priesthood and everything else of that former age of material religion.

So, there was a window of time, identified by the prophets of old (Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Isaiah) reiterated and emphasized by John the Baptist, amplified by Yeshua Himself and almost shouted from the rooftops by the apostles trained and sent forth by Yeshua to reach all of the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel before the Great and Dreadful day of the Lord fell.

And as seeking devout souls heard and saw who was promised to them, Yahavah was making good on His promise to come back and restore true Israel, which would once again be not only His betrothed Bride, but His Faith Bride.

This Bride is described by Paul in Ephesians 5 as holy, pure, without wrinkle or spot – and that is what she had to be.

She would first be made of all Jews, then Gentiles would join in the ranks as prophesied and by Paul, and together, and under Apostolic rule and guidance by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, she would ready herself to be saved from the eminent great and dreadful day.

Remember that Ancient Israel were supposed to be a light to all Nations. They were to welcome all into their ranks and even temple.

They were to make His Name known.

But they hid themselves, they hid His name, they went after other Gods and broke the first ten words of their ketubah.

After hundreds of years of defiance, they had become so ripe with evil that Yahavah divorced her, but promised to save those who were true.

And with all of this in hand John and Yeshua move forward in this finishing victorious work with the Gospels describing the most significant things being finished.

It is interesting to read some of the following things that were actually said by Yeshua to His own disciples in that day relative to all I have said.

For instance, He said to those around him

“Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

AND

But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

AND

Jesus saith to the High Priest, Thou hast said: (and then the Greek has Him say to the crowd) “Nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

But the big reveal comes in what is called the Olivet discourse (found in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke chapter 21.

Here, after Yeshua really throws down on the religious leaders of that day and tells the disciples that the day was coming when not one stone of the temple would remain upon another, Peter, James, John and Andrew come to Him on the mount and they ask Him three distinct but interrelated questions, saying

“Tell us, when will these things (that you have been warning and saying) be, and what will be the sign of thy coming, and what will be the sign of the end of this age (meaning of that former age we have been describing centered in material religion and the Nation of Israel) and Yeshua then spends the whole chapter describing for them/then what to look for as signs of the wrapping up of all things.

To properly examine what is said, in context to that day, that audience, secular history and the descriptions in the Book of Revelation is a concerted work – all of which is available through our online educational platform at cult.love.

But let me say this and you check my facts:

Almost everything Yeshua will say in those chapters as a response can be proven to have happened when the Roman Armies destroyed Jerusalem killing over a million Jews in the process.
That after describing these events in detail, Yeshua then makes a statement that cannot be refuted or understood in any way other than what is stated when he says to those four apostles at Matthew 23:34

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

People who don’t want to believe this, who think that Yeshua was wrong, or think He did not mean what He said, from the Greek or any other attempt to explain this away are left stunned because the words were either said in truth and meant exactly what was uttered OR Yeshua was wrong.

I’ve got news for you, Yeshua was not wrong. A generation in that day was about 40 years. He said these things around 30 AD. Forty years later was 70 AD, the very year when the Roman army would absolutely route everything about the Nation which would ultimately be consummately destroyed by 136 AD forevermore.

After teaching these apostles these things, Yeshua went and did the most important thing for the world – offered up His life, lay in the grave, rose on the third day, met with the apostles at different times, then ascended into the clouds with angels telling the apostles who looked on steadfastly at His ascent,

Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

And a forty year window of time opened up for these apostles, who would individually give up their lives one by one for their witness of His resurrection, to gather His holy, pure, without wrinkle or spot Bride that He would come back and save by taking her up.

So having ascended into the clouds, Yeshua has left the gathering, preaching, inviting, baptizing, guiding, teaching and correcting of His precious Bride in the hands of His trained apostles and ONE more key power – the Holy Spirit.

We all know the story. The apostles gathered fifty days after Yeshua’s resurrection in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

This was one of the Holy Days where all Jews from every tribe (by the way, the tribes were never lost and we all there represented. How can we say this?

Look at the creation of the Septuagint which occurred AFTER the second temple period – how was it composed?

When Ptolomy II Philadelphus in the 3^rd Century BC called seventy two scholars – six from each tribe – to translate the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek.

SIX FROM EACH TRIBE? And there are other strong indicators the support the notion that ten are lost to be a fiction.

In any case, all Jews everywhere and from every tribe were commanded to go to Jerusalem and the city swelled to a million plus at that time.

And we remember how the Holy Spirit fell like fiery tongues over their heads and what did they do? They started speaking in the native tongues from where all of those Jews had come from.

They were so filled with the Spirit that some Jews thought that they were drunk. Now listen carefully to what the Apostle Peter said to them there – in THAT day, at THAT time:

Acts 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

16 But (listen closely to Peter’s words to those Jews in that day, at that time) But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

Peter hearkens back to the Old Testament and takes words from Joel and applies them to right then and there. What are the words?

Peter speaks them and quoting Joel says

17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God,

Did you catch it! Peter is talking then and he takes Joels prophetic words about the LAST DAYS and assigns them to there and then.

This is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel where YAHAVAH said,

And it shall come to pass IN THE LAST DAYS.

We have had people walking around for centuries – even for dozens of centuries claiming that they were in the LAST DAYS all the while overlooking the fact that when the scripture speaks of last days it is always talking about the last days of that former economy of material religion before it was destroyed once and for all.

And what exactly did Joel have God say that Peter is quoting here? He says

I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke:

20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

SAVED FROM WHAT?

The coming destruction of all that they had known and all that God had tried to establish among them.

This would wrap up everything in how God engaged with the Nation and would open the time up that Jeremiah prophesied about way back when when God said,

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new (testament) with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

That is the age the world has been in every since the utter destruction of Israel, Jerusalem, the Law, the temple, the genealogy, the rites rituals and demands of the Law.

In our next segment, we will talk about what happened in that day AFTER Pentecost!