This Man

(Verse 51 – “I AM the Living Bread” and verse 35 – “I AM the Bread of Life.”) In the Gospel of John there are 10 “I AM’s” and they all have their foundation in Sh’mot/ Exodus 3:14 where God tells Moshe (Moses) “I AM WHO I AM”. Thus, you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”

Yeshua was no m’shuga (in Hebrew a madman, a crazy person, or making no sense!) He is without contradiction, ‘ha ben Elohim’, the Son of God. The only begotten of the Father. The 3 are 1 and the One are Three, co-existent, co-eternal and co-equal.

Sha’ul (Paul) a Jew came to realise this and wrote in Romans 1 verse 20, ‘For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.’ There you have it! They are all without excuse. God is One but the One are Three, being Father, Son and Holy Spirit. His threeness of design is seen in us, we are body, soul and spirit. We have animal, vegetable and mineral. There is past, present and future there is length, breadth and height. There is left, right and centre. The atom is made up of three parts, protons,  electrons and neutrons! Light itself has three main parts, and God is Light. Hallelujah! He lives in unapproachable light! But He is also love, life and has given man liberty, to choose, to see or not to see! We see these 4 things in order within Genesis chapters 1 to 3.

That was the problem for the leaders who just rejected Yeshua, but not all of them as many came to believe in Him. It tells us this in Acts 6:7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

For those leaders and priests or anyone who refuses to believe or accept that God sent His only Son, who came into this world through the womb of a virgin will find themselves compelled to deny all the great truths of the Person and work of our and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christianity is all about Christ and Messiah Yeshua/Jesus stated quite clearly all “All authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on earth.”  Matthew 28:18.

He also stated to the leaders of the day, “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe I AM He, you will die in your sins.”  John 8:23-24.  

His career was full of signs and miracles, one after the other. All the 7 signs or miracles He did were what the Messiah, the Christ had to do when He came the first time, as the Son of Joseph the Suffering Servant.

1) To cast out demons as recorded by Matthew chapters 9:32; 12:23 and Mark 1:23-26; 5:1-17.

2) To heal lepers as recorded in Mark 1:40-45 and Luke 17:11.

3) To heal the blind – see Mark 10:51-55, John 9:6.

4) To heal the deaf – see Mark chapters 7 and 9.

5) To heal the dumb – see Matthew chapters 9 and 12.     

6) To heal the lame – see Matthew chapter 12 and 15.

7) To raise the dead – see Luke 7:14 and John 11:44.

When Yeshua comes the second time it will be as the Son of David, the Conquering King. The anti-Christ and his army will be defeated and this world – planet Earth will be renewed for a glorious 1,000-year reign of peace, provision, protection and prosperity. How? Because it is written! By the Prophets and the Apostles that were called and consecrated to serve, to write what the Son of God, the Messiah would do. He only has to speak and it happens. He created all things because He is the Word of God. A man with no hand was told to extend his hand and it suddenly grew before him and the witnesses saw it. Only God can create and Yeshua is God in the flesh.

Our Lord was the perfect Man.

The two robbers were suffering for their crimes and to begin with both reviled Yeshua but one suddenly saw the light and rebuked his fellow robber! Their punishment was deserved but Yeshua had done no wrong and so turning to ashiach/Messiah he asked Yeshua to remember him when He came back to set up His Kingdom on the earth. As the second verse in the hymn ‘To God be the glory’ states: – ‘the vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.’ Jesus did no wrongs, no trespasses, no iniquities, no secret  sins. Most people will have secret sins BUT God knows!   

In each of our key verses the term This Man is used, to show what people said and then it was recorded for us.

Teachers of the Law stood in awe of Yeshua who as a young boy spoke with such wisdom and authority. Now in verse 46 we have an example of how sinful men were compelled to speak well of Yeshua. BUT the chief priests and Pharisees would have none of it!

They were referred to as blind guides and fools by Yeshua in Matthew chapter 23. Our Lord pronounced 8 woe’s upon the religious leaders, referring to them five times as being spiritually blind and twice as fools! Their foolish thinking was because of their spiritual hardness of their hearts, they loved religion more than their Redeemer who stood before them. In verse 50 we see that Nicodemus also a Pharisee speaks up for His Lord because he had already had his divine appointment at night which we read of in John’s Gospel, chapter 3 where he learned you must be ‘born again’ spiritually to receive eternal life. The Pharisees berated the people for believing Yeshua and now in verse 52 they berate Nicodemus (one of them!) because no prophet had ever come from the Galilee! How wrong they were, Isaiah, Jonah, Nahum all came from the Galilee region.

In John chapter 7 verses 41 and 42 some within the crowd quoted from Micah chapter 5 verse 2 that the Messiah would come from/be born in Bethlehem. There then ensued a division amongst the crowd! A house divided against itself will fall – Matthew 12:25. (Just as Yeshua/Jesus taught and warned – in belief, in marriage, in business or whatever!) It is the same today when anyone refuses Yeshua as their Saviour and Lord, for every knee will bow to Him one day. For many it will be too late, BUT they will still bow the knee to Him, before being thrown into the Lake of Fire for all Eternity!

Again, we see the people during Succot/Tabernacles are discussing Yeshua’s teaching and are divided. He has never studied!?! (He had already inspired others to write the Tanach from Genesis to Malachi). What foolishness, the Heavenly Scholar, the living Word of God was standing before them! Yeshua in due course would call someone who had studied to serve. It is of course Sha’ul/Paul of Tarsus who had studied under Gamaliel, one of the greatest scholars within Judaism. Those who study much or little will be used of the Lord in like manner. Scholars, fishermen et al.

He sat with sinners!

Here we go again, the Pharisees and the scribes were at his throat once more! Whining like dogs, they wanted to accuse our Lord of receiving sinners and eating with them! It is interesting to read that the teaching ministry of our Lord attracted the despised tax collectors and sinners in general. Another parable would now open the eyes, ears and hearts of some, the rest would just once again reject!

So here we can see that His teaching divided them, just as the written Word of God promises to do in Hebrews 4:12.

‘For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.’ (v 13 is a sobering verse) And there is no creature hidden from His sight, BUT all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account!  Verse 14b tells us – So let us hold fast our confession.  

We can finish our 7 points of ‘This Man’ in Hebrews, written in the first place to the Jew and rightly so BUT

any believer will rejoice in the depth of teaching within this Epistle. It is all about our Lord and those of the past who ran the race of Faith (Forsaking All I Trust in Him – Amen).

This one verse gives us Yeshua, the Person, His Passion and His Position. 

He rightly sat down at the right hand of God. What a Saviour, what a Shepherd, what a Son – Hallelujah.. Obedient unto death, to conquer Satan, sin and Hell forever. Our Lord and Master offered a single sacrifice for our sins, no other would ever be needed.The lamb of God slain before the foundation of this world. It was all worked out, no mistakes, no errors. He is sat at the right hand of God the Father, the place of Honour, Affection and Power forever. BUT verse 13 shows us He will one day rise in judgment against His enemies. The Great White Throne judgment is coming and so …….