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...and they picked up stones
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Who's Your Daddy?
by haRold Smith
a citizen of the Commonwealth (Ephesians 2:19)
"So Yeshua said to some of those
which believed on Him,
'If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free'... They answered Him, 'Abraham is our father.' Yeshua said to them, 'If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill Me, a man who has told you the Truth that I heard from YaHoVeH. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did...
Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear My word.
Your father is the adversary,
and your will is to do your father's desires - which was to murder from the beginning and has nothing to do with the Truth but is the father of lies. But because I tell the Truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I tell the Truth, why do you not believe Me?
Whoever is of YaHoVeH hears the words of YaHoVeH. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of YaHoVeH.
"Then some of those
which had believed on Him
said, 'Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?' Yeshua answered, 'I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor Me
...if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.'
They said to him, 'Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, 'If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste death.' Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?' Yeshua answered, 'If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing. It is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, 'He is our God.'
But you have not known Him.
I know him. If I were to say that I do not know Him, I would be a liar like you, but
I do know Him and I keep His word...
Yeshua said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.'
So they picked up stones to throw at Him to kill Him,
but Yeshua hid himself and went out of the temple." John 8:31-59
This is an astonishing, amazingly revealing passage of scripture. In the course of 30 verses
(John 8:31-59 - click on highlighted verse to view content)
a group of believers in Yeshua move from a position of embracing Him to wanting to kill Him. What would cause such a radical change to so quickly overcome people who proclaimed their loyalty to Him? What was it He said that so offended them? "If you abide, dwell in, live My Words only then are you considered to be My disciples and only then will you know Who Truth is (the Father) and only then will you be set free from your sin." Their response was to question Yeshua's statement based on the tradition that had been handed down to them - that of being Abraham's children (how many "believers" today claim to be of Abraham's seed?). Now, what they were saying was true, that is, the words they spoke came from the pages of the Book - Yeshua even acknowledged that He knew what they were saying was written. However, as He continued to explain to them that what they said they believed with their mouth had no bearing on whether they had captured Truth - only that it was their behavior that indicated such. These "believers" began to defend their tradition rather than being receptive to the possibility that, because these words of Truth did not fit into their traditional way of thinking, perhaps they needed to be given deeper consideration. In their anger of resistance, they then tried to negate Yeshua's words by relegating Him to either a cult status or as being demon possessed when all He was doing was revealing how they could be free. In the very act of defending their tradition, they chose to close themselves off to Truth. Eventually, it led them into a position of murder, thinking they were doing "God's will"
(John 16:1-2).
Christianity has made the same error in principle as Judaism by insisting that its followers "accept 'Jesus' as their lord and savior" when that phrase does not appear anywhere in scripture. Over the centuries it has been successfully popular in filling the pews - but a popular tradition is still just tradition. In all scripture, there is only ONE thing Yeshua ever pointed to that could effectively negate, nullify and make void the Word of YaHoVeH in our lives (Yeshua being the manifestation of that Word). That one thing is the
tradition of men
we embrace that has been handed down to us by other men. Why is that? Essentially, it is because tradition is a lie - regardless of how well intended it might be, how rationally it might be constructed or how religiously it is packaged. YaHoVeH is Truth, and it is the Essence of His Nature and Character of Truth that the words of the Book reveal to us - not a religion. Therefore, anything apart from Truth is a lie. This is how Yeshua was able to tell those disciples following Him that their father was anything
adversarially opposed
to the Truth (the devil, sa-tan), the father of lies - because what we do, what we serve, is indicative of what we believe; what we give ourselves to is what we serve behaviorally. What we serve is who we
worship
(Mark 7:13,
Matthew 6:24,
Deuteronomy 11:16,
Luke 4:8,
see also To Make Manifest).
Just like Judaism, Christianity is a man-made religion. The term "Christian" is not used even among the disciples of Yeshua to describe one another. So, let's take a very brief look at those three scriptural instances where it is used: 1) ."..and when he had found him (Sha'ul), he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the assembly and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called
christianos
(English "christians") in Antioch"
(Acts 11:26).
What this verse makes clear is that the term "Christian" was not used among the disciples, but rather it was used about them from those who were not disciples. Antioch was an ancient Greek city on the eastern side of the Orontes River; thus, it was pagan Greeks who first overlaid the name of the Hebrew Messiah of Israel with the Greek name of Christ and His followers became Christ-ians. 2) "Agrippa replied to Paul, 'In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian'."
(Acts 26:28).
Here, the term was used by King Agrippa, who was examining Paul in a legal sense. Again, it was not used by the disciples in reference to other disciples. The tone of Agrippa's words were in the form of a sarcastic or derogatory question, which would make the term "Christian" a term of derision used by the world towards those claiming to follow the Messiah of Israel. 3) ."..but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name." Finally, here in
1Peter 4:16,
Peter is saying if you are to suffer and people label you with the term "Christian" in association with this suffering, then suffer the derision gracefully. What is clear in the context of the passage surrounding this verse is that the term "Christian" is used by non-disciples in their persecutions against the disciples - hardly an endorsement to the followers of Yeshua to throw away the term He used for them (disciple) in favor of a new term created by the world and simply referenced by Peter (Christian). So, then, what is the Hebrew heritage of a disciple that Yeshua refers to?
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"Therefore, having put away falsehood (lying), let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
and give no place to the enemy." Ephesians 4:25-27
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In Hebrew, the meaning of hearing is not just sound waves striking the sensory portion of the ear but has a concurrent meaning as well. The Hebrew word for "listen" or "hear" in
Exodus 15:26
is shama'
- but, in Exodus 19:5,
this same Hebrew word is also found to be translated "obey." From a Hebraic perspective, to hear IS to obey, to obey IS to hear. Whether you hear what is spoken or not is measured by how you obey what you hear. Conversely, how you obey determines whether you heard what was said. Yeshua said of those who hear, who know Him in this fashion, no man is able to
snatch them out of His Hand
or out of the Hand of His Father. How we obey, how we serve what we hear is indicative of what we believe. Thus, Yeshua's words could find no place in these believers in Yeshua because that place was already being occupied by their tradition. In order to create a place where His words of Truth, of Life, could abide, they would have to abandon a tradition they had invested a considerable portion of their lives in. Consequently, He said they were not of YaHoVeH because the tradition they insisted on serving would not allow them to hear the words of Truth. This is an astounding statement to make to people who consider themselves to be "of God." There is a vast difference between knowing what is true and knowing Who is Truth. Truth and lies are like
Light and darkness.
They cannot occupy the same space at the same time. They are mutually exclusive - you will either have Truth or you will have a lie.
YaHoVeH is Light
and everything else is darkness. Thus, you will either believe the Light of Truth or you will remain in a belief that is made up of emptiness, of darkness. The absence of Light is the definition of darkness. There is no middle ground. Truth is Life and darkness is death - thus, Yeshua could say that whoever immerses himself in the Life of His Word (and He continually said His Word was not His but His Father's,
John 14:23-24),
that person would not taste of the death that results in a separation from the Father of Life, Who Is Light.
(Isaiah 28:23,
1John 1:5,
see the Separation).
These believers had elevated the words on the page above what the words on the page were given for - to reveal, understand and imitate the Essence of the Nature and Character of YaHoVeH. This is why Yeshua said that if they were truly children of Abraham, as they claimed, they would be doing the works of Abraham.
Genesis 26:5
tells us that what those works of Abraham were - obeying the Voice of the Father by keeping His commandments, statutes and ordinances. Instead, they were rationalizing their behavior by defending the tradition and doctrine handed down to them that allowed them to excuse their behavior and still feel righteous. That everyone else they associated with behaved the same way only reinforced the rightness of that tradition in their own eyes. Thus, they could not comprehend, could not "bear to hear" His words that righteousness, right standing with YaHoVeH, is behavioral. That would force them into changing their approach to their way of thinking - what they had come to believe as being Truth.
(Proverbs 21:2,
see the Righteousness of the Law).
In order to KNOW Truth, we must fashion ourselves after Who Truth says He is. This is how Yeshua did it. He said He knows the Father because He keeps
the words of His Father.
This is the definition of a
talmid,
the Hebrew word for a disciple - one who bends his will to conform to the example of the Master. The disciple does not tell the Master what it is he will conform to.
(John 15:10),
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...Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
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What is tradition? The definition of the English word "tradition" comes from the Greek word
paradosis
meaning to give up, to surrender. We give up access to the Truth when we surrender ourselves to someone else's interpretation of the Truth - consequently,
we miss Truth
altogether. Why do we embrace tradition? Because it is comfortable and it gives us a convenient place to point to for answers to things we neither entirely understand nor have the desire to sort out on our own. It is easier to place the responsibility on some teaching of men instead of going to the Father and digging it out for ourselves. The main component of this approach results in an embrace of the doctrines of others that are wrapped in their own interpretations
(1John 2:27,
2Peter 1:20).
Tradition is the instrument used by
the enemy
to set aside or marginalize the words of the Father given to us in the Tanakh (renamed OT) - even though it may use scripture to try to support it. How many times have you heard the phrase "we are believers in the Book"? The words on the pages of the Book speak of the One Who Is Life, but they do not contain Life. Yeshua said as much in
John 5:24
We should not believe in a book that can be destroyed - our belief should be in the One Who Is Life that can never be destroyed. Tradition is the embrace of any teaching or doctrine that does not come from the mouth of the One True God of Israel; no matter how plausible the argument, no matter how religious it sounds. Yeshua repeatedly said the words He spoke were not His but those of the Father's - the words of YaHoVeH
(John 5:24,
1John 5:3,
see the Arrows of Famine).
Where does tradition come from? Yeshua spoke to this question in
Matthew 5:43
when He stated, ...you have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy'." He does not say, "It is written" as He often does when citing other passages of Torah. He was commenting on a popular teaching about enemies, not what is written in scripture. If you look at the passage Yeshua was referencing in
Leviticus 19:18,
Leviticus 19:18,
you won't find the second part of this expression. In fact, what you will find is an entire section devoted to the care and concern for your neighbor one should have. There is not one word about hating your enemy. Most of the verses relating to enemies are found in chapters 26 and 27 where the discussion is about what will happen with enemies when the people are obedient and when they are not. While there are descriptions about pursuing enemies when the people are obedient, there is nothing about hating enemies. So, how did those words become injected alongside scripture to be held as authentic as scripture? Some teachers of His day, in distinguishing between love for a neighbor and hatred for an enemy, expanded the scripture by adding "and hate your enemy" to the existing words. Why they did this was to further some agenda or point they were trying to make. How many sermons do you hear preached today that have nothing to do with the Life of Yeshua but, yet, are encased with scripture? Yeshua rejects this folk wisdom as incompatible with the Father's Nature. If we are to emulate the behavior of the Father, we will do what He did - love our enemies and
do good
to those who reject and despise us. Yeshua points the listeners away from the traditional understanding and toward the deeper principle of the Torah. That deeper principle is based in the character of the compassion of the Father expressed in
Luke 6:35
- that YaHoVeH is kind to the unthankful and the evil.
When we manifest YaHoVeH's Nature then, like Yeshua, we fulfill the requirements of the Torah.
This was what Yeshua meant when He said He came to show us how to "fulfill" Torah - not to abolish it
(Matthew 5:17).
This is what He meant in
John 17:3
- to KNOW the Nature of Spirit IS to have the eternal Essence of Life. Today, we are surrounded by and immersed in tradition that has been handed down to us through the centuries everywhere we turn. We think we are different from these Hebrews because the Church system has taught that, since Yeshua's life, death, and resurrection 2000 years ago was the fulfillment of the Torah and the Prophets, we are no longer subject to the statutes, laws, and ordinances contained therein - that is a lie. Torah is much more than rules and regulations; it contains the
Words of Life,
the Word that is the same yesterday, today and forever. To the dismay of many who read this, however, nowhere does scripture say those Words have been set aside. In fact, Yeshua said just the opposite in
Matthew 5:17
that He did not come to do away with the Torah and in
John 5:46-47
that if you do not believe the writings of Moses how can you believe His words? Did He not mean what He said? If He didn't mean what He said here, then what does that lead us to believe about the rest of the words He said? Men try to explain away His Words by using other passages of scripture to contradict YaHoVeH's Word - but
Who Is the Word?
They want to explain away His Words so as to not be held accountable to those words - because it is His words that judge us
(John 12:47-48).
To nullify His Words by using other scripture is to do exactly the same thing these believers were doing in John 8
(John 1:1-14,
see the Law of 100%,
and the Judgment).
Tradition knows no boundaries, recognizes no borders and is completely accommodating to anyone who will embrace it. Thus, it is rather curious to hear "Christians" excuse the traditions of
Christmas,
Easter,
the Rapture,
and being born again
as being worthwhile to uphold. These are all traditions that have leeched their way into the lives of professing believers in Yeshua that do not originate from the Essence of His Nature and are not validated by the over-arching Character of the Father revealed in scripture. These come instead from the agenda of scholors promoted through the teachings of men that will captivate the unwary and lead them away from the Truth. If we know the Truth, why then would we want to invest ourselves in and settle for lies that, by our behavior, ultimately teach our children to believe in the same lies? To remain free from deception means to be vigilant to scrutinize everything we have been taught against the Life of Yeshua - the benchmark by which everything, including other scripture, is to be measured. Yeshua is the manifestation of everything that has been written in the Torah and the Prophets. Even with the scripture recorded in
John 13:34-35
that the English translation says is "new," everything Yeshua spoke can be referenced back in the Tanakh (the Original Book). Thus, those who reject Moses and the Torah or any of the prophets, or think that they have been done away with, are rejecting the very "spirit of prophecy" which is the testimony of the Life of Yeshua.
Revelation 19:10b
says, "…the testimony of Yeshua IS the spirit of prophecy." Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon defines
prophecy
as the "spoken oracles of YaHoVeH." So, the testimony of the Life of Yeshua reveals how YaHoVeH's Words are to be construed. Words mean things. It does not matter what we "think" they say - only if what the Words we are given validate what we believe as Truth or not. If what we think the words mean are not found in the Life or Words of Yeshua - at the very least, those thoughts should be held suspect.
Acts 7:38
also gives us the proper Hebraic perspective of prophecy as being the spoken oracles of YaHoVeH
(see also Pure or Perverse).
"Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that
no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." 1John 3:15
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...passing through their midst (Luke 4:28-30)
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What is the result of defending tradition? These believers Yeshua addressed at the opening of this article sought to imitate the works of their father - they sought to kill the One Who exemplified the Father. The Hebrew word trhanslated as the English "kill" in
Exodus 20:13
is ratsach
and means to murder, premeditate slaying, as an avenger. In the same way Yeshua said that lusting in one's heart is the same as having already committed adultery,
1John 3:15
equates hatred toward our brother the same as being a murderer. The Greek word translated as the English "hate" in this verse is
miseo
and means to despise, disparage, detest. When we hate someone, our usual position towards them is to distance ourselves from them. Which is why, in
Luke 6:22,
Yeshua extends that definition to include a "separation from their company." The question then arises - "who is my brother?" Not my neighbor - my brother. The only two places in scripture where the Greek word
anthropoktonos
(murderer) appears is in 1John 3:15 above and in
Luke 8:44
at the top of this article. Both of these verses are used only in conjunction with another member of YaHoVeH's family - not the world. Now, there are those who would correlate that tatement with being able then to kill those of the world who would attack them - fosaking Yeshua's life example and
His Words.
When we embrace the traditions handed down to us by men, we believe a lie perpetrated and promoted by the father of lies -
the adversarial opposition
to YaHoVeH's Words. If it does not proceed from the mouth of YaHoVeH, Who is Truth, it can only be a lie. If we believe a lie by embracing, endorsing and defending it - then our behavior speaks of who our father is. 1John 2:29
tells us it is whoever practices righteousness has been born of Him - that's behavioral. The only Way to keep ourselves in Truth is to train our ear to hear the Word of Truth by obeying that Truth. How much of what we believe today comes from us hearing the words of the Father for ourselves and how much is tradition?
So, then - who's your Daddy?
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"He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead'." Luke 16:31
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???Questions???
Please feel free to email me at harold@hethathasanear.com.
While not claiming to have all
the answers, it would be an honor to partake with you of what Spirit is uncovering.
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