It is imperative that one re-read and review the foundation of God’s truth found in the first two chapters of this blog: “Come, Let Us Reason Together” and “Truth: Hear and Heed.” In knowing God’s truth of the past, on which life and order began, then and only then can one build, precept upon precept, the truth of God’s inspired and complete truth, the Holy Bible. In believing these things, how will you answer the questions Yeshua asked the people and His disciples?
After speaking in parables, Yeshua asked those present, “Have you understood all these things?” and they said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” (Matthew 13:51)
Yeshua asked His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (Matthew 16:13) “But what about you (My disciples)?” “Who do you say I am?” Yeshua asked. Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:15-16)
The three and a half years of training for the twelve disciples was coming to an end. Yeshua sent them out many times on their own to proclaim His message.
5 These twelve Yeshua sent out with the following instructions: "Don't go into the territory of the Goyim, and don't enter any town in Shomron, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Isra'el. 7 As you go, proclaim, `The Kingdom of Heaven is near,' 8 heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those afflicted with tzara'at, expel demons. You have received without paying, so give without asking payment. 9 Don't take money in your belts, no gold, no silver, no copper; 10 and for the trip don't take a pack, an extra shirt, shoes or a walking stick -- a worker should be given what he needs. 11 "When you come to a town or village, look for someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave. 12 When you enter someone's household, say, `Shalom aleikhem!' 13 If the home deserves it, let your shalom rest on it; if not, let your shalom return to you. 14 But if the people of a house or town will not welcome you or listen to you, leave it and shake its dust from your feet! 15 Yes, I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the people of S'dom and `Amora than for that town! 16 "Pay attention! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves, so be as prudent as snakes and as harmless as doves. 17 Be on guard, for there will be people who will hand you over to the local Sanhedrins and flog you in their synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as a testimony to them and to the Goyim. 19 But when they bring you to trial, do not worry about what to say or how to say it; when the time comes, you will be given what you should say. 20 For it will not be just you speaking, but the Spirit of your heavenly Father speaking through you.
"Here Am I"
written and performed by MercyMe
11 "How blessed you are when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of vicious lies about you because you follow me! 12 Rejoice, be glad, because your reward in heaven is great -- they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way. 13 "You are salt for the Land. But if salt becomes tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except being thrown out for people to trample on. 14 "You are light for the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Likewise, when people light a lamp, they don't cover it with a bowl but put it on a lamp stand, so that it shines for everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.
15 "Beware of the false prophets! They come to you wearing sheep's clothing, but underneath they are hungry wolves! 16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Can people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every healthy tree produces good fruit, but a poor tree produces bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, or a poor tree good fruit. 19 Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire! 20 So you will recognize them by their fruit. 21 "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only those who do what my Father in heaven wants. 22 On that Day, many will say to Me, `Lord, Lord! Didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we expel demons in your name? Didn't we perform many miracles in your name?' 23 Then I will tell them to their faces, `I never knew you! Get away from Me, you workers of lawlessness!'
Yeshua continues with the Twelve reflecting God’s Holy Spirit in their daily lives.
23 But the time is coming -- indeed, it's here now -- when the true worshipers will worship the Father spiritually and truly, for these are the kind of people the Father wants worshiping him. 24 God is Spirit; and worshipers must worship Him spiritually and truly."
34 "I am giving you a new command: that you keep on loving each other. In the same way that I have loved you, you are also to keep on loving each other. 35 Everyone will know that you are My talmidim by the fact that you have love for each other."
John 13:15 “For I have set you an example, so that you may do as I have done to you.”
Yeshua comforts His disciples and gives assurance of knowing He and His Father, God of all things, are One, and promises to send the Holy Spirit, the Counselor to be with them forever---the Spirit of truth!
John 14 reads:
1 "Don't let yourselves be disturbed. Trust in God and trust in Me. 2 In My Father's house are many places to live. If there weren't, I would have told you; because I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 Since I am going and preparing a place for you, I will return to take you with Me; so that where I am, you may be also. 4 Furthermore, you know where I'm going; and you know the way there." 5 T'oma said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you're going; so how can we know the way?" 6 Yeshua said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me. 7 Because you have known me, you will also know My Father; from now on, you do know him -- in fact, you have seen Him." 8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it will be enough for us." 9 Yeshua replied to him, "Have I been with you so long without your knowing Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, `Show us the Father'? 10 Don't you believe that I am united with the Father, and the Father united with Me? What I am telling you, I am not saying on My own initiative; the Father living in Me is doing his own works. 11 Trust Me, that I am united with the Father, and the Father united with Me. But if you can't, then trust because of the works themselves. 12 Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever trusts in Me will also do the works I do! Indeed, he will do greater ones, because I am going to the Father. 13 In fact, whatever you ask for in My name, I will do; so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask Me for something in my name, I will do it. 15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commands; 16 and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another comforting Counselor like Me, the Spirit of Truth, to be with you forever. 17 The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees nor knows Him. You know Him, because He is staying with you and will be united with you. 18 I will not leave you orphans -- I am coming to you. 19 In just a little while, the world will no longer see Me; but you will see Me. Because I live, you too will live. 20 When that day comes, you will know that I Am united with my Father, and you with Me, and I with you. 21 Whoever has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me, and the one who loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him." 22 Y'hudah (not the one from K'riot) said to him, "What has happened, Lord, that you are about to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?" 23 Yeshua answered him, "If someone loves Me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Someone who doesn't love me doesn't keep My words -- and the word you are hearing is not My own but that of the Father who sent Me. 25 "I have told you these things while I am still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Ruach HaKodesh, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything; that is, He will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 "What I am leaving with you is shalom -- I Am giving you My shalom. I don't give the way the world gives. Don't let yourselves be upset or frightened. 28 You heard Me tell you, `I am leaving, and I will come back to you.' If you loved Me, you would have been glad that I Am going to the Father; because the Father is greater than I. 29 "Also, I have said it to you now, before it happens; so that when it does happen, you will trust. 30 "I won't be talking with you much longer, because the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on Me; 31 rather, this is happening so that the world may know that I love the Father, and that I do as the Father has commanded Me.
Get up! Let's get going!
"God with Us"
written and performed by MercyMe
Yeshua continues to prepare His disciples for His departure back to the Father and prays for them to His Father.
25 "I have said these things to you with the help of illustrations; however, a time is coming when I will no longer speak indirectly but will talk about the Father in plain language. 26 When that day comes, you will ask in My name. I am not telling you that I will pray to the Father on your behalf, 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God. 28 "I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and returning to the Father." 29 The talmidim said to him, "Look, You're talking plainly right now, You're not speaking indirectly at all. 30 Now we know that You know everything, and that You don't need to have people put their questions into words. This makes us believe that You came from God." 31Yeshua answered, "Now you do believe. 32 But a time is coming -- indeed it has come already -- when you will be scattered, each one looking out for himself; and you will leave Me all alone. Yet I am not alone; because the Father is with Me. 33 "I have said these things to you so that, united with Me, you may have shalom. In the world, you have tsuris. But be brave! I have conquered the world!"
Yeshua’s prayer for Himself and His disciples
1 After Yeshua had said these things, he looked up toward heaven and said, "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that the Son may glorify you -- 2 just as you gave Him authority over all mankind, so that He might give eternal life to all those whom You have given Him. 3 And eternal life is this: to know You, the One true God, and Him whom You sent, Yeshua the Messiah. 4 "I glorified You on earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify Me alongside Yourself. Give Me the same glory I had with You before the world existed. 6 "I made Your name known to the people You gave Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything You have given Me is from You, 8 because the words You gave me I have given to them, and they have received them. They have really come to know that I came from You, and they have come to trust that You sent me. 9 "I Am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those You have given to Me, because they are Yours. 10 Indeed, all I have is Yours, and all You have is mine, and in them I have been glorified. 11 Now I am no longer in the world. They are in the world, but I am coming to You. Holy Father, guard them by the power of Your name, which You have given to Me, so that they may be one, just as We are. 12 When I was with them, I guarded them by the power of Your name, which you have given to Me; yes, I kept watch over them; and not one of them was destroyed (except the one meant for destruction, so that the Tanakh might be fulfilled). 13 But now, I am coming to You; and I say these things while I Am still in the world so that they may have My joy made complete in themselves. 14 "I have given them Your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world -- just as I Myself do not belong to the world. 15 I don't ask You to take them out of the world, but to protect them from the Evil One. 16 They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 17 Set them apart for holiness by means of the truth -- your word is truth. 18 Just as you sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 On their behalf I am setting myself apart for holiness, so that they too may be set apart for holiness by means of the truth.
Yeshua, the Master Teacher, taught by word and deed the truths of His Father God to His disciples. The disciples volunteered for Yeshua’s army to fight the forces of evil when they answered Yeshua’s call: “Come! Follow Me for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Here you will find love, peace and everlasting life.”
Their basic training had been completed and it was time for active duty! They would soon be on their own for Yeshua was about to return to His Father God. But Yeshua promised His Father would send the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit would be with them forever!
Yeshua is still looking for answers from each of us. Do you understand? What have you learned? What is truth? Thy Word, O God, is truth.
"Walk By Faith"
written and performed by Jeremy Camp
