Love Israel

Speaker 1

Shalom. And welcome to Via Hafta Yisrael, a Hebrew phrase which means you shall love Israel. We hope you'll stay with us for the next 30 minutes as our teacher, Dr. Baruch, shares his expository teaching from the Bible.

Dr. Baruch is the senior lecturer at the Zarah Avraham Institute, based in Israel. Although all courses are taught in Hebrew at the institute, Dr. Baruch is pleased to share this weekly address in English.

To find out more about our work in Israel, please visit us on the web at loveisrael.org—that's one word, loveisrael.org.

Now here's Baruch with today's lesson.

Speaker 2

When a person studies scripture, one needs to realize that everything that is written in the Word of God has been perfectly inspired by the Holy Spirit. What are some of the implications of that? The Word of God has no heirs whatsoever, and therefore we need to deal with all the texts so that we understand what God is conveying through revelation to His people. We must rightly understand the text so that we can apply it to our lives and walk in obedience to the instructions of God. That is the desire of every true believer.

Take out your Bibles and look with me to the Gospel of Luke and chapter 22. We are going to begin in a few minutes with verse 35. We see that the Messiah is in Jerusalem, in a very specific location, and He is going to enter into the garden of Gethsemane. What does He do there? He is going to pray and also challenge His disciples to pray. In fact, the word that He uses in another Gospel is "watch," which is a very significant word. It means to watch, not just to be observant and paying attention, but to watch because there is an enemy.

When we look and study the Word of God in regard to this passage of Scripture, we see something in the other Gospel accounts: the one who betrayed the Messiah, Judas Iscariot. He was someone who was greatly influenced by the love of money. It was that love of money that allowed the enemy, specifically Satan, to enter into him for his purposes and not the purposes of God. Now, is God able to use all things? Yes, He is. Did God use this? Of course He did. God understood what was going to happen, and He used it to bring about redemption for all of humanity. However, as the scripture tells us, God was not pleased with Judas. He used that act of disobedience, but He was not the cause of it. Who was? As the Scripture tells us, it was the enemy—Satan.

So, as I said, look with me to this portion of scripture, Luke's gospel, chapter 22. We will begin with verse 35. Here we find the Messiah speaking to His disciples. Pay close attention to what He is saying. Verse 35: "And He said to them," so the Messiah is speaking to the disciples, "When I sent you without a wallet"—and that's the best way to understand this word; it is a container for money, so we might call it simply a wallet—"did you lack anything?" The way this question is written in Greek implies a negative answer, and that's exactly what they said. He sent them out to serve Him and told them to depend upon Him, minister in His name, trusting Him to provide for all of their needs. So, don't take a wallet, don't take a bag to carry things, and don't even have any extra shoes.

What did they lack? Notice how they responded when He says, "Did you lack something?" They said, "Nothing." Verse 36: "Therefore He said to them, but now," and this is a word of contrast; He is going to say something very different. Why? Understand what is being taught here. The Messiah perfectly provided for His disciples to carry out His work, meaning to do what He commissioned them to do as His disciples and, as we know, being sent forth as apostles.

But here's what's important: when we come to this time in the gospel, what time are we talking about? As I mentioned, the Messiah is in the garden of Gethsemane, and He is going to ask the disciples—not just ask, but command them—to pray. What we find is that there is going to be hostility towards Him and the disciples, and that is exactly what we should expect in the last days.

Now, I realize that people don't like to hear this, but be assured of something: the Word of God tells us that in the last days, prior to the establishment of the kingdom of God, there is going to be a great and intense time of persecution for believers that, yes, indeed, the church is going to go through. Who is going to be the source of these difficult times? Make no mistake about it, it is the Antichrist.

I realize that we want to believe a doctrine that tells us that we won't go through any tribulation. But here's the problem: many people associate tribulation with the wrath of God, and this is not what we're talking about. We're talking about persecution for one's faith. What does the Messiah say? He says, "They hated me, and they will hate you. They persecuted me, and they will persecute you." This is going to be confirmed in a moment.

So He says, "But now, the one having a wallet, let him take likewise also a bag. And the one that does not have—" and we'll see what He's referring to in a moment—"the one that does not have, let him sell his garment and buy." And here's what's important: to buy a sword. Now, prophetically, a sword speaks of division. Why is that? Because you divide something with a sword into two pieces. What the Scripture is telling us is that in the last days, there is going to be great division, just as it was concerning the Messiah's first coming.

We see that the world was hostile to Him; the Roman Empire crucified the Messiah, and the Jewish leadership was likewise opposed to Him. They were divided against Him. Why is that important? Because in the last days, we can expect the same hostility towards the Savior and those who belong to the Savior. We will be hated and persecuted.

So what does He say here? He says, "In the past, I told you, do not take a wallet or a bag or extra shoes." Why? He was going to provide perfectly. "But now there is going to be intense opposition to the extent that He says, 'The one that does not have, let him sell his garment and purchase a sword.'"

Verse 37: "For I say to you that still this which has been written, it is necessary to be fulfilled concerning me." He goes on to say, "And also with"—and this is the word for those who are unrighteous—"he was reckoned," meaning this Messiah, when He was crucified, He was reckoned with those who were unrighteous. We know that because not only was He crucified that day, but the Scripture says there were two others as well, who were thieves and a murderer.

So those who were unrighteous, He was reckoned with. He was accounted like—though we know that the Messiah never sinned, that the Messiah is perfectly righteous like His heavenly Father—but He was likened with the unrighteous. Why? This is to show the corruption that's in this world. That was true, and what caused the world to put the Messiah to death didn't surprise God. This was part of His plan. The Messiah knew that He was going to die.

But we see here that it speaks about the world being hostile to the true King, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. He says, "All of this which has been written, it is necessary to be fulfilled in me," meaning concerning Him, and that He is going to be with the unrighteous, likened, meaning reckoned with them. At the end of verse 37, He says, "For the things concerning me have to be brought to their fulfillment."

What's important here is this: this word for "to be brought" relates to something that doesn't just finish, but finishes perfectly. That's what the Messiah does. He perfectly completes the prophetic truth concerning Him when He came the first time, and He'll do the same thing at the end of Daniel's 70th week, those last seven years. He will fulfill all prophecy concerning Him.

Look now to verse 38. "But they said, 'Lord, behold, two swords are here.'" So interesting; we find not just a sword, but two swords. Why the number two? When we study it thoroughly in the Scripture, it relates to division. Let me say that differently: the number two usually speaks about two different opinions that are in contrast or conflict with one another. That's what we're going to have in the last days.

There's going to be that same thing that was witnessed in the world concerning Him: those who were against Him and those who were for Him. We're going to see an intensification of this hatred towards Him, and the number of those who are going to be for Him is going to be few. That shouldn't surprise us because the way that leads to eternal life is narrow and difficult, and the Scripture says few find it.

Move on to verse 39: "And going forth," meaning He went forth from where He was. Notice it says something here. Most scriptures will say that He went, but if you look at this, it's not "went" that would be in the active, but it's in the passive, meaning He was brought. This is to teach us something. Notice what the Scripture says: "He went forth and was brought according to the custom." What custom? The custom concerning the Mount of Olives.

Now, what is that? The Mount of Olives is also known according to Jewish custom as Har Hamashika, which means the mountain of the anointing. We know that the Mount of Olives, according to biblical tradition, is where the Messiah is going to return to prior to establishing His kingdom. This is also a hint in the Scripture that the Messiah was brought to this place for a purpose: to show that He is indeed the Anointed One of His heavenly Father.

At the end of verse 39, it says, "And His disciples followed Him." Verse 40: "And being brought to the place," again, that word for going is in the passive. He was brought to that place for a reason, in order to show His identity as indeed the Anointed One. That's why He was at the Mount of Olives. He was brought to that place.

He said to them, "Pray that you do not enter into temptation." Now, what is temptation? God is not the source of temptation. God cannot be tempted by sin, nor does He tempt anyone. The Scripture says in the book of James that the source of temptation is the enemy. Temptation is the satanic way of moving us away from God's will into the purposes and plans of the enemy.

So He says, "Here you pray that you do not enter into temptation, that you do not participate with the enemy." That's what He is commanding them. Look now to verse 41: "And He was withdrawing from them." He separated Himself from them. Once more, this separation—what the Scripture says, "withdrawing"—is in the passive. He was made to separate Himself from them. Why? To show that He is different.

Yes, He is fully man, but He is also fully God, and He is very, very different from the disciples. Because the disciples—well, at this moment, we know the prophetic word: the shepherd will be struck, and the sheep will scatter. He knows this; they should know it because it's biblical. He says, "Pray that you do not enter into temptation," meaning that you do not fall away from faithfulness.

It's not talking about salvation; it's talking about having a God-pleasing testimony. He says that He, being made to separate from them, was a stone's throw away. What did He do? He placed His knees, meaning on the ground is the implication, and He was praying. What was He saying? Look now to verse 42: "Father, if you will, take from me this cup. But nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done."

Now notice what He is praying for in the garden of Gethsemane. He is praying that this cup, meaning the cross, be removed if it's the Father's will. Well, we know something, and He knew this as well: it was indeed the will of God that the Messiah drink from that cup. But it's teaching us a principle. Why? Notice what He is doing. He is praying. He bows the knee, sets His knee upon the ground, praying.

He says, "You know," and He's human—yes, He's the Son of God, but He's also fully man. No one wants to suffer this intense crucifixion and the other things that He was going through. So He prayed, as we would, "God, if possible, remove this from me. But not my will," He says, "but rather the Father's will." He was always, always, always obedient to His Father's will.

Notice what else is said here. Look now to verse 43: "But an angel from heaven appeared to Him." Why did that angel appear to Him? It tells us that he is strengthening Him. This is very similar to what we saw when He was in the Judean desert, when He was fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, and the enemy was there tempting Him. The angels ministered to Him. Why?

What was the context? Immediately after that temptation, what was He? He was baptized. That shows His obedience to His Father's will to go to Jerusalem to die, meaning to be crucified, to be buried, but on the third day rise again. Now that is about to be done. What do we know? The enemy was looking for a more appropriate time to afflict Him, and that's what's going on in the garden of Gethsemane. He is under spiritual attack, and the angel from heaven is strengthening Him.

What happens? Look now to verse 44: "And it was coming about," again in the passive. Why? What was coming about? He was coming about in agony. This word speaks about the multiplication of suffering and grief. He was going through great spiritual attack. Why? The context is that of temptation. The enemy did not want, in one sense, the Messiah to obey His Father's will. But we know, being the faithful Son of God, He did obey His Father's will.

So it happened unto Him that He was in agony. What did He do? In a more intense manner—some will say in a more earnest way, but it just means in a fervent way—He was praying. What came about? Notice the last part of verse 44: "And it came about His sweat as." It didn't say that He sweat drops of blood; that's what most people think and how they read it. But there's a very important word here: the word "as." That Greek word "as" means like or similar.

What He was doing was sweating, but it gave the appearance. It was like droplets of blood that were falling to the ground. Now blood—we all know the scripture says that life is in the blood. What the scripture is telling us, the reason why it's recorded here, is because the Messiah is going to pour out His life. Sweat is an outcome of labor or work. What was His work? He was going to pour out His life.

That's what the droplets of sweat that were like blood—wasn't blood; it was like blood. It was to show why He was going to suffer. Blood, oftentimes in the scripture, is synonymous with redemption. So He was doing the work of redemption. That's why He went to the garden. That's why He's going to, as we'll see next week, be arrested.

Look at verse 45: "What did He do? And He stood up from prayer. After going to His disciples, He found them." What were they doing? "Sleeping from grief." This expression, "sleeping from grief," is a type of depression. Why? They weren't getting what they wanted. They thought they were going to Jerusalem and they were going to embrace their teacher, their rabbi, as the king. That he was going to bring victory.

Well, He did, but not the way they anticipated. Victory is found through the cross. That's why the important message for believers today is to take up our cross and follow Him. What He went through, we're going to go through. We are called out of obedience to be willing to lay down our life, to be a living sacrifice. This is what the scripture is telling us.

Well, let's conclude. Let's look at our last verse, verse 46: "And He said to them, 'Why do you sleep?'" After standing up—meaning this is a call—"Stand up and you pray." Why? "In order that you do not enter." This is the second time He says it: "that you do not enter into temptation." Why did He say that? To remind you and me about something as we approach the last days.

Are we in the last days? We are not. But I do believe we're seeing some of the beginning of the birth pains. What God is doing is that He is moving, and also the Antichrist spirit is in this world—a spirit of deceit. What's happening? Things are being arranged for those last days. In the same way that He told His disciples to watch and to pray, He also tells us, in light of the end times, to watch and to pray so that we do not enter into temptation when we pray.

What should we pray? That we obey the word of God. That we allow the grace of God to move in our life, to teach us to deny ungodliness and unrighteousness in order that we might live soberly and righteously in this present world. That's what we're called to do. The grace of God is the key, with the Holy Spirit, for us to have a God-pleasing testimony—one that does not succumb to temptation, but rather one that carries out the purposes of God.

We saw how the disciples were sent out, told them to rely upon Him, trust Him. That's the same message for the last days. The same message for when the world wants to intensely persecute and kill, as they killed the Messiah. Now, He laid down His life, but the world was opposed to Him, and the world is going to be opposed to believers in the last days. We need to pray and pray now that we do not succumb to temptation, but we have a God-pleasing testimony—one that manifests the fact that the Holy Spirit is in us and bringing the order of God into our life so that people can see the fact that we have been redeemed by the grace of God.

Well, I'll close with that. Until next time, Shalom from Israel. We hope you...

Speaker 1

Will benefit from today's message and share it with others. Please plan to join us next week at this time and on this channel for our broadcast of LoveIsrael.org.

Again, to find out more about us, please visit our website LoveIsrael.org. There you will find articles and numerous other lectures by Baruch. These teachings are in video form; you may download them or watch them in streaming video.

Until next week, may the Lord bless you in our Messiah Yeshua, that is Jesus, as you walk with Him. Shalom from Israel.