Who Is Yeshua (Jesus)?
The Covenant of Peace
(Most of us think that we know exactly who Yeshua is. He is our Messiah and the Son of God, but did you know that He is mentioned in Genesis 1:1?
Genesis 1:1(NASB) "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." If we look at this Scripture in the Hebrew, the verse literally says, “In a beginning created Elohim (et) the heavens and the earth.” Elohim is another name for God. It literally means “The mighty ones” and yes, it is plural and there is much debate as to why, but we will not touch on that in this study. Please also notice that it is “In a beginning” rather than “In the beginning”, giving us a hint that there will be another beginning- a new beginning if you will. In English, there are ten words in this verse, but in Hebrew, there are only seven. Hebrew is read from right to left and it looks like this:
בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ׃
However, there is a word in between “Elohim” and “the heavens” that was never translated into our English texts and we have underlined it. It is the fourth word in the sentence. If we were to try and pronounce it, it would be et in English. First of all, it is not a word in Hebrew and cannot be translated. It is the Hebrew letter Aleph and the letter Tav. The Aleph Tav is the first letter of the Hebrew Alphabet and the last letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. The Jewish sages believe that it is the Hebrew language that was created that day, or the Word – the Word out of the mouth of Elohim (God). This makes sense since we read in the New Testament in John 1:1(NASB) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Elohim only had to speak the world into existence, for example, “God said ‘Let there be light”. The Word is what accomplished all of it. Isaiah 55:11(NASB) "So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." The reason the Word never returns void is because God is Spirit and so were His Words. John 4:24(NASB) "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." His Word is forever. It literally existed from the beginning - from Genesis 1:1. Psalm 119:89(NASB) "Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven."
This brings us to a problem. If His Word is forever, nothing can change. In the same Word, we see that only a son of Aaron of the tribe of the Levites can be a high priest. Exodus 40:13-15(NASB) "You shall put the holy garments on Aaron and anoint him and consecrate him, that he may minister as a priest to Me. You shall bring his sons and put tunics on them; and you shall anoint them even as you have anointed their father, that they may minister as priests to Me; and their anointing will qualify them for a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations." In this same Word, we also see that Yeshua will be the king and the high priest at the same time and He is from the tribe of Judah. Zechariah 6:12-13(NASB) "Then say to him, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the LORD. Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the LORD, and He who will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne. Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices."' We read in Isaiah 11:1(NASB) that this "branch" is a descendant of Jesse. Jesse is the father of David who is from the tribe of Judah. "Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit."
How can this be? How can a descendant from the tribe of Judah become a high priest if God has already said that it will be a son of Aaron of the tribe of Levi? The author of the book of Hebrews explains in Hebrews 7:12-14(NASB) "For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests." Can there be a simple change of law? We have already established that God’s words are Spirit and therefore permanent. The Spirit has neither a beginning nor an end. The same would be for His Words – neither a beginning nor an end.
We also read that the whole earth is under a curse. Isaiah 24:6a(NASB) “Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty.” However, we also read in Revelation 22:3a(NASB) “There will no longer be any curse..” If God’s words are permanent, then both statements cannot be true. If the earth is under a curse, wouldn’t that be forever?
If His Word is forever, how can there be a change? There is only one way. He had to make parts of His Word temporary and what is temporary on earth? Flesh. Flesh has an end. It cannot live forever. It is corruptible. John 1:1(NASB) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." The Word or the Aleph Tav became flesh. If we were to say these two letters in Greek, we would be saying the Alpha Omega. The Alpha Omega became flesh. It became a man. John 1:14(NASB) "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." The Word became flesh and His name was Yeshua. We have seen this verse over and over, but have you really thought about the implications of this? The Word out of God’s mouth became a flesh and blood human.
What Word became flesh? At the time of Yeshua’s birth on earth, had any of the New Testament been written? So, what Word became flesh? Every Word out of God’s mouth, whether it was spoken through Moses in what is called the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) or if it was spoken through David in the Psalms or spoken through one of the prophets. What we call the entire Old Testament is what became flesh. The Old Testament or the TaNaKh, as it is called by our Jewish brothers, which is an acronym for Torah (Law), Nevi’im (which means Prophets in Hebrew) and Ketuvim (which means Writings in Hebrew), came into the world as flesh. It is the New Testament that is a witness to these events. Yeshua said in John 5:46 “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me." He also said, Luke 24:44(NASB)... “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” The Law and the Prophets are all about Yeshua because they ARE Yeshua.
Yeshua was perfect. He had no sin, because He literally IS the Torah or the Law. When God said, “Let there be light.” It was Yeshua that went out to accomplish this. When God said, “Let us make man in our image,” it was Yeshua that did it. He is the Word that was from the beginning. Colossians 1:16-17(NASB) "For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Let this sink in. It was Yeshua that created all things and in Him all things hold together. Yeshua IS the Old Testament. He could never have said or done anything that goes against the Law or the Prophets because He literally IS the Law and the Prophets.
The prophet Isaiah’s words will make more sense to you now as he foretold about Yeshua's first coming. Isaiah 53:2(NASB) "For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." How very sad. Our own Messiah was not attractive to us because God’s Words with His Laws are not attractive to us. We have totally rejected Him and we still are rejecting Him. We cannot say that we love Yeshua, yet despise the Law. They are one in the same. The same thing goes the other way. We cannot say that we love the Law (Torah) and yet reject Yeshua. The Word literally became flesh.
We have established that Yeshua is the Word that became flesh, however, in this same Word, there are discrepancies. The wages of sin is death, but the Word also says that there is to be eternal life. How can this be? We have the current heavens and earth that were created in Genesis chapter one, but we are also told that there will be a new heaven and new earth at some point. Again, how can this be? His Word was originally Spirit and that was permanent, however, we have now established that the same Word became flesh, which is temporary. So, is all of the Word at the point that Yeshua walked on the face of the earth now temporary? We certainly hope not. We do want the parts about eternal life and the new heavens and the new earth to be permanent, don’t we? So, how does this work?
The answer is that there are two covenants in this same Word. There is, what we call the Old Covenant (not to be confused with the “Old Testament”) that has the Levitical Priesthood and the wages of sin is death and the current heavens and earth. There is also a New Covenant, written in the same Word, which we have not received yet, that has a descendant from Judah as King and Priest and there will be everlasting life and a new heaven and new earth. According to John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. So, God took His entire Word – two covenants - and placed it into one man, Yeshua. It is interesting to note that the word for “flesh” in Hebrew is basar (בשר) and the word for “gospel or good news” is also basar (בשר) just with different vowel points. He told us in advance that His Word or Gospel would become flesh. Both covenants became flesh. Both covenants were placed in the same body of Yeshua. We can see the two covenants in Genesis 1:1 - the Aleph Tav. Two letters - two covenants. The first and the last. Every Hebrew letter is both a word picture and a number. The Hebrew letter aleph has a word picture that is an "ox, bull, strength, leader, Adonai (Hebrew word for lord or master), teach or first". The Hebrew letter tav has a word picture of "sign, mark, the last, cross, covenant and seal". The Aleph Tav is the "strength of the cross" or is the "leader of the covenant" or is the "first and the last".
At this point, some of you may be thinking that God took the entire Old Testament and nailed it to the cross, thereby ending it. Again, we certainly hope not. Remember, the New Covenant is in there also. Others might say that He took the Torah with all of its old laws and sacrificial system and nailed it to the cross and it died. If the Torah had indeed died that day, the current heavens and the earth would cease to exist also. The creation of them is in the Torah right at Genesis chapter one. In other words, the current creation was all given in the Old Covenant. Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Please notice that since the heavens and the earth are still going strong and still being held together by the Word, the Old Covenant is not gone. The Old Covenant is still active.
Just a quick note on our translators....they did not help matters when they put a dividing page in between the Old Testament and the New Testament, leading people to believe that the New Covenant is only in the New Testament and the Old Covenant is only in the Old Testament. This is simply not true. Both the Old and the New Covenants are in the Old Testament. Of course, the authors in the New Testament are expounding upon the New Covenant and explaining how it works, but God originally spoke the New Covenant in the Old Testament.
Since Yeshua - as the Torah - literally existed from Genesis 1:1, there are Scriptures that make more sense now. Such as Cain and Abel offering sacrifices before Torah was even given at Mt. Sinai. In fact, the very first time the word “Torah” in Hebrew is even used is in Genesis 26:5(NASB) … "because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws (torah).” Abraham preceded Mt. Sinai by over four hundred years. That is because Torah has been around from Genesis 1:1, “in a beginning”. That is why our verse in Colossians 1:17 says, "He is before all things…." And this Word is Yeshua, so He was also before all things. Since these heavens and this earth are still going on and on, even after the death and resurrection of Yeshua, what does this mean?
So, what exactly happened the day that our Messiah was crucified? How does this work?