Q. How do you answer a person when they say the Yeshua could not be the Messiah because the Bible does not say there will be two comings?

A. This is a common objection from people who do not believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, but to say the Scriptures are silent about this is not exactly accurate and reveals a severe lack of knowledge. Here is how I answer that question. The material in Scriptures and the Jewish writings on this subject is overwhelming. In Psalm 40.7 it says that the Scriptures point to the Messiah. If a doctrine is true you will find it there. The Scriptures not only point to his family, birthplace and personality but it also details his work of redemption. Daniel tells us that the Messiah will come when the fourth kingdom is ruling and he will establish his kingdom and that would be approximately 400 years after the return of the Jewish people from Babylonian captivity. The people were in high expectation of the coming of the Messiah in the first century (Lk 3.15-16) and by the time Jon the Baptist comes along the anticipation was at an all-time high. This anticipation fueled many writings called apocalyptic literature and interpretations. This started about 100 years before the birth of Yeshua and continued for some time after his death. These interpretations were called “midrashim” and they tied together obvious and obscure messianic passages into an eschatological picture concerning the coming of the Messiah. It was here they saw a problem. On one hand there are passages that spoke of Messiah coming as a conquering king and other passages as a humble, suffering servant who would die for the people. The idea of a conquering king who would destroy Israel’s enemies was very popular, especially when the Jewish people were under the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek and finally Roman occupation. The idea that Messiah would come and crush these enemies and establish peace was very encouraging. But the suffering servant who would die was the counter-point to all this. The Scriptures are very clear about this. The answer they came up with was that the there would be two Messiahs, one to suffer and the other to conquer. They were given names like Messiah Ben Joseph and Messiah Ben David. John the Baptist posed a question to Yeshua about this very question .Many well-meaning teachers have said John was doubting when he asked Yeshua if he was the one or should they expect another (Mt.11.3). He was not questioning whether or not Yeshua was the Messiah because he knew he was (Jn 1.19-36). He was asking a specific eschatological question about whether Yeshua would fulfill all the prophecies himself or whether the idea of two Messiahs was accurate. Yeshua answered John with Scriptures pertaining to both Messiah Ben Joseph and Messiah Ben David. Rather than send two Messiahs God was going to send Yeshua to fulfill all the messianic prophecies in two separate appearances. So, the objection by some that the Scriptures do not teach two comings of the Messiah is not accurate and can’t be supported very well if you use the Scriptures themselves. Yeshua came the first time as the suffering servant, the Messiah Ben Joseph figure and he will come again as the Messiah Ben David, the conquering king very soon. So, the answer to this objection would be that the Scriptures clearly teach that the Messiah will have two separate and distinct comings to fulfill all the messianic prophecies and this is also testified to by Jewish Targumim and Midrashim written approximately 100 years before and 100 years after the birth of Yeshua.

Q. What does it mean when it says the “Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath?”

A. Let’s go to Luke 6.1-5 where one of the accounts is written and analyze what is going on so you will understand why he said this. In v 1 it says this was “on the second chief Sabbath” literally in the Greek. So there are several possibilities. This was during the feast of Unleavened Bread and the second chief Sabbath of that week was the feast of First Fruits when the barley can be eaten. The first chief Sabbath was the 15th of Nisan, the first day of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23.7). The other possibility is that this was the second Sabbath of 7 leading up to the feast of Shavuot and you were to count them off (Lev 23.15-16). Whatever the day, it was a sabbath and he was passing through the barley fields and they were picking some of the heads and rubbing them together to eat them. The Pharisees saw this and accused them of breaking the Sabbath by “reaping” in a field. The Pharisees had 39 categories of work that was prohibited on the Sabbath and reaping was one of them so this was part of their “halakah”(how to walk in the commandments). These categories are still in existence today and many still follow the Pharisees in this. Modern halakah today follows the Pharisees and sadly many messianic believers in Yeshua still follow this too. In v 3 Yeshua asked them about the story of David and how he ate bread that was consecrated only for the priests. This bread was changed on the Sabbath in the Mishkan/ Temple. David and his men were fleeing from Saul and hungry. Achimelech the High Priest gave them permission to eat the bread (1Sam 21). So, here is the point of all this. Yeshua is our High Priest and he sets halakah for a believer. He created the Sabbath and he is the one who sets the rules. He can do what he wants and his followers can do what he allows them to do, just like Achimelech did with David without violating the heart of the law, which was to preserve life. So Yeshua is Lord of the Sabbath day and people come first. When he says Sabbath day he means the seventh day Sabbath (Saturday) and the feast days as prescribed in Leviticus and other places. These days have not been done away with. Man does not have the authority do that no more than the Pharisees had the authority to make the rules. If Yeshua is saying that man can’t make the rules for the Sabbath because he created it and can make the rules (it’s his day) how much more evil is it to say the whole day has been changed to another day in violation of what he said and created?. Those that keep Sunday as the Christian Sabbath have now said Yeshua is not their Lord. He already said he is Lord of the seventh day, not the first day of the week or any man-made holiday. People who keep Sunday have a different “lord” otherwise they would not be observing it. He did not authorize anyone to change the day to Sunday so to do it means you did it without his authority and so he is not their “Lord”. He said himself “why do you call me Lord and don’t do what I tell you?” It’s true he is Lord of all the days of the week but there is one day of the week he has set apart to himself and he calls “His Day” and that is the seventh day and that has never changed (Gen 2 1-3; Lev 23.1-2; Isa 58.13; Lk 4.16; Rev 1.10). This also applies to the biblical festivals as well. In Leviticus 23.2 he calls the Sabbath day and festivals “the Lord’s appointed times” and they are his days. Those that say that the Sabbath and the festivals listed in the Bible are “Jewish” are mistaken. So that’s why he said he was Lord of the Sabbath. It’s his day and he makes the rules as opposed to what man says about it, Pharisee or otherwise.

Q. What do the Scriptures teach about tithing and is it for today?

A There has been a lot of misinformation about this subject over the centuries and this is not the place to clear them all up so I will attempt to give the simple teaching about this subject. The Scriptures teach the concept of giving. Two main areas we will concentrate on is tithing and biblical giving. So, let’s talk briefly about tithing. The Hebrew word for it is “ma’aser” which means a tenth part. We see Abraham giving a tenth of the war spoils after rescuing Lot. Jacob will give a tenth if God delivers him (Gen. 28). This is in the category of biblical giving. There is no indication that either of them made it an ongoing practice as we understand it later in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. You can give whatever percentage you want of your increase but that is not considered tithing as presented in the Torah. Tithing was done when in the land of Israel. It was agricultural in nature (animals and produce) because you were making your living off the land, God’s land, and He gave it to Israel, sends the rain and gives the increase. As a result, you gave a tithe like “rent” to the real landowner. The tithe was given to the Levite and he in turn gave a tithe to the priests. You did not tithe money. The tithe was brought two times a year for six years. It went like this. The years were counted by sevens, called a “shavuah” (seven) and the seventh year was called a “shemittah” and 7 seven -year cycles equaled 49 years. The next year was the Yovel year (50th), or jubilee, when all debts were cancelled and land went back to the previous owners and so on. So the first year of the 7 year the first tithe was brought to the Levitical city near you at the feast of Shavuot. The animals were put in stockyards and the produce was put into storage areas. The second tithe was brought to the Temple and eaten in a banquet style with the priests, Levites, poor and the needy. You stayed there until it was gone (Deut. 14.22-29). The second year of the cycle you repeated the process. The third year you brought the first tithe to the storehouses at Shavuot but the second tithe was given to the Levites to be given to the widows, orphans and the needy (Deut. 26.12-15). The fourth and fifth year repeated the first and second year of the cycle and the sixth year repeated the third. The seventh year of the cycle is called the shemittah and there was no tithe because there were no crops planted. This cycle repeated for seven cycles or 49 years. So, the 49th and 50th year there was no planting or tithing (Lev 25.20-22, Isa. 37.30). You ate what grew of itself and God promised to provide enough for those two to three years. That is biblical tithing and it can’t be done today. It is wrong to bring out Malachi and other prophets to reprove people for not tithing today trying to make them feel guilty and give up their money. The church is not the storehouse and Christian ministers are not the Levites and you did not tithe money. If these ministers want the people to tithe like the people of Israel than they need to live like Levites, which won’t happen. Besides, these same ministers will tell their people they are “free from the Law” and the Law has been “done away with” except when it comes to money. Don’t you find a strange inconsistency with that? So, in short, tithing is not in force today as described in the Scriptures because there is no Temple, no Levitical cities with their storehouses, or priests. Even if there was all of the above, if you lived outside the land you were not obligated to tithe. However, if you decided to give ten percent to the Lord you could and it was considered biblical giving, not tithing. There is a difference. If you left the corners of your field with a lot of produce for the gleaners you were considered generous and had a “good eye”. If you were stingy and had an “evil eye” you cut the corners close and didn’t leave much. Boaz in the book of Ruth was generous because the reapers left extra for the gleaners. You can give whatever you want and that applies no matter who you are or where you are. Biblical giving is not limited to money. You can give time, buying study materials, talents and other things. Also keep in mind you should give to your family first and those in need in your own household. The whole concept of tithing and biblical giving cannot be totally discussed here but hopefully there is enough here to answer your question or at least give you something to work with so you can check this out for yourself.

Q. Why was Saul’s name changed to Paul?

A. His name wasn’t “changed” to Paul. He had that name because he was a Roman citizen. Some think that his name was changed because he was a “Christian” and he was separating from his Jewish roots, but Paul never said that and in fact never disregarded his Jewishness or the keeping of the Torah so it wasn’t for that reason. Yeshua referred to him by his Jewish name “Shaul”.The plain fact of the matter is he had several names which was not unusual. He had his Jewish name and a Roman name “Paulus” and it was a common name. In Acts 13.7 we read about a proconsul of Rome called Sergius Paulus. The historian Josephus was a Jewish general in the 1st century revolt against Rome. His Jewish name was Matatiyahu (Matthew) but later was captured by the Romans and eventually was known as Flavius Josephus. So the simplest answer is he had two names. His Jewish name was Shaul (Saul) and also had a Roman name Paulus (Paul). He was known by Paul because of his ministry in the Roman world and it also revealed his Roman citizenship but he also went by Shaul. There is an allusion to this name in the story of Shaul and David in 1 Sam 26.17-18 and Acts 9.4. King Shaul (Saul) was from the tribe of Benjamin and he was persecuting David from the tribe of Judah. In Acts 9.4 another Shaul from the tribe of Benjamin is persecuting a descendant of David from the tribe of Judah. That is why Yeshua calls him by his Jewish name and asks Shaul, like David did in 1 Sam 26 “Why are you persecuting me?” Names mean things and there is always something to learn. However there is no truth to the teaching that Shaul’s name was changed to Paul to illustrate his rejection of the Torah or that he was starting a new religion.