Q. God brings us into struggles and battles. Why does He do this and how do we handle them?

A. The Lord brings us into struggles and battles to teach us something. It is an unpleasant business for sure, but that’s the way He does things. In Judges 3.1-2 it says “Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan: only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those that had not experienced it formerly)”. You see, the Lord left some of the nations intact in Canaan because He wanted the inexperienced to learn about Him through warfare. He does the same thing today. He will purposely bring us into struggles and battles so that we learn how to fight and what it takes to win a battle. The problem is too many resist it and turn from the battle and run. If we don’t face the enemy and resist the Lord will continue to place you in situations and battles until you finally stand up and get strong in the Lord. That’s why some people keep going through the same struggles again and again. He wants to work out something in your life and you are going to have to stand and fight sometime, so you might as well get it over with. Israel today is making that mistake. Sooner or later they will have to realize who they are and who the Lord is, and fight His battles in His name. But they are trying to be political and they are afraid of the world’s opinions and certainly listen too much to the United States. Someday they are going to have all that stripped away, all their defenses will be of no use and they will be forced to turn to the God of their fathers for help and He will respond in a way they will understand. It’s the same with us. He will strip away our defenses until we acknowledge Him and turn to Him, so it’s better to enter the battle right away and learn what the Lord is trying to do. But, there is way to go to battle and way not to. First, we are to be obedient to Him before the battle begins. In Num 4.1-3 it says that they were to take a census from the sons of Kohath “from 30 years and upward, even to 50 years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tent of meeting.” The word for “service” there is the word for warfare in Hebrew. In other words, as we are serving the Lord as He commanded, it is a type of spiritual warfare. The best spiritual warfare you can do is to obey the Lord and keep His commandments. Then He will be a shield and a buckler to you and drive out your enemies. What is taught today in many circles as “spiritual warfare” is not the biblical example. So, you will need to believe in the Lord and keep His commandments. When you have done that and a battle comes, there are several Scriptures I use. The first is found in 1 Sam 24.12. David had a conflict with Saul and he says “ May the Lord judge between you and me, and may the Lord avenge me on you, but my hand shall not be against you.” David left it all in God’s hand and did not seek his own revenge or justice, he left it up to the Lord. The second one is dealing with a battle between Israel and the sons of Ammon found in 1Chr 19.10-15. Ammon had hired the Syrians to fight with them against Israel and they surrounded Israel. Joab takes his elite forces and positions them against the hireling Syrian forces. Abshai is Joabs brother, and he takes his forces and positions them against the sons of Ammon. Joab says if you need help, I’ll come to you, and if I need help you come to me. After he has done all he can in the natural he says this: “Be strong and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in His own sight.” In other words, they have done all they can do in the natural to take on the enemies of the Lord, but what happens is up to the Lord. Well, the hireling Syrians took one look at the elite Israeli forces and they had no heart for the battle and they ran. When Ammon saw that the Syrians fled, they lost courage and ran also. The battle was never fought and Israel won the victory without a fight. That’s how we should approach our battles. Be obedient to the Lord, do what needs to be done in the natural and leave the rest up to the Lord. Having done all you can do, stand and be ready to fight and no matter what happens, leave it up to the Lord. There is so much more to the concept of biblical spiritual warfare but I hope this answers your question for the most part.

Q. In Zechariah 8.19 there are four fasts listed. What is their significance today?

A. These fasts are still done in many Jewish circles but they were never commanded by the Lord. In fact He has a very interesting take on them. These fast days commemorated the taking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians. They were self-appointed times of mourning, which in and of themselves doesn’t make them bad, but they had become mundane rituals and a way to get God to do something for them. God sees them suffering without food, God feels sorry for them and owes it to the participants to grant their requests. But that is not how the Lord works. The key, from God’s point of view, on the fasts can be found in Zechariah 7.1-14. I won’t get into detail but the idea is that the Lord was not concerned over whether they continued the practice of fasting, He never commanded them to begin with, but over the reality of why the destruction happened . It was an empty ritual void of any real repentance over the things that caused the Temple and the city to be destroyed in the first place. If repentance was there, then the Lord would have found value in their fasting. The people needed to remember why the Temple was destroyed and repent, not weep and fast over the loss of a building with an empty ritual. In 7.9 He tells them what they should have done to avoid the destruction of the city by the Babylonians, but they didn’t do it. They hardened their hearts so that they would not hear the Torah or listen to the prophets (7.12). In Chapter 8.16 He told them what they should do instead of an empty, ritualistic fast. He then says in 8.19 that when genuine repentance is done, He is going to turn those fast days into days of feasting. This can be applied to us today in many ways. We tend to replace genuine repentance with traditions and rituals that make us feel like we are doing something or makes us feel good. Many fast for the same reason today, they feel that God must respond to their suffering, or what they have given up when He doesn’t have to respond to anything if he chooses not to.. These fasts would not even have been necessary had the people obeyed the Lord in the first place. That should have been the conclusion the people reached. When we find ourselves in similar situations, go before the Lord and find out what went wrong so you can correct it. Sometimes fasting is necessary because it helps us focus on the Lord so He can speak to us about what the real problem is, but it should never be the main focus in and of itself.

Q. What is Romans 14.4-6 speaking about?

A. This chapter is dealing with several groups of people. In the 1st century, Gentiles who believed in Yeshua went to the local synagogue to learn the Scriptures (Acts 15.21). There were also Jews who believed in Yeshua in these synagogues who went back to Rome after Acts 2.10. Another group consisted of Jews who did not believe that Yeshua was the Messiah. These three group co-existed in these synagogues and with that came contention. Paul is dealing with some of these contentions in those synagogues and Romans 14 is continuing with that thought. In Romans 14.1 he uses the term “weak” to describe those synagogue Jews who did not believe that Yeshua was the Messiah (Rom 4.19-20, 10.2, 15.1)). The believing Jews and Gentiles there were not to pass judgment on their opinions. So right there he is talking about their oral traditions, not written Scripture which were not the opinions of men but the commands of God. In verse 2 he discusses the fact that some of the Jews would not eat meat or drink wine sold by Gentiles. There is Jewish law today that says the same thing. That was a part of their “halakah” or how to walk their faith before the Lord and this was an oral law. So, they would just eat vegetables because vegetables could not be considered ritually unclean (Dan 1.8-16). This offended the believing Gentiles and Paul was telling them not to be offended. He is telling those who are “strong” (have faith in Yeshua –Rom 4.19-20, 15.1)) not to look with contempt on those who do not eat meat from Gentiles because God accepts the actions of the weak and the strong. They are serving God the best they know how and it is their opinion that their actions were correct, so leave them alone. God will make their actions stand or fall, in other words reveal truth to them eventually. In v5 he talks about certain days they regarded over other days. This has nothing to do with Sabbath days or biblical festivals, everyone in the synagogue agreed about those because they were not the opinions of men but written by God Himself. These days were certain days regarded by the synagogue Jews there as being important, like certain fast days (Lk 18.11-12). Others there didn’t regard them as that important. What Paul is saying is when it comes to certain traditions, let each man do what he considers right, and not to judge the other about it. After all, each person does it to the Lord so let the Lord deal with it. A modern example would be candle-lighting in Friday nights. There is no commandment to light candles and some do it and others do not. Those that do should not force others to do it or look down on them for not doing it, and those that don’t should not try to convince the others that they shouldn’t do it. When a tradition does not violate the Torah, it’s permissible to do it but it should not be imposed on others one way or the other. There are many traditions like that, and many different variations on how to do them, even today. On the other hand, if a man-made tradition violates or goes against written Scripture, then that is a different story and that is not what Paul is talking about. Modern examples of this is Sunday “Sabbath” over Saturday. The Scriptures are clear that Saturday is the Sabbath. Another issue is eating pork or not. Some will take these verses to justify eating pork and one should not judge the other. But again, the Scriptures are clear about eating pork and it is sin. If we are not to judge one another when it comes to sin you could never raise a child. If your child tells a lie, are we to judge it and deal with it, correct it or just let it go. Of course not, and it’s the same with any other clear commandment God gave. I’ve seen preachers get on homosexuals and quote Leviticus, then turn around and eat pork and tell someone they weren’t to judge them about it. I guess it depends on whose ox is getting gored! So, in conclusion, this portion in Romans is dealing with how to get along in a congregation where unbelieving Jews, believing Jews and believing Gentiles co-existed and that we were not to pass judgment on another’s opinions on how to walk before the Lord as long as the opinion was not in direct conflict with the Scriptures. I hope this answers your question. Keep this in mind as you read the book of Romans and the different groups he is addressing.

Q.In Revelation 16.13 three frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet

Q. In Revelation 16.13 it says that three frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. What does this mean and how does that relate to us today?

A. To fully understand this we will start in 16.13 and go to verse 16. The Scriptures teach that good and evil will exist together in the Kingdom of God. God uses the demonic realm to achieve His purposes and one of the purposes is to test the earth, to test His people and so on. He will use lying spirits to do it ( 2 Chr 18.19-21) if He wants, God is sovereign. I am going to give my opinion on these verses and why. In the verse you mentioned, a similar thing is going on and it is completely under the control of the Lord. Satan, the False Messiah and the False Prophet are not running out of control in the Birth-pains, it is all according to the Lord’s purpose. In V 13 it describes the power behind these beings in apocalyptic language and symbolism. Frogs are used because a frog captures it’s victim by the tongue and so do false prophets. These three will deceive many by their “tongues” also. The next verse tells you it is the power of demons and their job is to gather the world together for a war. This war has been going on since Eden, and notice it does not say “battle.” It is an ongoing war and during the Tribulation it is going to be even worse. I don’t really see a literal “Battle of Armageddon” here, as taught in many prophecy scenarios. These lying spirits will try to convince the world to go against God’s commandments and to embrace replacement theology Christianity, or whatever religion is in their country. The key verse in understanding their purpose is verse 16. John says they will try to gather them to a place called in the Hebrew Har-magedon. Now, why did he say “in the Hebrew” and not just say it in Greek. It’s because there is something to be understood about this and it can only be understood if you have been taught from the Torah and the Prophets and the concepts found there. The Greeks didn’t have these concepts (Jn 4.22). The term “har-magedon” has been used before in Scripture. You will find it in Isaiah 14.13. It talks about Satan’s desire to sit on the “mount of assembly” (har-moe-ghed) and be worshipped. It refers to the people coming up to Jerusalem, to the Temple on Mt. Moriah at the appointed times (Sabbath/Festivals) to meet with God. So this term is used again in Revelation 16.16 to describe why these lying spirits go out to deceive the world. This term does not mean “Mount Megiddo” because there is no Mount Megiddo in Israel. This is a war over whose holy days are the people going to keep. Dan 7.25 says the False Messiah and the False Prophet will replace the biblical festivals with other ones because he wants to be worshipped on the “Mount of Assembly (har-moeghed).” The war being described here is over obedience to the Torah. These lying spirits, described as frogs (because of their tongues) go out and tell people that the Law has been done away with, Sunday is the Lord’s Day, Christmas is godly, go ahead and eat unclean meats like pork, lobster, catfish, and that is just in this country. He has deceived the whole world with many different religions. Satan doesn’t care what you follow as long as it isn’t biblical. And if it isn’t what God said, then by implication you are really following Satan, and he is now on the “Mount of Assembly” (har-moeghed) and that is what he has wanted (Isa 14.13) and that is what the verse is saying. Notice God uses an unclean creature like a frog to signify a demon, and there are people reading this article right now who eat frogs and say God says it’s alright! The war has always been over whether you will obey the Lord or not. So, in short, these frogs signify demonic spirits/teachings, who go forth and try to capture victims with their tongues. The place for this war is the “the mount of assembly” or true worship as described in the Torah (Jn 4.19-24). Do you follow the Lord’s festivals or do you follow replacement festivals? I don’t really see a physical last “Battle of Armageddon” here. That is part of the deception. People are looking for a physical battle when the real war is spiritual and it is over obedience to the Word of God. That is not to say there won’t be physical battles in the Tribulation because there will be, but there is something greater going on in these verses. The world is being prepared right now to embrace these three frogs, the theology is in place and growing and there are plenty of “frogs” capturing their victims with their tongues right now in any religion that does not follow the written word of God as found in the Torah.

This week will be the conclusion of the series on the New Covenant and the Kingdom offer.

The whole matter will come back to Moab. In 2 Macc 2.1-8 it says that Jeremiah hid the Mishkan (tabernacle) at Mt. Nebo. Many have heard about this when they study about where the Ark of the Covenant may be. But, nobody talks about why he picked Mt. Nebo in Moab! Because according to Jeremiah God was going to place that same law in our hearts someday, just like Jeremiah was placing the Covenant in the “heart” of the mountain in Moab where the New Covenant was described in Deut 29.1-30.20. Again, there is a connection between Moab and the Covenant with Moses. According to this book, the Mishkan (tabernacle) and all its items will be revealed to the world at the re-gathering of Israel, another element of the New Covenant. So, let’s review a few things. There are 2 covenants in the Torah. The New Covenant at Moab is distinguished from the “curse” of the Mosaic covenant. This new Covenant is tied to the work of the Messiah, or Yeshua. This New Covenant involves a change in the heart, or desires, and involves the Holy Spirit to guide us in these desires to observe the Torah. This covenant has been offered to Israel collectively on at least three occasions. The first was in Deut 29.1, upon entering the land. The second when returning to the land in Jer. 29.10, 31.30 and the third in the first century with the coming of Yeshua (Mt 26.27-29). While Israel may not collectively enter this covenant until Yeshua returns, individual people may enter early by becoming citizens of a Kingdom not yet established on earth. The New Covenant is God writing His Torah on our hearts. He did this by the work of Yeshua and the blood He shed on the cross as the pure “seed of the father” (Moab). This fulfills the promise to Abraham about how his “seed” (singular in Hebrew- Gal 3.16) would “bless the nations” (Gen 12.1-3). The Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 2 on Israel and Acts 10 on the Gentiles. This covenant was cut and ratified like the covenant with Abraham and the covenant at Sinai, not with the blood of bulls, sheep, goats or birds, but with the pure blood of Yeshua. This covenant is repeated in Ezek. 36.22-38. The ultimate outcome of the covenant does not depend on Israel or their obedience like the covenant at Sinai (Heb 8.7-8), but on God and his faithfulness. As you can see, these concepts are very foreign to most reading this because it is not taught. What is usually taught is a remanufactured “New Covenant” made in man’s image and according to the bias of whatever religious institution that does not want to comply with what God has already said about it and gave to Israel. I hope this helps.

This week we will continue with last week's question about the New Covenant

We dealt briefly with what the New Covenant is and this week we will discuss Yeshua, Paul and the New Covenant. When Yeshua began His ministry He reads from Isaiah which is the Haftarah reading for the Torah reading which dealt with the Covenant of Moab. He said that it was fulfilled "today" in their ears (Lk 4.21). The Lord was going to "hasten" this restoration but if the people did not repent it would come in its due time (Isa 60.22). The offer of the Kingdom began with John the Baptist (Mt 3.2, 4.17). One of the elements of the New Covenant is the restored kingdom of Israel (Acts 1.6-7, Jer 23.5-6, Isa 9.6-7, 2 Chr 28.5, 13.8). But the kingdom was being rejected and Yeshua compared this rejection with "those who would not dance" (Mt 11.12-19). But the New Covenant still needed to be ratified in blood, which He did when he was crucified (Mt 26.27-29). The Kingdom offer was later extended and that is what is spoken about in the book of Acts. There was a national call for repentance in Acts 3.12-26 but the people did not respond and by Acts 28.17-28 the final curtain was being drawn on it ever happening in the first century. This brings us to Paul and the New Covenant and this was the basis for his ministry. He contrasts the circumcision of the heart by the Holy Spirit (an element of the Covenant of Moab) with those who were circumcised in the flesh (an element of the Covenant at Sinai) in Rom. 2.27-29. He spoke of the renewal of the Spirit (Moab) with the oldness of the writing of the Sinai covenant alone (Rom 7.6). In chapters 7 and 8 of Romans he contrasts the two Mosaic covenants when he said that walking by the Sinai covenant alone was a work of the flesh but walking by it in the Spirit was what the New Covenant was all about. You see, the Torah or Law of God was never done away with. It was how you walked in it that made all the difference. In Rom 10.4-8 he contrasts the "righteousness that is by the Torah" by quoting Lev 18.5 with the righteousness that is by faith by quoting from the covenant at Moab (Dt 30.11-14). He says that this covenant is the word of faith that "we proclaim" and said that the Covenant at Moab is the covenant of Messiah by which we are saved (Rom 10.9-13). In 2 Cor 3.3-6 he refers to the New Covenant when he contrasts the "letter" written on stone with the "spirit" of Torah written on our hearts. He says following the letter kills, but following the spirit of it gives life. In Galatians 3 he alludes to these 2 covenants. He says Messiah redeemed us from the curse (3.10-13). Jewish commentators tell us the word "besides" in Dt 29.1 distinguishes the covenant at Moab from the curse of the Law. In Galatians 4.16-31 he plainly compares the two covenants. The main thing to remember in all of this is that the Torah is what is being followed in both covenants. One is by the flesh (Sinai) and the other is being led by the Holy Spirit to keep the commandments (Moab). It all comes down to being "born from above" or not. The book of Hebrews is full of references to these covenants. Heb 8.1 begins with the "main point" then it quotes all of Jer 31.31-34 regarding the New Covenant. In Hebrews 8.8-11 and beyond he compares the first covenant at Sinai with the second at Moab (8.6, 7, 13, 9.1, 15, and 10.9). This second covenant differed from the first. The first (Sinai) was ratified with the blood of animals but the second (Moab) was ratified by the blood of Yeshua. Again, the Torah itself didn't change or was done away with (9.12-24) with the covenant at Moab, it was repeated or "renewed" with better promises and that is why it is called the New (renewed) covenant. In Heb 3.7-4.10 he says the "rest" we enter is like the entry of Israel into Canaan which took place at the death of Moses and after making the covenant at Moab. If you study out the names and places when Moses died you will see the whole picture of the covenant at Sinai and the covenant of Moab played out. Remember, the common element in both covenants is the commandments of the Lord. That hasn't changed. But instead of the Lord writing them on stone, He writes them on our hearts. This is made possible through the ratification of this covenant by the death, burial and resurrection of Yeshua. Next week we will review all of this and try to wrap it up nicely so it can be understood better and we will see the New Covenant all comes back to the Covenant at Moab in Dt 29.1 through 30.20. Click here for part 3

Q. You have mentioned in past articles that the kingdom was being offered in the 1st century. What exactly do you mean?

A. To understand this I will have to go back and give some background. This will take several weeks so don't miss the next few articles. This will not be in massive detail but it will give you a better idea of what is going on, This week we will go over what the New Covenant is, next week we'll talk about Yeshua, Paul and the kingdom offer in relation to the new covenant and then the next week try to wrap everything up with a historical overview and show you it all comes back to the Covenant at Moab in Dt 29.1 through Dt 3.20. The "new" covenant is called the "Covenant at Moab." The Mosaic Covenant was made at Mt. Sinai and mediated by Moses, ratified with blood and given to those present at that time ( "in your ears" Dt 5.1-5). The Covenant at Moab ( Moab="seed of the Father") was made at Mt. Nebo (Nebo="prophet") shortly before entry into the promised land. This covenant is "besides" the Mosaic Covenant and includes Torah observance (Dt 30.10). Are you starting to see the connection? The people said they would keep the Mosaic covenant (Ex 24.7) but didn't. This brought on the need for the 2nd covenant at Moab. Both covenants are a work of God's grace (Jn 1.17). It's not like the Mosaic covenant because it had better promises, it was made with everyone, even those unborn (Dt 29 10-15). The Messiah (Yeshua) was the "surety" (Heb 7.22, 8.6, 12.24) and it would be ratified in His blood, not animals like in the Mosaic Covenant. The Moabite covenant had blessings, not just curses. Israel would be honored in the earth, the land would prosper, enemies defeated and they would be the head not the tail. It would be centered around repentance (Dt 30.2,8) and a circumcised heart ("desires"-Dt 30.26). The prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah talked about this new covenant (Ezek 36.22-38, Jer 11.1-4). This is the new covenant Yeshua spoke about and it is based in the Torah (Dt 30.10, everlasting (Jer 32.40) and gives life (Dt 30.6,15,19). The difference between the "old" covenant and the "new" covenant is not what is written but where it is written. It won't be on stone this time but on the heart, through the Holy Spirit. Daniel was studying about the prophecies in Jeremiah (Dan 9.2) and knew that the curses had come upon Israel due to their disobedience (Dan 9.13, Lev 26.14, Dt 28.15). He also knew that it would be seven times worse if they didn't repent (Lev 26.18,21,24,28). In Dan 9 he prays for mercy because he knows Israel failed to repent and 7 x 70 equals 490 years. Gabriel comes with God's reply and Israel will fall into a 490 year cycle. But Messiah will come after 483 years and be "cut off." Israel would need to repent when he came and accept the Torah and then at the end of 490 years enter the new covenant, already promised in Dt 29.1-30.20). But the new covenant could not take place until it was ratified in blood and that brings us up to the coming of Yeshua. He came to offer the kingdom and to ratify this new covenant for the forgiveness of sins, to open the way up for the coming of the Holy Spirit who would circumcise the heart and write the Torah on the hearts of those "born from above" (Jn 3.1-21). This circumcision of the heart is the desire to keep the commandments and that could only happen after the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit ( Jn 7.37-39). Next week we will pick up right here with the coming of Yeshua and His mission to offer the kingdom and to ratify the Moabite or new covenant and repentance.You see, the failure of the Mosaic covenant wasn't because the commandments were bad, it was the people who were at fault in Heb 8.8-13 and repentance was needed. That's why Jeremiah 31.31-34 is quoted by the writer of Hebrews describing the new covenant. Their desires needed to change and that could only be done through the work of God. So, hopefully, you have a better understanding of what the new covenant really is. It has nothing to do with the Law being done away with as is taught by many today but a new, circumcised heart to obey God and not make the same mistakes the people did under the Mosaic covenant. We'll pick up there next week with Yeshua and Paul in relation to the new covenant. Click here for Part 2