Link > Matthew Chapter 25

THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS

¹ Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. ² And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. ³ They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: ⁴ But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ⁵ While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. ⁶ And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. ⁷ Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. ⁹ But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. ¹⁰ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. ¹¹ Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. ¹² But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. ¹³ Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS

¹⁴ For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. ¹⁵ And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. ¹⁶ Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. ¹⁷ And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. ¹⁸ But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. ¹⁹ After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. ²⁰ And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. ²¹ His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. ²²He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. ²³ His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. ²⁴ Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: ²⁵ And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. ²⁶ His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: ²⁷ Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. ²⁸ Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. ²⁹ For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. ³⁰ And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

THE FINAL JUDGMENT

³¹ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: ³² And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: ³³ And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:³⁵ For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: ³⁶ Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.³⁷ Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? ³⁸ When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? ³⁹ Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? ⁴⁰ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

⁴¹ Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴² For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: ⁴³ I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. ⁴⁴ Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? ⁴⁵ Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. ⁴⁶ And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Link > Matthew Chapter 24

Link > Chapter 24 ˙Commentary and Notes

Read my latest comments on Matthew 24 on the Hearing Seven Thunders website

JESUS FORETELLS DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE

¹ And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. ² And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

SIGNS OF THE CLOSE OF THE AGE

³ And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? ⁴ And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. ⁵ For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. ⁶ And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows.

⁹ Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. ¹⁰ And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. ¹¹And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. ¹² And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. ¹³ But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION

¹⁵ When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) ¹⁶ Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: ¹⁷ Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: ¹⁸ Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. ¹⁹ And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! ²⁰ But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: ²¹ For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. ²² And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. ²³ Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. ²⁴ For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. ²⁵ Behold, I have told you before. ²⁶ Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.²⁷ For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ²⁸ For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN

²⁹ Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: ³⁰ And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹ And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

THE LESSON OF THE FIG TREE

³² Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: ³³ So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.³⁴ Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. ³⁵ Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

NO ONE KNOWS THAT DAY AND HOUR

³⁶ But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. ³⁷ But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ³⁸ For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, ³⁹ And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ⁴⁰ Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. ⁴¹ Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. ⁴² Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. ⁴³ But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. ⁴⁴Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

⁴⁵ Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? ⁴⁶ Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. ⁴⁷ Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. ⁴⁸ But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; ⁴⁹ And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; ⁵⁰ The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, ⁵¹And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

• Link > Chapter 24 ˙Commentary and Notes

Link > Matthew Chapter 12

Matthew 12:

1 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.

2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.

3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;

4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?

5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?

6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.

7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.

8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

9 And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue:

10 ¶And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.

11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?

12 How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.

13 Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.

14 ¶Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.

15 But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;

16 And charged them that they should not make him known:

17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,

18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.

19 He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.

20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.

21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.

22 ¶Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

23 And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?

24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?

27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.

28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.

29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

31 ¶Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.

34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

38 ¶Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.

39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.

44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.

45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

46 ¶While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.

47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.

48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?

49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

Chapter 17 ˙ Commentary and Notes

Verse 10 "The talmudim (disciples) asked him, 'Why then do the teachers of the Torah say that Elijah must come first?'"


The "then" in the talmudim's question refers to Yehoshua having just told them not to tell anyone what they had just seen until he was raised from the dead.  This indicates that at this point they thought that when he said that he would be raised from the dead it meant that he would then reveal himself openly to all Israel and to all the world in the same power and glory that they had just seen him transformed.

This is the nature of the question that the two comings of Mashiach presented for the minds of the talmudim.  It was from observing his glorious transformation that they came to their thought that he would at this time restore the kingdom to Israel.  Why then did the teachers of the Torah say that Elijah must come first?

That is, if he would suddenly be revealed in power and glory to all Israel, where would the place of the coming of Elijah be?  Seeing the transformation of Yehoshua transformed the talmudim's idea of the redemption.  Any notion that they may still have had that Mashiach would be a military king like David, or a king who would dominate the nations and establish Israel by political means like Solomon, was taken away from them by seeing the power of his transfiguration, where he appeared in the glory of the new creation.  He had the power and the glory to make all Israel a new creation.  Why then did the teachers of the Torah say that Elijah must come first?

They saw his transfiguration and they imagined his power.  It was his powerless suffering that they could not imagine.  The Mashiach was there in their midst.  They knew it.  If they had not been sure of it before, they were sure now.  How could anything other than the redemption of all Israel from the power of Rome and from the power of the nations be expected now?  It was the nature and power of the atonement that still needed to be revealed to them.  How, then, does Yehoshua teach them?

He answers them, "It is correct.  Elijah comes and restores all things.  But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did recognize him, but have done to him everything that they wished.  In the same way the Son of Adam is going to suffer at their hands."


"Then the talmudim understood that he was talking to them about Yochanan (John) the Immerser."


The transformation of all Israel into the eternal creation will come through the power and glory of Mashiach which the talmudim witnessed but neither Israel nor the world will be ready for this.  Therefore Elijah had come to prepare Israel, but they were not even ready to receive Elijah.  This preparation must therefore yet be accomplished.

Few and Many series No. 1 Yehoshua Heals Many

Notes On Matthew Chapter 7 and 8


7:12 ... all things whatsoever you would want that people should do to you, do the same to them: for this is the Torah and the Prophets.

7:13-14 Enter in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and there are many which go in there.  For the gate is strait, and the way is narrow, which leads unto life, and there are few that find it.


Yehoshua was not sent to condemn the world but that through him the world might be saved, (John 3).  In  chapters 7 and 8 we find him healing the Many so that they might become the Few - who though they are few are more in number in the end than the stars of heaven.  As it says in Revelation 7:9 "After this I looked, and with amazement I saw a great multitude, which no one could number, from all nations, and families, and ethnicities, and languages.  They stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.  10 All these masses cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation is from our God who sits upon the throne, and from the Lamb.'

Masses of people that no one can number are not a number characterized as a few.  What then is the saying of Yehoshua teaching?  He is describing the condition of the world that was then before his eyes and is even yet before our eyes.  There are few who he saw doing unto others as they would have others do unto them, and there was many doing unto others whatever served themselves and their own judgment of others.  Thus, the strait gate that leads to life was being entered by few, while the broad way of destruction was being taken by many.

Therefore we must read these words in chapter 7:13-14 with the words in chapter 8:14-17:

8:14-16 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laying in bed sick with a fever.  And he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose up out of bed, and immediately began to wait on them.   When evening came, they brought unto him many who were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all who were sick:

8:17 This was done in connection with what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah, "He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases."

The Many who were healed in Yehoshua's demonstrations of sharing the power of his faith and his love for tormented humanity were representative cases of all of us who share the ancient fallen nature of Adam, who are all together as one spiritually sick and demonized.  Isaiah the prophet speaks for Israel in order that Israel might speak for us all, saying, "He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases." He healed the great masses of humanity, who were all going into the broad way of selfishness that leads to destruction, and brought them into the power of the strait gate of his self-sacrifice, the narrow way of his own golden rule.

Chapter 7 Text

Chapter 7 ˙ Commentary and Notes

Chapter 8 Text

Chapter 8 ˙ Commentary and Notes

Link > Chapter 24 ˙Commentary and Notes

"God runs the world in the End Days like a fine silver filigree" Rabbi Nachman

The times of ignorance God overlooked but now commands all people everywhere to return again to Him as their Teacher and Guide in life. See Acts 17 with Ezekiel 37.

Matthew 24:1-2  

Yehoshua/Jesus left the Temple and was walking away when his talmudim/disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.  "Do you see all these things?" he asked...

Yehoshua left the Temple and was walking away.  He did not offer the prophecies that follow concerning the Temple and the end of the world, its judgement and salvation, to those who were worshipping within the Temple on that occasion — those who did not expect judgement to come first on the House of the Lord/Hashem.

His talmudim/disciples were also unprepared for this and were not expecting it, yet their preparation was in following Yehoshua.  He gave his prophecies to his talmudim/disciples only when he was questioned by them.  He was walking away from the Temple because he was about to leave Jerusalem desolate (Zephaniah 3) and return to his Father who had sent him.

Had Yehoshua failed because he was not received by his own, and therefore the Temple would have to be destroyed?  No!  It was unto this end that he was sent into the world.  The Temple would be destroyed because it was made to be one in the word of prophecy with his body.  As his body would be raised again, so the Temple would be raised again.

Out of Yehoshua's death would be salvation for Israel.  Out of his rejection would be the reconciling of the world.  All of Matthew 24 should be read in this light.

Since the Temple was built to be destroyed, why was it built at all?  Heaven and Earth were created in order that God might dwell with/ את /Et his dear creatures.  This is the pattern of purpose for the Dwelling Place of God that is revealed through the Temple.

God did not make the world in vain but to be inhabited, Isaiah 45:18.  God created the corruptible world to be a seed that He could re-create into an incorruptible world.  Even if death entered through sin, as indeed it did, God would re-create the world through redemption, which indeed He did and is continuing to do by unfolding and revealing that redemption.  This is the pattern of judgement and salvation revealed by the history and the future of the Temple.

Matthew 24:2 specifically

"Do you see all of these things..?"  Our experience of the Time World / Temple is an aspect itself of that very Time World / Temple.  Yehoshua's teaching and prophecy framed that experience for his talmudim/disciples and for us.  We must experience death and resurrection with minds and hearts and souls and strength that is, altogether as one Adam, learning.  Don't allow this to be too deep for you.  Understand it.  Our experiencing redemption as conscious souls, learning repentance, through history, through prophecy, through being subject to judgement, through justice, through mercy, all this is essential to re-creation, the re-creation of the Time World, the Temple above and below, the regeneration of the seed of the universe.

Link > Chapter 1 ˙Commentary and Notes on vs. 22-23

Chapter 1 Text
Matthew 1:22-23 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

We read in Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. That is the King James Version.  In the Jewish Publication Society translation we have: Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.  The Hebrew is: לכן יתן אדני הוא לכם--אות  הנה העלמה הרה וילדת בן וקראת שמו עמנו אל ...  We are led to the following considerations:


Christian theology when clearly understood is not actually suggesting that the question of Yehoshua's divinity is the same question as the question of the virgin birth at all.  Clarifying this allows us to ask the question of what the miracle or sign actually is that Isaiah was prophesying to the House of David.  We will see that the sign that Isaiah spoke of in chapter 7 verse 14 actually did point to the King Messiah, but not in exactly the way that has been usually imagined.

The issue of the Virgin Birth has continued through all the centuries of Christianity.  In contention with the traditional Christian theology of the incarnation it is common to find in Judaism a simple and straight forward statement, something like, "When Mashiach comes he will be a human being born of human parents like every other human being."

Today, it is possible to point out that the real issue or issues to do with the Christian theology of the incarnation may not actually have to do with the question of the translation of Isaiah 7:14 at all.  This is because everyone should agree after fully considering the question that even where there is no father involved a child born of a woman is a human being like every other human being.  All orthodox Christian theology asserts this.  The modern science of cloning should clarify everyone's thinking about this.

The confusion only arises when people think that if there was no human father involved then God had to be the father, as it were.  If cloning can take place from a mother without a father then this notion is dismissed.  This is not to suggest that Yehoshua was a clone of Miriam with only the gender changed.  Rather, this is only to say that cloning shows that these kind of things are possible in the natural realm.

What was Isaiah saying, then, to King Ahaz and to the whole House of David? Hebrews 1:13 will help us to understand this.  We see there the understanding that Isaiah had in announcing to the House of David that God Himself would give them the sign of this child.  When Isaiah spoke to King Ahaz and said, "I and the children that God has given me," he understood that he was not only speaking in his own voice about himself and the prophetic significance of his literal children but that he was also speaking prophetically in the voice of Mashiach and the solidarity between him and his disciples as a prophetic testimony in Israel.

What was the sign of a child being born in a special prophetic way in Israel to say to King Ahaz and to the House of David?  In essence it was to say that they were not to depend on the power or might found in the order of this world but on the supernatural power of God in order to establish the throne of David in Jerusalem forever, for the power of the world to come is much greater than the power of this world and God is manifesting it in establishing the House of David.

Now this is the light in which the birth of Yehoshua is to be read in accordance with the Scripture, in accordance, specifically with the prophecy of Isaiah referred to in these verses.  Ultimately the divinity of Yehoshua will be revealed in this way but it will be the divinity of his humanity that is revealed and not his divinity despite his humanity.  Nor will it be revealed in this way to the logic of the natural religion of the human mind, which offends the Jewish mind taught by the Torah.  Rather it will be revealed in this way, in due time, according to the plan and purpose of the Scriptures, to Israel, and therefore in a way that converts the gentile imagination and religious logic rather than appealing to it.  We do not naturally have the ability to imagine the relationship of Mashiach with God as his Father, nor to understand it at all.  We can learn it but only from him as the Father makes it known.  And he has designed to fully make it known according to the Scriptures first to Jerusalem then to all Israel and then unto the ends of the earth.

It is because of this that Isaiah says of those, especially those of the House of David, who, when tested by the threat of King Sennacherib of Assyria turned to sorcery rather than to The Torah and the Testimony of God given to the fathers, that they possessed no light of dawn. (Isaiah 8:20)  By this poetic term of prophecy he referred to Mashiach.  We read in the Book of the Revelation of Yehoshua HaMashiach that he promises the Morning Star to those who overcome their trials.  This is not a mere reference to the first star of the morning.  It is a reference to the dawning of the light of eternity, of the world to come, that dawn to which Isaiah referred.  In Revelation 22:16 we read;

I Yehoshua have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the assemblies. 

I am the root and the offspring of David, 

and the bright and morning star.

With this see Psalms 110:3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.

For further notes on this subjcet see my Evernote Covenant Files