The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2017 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.

Chapter 38

Israel accepts the King they Rejected

There are two types of beings.

1. Those who die.
2. Those who don’t.

How would you describe a being who doesn’t die, who lives forever, who always exists?

How about – He Is?

Or if that being is speaking — “I AM?”

I AM includes I have been, I will be, I am right now and I Am always.

I AM!

In discussions with the Jews, Yeshua three times referred to himself as I AM.

ISV John 8:24-28
24) That is why I told you that you will die in your sins, for unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.”
25) Then they asked him, “Who are you?” Yeshua told them, “What have I been telling you all along?
26) I have much to say about you and to condemn you for. But the one who sent me is truthful, and what I have heard from him I declare to the world.”
27) They didn’t realize that he was talking to them about the Father.
28) So Yeshua told them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own authority. Instead, I speak only what the Father has taught me.

Some translations render “I AM” as “I am He.” They may put the ‘He’ in italics, to show that ‘He’ is not in the original Greek. The International Standard Version just quoted is accurate with the Greek, where Christ referred to Himself not as ‘I am he,’ but as “I AM.”

When Judas and the Jews came to capture Yeshua, He again said “I AM.”

John 18:3-6 ISV
3) So Judas took a detachment of soldiers and some officers from the high priests and the Pharisees and went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
4) Then Yeshua, knowing everything that was going to happen, went forward and asked them, “Who are you looking for?”
5) They answered him, “Yeshua from Nazareth.” Yeshua told them, “I AM.” Judas, the man who betrayed him, was standing with them.
6) When Yeshua told them, “I AM,” they backed away and fell to the ground.

That was a very powerful statement from I AM to those men, all of whom now AIN’T. It was obviously very powerful because it knocked all the attackers down, with their wimpy weapons in their hands.

In John 8, Christ once again called Himself “I AM.” This time, the Jews tried to kill Him for saying it.

ISV John 8:56-59
56) Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day, and he saw it and was glad.”
57) Then the Jewish leaders asked him, “You are not even 50 years old, yet you have seen Abraham?”
58) Yeshua told them, “Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, before there was an Abraham, I AM!”
59) At this, they picked up stones to throw at him, but Yeshua hid himself and went out of the Temple.

Why did the Jews try to kill Yeshua when He said I AM?

David Guzik’s Commentary on the Whole Bible says:

“I Am: The ancient Greek phrase is ego emi, which is the same term used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in Yeshua’s day to describe the Voice from the burning bush.

The best proof what Yeshua meant by claiming to be the I Am is found by seeing the response of His listeners: They took up stones to throw at Him. They wanted to stone Him for blasphemy, for claiming to be God.”

So when Yeshua described Himself as I AM, the Jews knew He meant that He was in the burning bush that got Moses’ attention.

Paul wrote that Christ was the Rock with Israel in the wilderness.

1Cor 10:1-4
1) Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
2) and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
3) and all ate the same spiritual food;
4) and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

The Hebrew scriptures speak often about that Rock.

Deut 32:12-18; 29-31
12) Yahweh alone led him. There was no foreign god with him.
13) He made him ride on the high places of the earth. He ate the increase of he field. He caused him to suck honey out of the rock, oil out of the flinty rock;
14) Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat. Of the blood of the grape you drank wine.
15) But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he forsook God who made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16) They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations.
17) They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they didn’t know, to new gods that came up recently, which your fathers didn’t dread.
18) Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth.

29) Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
30) How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Yahweh had delivered them up?
31) For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

2Sam 23:1-4
1) Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse says, the man who was raised on high says, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel:
2) “The Spirit of Yahweh spoke by me. His word was on my tongue.
3) The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘One who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God,
4) shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through clear shining after rain.’

If Yeshua was the Rock that went with Israel through the wilderness, who did Moses see in the burning bush?

Exod 3:1-5
1) Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.
2) The angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

Verse 2 says that the angel of Yahweh was in the flame.

The word rendered as ‘angel’ is malak, or messenger, as in the name of the book of Malachi, which means ‘my messenger.’ Malak is also in these verses, meaning an ordinary human messenger.

KJVGen 32:6
6) And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

KJVNum 20:14
14) And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:

With the angel in the burning bush in Exodus 3:2, Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible and Young’s Literal Translation render malak as ‘messenger,’ but most translations render ‘malak’ as angel when it refers to a messenger from the Father in heaven. Seems more religious that way, I guess.

So, the messenger of Yahweh was in the burning bush. Immediately, though, the passage says that this messenger was Yahweh himself.

Exodus 3
3) Moses said, “I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.”
4) When Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Here I am.”
5) He said, “Don’t come close. Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”

The messenger of Yahweh was also Yahweh. That’s why the ground around Him was so holy.

When Moses asked Yahweh who he should say had sent him, ‘I AM’ was the explanation of that name.

Exod 3
11) Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
12) He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
13) Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you;’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”
14) God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Moses was to say that I AM had sent him. Then he was to tell Israel this.

Exod 3(cont.)
15) God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.
16) Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;
17) and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
18) They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh, our God.’

Moses and Aaron were to tell Israel that Yahweh had sent them. That is His name forever and His memorial to all generations. Yahweh is the Ten Commandment name of God, appearing in all five of the first half of the Ten Commandments, and specifically commanded in the third commandment.

Exod 20:7
7) “You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

The name Yahweh is widely thought to be from the Hebrew verb ‘to be,’ or existence. Everything that exists comes from and depends on Him.

In other words, He is.

Or as   Yahweh put it, “I Am.”

And since everybody else is either dead, or will be dead, then everybody else is in this category –

“I Ain’t.”

When Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh, this is what they said.

Exod 5
1) Afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’”

And Pharaoh said, “Who’s Yahweh? I don’t know Him.”

2) Pharaoh said, “Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don’t know Yahweh, and moreover I will not let Israel go.”

Pharaoh would learn.

So in the burning bush was the messenger or angel of Yahweh, who was also Yahweh Himself. When Israel had come out of Egypt, they were told that Yahweh’s name was in this messenger.

Exod 23:20-23
20) “Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
21) Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don’t provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him.
22) But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.
23) For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off.

A couple more examples where the messenger of Yahweh was also called Yahweh are with Abraham and Gideon.

Gen 18:1-2
1) Yahweh appeared to him [Abraham] by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.
2) He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,

Yahweh appeared to Abraham there, so one of those three beings was called Yahweh. This was that messenger who dealt directly with people.

Yahweh had an extended conversation with Abraham.

Gen 18:13-33
13) Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?’
14) Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son.”
15) Then Sarah denied, saying, “I didn’t laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
16) The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way.
17) Yahweh said, “Will I hide from Abraham what I do,
18) since Abraham has surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him?
19) For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.”
20) Yahweh said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous,
21) I will go down now, and see whether their deeds are as bad as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know.”
22) The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Yahweh.
23) Abraham drew near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked?

Abraham then had a bargaining session with Yahweh, and Yahweh agreed that if there were ten righteous in the whole plain, He would not destroy those cities. And then He left.

33) Yahweh went his way, as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Down in Sodom, Lot didn’t want to leave the sordid cities, so the messenger granted his request to save one town. He urged Lot to hurry, because this messenger could not destroy the evil cities until Lot got out of the way. When Lot got, Sodom got hot, and the messenger, who was Yahweh, rained down fire.

Gen 19:21-24
21) He said to him, “Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
22) Hurry, escape there, for I can’t do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
23) The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24) Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from
ahweh out of the sky.

Another example of the messenger of Yahweh being called Yahweh was with Gideon.

Judg 6:11-24
11) The angel of Yahweh came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
12) The angel of Yahweh appeared to him, and said to him, “Yahweh is with you, you mighty man of valor!”
13) Gideon said to him, “Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, ‘Didn’t Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?’ But now Yahweh has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”
14) Yahweh looked at him, and said, “Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Haven’t I sent you?”
15) He said to him, “O Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
16) Yahweh said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
17) He said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me.
18) Please don’t go away, until I come to you, and bring out my present, and lay it before you.” He said, “I will wait until you come back.”
19) Gideon went in, and prepared a young goat, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal. He put the meat in a basket and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.
20) The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” He did so.
21) Then the angel of Yahweh stretched out the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire went up out of the rock, and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of Yahweh departed out of his sight.
22) Gideon saw that he was the angel of Yahweh; and Gideon said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh! Because I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face!”
23) Yahweh said to him, “Peace be to you! Don’t be afraid. You shall not die.”
24) Then Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh, and called it “Yahweh is Peace.” To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

This angel or messenger had fought Pharaoh.

Exod 14:19-20
19) The angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them, and stood behind them.
20) It came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it light by night: and the one didn’t come near the other all the night.

In Numbers 20, the same Hebrew word malak is translated as messengers in verse 14 and angel in verse 16, when it refers to the spiritual being that led Israel out of Egypt.

Num 20:14-16
14) Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the travail that has happened to us:
15) how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and our fathers:
16) and when we cried to Yahweh, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and brought us forth out of Egypt: and behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of your border.

Isaiah says that this messenger was Israel’s redeemer and the messenger of Yahweh’s presence.

Isa 63:7-9
7) I will make mention of the loving kindnesses of Yahweh and the praises of Yahweh, according to all that Yahweh has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
8) For he said, “Surely, they are my people, children who will not deal falsely:” so he was their Savior.
9) In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bore them, and carried them all the days of old.

So the messenger or angel of Yahweh had Yahweh’s presence, meaning He himself was also Yahweh. As Paul said, Christ was the Rock that was with Israel in the wilderness. Therefore this messenger of Yahweh, the One who personally dealt with Israel as Yahweh —

Was Yahweh the King that Israel personally rejected.

The little baby boy who was born King of the Jews was the rejected King Yahweh who had come to reclaim His throne.

Phil 2:5-8
5) Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Yeshua,
6) who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7) but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.
8) And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

After the failure of the forty kings of Israel and Judah, Israel had the opportunity to again be ruled by their King. But the Jews again refused Him.

Matt 21:33-44
33) “Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country.
34) When the season for the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his fruit.
35) The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
36) Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they treated them the same way.
37) But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38) But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and seize his inheritance.’
39) So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40) When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”
41) They told him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its season.”
42) Yeshua said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes?’
43) “Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation bringing forth its fruit.

And what nation is this, this nation that brings forth the fruit of the Kingdom of God?

This nation is Israel, begun on Pentecost with Jews and Israelites from many nations, and soon after enlarged with Gentiles grafted in. This Israel does accept Yeshua, the salvation of Yahweh, the messenger of Yahweh, as their King, their pillar of fire at night and their guiding cloud by day, who personally leads and guides them through their lives. Israel does accept the King they rejected. They do not need carnal human kings between Him and them.

One more thing.

In this marvelous story of the rejected King coming back to reclaim His throne …

You can’t make this stuff up. I will say that the Bible is 49 books in original numbering, written over 4000 years by 40 men, yet it is one book crafted by one masterful author, showing Almighty Yahweh God working out His plan in human history.

Long live the King — the I AM who always was, who always is and who always will be. All praise be to the King.