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 26

How This King Rules

Ahasuerus kind of got carried away with that king thing.

Kings like to be kingly. Lords like to be lordly. But throwing a six month long party?

That’s what Ahasuerus, or Xerxes, did, just to show how great he was.

Est 1:1-11 Good News Bible
From his royal throne in Persia’s capital city of Susa, King Xerxes ruled 127 provinces, all the way from India to Ethiopia. In the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his officials and administrators. The armies of Persia and Media were present, as well as the governors and noblemen of the provinces. For six whole months he made a show of the riches of the imperial court with all its splendor and majesty.

He got carried away with himself, but what a kingdom he had!

127 provinces, from India to Ethiopia, a distance of 2700 miles if straight across the ocean, or over 3000 miles across the crescent of land involved. It would take a traveler at 30 miles a day over 100 days just to go from end to end of the empire. Day after day for over three months, the traveler would still be in Ahasureus’ kingdom.

From BibleStudy.org
The Medo-Persian empire is considered the most powerful of the ancient empires. At the height of its power, during the reign of Darius I the Great, the empire controlled more than 2.9 million square miles (7.5 million square kilometers) of land and spanned three continents (Asia, Africa and Europe)…

It is estimated that in 480 B.C. the Persian empire had 50 million people living until its control. This huge amount was roughly 44% of the world’s population at the time, making it the largest empire ever in terms by population percentage.

Courtesy of BibleStudy.org

As fitting for such a king, Ahasuerus/Xerxes staged a showoff celebration for 180 days, about half a year. That’s a long party, but he still wasn’t through.

Est 1:1-11 Good News Bible cont.
After that, the king gave a banquet for all the people in the capital city of Susa, rich and poor alike. It lasted a whole week and was held in the gardens of the royal palace. The courtyard there was decorated with blue and white cotton curtains, tied by cords of fine purple linen to silver rings on marble columns. Couches made of gold and silver had been placed in the courtyard, which was paved with white marble, red feldspar, shining mother-of-pearl, and blue turquoise. Drinks were served in gold cups, no two of them alike, and the king was generous with the royal wine. There were no limits on the drinks; the king had given orders to the palace servants that everyone could have as much as they wanted.

I heard of a religious leader who bragged about having solid gold tableware. I don’t suppose Ahasureus had gold forks, or maybe any forks at all, but he did have gold cups, all unique works of art, and the people who drank from them sat on golden couches. No preacher can ever match that!

Meanwhile, Queen Vashti was also showing off.

Est 1:1-11 Good News Bible cont.
Meanwhile, inside the royal palace Queen Vashti was giving a banquet for the women. On the seventh day of his banquet the king was drinking and feeling happy, so he called in the seven eunuchs who were his personal servants, Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas. He ordered them to bring in Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown. The queen was a beautiful woman, and the king wanted to show off her beauty to the officials and all his guests.

Two showoffs ran headlong into each other. The king wanted to show off his queen, like a golden cup with curves. That was humiliating for her, because she was right in the middle of her own showoff session. So, probably just to show off how big she was before all the highfalutin women, she refused Ahasuerus’ showoff command.

Then Vashti didn’t have to worry about any more showoff sessions herself, because she didn’t have any more. Vashti vanished from history.

Ahasuerus threw that six month party just to glorify himself. He got a bit carried away, but that’s what kings usually do. They try to glorify themselves.

Unlike him, Yeshua, born to be King of the Jews, did not seek his own glory.

Joh 8
48)  Then the Jews answered him, Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?
49)  Yeshua answered, I don’t have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.
50)  But I don’t seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges.

Ahab built a house of ivory and Solomon took nearly twice as long building his own palace as he did the temple. All kings have sought their own glory, usually a lot, some perhaps just a little, but this King of the Jews did not seek his own glory at all.

And he could have had a heap of glory — all the kingdoms of this world!

Mat 4
8)  Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory.
9)  He said to him, I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.
10)  Then Yeshua said to him, Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.
11)  Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and served him.

Think about that. Ahasureus ruled from India to Ethiopia but Christ could have ruled from Antarctica to the Arctic. He turned that down flat. Get behind me, Satan!

This king came as a servant.

Php 2
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.

Unlike the rabbis who took the chief seats, Christ taught his followers to take the low seats, as he had done.

Luk 14
8)  When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, don’t sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him,
9)  and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, Make room for this person. Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.
10)  But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, Friend, move up higher. Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.
11)  For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Yeshua did not try to lord it over the kings who were lords of the land. In fact, he paid the taxes they levied on him.

Mat 17
24)  When they had come to Capernaum, those who collected the didrachma coins came to Peter, and said, Doesn’t your teacher pay the didrachma?
25)  He said, Yes. When he came into the house, Yeshua anticipated him, saying, What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth receive toll or tribute? From their children, or from strangers?
26)  Peter said to him, From strangers. Yeshua said to him, Therefore the children are exempt.
27)  But, lest we cause them to stumble, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take up the first fish that comes up. When you have opened its mouth, you will find a stater coin. Take that, and give it to them for me and you.

What is a stater? The Word Bible program note on Matthew 17:27 says:
A stater is a silver coin equivalent to four Attic or two Alexandrian drachmas, or a Jewish shekel: just exactly enough to cover the half-shekel temple tax for two people.

The Pharisees thought they could catch Yeshua in a tax trap.

Mat 22
15)  Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk.
16)  They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach, for you aren’t partial to anyone.
17)  Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
18)  But Yeshua perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites?
19)  Show me the tax money.” They brought to him a denarius.
20)  He asked them, “Whose is this image and inscription?”
21)  They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
22)  When they heard it, they marveled, and left him, and went away.

Christ paid the stater and the denarius. He did not physically try to overthrow Rome or Herod. Instead, he taught about a new kingdom, beyond the old kingdoms of Israel and Judah and beyond the empire of Rome, and that was the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God.

In a worldly kingdom, people strive mightily with each other to be the greatest. Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? The disciples asked, perhaps because they wanted to be.

Mat 18
1)  In that hour the disciples came to Yeshua, saying, Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?
2)  Yeshua called a little child to himself, and set him in the middle of them,
3)  and said, Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
4)  Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Mar 10
13)  They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them.
14)  But when Yeshua saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these.
15)  Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.
16)  He took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

Repeatedly the disciples heard the Messiah teach about having the humility of little children and not taking the chief seats. So guess what they wanted to do?

Mar 9
33)  He came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing among yourselves on the way?”
34)  But they were silent, for they had disputed one with another on the way about who was the greatest.
35)  He sat down, and called the twelve; and he said to them, “If any man wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.”
36)  He took a little child, and set him in the middle of them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them,
37)  “Whoever receives one such little child in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me, doesn’t receive me, but him who sent me.”

The selfish ambitions of the disciples seemed to grow as they neared the end of Christ’s 3 1/2 years of teaching, and as they came to the time of the penultimate Passover.

Mat 20
17)  As Yeshua was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,
18)  Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death,
19)  and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up.

Yeshua told the twelve, as he had several times, that he was going to be killed. Did they then think that they had to enhance their individual positions before he passed on, while they still had a chance?

Mat 20
20)  Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him.
21)  He said to her, What do you want? She said to him, Command that these, my two sons, may sit, one on your right hand, and one on your left hand, in your Kingdom.
22)  But Yeshua answered, You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They said to him, We are able.
23)  He said to them, You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father.

Dear old Mom was looking out for her boys, with a strategic political endorsement. And her boys joined with her in that, because when Christ asked if they were able to endure what he had to go through, they said, “We are able.” Those fellows were right with Mom in this scheme!

Amazingly, this is the same John who leaned on Christ at the last Passover meal.

Joh 21
(20)  Then Peter, turning around, saw a disciple following. This was the disciple whom Yeshua loved, the one who had also leaned on Yeshua’s breast at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray You?”

This disciple was as close to Christ as any of them, yet he and his brother James and their momma were concerned about getting a high position for themselves, right next to the King of Kings.

When the other ten disciples heard about that little incident, they did not shake their heads in sympathy because James and John Zebedee had not humbled themselves like little children. Nope. Instead they got really, really mad at the two brothers because —

The ten wanted those high positions for themselves!

Mat 20
24)  When the ten heard it, they were indignant with the two brothers.
25)  But Yeshua summoned them, and said, You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
26)  It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.
27)  Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant,
28)  even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Kings like to be served. But this King of the Jews and King of Kings did not come to be served. He came only to serve, even at the cost of his life.

Christ and his twelve ambitious disciples went on into Jerusalem, for his final Passover meal.

Luk 22
7)  The day of unleavened bread came, on which the Passover must be sacrificed.
8)  Yeshua sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.”
9)  They said to him, “Where do you want us to prepare?”
10)  He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him into the house which he enters.
11)  Tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’
12)  He will show you a large, furnished upper room. Make preparations there.”
13)  They went, found things as Yeshua had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

That was Christ’s last Passover in his earthly life; the Bible never calls it ‘The Last Supper,’ a title that came along later from people who forsook the Passover. And at that Passover, the Creator of everything got down on his knees, lowered his head and washed the feet of those he came to serve.

P.S. — Without socks or shoes, those were really dirty feet.

Joh 13
2)  During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,
3)  Yeshua, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came from God, and was going to God,
4)  arose from supper, and laid aside his outer garments. He took a towel, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
5)  Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6)  Then he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”
7)  Yeshua answered him, “You don’t know what I am doing now, but you will understand later.”
8)  Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” Yeshua answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”
9)  Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
10)  Yeshua said to him, “Someone who has bathed only needs to have his feet washed, but is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.”
11)  For he knew him who would betray him, therefore he said, “You are not all clean.”
12)  So when he had washed their feet, put his outer garment back on, and sat down again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?
13)  You call me, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord.’ You say so correctly, for so I am.
14)  If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15)  For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.
16)  Most certainly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, neither one who is sent greater than he who sent him.

Christ knew that Peter would deny him three times, but he still washed all ten toes.

And the King of the Jews also washed the feet of Judas.

Such a scene has never been seen in all of human history. That is how this King rules.

Soon after the Creator of the universe stooped down and washed the dusty feet of his disciples, like a menial servant, he told them this.

Luk 22
21)  But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.
22)  The Son of Man indeed goes, as it has been determined, but woe to that man through whom he is betrayed!
23)  They began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.

When he announced that one of those twelve would betray him, they naturally buzzed back and forth, Is it you, Is it me, Is it him?

Then they morphed from defending themselves — ‘It’s not me, I know that!’ — to proclaiming how great they were. ‘Why, I’m the best dude here!’ ‘No, you’re not. I am!’

They instantly went from wondering which one was the bad guy to arguing which one was the best guy! RIGHT AFTER THE FOOTWASHING!

Luk 22
24)  There arose also a contention among them, which of them was considered to be greatest.

Did Yeshua then sigh before he went on to tell them — again?

Luk 22
25)  He said to them, The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called benefactors.
26)  But not so with you. But one who is the greater among you, let him become as the younger, and one who is governing, as one who serves.
27)  For who is greater, one who sits at the table, or one who serves? Isn’t it he who sits at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

When Satan offered Christ the kingdoms of this world if Christ would bow down to him, Satan sought to be served and exalted. On the other hand, Christ washed the dirty feet of those he taught, and he sacrificed himself for those he had created. He sought to serve and be humble.

That is the difference between the two great spiritual kingdoms. One seeks to be served. The other seeks to serve. One seeks to be exalted. The other seeks to be humbled. One is Satan. The other is Christ.

This is always the basic difference between the two kingdoms, to serve or to be served. This applies to all people and all leaders, political and religious, in whatever position. Are they seeking to be served and exalted? Or are they humbly seeking to serve? To get or to give?

Many religious leaders who say they are serving Christ act more like they are following Satan’s example. Wealthy, puffed up religious potentates are always following the wrong example. There are no exceptions to this, no extenuating circumstances, never a need for a preacher to be puffed up. If he is, and many are, then he is wrong.

As Christ told the sons of Zebedee, You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.

Servants do not desire exalting titles, distinctive attire, or elite estates. A servant’s satisfaction is in the serving. That is the way this King rules.

The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2016 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

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

Chapter 25

Who Has Authority Straight from God

Is a religious authority right because it’s the religious authority, or is the religious authority right because it’s actually teaching what’s right?

One man ruled a small Christian denomination in a papalistic manner. That group observed the Christian festival of Pentecost on a Monday. That was not the day observed at the temple, or by the Karaite Jews, or by the later Jewish Pharisee calendar or by Christians, so that church came to believe they were observing Pentecost on the wrong day. They then changed their Pentecost observance to Sunday.

This one man, the religious authority for that church, explained that even when they had observed the wrong day, they were right. He, as the head of the church, sat in the position of Peter, which was not a name but a title of authority. Since he was in the Peter position, even when he was wrong, he was right. Even when they had observed what they came to believe was the wrong day, while they observed it, Monday was still right, because the Peter had proclaimed it right, and in the position of Peter, he could not be wrong.

If he could change the day of Pentecost from Sunday to Monday, that gave him the power to change God’s law. Peter Power!

What a great position to be in. Even when you’re wrong, you’re right. Can we husbands try that line on our wives? Since I am in the position of husband, obviously created by God — the ‘Peter position’ of the family — if I say that committing adultery with that slinky, winky, stinky young blonde is good, does that make it right?

My wife just said “No.”

Of course, if what that church was doing was right when it was wrong, then why did they change?

Again —

Is a religious authority right because it’s the religious authority, or is it the religious authority because it is right, actually teaching what’s right? Was that church right when it was wrong, simply because the religious authority said it was right?

Over and over this is the issue.

The Jewish rulers did not consider themselves papalistic, of course. They were long before the popes and would have taken great umbrage at the thought that they were like Christian ecclesiastical monarchs, sitting in the position of Peter. In reality though, like the church leader just mentioned, they considered themselves right, simply because they were the religious authority.

All theological religions claim to get their authority from God. And in that position, they often act like they are God. In fact, the Talmud, rabbinical commentary on God’s law, is accepted as being equal to God’s law.

Rabbinical tradition holds that the Talmud expresses a sacred Oral Torah, equally authoritative to the Written Law given to Moses at Sinai, http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Talmud. 4/10/17.

The religious authority is considered right just because it is the religious authority. Rabbis rule!

Well, maybe not.

When the baby boy who was born King of the Jews was about thirty years old, he began to teach. This real Rabbi didn’t teach like the counterfeit rabbis. He taught as if he really had the authority of the one and only Rabbi, the King of the Jews.

Mark 1
21)They went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught.
22) They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes.

Christ taught as one having authority, because he did have authority.

Rabbis thought they had authority, too, even if they didn’t teach like it.

Rabbis were extensively taught. Unfortunately, they were only taught by other rabbis.

Being taught by men who study about God is never the same as being taught by God. It is assumed that people in religious positions have been taught by God. Often they’ve only been taught by other men in religious positions.

The learned rabbis were egocentrically surprised when anyone who wasn’t taught by them knew the scriptures.

Luk 2
46) After three days they found him [Yeshua] in the temple, sitting in the middle of the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions.
47) All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

The rabbis were amazed at the understanding of that twelve year old boy — and Yeshua had not even been taught by them! Wow!

Why should God allow his son to be taught by rabbis? That twelve year old boy understood more than any of those rabbis ever would!

Their amazement was compounded when that boy had matured into a thirty year old man.

John 7
14) But when it was now the midst of the feast, Yeshua went up into the temple and taught.
15) The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How does this man know letters, having never been educated?”

Which is to say, ‘How can he know anything, since we didn’t teach him?’

The rabbis based their position on what they knew, their knowledge. “This multitude that doesn’t know the law is accursed,” they scoffed in John 7:49. Obviously the Pharisees thought they knew the law better than anyone. They were rabbis. They knew some stuff.

Christ based his position — his authority — on Who he knew. He was educated, but not by the rabbis. The rabbis had been to Bible college to study about God. Yeshua was taught by God. His authority did not come from any human institution but came straight from the Father in heaven. No one else can claim that authority —

Although many have. In religion somebody is always getting between people and God.

When Christ and his disciples ate lunch on the Sabbath while traveling, the rabbis accused them of breaking the Sabbath. This was a question of authority. Yahweh has his Sabbath commandment. The Jews had their Oral Law. Who had the authority here?

Mat 12
1)  At that time, Yeshua went on the Sabbath day through the grain fields. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
2)  But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, Behold, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.

Which law will be followed, God’s Sabbath law or the Pharisees’ Sabbath laws? Eating lunch broke their laws but did not break God’s law.

Mat 12 (cont.)
3)  But he said to them, Haven’t you read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him;
4)  how he entered into God’s house, and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
5)  Or have you not read in the law, that on the Sabbath day, the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless?
6)  But I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.

What an incredible statement that is — “one greater than the temple is here.” Nothing about Christ depended on anything that man built. The first temple, filled with the shekinah glory of Yahweh, was built by Solomon, yet “someone greater than Solomon is here,” Matthew 12:42.

Mat 12 (cont.)
7)  But if you had known what this means, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, you wouldn’t have condemned the guiltless.
8)  For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

Christ cited his authority as Lord of the Sabbath. What does that mean?

This Son of Man, who is also Son of God, created all things.

Joh 1
3)  All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.

Eph 3
9)  and to make all men see what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Yeshua Christ;

Col 1
16)  For by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him.
17)  He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.

Heb 1
1)  God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
2)  has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.

Heb 1
8)  But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your Kingdom.
9)  You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.”
10)  And, “You, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the works of your hands.

The one who came as the savior of the world made the world. Therefore, when the Son purposely rested at creation —

He created the Sabbath.

Since Christ created the Sabbath, he is naturally lord of the Sabbath. The Pharisees were arguing about what was lawful on the Sabbath —

With the one who made the Sabbath! The Pharisees argued for their Sabbath rules with the Ruler of the Sabbath.

Mat 12
9)  He departed there, and went into their synagogue.
10)  And behold there was a man with a withered hand. They asked him, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? that they might accuse him.
11)  He said to them, What man is there among you, who has one sheep, and if this one falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, wont he grab on to it, and lift it out?
12)  Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.

Christ was doing good on the Sabbath day and that is lawful. He fulfilled the purpose of the Sabbath law that he made.

Amazingly, the Pharisees, for all their supposed law-keeping, repeatedly thought it was unlawful to do good on the Sabbath. When a deformed man got his hand back, they thought that was sin! When a blind man got his sight, they saw red. And when a paralyzed man took up his mat and walked on the Sabbath, the Pharisees thought he was jaywalking.

The Pharisees had no authority for their laws other than themselves.

On the other hand, Christ was anointed by God with God’s spirit.

Mat 12 (cont.)
13)  Then he told the man, Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out; and it was restored whole, just like the other.
14)  But the Pharisees went out, and conspired against him, how they might destroy him.
15)  Yeshua, perceiving that, withdrew from there. Great multitudes followed him; and he healed them all,
16)  and commanded them that they should not make him known:
17)  that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah 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 on him. He will proclaim justice to the nations.

This Rabbi — the one real Rabbi — not only had knowledge; he had a totally different spirit than the counterfeit rabbis. This King of the Jews had a different spirit than all human kings. This Rabbi and this king, the Son of God, was full of the spirit of God.

The enormous problem with all human kings is just that — their human nature. This king, however, was not subject to David’s weakness when he saw Bathsheba bathing, or Solomon’s idols for his thousand women, or Uzziah’s arrogant urge to be a priest, or Hezekiah’s swaggering bragging to the Babylonians — and those were the good kings!

Also —

The enormous problem with all religious leaders is —

Their human nature. When they think they sit in the position of Peter in Jerusalem, they act like Caesar in Rome.

But this king and this Rabbi, like no other, has authority directly from the Father in heaven. No other king, no other religious leader, no other person has this authority directly from the Father.

Mat 9
1)  He entered into a boat, and crossed over, and came into his own city.
2)  Behold, they brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a bed. Yeshua, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, Son, cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you.

The Pharisees argued endlessly about what is sin and continually added more minutiae to the legal maze of their laws defining sin. Yet here was one who had the authority to forgive sin — to forgive the breaking of the law!

Throw out the whole Pharisees’ game plan! They focused on fencing in the law to keep from breaking it. It always was broken, though, by everyone. When that happened, they had no way to undo what was done.

Then along comes the Real Rabbi —

“cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you.”

Mat 9 (cont.)
3)  Behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, This man blasphemes.
4)  Yeshua, knowing their thoughts, said, Why do you think evil in your hearts?
5)  For which is easier, to say, Your sins are forgiven; or to say, Get up, and walk?
6)  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins- (then he said to the paralytic), Get up, and take up your mat, and go to your house.
7)  He arose and departed to his house.
8)  But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

It is indeed something to marvel at, by all those whose sins need forgiving, that God gave to this One, and only to this One, the authority to forgive sin.

And to judge sinners.

Joh 5
16)  For this cause the Jews persecuted Yeshua, and sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath.
17)  But Yeshua answered them, My Father is still working, so I am working, too.
18)  For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
19)  Yeshua therefore answered them, Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.
20)  For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
21)  For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires.
22)  For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son,
23)  that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
24)  Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
25)  Most certainly, I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of Gods voice; and those who hear will live.
26)  For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.
27)  He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man.

This Son of Man, Son of God, Rabbi of rabbis and King of Kings has life in himself — the ability to give life. And the Father gave him the authority to execute judgment — to decide who will be given life.

No political king, no religious leader can ever even remotely approach the authority of this Rabbi — authority directly from God.

The Pharisees arrogantly refused to accept that Christ gets his authority directly from His Father in heaven.

Joh 8
13)  So the Pharisees said to him, “You testify concerning yourself! Your testimony is not true.”

So where did the puffed up Pharisees get their authority?

Joh 8:37-59, in paragraph form.
I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are trying to kill me, because you will not accept my teaching. I talk about what my Father has shown me, but you do what your father has told you.”

Yeshua’s father is the Father in heaven. Who was the Pharisees’ father?

They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.”

“If you really were Abraham’s children,” Yeshua replied, “you would do the same things that he did. All I have ever done is to tell you the truth I heard from God, yet you are trying to kill me. Abraham did nothing like this! You are doing what your father did.”

Their father was not Abraham, because they didn’t act like Abraham. Again — who is the Pharisees’ father?

“God himself is the only Father we have,” they answered, “and we are his true children.”

Yeshua said to them, “If God really were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own authority, but he sent me.

The Pharisees’ father is not God, because they rejected God’s son. Christ was sent with the authority of the Father. Where did the Pharisees’ get their authority? Who is their father?

Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my message. You are the children of your father, the Devil, and you want to follow your father’s desires. From the very beginning he was a murderer and has never been on the side of truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is only doing what is natural to him, because he is a liar and the father of all lies.

The Pharisees and the Jewish religious rulers who rejected the Son of God were children of the devil.

Period.

All Jews who reject Yeshua as the Messiah and Son of God are always offended at that truth.

And it is the truth.

But I tell the truth, and that is why you do not believe me.

Which one of you can prove that I am guilty of sin? If I tell the truth, then why do you not believe me? He who comes from God listens to God’s words. You, however, are not from God, and that is why you will not listen.”

Of course, all others who reject the Messiah are also children of the devil, naturally having the same spirit. They are also offended at that idea.

The Pharisees then said that Yeshua had a demon himself.

They asked Yeshua, “Were we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon in you?”

“I have no demon,” Yeshua answered. “I honor my Father, but you dishonor me. I am not seeking honor for myself. But there is one who is seeking it and who judges in my favor. I am telling you the truth: whoever obeys my teaching will never die.”

They said to him, “Now we know for sure that you have a demon! Abraham died, and the prophets died, yet you say that whoever obeys your teaching will never die. Our father Abraham died; you do not claim to be greater than Abraham, do you? And the prophets also died. Who do you think you are?”

Yeshua answered, “If I were to honor myself, that honor would be worth nothing. The one who honors me is my Father—the very one you say is your God. You have never known him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey his word.

Astonishing! The religious Jews, who studied about God, who taught about God, and who almost everyone thought sat in place of God — didn’t know God at all.

“You have never known him.”

The religious authority had no authority at all from God!

Those religious leaders got their religion from their position — their religious knowledge, their religious titles, and their religious clothing. That’s why religions have big titles and funny clothes. They look really good! The only thing missing from their religion was God.

On the other hand, Christ was sent from God, by God, and is God. There is no other religious authority like that.

Is a religious authority right when it’s wrong, because it’s the religious authority? Or is a religious authority right only because it teaches what is right? Should a religious authority add to and change what God said? Or should a religious authority just teach and practice what God said?

Over and over, religious authorities go from teaching what is right to teaching who is right. And, of course, that’s them.

Christ has authority directly from God the Father. No one else does. No others should act as if they do. Religious leaders can obey God’s laws. Religious leaders can teach God’s laws. But no religious authority can make or change God’s laws.

The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2016 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

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

Chapter 24

Sits in the Place of God

It is said that a rabbi had no official power and only served as a teacher.

Jewish Encyclopedia, article Rabbi:
In the Jewish religion the rabbi is no priest, no apostle; he has no hierarchical power. He is a teacher, one who unfolds and explains religion, teaches the young in the school and the old from the pulpit, and both by his writings.[1]

However, in the New Testament, the rabbis certainly thought they had power.

The New Testament reality is that Jewish religious teachers held great power over the people because the people looked to them as givers of religious truth. The rabbis taught and the people thought that truth from God had to come through the rabbis.

Three factions of religious rulers are mentioned in the New Testament. The Sadducees were the priestly group in charge of the temple, and they were the wealthiest group, kind of like the televangelists of their day. In New Testament times, the office of high priest was appointed from the priestly families by Rome, as a political prize. Men like Caiaphas and Annas were not of the same spirit as Eleazar, the son of Aaron.

The scribes were responsible for transmitting and guarding the scriptures. They copied the law without really understanding it, and focused on the minutiae more than the meaning. They were also called lawyers.

The Pharisees were mentioned most often. The Sadducees oversaw the temple, while the Pharisees ruled the synagogues. As competing religious rulers, they were at odds with each other.

But all three groups were united against Christ and when he began to teach about God, those religious rulers confronted their new competition. Just who did he think he was, anyway?

Mar 11:27-33
(27)  They came again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders came to him,
(28)  and they began saying to him, By what authority do you do these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?
(29)  Yeshua said to them, I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what
authority I do these things.
(30)  The baptism of John—was it from heaven, or from men? Answer me.
(31)  They reasoned with themselves, saying, If we should say, ‘From heaven;’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’
(32)  If we should say, ‘From men’—they feared the people, for all held John to really be a prophet.
(33)  They answered Yeshua, We don’t know. Yeshua said to them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

The priests and rabbis demanded of Yeshua, Who gave you this authority to do these things? They thought they were the authority on God, from God, acting in place of God.

When Christ, on the Sabbath, told a paralyzed man to take up his mat and walk, the religious rulers didn’t think he had the authority to do that. They accused him of making himself equal with God.

John 5
18 For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Actually, that’s exactly what they did themselves.

A king makes laws. That’s what makes him king. He is the lawgiver. So the Jewish religious rulers took God’s law and then added to it. He wrote the laws and they edited and added to those laws.

That made them equal to God.

Mar 7:1-13
(1)  Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered together to him [Christ], having come from Jerusalem.
(2)  Now when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is unwashed, hands, they found fault.
(3)  (For the Pharisees and all the Jews, don’t eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the tradition of the elders.
(4)  They don’t eat when they come from the marketplace unless they bathe themselves, and there are many other things, which they have received to hold to: washings of cups, pitchers, bronze vessels, and couches.)
(5)  The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, Why don’t your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?
(6)  He answered them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
(7)  But they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
(8)  For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.
(9)  He said to them, Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.
(10)  For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’
(11)  But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban, that is to say, given to God;’
(12)  then you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother,
(13)  making void the word of God by your tradition, which you have handed down. You do many things like this.

God never gave the Pharisees authority to alter his law in even one jot or tittle. In fact, no religious authority ever has the authority from God to add to his commandments, simply because nobody is ever equal to God. Nobody’s words are ever to be treated as God’s words because nobody else is God. Yet the people treated commandments of the Pharisees as commandments of God.

Most thought that to be a good God follower meant to be a good Pharisee follower. They were not allowed to question the Pharisees’ religious traditions, because you can’t question the king, can you? And the Pharisees taught that anyone who did disagree with them was cursed.

John 7
(47) The Pharisees therefore answered them, You aren’t also led astray, are you?
(48) Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees?
(49) But this multitude that doesn’t know the law is accursed.

Look at their thinking. None of the religious rulers or the Pharisees believed in Yeshua, so that settled it. The thermometer of truth was not the Word of God itself but what the religious rulers said about the Word of God — religious orthodoxy, the teaching of the true church, the doctrine of the religious ruler, the papal bull (no comment on that last phrase).

Truth was not what the Word of God said.

Truth was what the religious authority said the Word of God said.

The Pharisees were not right because they were right. They were right because they were right.

And any who disagreed with the religious authority — who had to be right because they were right — were ‘astray.’

A close check of the Hebrew scriptures would have shown that Yeshua fit all the prophecies about the Messiah. Common sense would have shown that He who raised people from the dead had to be from the Giver of Life. Reflection on the teachings of Christ would have shown that his words were the words of life. Yet the Pharisees missed all of that. And most of the people of that time missed all of that — because they did not go by what God said but they went by what the religious authority said that God said.

This is the process.

The religious authority is thought to have received truth from God; then others receive truth from God through that authority. People do not go directly to God for God’s truth, but only to the religious authority for God’s truth. The Bible is not read to examine what the religious authority says, but only to confirm what the religious authority says.

Again — you can’t question the king, can you?

The authority does not say it puts itself in place of God. It says that God gave them their authority and they are using their God-given position to serve God and if you will serve God, you must be under them.

Since the people cannot go directly to God, and can only get to God through the religious authority, that puts the religious authority in the place of God.

The religious authority has the power to cut off from God — that is, to throw out of the synagogue — any who does not submit to them.

As in the following insightful example:

John 9
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
2 His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
3 Yeshua answered, “Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him. ”
4 “I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. ”
5 “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud,
7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.
8 The neighbors therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, Isn’t this he who sat and begged?
9 Others were saying, It is he. Still others were saying, He looks like him. He said, I am he.

This miracle of healing the blind man was so miraculous that nobody could believe it. The people wondered ‘Isn’t he the blind beggar?’ Then some said, ‘Yeah, that’s him.’ Others answered, ‘Sure looks like him.’ And finally the blind guy himself said, ‘Yep, it’s me.’

10 They therefore were asking him, How were your eyes opened?
11 He answered, A man called Yeshua made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, “‘Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash.’” So I went away and washed, and I received sight.
12 Then they asked him, Where is he? He said, I don’t know.

Now here is a telling point. The man called Yeshua caused the blind man to receive his sight. But instead of desperately trying to find the man who had caused this enormous miracle —

What did the people do?

13 They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees.

Why in the world did they go to the Pharisees?

What had the Pharisees done?

Nothing.

Then why did the people immediately take the blind guy who could see to the Pharisees who couldn’t?

Because the Pharisees were the religious authority. The people took the blind man to the religious authority to see if the religious authority approved of the blind man being healed!

They didn’t.

14 It was a Sabbath when Yeshua made the mud and opened his eyes.
15 Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.
16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath. Others said, How can a man who is a sinner do such signs? There was division among them.

The Pharisees did not approve of the blind man being healed because the healing did not go through them. They quickly got to the point of religious authority when they asked the blind man what he thought of Yeshua, who had healed him.

17 Therefore they asked the blind man again, What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes? He said, He is a prophet.

Meaning he has direct communication with God.

Uh-oh.

The blind man crossed the line. That was a line he couldn’t see, even though he could see, and that line was the line of religious authority. Because the healing did not go through the religious authority, the Pharisees would not believe a healing had occurred. So even though the blind man himself told them he had been healed, and even though the people who brought him in did so only because he had been healed, the Pharisees just could not believe he had been healed.

So they went to his mommy and daddy.

18 The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight,
19 and asked them, Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?
20 His parents answered them, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;
21 but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.

Mommy and Daddy squirmured — they squirmed and murmured.

‘Our kid was born blind, he can see now, but don’t ask us about it.’

You see, instead of being ecstatic over their son’s healing, they were afraid of losing their salvation. The religious rulers had the authority to cast them out of the synagogue, and Mommy and Daddy thought that was equal to losing their contact with God. I mean, you had to go through the Pharisees to get to God, right?

22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.
23 Therefore his parents said, He is of age. Ask him.

Thanks a lot, Mommy!

The pompous Pharisees were in a prickly pickle. Try as they might, they could not deny the miracle. But they had not authorized the miracle. All miracles must be authorized by headquarters!

Of course, they didn’t have any miracles themselves.

So they kept trying to find some way to slide out of their predicament.

24 So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.
25 He therefore answered, I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.
26 They said to him again, What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?

Now what difference did it make how the man’s eyes were opened? Christ used spittle and mud. If he had used flour and shaving cream, would that have mattered? No. The Pharisees were simply, desperately trying to find any legal crack to sneak into. Lawyers do that, too.

The blind man, however, had gained a certain boldness from his recent experience, and he looked the Pharisees directly in the eye — so to speak — and let them have it.

27 He answered them, I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?

Whoa! You don’t talk to the king — or the religious authority — like that!

28 They insulted him and said, You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.

You see, by now the blind man could see way better than the Pharisees.

30 The man answered them, How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him.
32 Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind.
33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.

Of course, the Pharisees themselves could do nothing other than talk about themselves…

Then the Pharisees came directly to the point. They were the religious authority. They were the rabbis, the teachers, the masters over the spiritual slaves. So they kicked the heretic out of the synagogue.

34 They answered him, You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us? They threw him out.

Fortunately, he had really, really good vision and didn’t have any trouble finding the door.

We have to grasp the incredibly resolute attitude of the Pharisees. A man who was blind from birth, whom for years they had seen sitting and begging, that man was right there in front of them seeing everything probably better than they did — and all they could think about was protecting their position.

The Pharisees and the Jewish religious rulers put themselves in place of God. They made religious laws like God, and like God they decided who was in the synagogue, or who could be saved and who couldn’t. The ultimate weapon of the religious authority who stands between people and God is to cast the people out of the authorities’ institutional religion. People think that cuts them off from God — because that’s what the religious authority says — and that scares people to death.

John 12
42 Nevertheless even of the rulers many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they didn’t confess it, so that they wouldn’t be put out of the synagogue,
43 for they loved men’s praise more than God’s praise.

How ironic. People thought they had access to God only if they were in the Pharisees’ synagogue, when actually the reverse was true. They had to come out from under that religious authority to truly follow God.

We have seen that a king sat in the place of God when he had the power of life and death in his scepter. So, too, the Pharisees and the religious rulers of the Jews sat in the place of God, making commandments and determining who could be in the synagogue and seemingly receive salvation. The Pharisees’ and Sadducees’ political power was limited, but their religious power was enough to control the lives of the people.

This is a pattern that is often repeated, where a religious institution gets between God and the people, and then sits in place of God for those people.

The process is —

1. A religious authority is set up.
2. That authority is said to be under God, giving the truth of God.
3. Then the people look to that religious authority for God’s truth, instead of looking directly to God.

This happens over and over, where a religious king sits in the place of God.

As we have seen when Saul tried to kill David, when Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, when Athaliah tried to kill all the male descendants of David, when Augustus defeated Marc Antony and several other Roman celebrities, and when Herod killed the Hasmoneans, and his own sons, and the baby boys around Bethlehem —

A self-obsessed king tries to kill off his competition.

And that’s exactly what the Pharisees and the religious kings of the Jews decided to do.

Endnotes

[1] The Jewish Encyclopedia: Philipson-Samoscz, 1909, Funk & Wagnalls, New York and London, https://books.google.com/books?id=OFhLAQAAMAAJ

The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2016 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

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

Chapter 23

Who is the Rabbi?

When Christ lived and taught in the Holy Land, there were many rabbis there.

Or were there?

The Holy Land was full of rabbis or little religious rulers, but in the New Testament, none of those rabbis are called rabbis by the followers of the Rabbi.

John’s disciples may have called him ‘Rabbi.’

Joh 3:25-26
(25)  There arose therefore a questioning on the part of Johns disciples with some Jews about purification.
(26)  They came to John, and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, the same baptizes, and everyone is coming to him.

Note that these are John’s disciples calling him ‘Rabbi,’ if that was the case, and not Christ’s disciples. The word rabbi can mean master, and one version of this verse applies that title not to John, but to Christ.

Gill, on John 3:26:

…[S]aid unto him, Rabbi; or “master”; or, “our master”; as the Syriac and Persic versions read, which was a title of great respect, and reverence, and much in use in those times; … The Arabic version joins this word to the following clause, and applies it to Christ, rendering it thus, “the master that was with thee beyond Jordan”.

The passage would then read, “They came to John and said to him, the Rabbi that was with you beyond the Jordan…”

Regardless, John took great pains to distinguish Christ from himself.

(27)  John answered, A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven.
(28)  You yourselves testify that I said, I am not the Christ, but, I have been sent before him.
(29)  He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegrooms voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.
(30)  He must increase, but I must decrease.
(31)  He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
(32)  What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness.
(33)  He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true.
(34)  For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure.
(35)  The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.
(36)  One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son wont see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Christ was to increase and John was to decrease. In no way did John consider that they were both Rabbis on the same level. There was only one Master and Teacher.

One of those who had followed John called Christ ‘Rabbi.’

Joh 1:35-49
(35)  Again, the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples,
(36)  and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God!
(37)  The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
(38)  Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, What are you looking for? They said to him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), where are you staying?
(39)  He said to them, Come, and see. They came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about the tenth hour.
(40)  One of the two who heard John, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peters brother.
(41)  He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, We have found the Messiah! (which is, being interpreted, Christ).
(42)  He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter).
(43)  On the next day, he was determined to go out into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, Follow me.
(44)  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter.
(45)  Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
(46)  Nathanael said to him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see.
(47)  Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!
(48)  Nathanael said to him, How do you know me? Jesus answered him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.
(49)  Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!

Nathanael used a title trifecta there. He called Yeshua (1)Rabbi, (2) Son of God and (3) King of Israel. All three of those titles apply to that one being.

Judas called Yeshua ‘Rabbi,’ even as he was betraying him.

Mat 26:20-25
(20)  Now when evening had come, he was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples.
(21)  As they were eating, he said, Most certainly I tell you that one of you will betray me.
(22)  They were exceedingly sorrowful, and each began to ask him, It isn’t me, is it, Lord?
(23)  He answered, He who dipped his hand with me in the dish, the same will betray me.
(24)  The Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.
(25)  Judas, who betrayed him, answered, It isn’t me, is it, Rabbi? He said to him, You said it.

Mat 26:48-49
(48)  Now he who betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whoever I kiss, he is the one. Seize him.
(49)  Immediately he came to Yeshua, and said, Hail, Rabbi! and kissed him.

Mar 14:44-45
(44)  Now he who betrayed him had given them a sign, saying, Whomever I will kiss, that is he. Seize him, and lead him away safely.
(45)  When he had come, immediately he came to him, and said, Rabbi! Rabbi! and kissed him.

‘Rabbi’ is a title of exaltation, the double title ‘Rabbi Rabbi’ was a sign of super exaltation, but it’s too bad Judas didn’t mean it.

Mary Magdalene referred to Christ with a title related to rabbi.

Joh 20:11-16
(11)  But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb,
(12)  and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Yeshua had lain.
(13)  They asked her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.
(14)  When she had said this, she turned around and saw Yeshua standing, and didn’t know that it was Yeshua.
(15)  Yeshua said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for? She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.
(16)  Yeshua said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him, Rabboni! which is to say, Teacher!

And a vocally enabled but visually disabled blind man used that same title for the Master.

Mar 10:46-52
(46)  They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road.
(47)  When he heard that it was Yeshua the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, Yeshua, you son of David, have mercy on me!
(48)  Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he cried out much more, You son of David, have mercy on me!
(49)  Yeshua stood still, and said, Call him. They called the blind man, saying to him, Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!
(50)  He, casting away his cloak, sprang up, and came to Yeshua.
(51)  Yeshua asked him, What do you want me to do for you? The blind man said to him, Rabboni, that I may see again.
(52)  Yeshua said to him, Go your way. Your faith has made you well. Immediately he received his sight, and followed Yeshua on the way.

Christ’s disciples regularly referred to him as ‘Rabbi.’

Mark 9
(5)  Peter answered Yeshua, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Lets make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

Mark 11
(21)  Peter, remembering, said to him, Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away.

John 4
(31)  In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, Rabbi, eat.

John 6
(25)  When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, Rabbi, when did you come here?

John 9
(2)  His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

John 11
(8)  The disciples told him, Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and are you going there again?

A Pharisee rabbi referred to Christ as Rabbi.

Joh 3:1-12
(1)  Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
(2)  The same came to him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.
(3)  Yeshua answered him, Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see Gods Kingdom.
(4)  Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mothers womb, and be born?
(5)  Yeshua answered, Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into Gods Kingdom.
(6)  That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
(7)  Don’t marvel that I said to you, You must be born anew.
(8)  The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.
(9)  Nicodemus answered him, How can these things be?
(10)  Yeshua answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things?
(11)  Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness.
(12)  If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

Notice that Nicodemus was one of the most learned men in Jerusalem.

Matthew Henry on John 3:10:

He was a ruler of the Jews, a member of the great sanhedrim, a senator, a privy-counsellor, a man of authority in Jerusalem.

But Nicodemus lacked elementary spiritual understanding. The rabbi position was based on learning and knowledge, which did not at all equal wisdom and understanding. Modern academics have the same fatal failing.

Christ went on to rebuke this rabbi and the other rabbis.

Joh 3:11-21
(11)  Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness.
(12)  If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
(13)  No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.
(14)  As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
(15)  that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
(16)  For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
(17)  For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
(18)  He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
(19)  This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
(20)  For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.
(21)  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.

Some take Nicodemus to be a good rabbi but notice specifically what Christ said to him:

“you don’t receive our witness;”

“If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe;”

“everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light.”

You notice that Nicodemus did not visit Christ in the light of day, but in the dark of night. When Christ said that “men loved the darkness rather than the light,” he was referring to all those rabbis more than anyone else.

Nicodemus later stood up for Christ.

Joh 7:40-52
(40)  Many of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, “This is truly the prophet.”
(41)  Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “What, does the Christ come out of Galilee?
(42)  Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
(43)  So there arose a division in the multitude because of him.
(44)  Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him.
(45)  The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him?”
(46)  The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!”
(47)  The Pharisees therefore answered them, “You aren’t also led astray, are you?
(48)  Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees?
(49)  But this multitude that doesn’t know the law is accursed.”
(50)  Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them,
(51)  “Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?”
(52)  They answered him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search, and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”

But there is no indication that the rabbi Nicodemus gave up his life and title for the one that he called Rabbi.

The rabbis were thought to be Godly because they studied the Word of God. But when they met God in the flesh — the light that came into the world — they were in the dark.

This was a battle of rabbis. In the New Testament, Christ’s followers used the title Rabbi only for him and no one else. Yeshua flatly stated, “don’t you be called rabbi.”

And none of them were. How clear and decisive that is. Christ told them not to be called rabbi and none of them were. Peter, the apostle who walked on water and then sank; John, the beloved bosom buddy of the Messiah; and Paul, the student of Gamaliel — none of them were called Christian or Messianic rabbis. Who, then, wants to be above Peter, John and Paul, and make himself equal with Christ by being called rabbi?

When Christ lived and taught in the Holy Land, there were many rabbis there.

Or were there?

No. There was only one.

This one who was born King of the Jews is also the religious Rabbi. Just as there should be no other puffed up political kings between Christ and his people, so there should be no puffed up religious kings between Christ and his people. Christ’s disciples never called anyone else Rabbi, and they often called him Rabbi. Yeshua is the one and only Rabbi.

The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2016 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

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

Chapter 22

The Rise of the Rabbis

Why is it that the most learned people work in some of the most ungodly places in society —

The ‘advanced’ universities?

Even among “Christian” institutions, the most ‘progressive’ are the farthest from the Bible. Why?

Because academics, even those who claim to follow Christ, are most likely to follow —

Their own reasoning.

You see, they’re smart and they know some stuff.

Since they are so smart and learned, their natural mind and spirit prevails, instead of God’s spirit, and they follow their own human reason to the darkness of ungodliness.

I once asked a man from New England how that section of the country went from the Puritans and the Mathers to Harvard and the Obamas. The Plymouth settlement was established only because the Pilgrims wanted to worship God as they thought best. They risked their lives to get there, half of them died once they got there, but when there they established a society where they could follow God as they thought best. Today Massachusetts and the whole of New England are epicenters of the anti-Christ movement in America.

“How did this come to be?” I asked the New Englander.

“Because,” he said, “New England is the location of the premier universities in America.”

That is, the New England area is more reliant on the human reason of some of the most intelligent humans in the population. When human reason wanders off on its own, it is left with a maze of never ending complexity, confusion, carnality and conceit.

This is true whether or not the study is on science, which explicitly omits God, or even on the Bible itself, which explicitly includes God. Anti-Christ scientists base their science on Darwin’s claim that life began in a little warm pond, and they claim to base their science on observation, yet no one has ever observed life spontaneously generating in a little warm pond. Thus the smartest minds in the world wind up contradicting themselves in their carnal conceit.

Amazingly, when human minds focus on the teachings of God, they often wind up in the same maze of confusion and contradiction. This amazing maze is called theology, the Internal Revenue Tax Code of religion.

Just because a person studies God does not mean that he loves God, understands God, or thinks like God. Just because a person has a religious position or title does not mean that he is a selfless servant of God. In fact, he may be mainly self-serving and the position and title simply help him do that.

Like the title of ‘rabbi.’

God did not set up the rabbis.

God did set up the priesthood in the Bible. The Torah, the book of the law, has detailed instructions for priests, including their positions, garments and functions. Two sons of Aaron were incinerated for ignoring those details and exalting themselves in their position. Centuries later the priesthood again became defiled, but without that immediate retribution, although retribution and removal did come.

God definitely set up the priesthood but God did not set up the rabbis. There are no instructions in the Bible for setting up a rabbinate. What, then, is a rabbi?

The Jewish Encyclopedia says that rabbi is a “Hebrew term used as a title for those who are distinguished for learning, who are the authoritative teachers of the Law, and who are the appointed spiritual heads of the community. It is derived from the noun, which in Biblical Hebrew means “great” or “distinguished,” and in post-Biblical Hebrew, “master” in opposition to “slave” (Suk. ii. 9; Gi?. iv. 4) or “pupil” (Ab. i. 3). In the Palestinian schools the sages were addressed as “Rabbi” (my master). This term of respectful address gradually came to be used as a title,…”[1]

So ‘rabbi’ means great, distinguished, or master, specifically ‘my master.’ This is mindful of Octavian’s title, the ‘august one.’

Continuing:

The more ancient generations, however, which were far superior, had no such titles as ‘Rabban,’ ‘Rabbi,’ or ‘Rab,’ for either the Babylonian or Palestinian sages. This is evident from the fact that Hillel I., who came from Babylon, had not the title ‘Rabban’ prefixed to his name. Of the Prophets, also, who were very eminent, it is simply said, ‘Haggai the prophet,’ etc., ‘Ezra did not come up from Babylon,’ etc., the title ‘Rabban’ not being used. Indeed, this title is not met with earlier than the time of the patriarchate. It was first used of Rabban Gamaliel the elder, Rabban Simeon his son, and Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai, all of whom were patriarchs or presidents of the Sanhedrin.”

The prophets did not have exalting titles. They had names, like Haggai or Ezra, not Rabbi Haggai or Rabbi Ezra. Since they had names, they didn’t need titles. The purpose of a name is to point out who someone is. The purpose of a title is to exalt someone above others. The prophets who were close to God did not seek titles to be exalted in the eyes of people. They were just Haggai or Ezra.

Human nature being what it is, eventually the practice evolved of giving Bible teachers an exalting title. One title of exaltation was ‘Rabbi.’ The meaning of that title was ‘my master,’ as in a spiritual master. Later the title was interpreted to mean ‘teacher,’ but still as an exalted spiritual teacher.

And when that happened, those who were so exalted did not humble themselves and refuse the title. And those who were demeaned — if someone is exalted then always others must be lowered — those who were demeaned went along with the exaltations.

Both who are exalted and those who do the exalting are wrong.

Notice how particular God is about not exalting anyone but him.

Exo 20:3
(3)  You shall have no other gods before me.

The word translated as “gods” is elohim, and is used for the one true God, but also for ‘angels’ or God’s messengers, for idols and for men in positions of power. Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament discusses this Hebrew in this passage.

Keil & Delitzsch Commentary, Hebrew quotes not included:

Let there not be to thee (thou shalt have no) other gods, lit., beyond Me, or in addition to Me, by the side of Me (Luther). Before Me, (Vulg., etc.), is incorrect; also against Me, in opposition to Me.

So the very first commandment does more than just say you shall have no other any gods before Yahweh; in reality, of course, there are no other gods. This commandment forbids following any powerful beings in addition to or by the side of Yahweh God.

Consequently, when John bowed down before an ‘angel’ of God, that messenger gave him the message to get up.

Rev 22:8-9
(8)  Now I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who had shown me these things.
(9)  He said to me, See you don’t do it! I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers, the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.

Peter told Cornelius the same thing. Get up!

Act 10:24-26
(24)  On the next day they entered into Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them, having called together his relatives and his near friends.
(25)  When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell down at his feet, and worshiped him.
(26)  But Peter raised him up, saying, Stand up! I myself am also a man.

Paul and Barnabas nearly jumped out of their clothes when they were called Mercury and Jupiter.

Act 14:11-18
(11)  When the multitude saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the language of Lycaonia, The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!
(12)  They called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercury, because he was the chief speaker.
(13)  The priest of Jupiter, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and would have made a sacrifice along with the multitudes.
(14)  But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their clothes, and sprang into the multitude, crying out,
(15)  Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them;
(16)  who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.
(17)  Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
(18)  Even saying these things, they hardly stopped the multitudes from making a sacrifice to them.

In all these examples, none but God is exalted. Any exaltation shown to people or even to angels is instantly refused and stoutly stopped. So it should be with exalting titles. A religious title has no purpose other than the exaltation of the one so titled. And that human exaltation is just as wrong as offering a sacrifice to a person.

The very essence of our human nature is to exalt ourselves. Over and over the Bible shows that we are not to seek to be exalted in this life. The great problem with all people is self-exaltation, love of self, me, Me, ME. Anything that contributes to that weakness — like exalting positions and titles — is bad.

Hezekiah, obedient as he was, slipped on the slope of self exaltation.

2Ch 32:31
(31)  However concerning the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.

Isa 39:1-6
(1)  At that time, Merodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had been sick, and had recovered.
(2)  Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah didn’t show them.
(3)  Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and asked him, “What did these men say? Where did they come from to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come from a country far from me, even from Babylon.”
(4)  Then he asked, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”
(5)  Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh of Armies:
(6)  ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up until today, will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says Yahweh.

Uzziah was weakest when he was strongest.

2Ch 26:16-21
(16)  But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against Yahweh his God; for he went into Yahweh’s temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.
(17)  Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of Yahweh, who were valiant men.
(18)  They resisted Uzziah the king, and said to him, It isn’t for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to Yahweh, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed. It will not be for your honor from Yahweh God.
(19)  Then Uzziah was angry. He had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and while he was angry with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in Yahweh’s house, beside the altar of incense.
(20)  Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out quickly from there. Yes, he himself also hurried to go out, because Yahweh had struck him.
(21)  Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from Yahweh’s house. Jotham his son was over the kings house, judging the people of the land.

And Paul was strongest when he was weakest.

2Co 12:7-10
(7)  By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively.
(8)  Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
(9)  He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.
(10)  Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christs sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.

Our human nature is so deceitful that even when we’re trying to follow God, we can still exalt ourselves doing it. And nothing shows that more than exalting religious titles. And that’s why Yeshua specifically forbid exalting religious titles.

Mat 23:5-12
(5)  But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad, enlarge the fringes of their garments,
(6)  and love the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,
(7)  the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi, Rabbi’ by men.
(8)  But don’t you be called ‘Rabbi,’ for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.
(9)  Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven.
(10)  Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ.
(11)  But he who is greatest among you will be your servant.
(12)  Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

John Gill’s comments on that passage pierces to the heart of the problem.

Gill on Matthew 23:7:

And greetings in the markets,…. They used to stroll about the markets, being public places, where there was a great concourse of people, on purpose to be taken notice of before multitudes, with singular marks of respect; as stretching out the hand, uncovering the head, and bowing the knee: and to be called of men Rabbi, Rabbi; because of their great authority, and largeness of their knowledge: …since it was usual in the salutations of them, to double the word….

Where you have the three different words used by our Lord in this and the following verses, by which these men loved to be called, and he inveighed against; nay, they not only suggest, that kings gave them these honourable titles, and they expected them from them, but even they liked to be called kings themselves.

Christ shows that such religious titles as rabbi, father and master are just for exaltation.

First, exaltation over the brothers. “But don’t you be called ‘Rabbi,’ for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.”

Second, over God himself, “for one is your Father.”

Third, against Christ, “for one is your master, the Christ.”

This is the great problem with religious titles. These titles absolutely cannot be separated from the human desire to be exalted. Therefore any one who seeks to humble himself before God must avoid such exalting titles. If you have a name, use it. You don’t need anything else.

Then Christ ends his command against exalting titles with the motive of someone wanting a religious title. “But he who is greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Christ’s followers will not seek to exalt themselves. The greatest of his servants will be servants. They will not wear clothing to distinguish themselves above others, they will not seek elevated positions of honor, and they will not be called by exalting religious titles.

The underlying assumption of those who would be called Rabbi and other such exalting titles is that they will not be adversely affected by this act of exaltation; that they are so spiritual they are above the very greatest temptation to the human spirit, which is to be exalted above others.

Need we point out that such a position is itself extremely self exalting?

Religious titles, whatever they are, that seek to so exalt someone are wrong. There were no Christian or Messianic rabbis. Paul was an apostle but he was not Apostle Paul. He was just the apostle Paul, because that’s what he did. Even the innocuous title of Mister can be used to distinguish and exalt one group above another. Christ forbade all these titles and any like them. They are the titles of religious rulers who seek to place themselves between people and God, and ultimately to put themselves in place of God. “Rabbi, Rabbi!”

Furthermore, in all those people who were closest to God, from Abraham the father of the faithful, to Moses who personally talked with God, to Elijah through whom God worked many miracles — in all those people who were closest to God —

Where are their exalting titles?

If Abraham, father of the faithful, had no exalting title, should a mere descendant of Abraham have one?

If Moses, through whom the Law was given, did not have a title, should a teacher of that law have one?

If Elijah, who called down fire from heaven and rain from a tiny cloud, did not have a religious appellation, should one who only has matches and a water bucket be effusively entitled?

Surely not!

Surely those who are closest to God and farthest from themselves will adamantly refuse such titles. And surely those who are closest to God will refuse to use such titles for mere people.

God set up the priesthood with detailed instructions, but he did not set up the rabbis. The rabbis set themselves up as religious rulers, like little religious kings, with the help of the people, who bowed before them and addressed them with puffed up titles.

I questioned a messianic ‘rabbi’ once about his exalting title and he said that he agreed with me, but he objected that if he didn’t have the title, then people wouldn’t listen to him!

Just as people like to set up political kings, so people like to set up religious kings. They think that religious folderol and lifted up leaders helps them serve an invisible God. In truth, religious folderol always helps hide the invisible God.

Augustus, the prince of peace, ruled with the Pax Romana when the  Prince of Peace came. Herod, the king of the Jews, prepared the temple for the  King of the Jews. And all the rabbis, the little religious kings with their hoity-toity titles and special seats of honor, ultimately had to face —

The Rabbi.

Endnotes

[1] http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12494-rabbi

The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2016 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

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

Chapter 21

Herod the Great, King of the Jews

So just who was king of the Jews?

When Augustus issued his enrollment decree, Herod was king of Judea: “in the days of Herod, the king of Judea,” Luke 1:5.

This Herod was called Herod the Great. He wasn’t all that great because he had to rule under Augustus. The New Testament refers to several Herods, but Herod the Great only appears early in the gospels. Herod was a little king under a big emperor, but he milked his position for all it was worth.

Mat 2:1-3
(1)  Now when Yeshua was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,

(2)  Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.

(3)  When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

“Where is he who was born king of the Jews?” the wise men asked.

Herod thought he was king of the Jews. Yet another was born in his kingdom who was also called King of the Jews. Herod was troubled!

Herod the Great wasn’t even a Jew, though he pretended to be. He was from Esau, not Jacob.

Gen 27:41
(41)  Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.

Jews were from Jacob. Herod was from Esau, Jacob’s brother. Esau’s descendants were called Edomites or Idumeans. When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BCE, the Edomites helped him conquer the Jews. That did not endear them to the Jews, or to God, who gave Obadiah this prophecy against them.

Oba 1:1, 9-11
(1)  The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Lord Yahweh says about Edom. We have heard news from Yahweh, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, Arise, and let’s rise up against her in battle.

(9)  Your mighty men, Teman, will be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.

(10)  For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever.

(11)  In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them.

So Herod, the king of the Jews, was from a people despised by the Jews. When Israel told Samuel they wanted a king, they had no idea they would get someone like Herod the Great.

The Maccabees, also known as Hasmoneans or Asmoneans, had forced the Idumeans to be circumcised and to outwardly become Jews. So Herod, the king of the Jews, pretended to be a Jew but he was still an Idumean from Esau.

After the Maccabees lost power, Herod’s father Antipater was made ruler of Israel in 47 BCE.

ISBE article Edom:

Antipater, governor of Idumaea, was made procurator of Judea, Samaria and Galilee by Julius Caesar. He paved the way to the throne for his son Herod the Great. With the fall of Judah under the Romans, Idumaea disappears from history.

Antipater was assassinated in 43 BCE, shortly after Julius Caesar was assassinated. His son Herod then managed to obtain the rulership of Judea.

Herod was at Rome, and through the favor of Antony and Augustus he obtained the crown of Judea in 37 bc. The fond ambition of his heart was now attained, although he had literally to carve out his own empire with the sword. He made quick work of the task, cut his way back into Judea and took Jerusalem by storm in 37 bc.

Once Herod was in power, he immediately eliminated all he thought might be a threat to him.

The first act of his reign was the extermination of the Asmonean house, to which Herod himself was related through his marriage with Mariamne, the grandchild of Hyrcanus. Antigonus was slain and with him 45 of his chief adherents. Hyrcanus was recalled from Babylon, to which he had been banished by Antigonus, but the high-priesthood was bestowed on Aristobulus, Herod’s brother-in-law, who, however, soon fell a victim to the suspicion and fear of the king. These outrages against the purest blood in Judea turned the love of Mariamne, once cherished for Herod, into a bitter hatred. The Jews, loyal to the dynasty of the Maccabees, accused Herod before the Roman court, but he was summarily acquitted by Antony. Hyrcanus, mutilated and helpless as he was, soon followed Aristobulus in the way of death, 31 bc. When Antony, who had ever befriended Herod, was conquered by Augustus at Actium (31 bc), Herod quickly turned to the powers that were, and, by subtle flattery and timely support, won the imperial favor. The boundaries of his kingdom were now extended by Rome. And Herod proved equal to the greater task. By a decisive victory over the Arabians, he showed, as he had done in his earlier Galilean government, what manner of man he was, when aroused to action. The Arabians were wholly crushed, and submitted themselves unconditionally under the power of Herod. Afraid to leave a remnant of the Asmonean power alive, he sacrificed Mariamne his wife, the only human being he ever seems to have loved (28 bc), his mother-in-law Alexandra, and ultimately, shortly before his death, even his own sons by Mariamne, Alexander and Aristobulus 7 bc.

This cruel man was called Herod the Great. He executed, among others, his ‘beloved’ wife, her mother, and her sons that he fathered. Since Herod appeared to be a practicing Jew, he ate no swine, prompting Augustus to say of him, “I would rather be Herod’s hog than his son,” ISBE article Herod.

Like Saul and David, Solomon and Jeroboam, and Athaliah and the descendants of David — worldly kings try to protect their position by cutting off any competition. Herod got rid of all the Hasmoneans/Maccabees, even though they were his own family, to protect his position.

Herod had been told by the rabbis that he should not be king of the Jews because he wasn’t a Jew. What would you expect Herod to do about that?

The Talmud (Bava Basra 3b-4a):

Herod learned that the Torah requires that a Jewish king may be only a person “from among your brethren” (Deut. 17:15), which implies that a non-Jewish slave like Herod could not become king of Israel. Not surprisingly, Herod became furious at this interpretation that disqualified him from the monarchy. “Who taught this?” he demanded. When he heard that it was the Sages, he ordered that they be killed. Hardly a sage was left by the time his rage had stilled…[1]

In view of all that, it is no surprise whatsoever that when Herod was asked about the birth of he who was born King of the Jews –

He was troubled. Somebody was threatening his position!

Mat 2:1-3
(1)  Now when Yeshua was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,

(2)  Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.

(3)  When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

Herod was troubled because he was worried about his position, as always. Why was all Jerusalem troubled? You would think that news of the Messiah being born would have made all Jerusalem ecstatic, as the shepherds were. But Jerusalem was troubled, too. Were they worried about what the madman might do?

Mat 2:4-11
(4)  Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ would be born.

(5)  They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is written through the prophet,

(6)  ‘You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah: for out of you shall come a governor, who shall shepherd my people, Israel.’”

(7)  Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared.

(8)  He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him.”

(9)  They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the young child was.

(10)  When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

(11)  They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Herod was extremely concerned about this new King of the Jews, so he consulted all the chief priests and scribes. Then he talked with the wise men from the east — secretly — so that no one could warn the new king’s family. Herod, king of the Jews, wanted to kill this new competition, the little boy who was born king of the Jews.

The wise men were led on to the newborn Messiah, who by this time was in a house, not the stable where he was born. To prevent the wise men being fooled by Herod, which would not have been so wise on their part, God gave them a specific warning.

Mat 2:12
(12)  Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.

Likewise God warned Joseph, the head of the new little family, to avoid Herod.

(13)  Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

(14)  He arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt,

(15)  and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

(16)  Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.

That was Herod the Great. Just as he killed his own wife and sons, so he killed the male children around Bethlehem. Anyone who might remotely be a threat to his position was eliminated, even little baby boys.

Some king the Jews had!

Just as Augustus paved the way for his ultimate replacement by his decree, so Herod the Great diligently prepared for the arrival of the King of the Jews, without even knowing it.

When the second temple was first built, old people cried when they compared it to Solomon’s grandiose temple.

Ezr 3:11-13
(11)  They sang to one another in praising and giving thanks to Yahweh, For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever toward Israel. All the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised Yahweh, because the foundation of Yahwehs house had been laid.

(12)  But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers households, the old men who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. Many also shouted aloud for joy,

(13)  so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people; for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard far away.

After returning from captivity in Babylon, Judah did not reach their prior level. They did not have their own kings, they did not have prophets who communicated directly with Yahweh, and they had an inferior temple. The Ark of the Covenant with the Ten Commandment tablets and the manna and Aaron’s rod that budded were not there. The glory of the rebuilt temple was less than the first.

And that temple stayed that way for about five centuries. Then this prophecy by Haggai came to pass.

Hag 2:3-9
(3)  Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Isn’t it in your eyes as nothing?

(4)  Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel, says Yahweh. Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, says Yahweh, and work, for I am with you, says Yahweh of Armies.

(5)  This is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit lived among you. Don’t be afraid.

(6)  For this is what Yahweh of Armies says: Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land;

(7)  and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations [KJV – desire of all nations] will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of Armies.

(8)  The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says Yahweh of Armies.

(9)  The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says Yahweh of Armies; and in this place I will give peace, says Yahweh of Armies.

The rebuilt temple compared to the first one was in their “eyes as nothing,” yet the glory of that temple would be even greater than the first one. The Desire of all Nations would come to that temple; and Herod the Great, the cruel, conniving tyrant, would expand and beautify the temple that He would come to.

ISBE article Herod:

But by far the greatest talent of Herod was his singular architectural taste and ability. Here he reminds one of the old Egyptian Pharaohs. Against the laws of Judaism, which he pretended to obey, he built at Jerusalem a magnificent theater and an amphitheater, of which the ruins remain. The one was within the city, the other outside the walls. Thus he introduced into the ascetic sphere of the Jewish life the frivolous spirit of the Greeks and the Romans. To offset this cruel infraction of all the maxims of orthodox Judaism, he tried to placate the nation by rebuilding the temple of Zerubbabel and making it more magnificent than even Solomon’s temple had been.

Jewish Encyclopedia, 1907 edition, article “Temple, the Second”:

One who did not see Herod’s Temple missed seeing the most beautiful building in the world. It was constructed entirely of polished granite interspersed with dark-colored marble, with beveled edges, set in plaster.

John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible, on Matthew 24:1:

He who has not seen the building of Herod, has never seen “a beautiful building.” With what is it built? says Rabbah, with stones of green and white marble. And there are others say, that it was built with stones of spotted green and white marble.

These, very likely, were the very stones the disciples pointed to, and admired; and were of a prodigious size, as well as worth. Some of the stones were, as Josephus says, “forty five cubits long, five high, and six broad.”

Others of them, as he elsewhere affirms, “were twenty five cubits long, eight high, and twelve broad.”

And he also tells us, in the same place, that there were, “in the porches, four rows of pillars: the thickness of each pillar was as much as three men, with their arms stretched out, and joined together, could grasp; the length twenty seven feet, and the number of them an hundred and sixty two, and beautiful to a miracle.”

At the size of those stones, and the beauty of the work, it is said, Titus was astonished, when he destroyed the temple.

Even though Herod had helped build it, Christ called that second temple his Father’s house and he was extremely protective of it.

Mar 11:15-17
(15)  They came to Jerusalem, and Yeshua entered into the temple, and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers tables, and the seats of those who sold the doves.

(16)  He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple.

(17)  He taught, saying to them, Isn’t it written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have made it a den of robbers!

Christ spent much of his time there, in the temple that Herod built.

Luk 21:37-38
(37)  Every day Yeshua was teaching in the temple, and every night he would go out and spend the night on the mountain that is called Olivet.

(38)  All the people came early in the morning to him in the temple to hear him.

Christ’s disciples marveled at what Herod the Great had brought about.

Mar 13:1-2
(1)  As he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Teacher, see what kind of stones and what kind of buildings!

(2)  Yeshua said to him, Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone on another, which will not be thrown down.

So who was King of the Jews? Herod, who enlarged the physical temple, or he who was born King of the Jews, who came to the physical temple and who then built the spiritual temple?

Herod the Great, who was so ignoble in his life, met an ignoble end.

Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906 edition, article “Herod I”:

Meanwhile Herod was attacked by an incurable disease. Instead of becoming gentler and more merciful, the thought of death only led him to greater cruelty. For an attempt to tear down the Roman eagle from the Temple gate, made, on the rumor of his death, by some young men led by two teachers of the Law, Judah ben Sarifai and Mattathias ben Margalot, forty-two persons, including the teachers, were burned alive. During his sickness Herod meditated only upon ways and means by which he might make the Jews mourn the day of his death. When he had returned from the baths of Callirrhoe to Jericho, he is said to have given orders that upon his death the most distinguished of the nation, whom he had caused to be shut up in the arena of that place, should be slain, so that there might be a great lamentation on his passing away. In his delirium he tried to kill himself, and the palace resounded with lamentations. Antipater, [Herod’s son] whose prison was near, on hearing these cries, concluded Herod was dead and endeavored to bribe his jailer to set him free; but the latter reported it to Herod, who at once gave orders for Antipater’s execution. On hearing this, Augustus said: “It were better to be such a man’s swine than his son”.[2]

Five days after the execution of Antipater Herod died at Jericho, leaving his throne to his son Archelaus. The corpse was transported with great pomp from Jericho to Herodium, where the burial took place. The day of his death was marked in the Jewish calendar as a festival.

Herod the Great, King of the Jews — better to be his hog than his son. He killed off his own family, the little baby boys around Bethlehem, and tried to kill the Messiah. Like a lot of other human kings, he was self-loving to the innermost core of his beastly being. Yet that ignoble man, Herod the Great, enlarged and beautified the temple for the coming of He who was born King of the Jews. And the glory of that temple was even greater than Solomon’s temple, because the Messiah was in it.

Endnotes:

[1] http://www.templemount.org/secondtmp.html

[2] http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7598-herod-i

Chapter 20

A Stable, a Feed Trough and a Field

Augustus was the son of a god; that is, he was the adopted son of Julius Caesar. He was also
pontifex maximus, the high priest of the Roman College of Pontiffs in the Roman pluralist
religion. He was also called the prince of peace and the oracles said that he would bring in
an era of peace.

So Augustus — the son of a god, the high priest and the prince of peace — issued a decree.

Luk 2:1(1)  Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.

You recall how David ordered Joab to do somewhat the same thing, when he ordered a
census of Israel. That census took nine months and twenty days, 2 Samuel 24:8.

Augustus did not order a taxing with his decree, as the King James translation says, but an
enrollment, which of course could be used for taxing. The great Roman Empire was built
on the backs of many burdened people.

Rome had measured the whole empire previously and those surveys were long, drawn out
affairs.

A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica by John Lightfoot, on
Luke 2:

“Julius Caesar,… in the time of his consulship, by a decree of the senate, procured, that the whole
Roman jurisdiction should be measured out by men of greatest skill, and most seen in all the a
ttainments of philosophy. So that Julius Caesar and M. Antony being consuls, the world began to be
measured.

“That is, from the consulship of Caesar above mentioned to the consulship of Augustus the third
time, and Crassus, the space of oneandtwenty years, five months, and eight days, all the East was
surveyed by Zenodoxus. 

“From the consulship likewise of Julius Caesar and M. Antony to the consulship of Saturninus and C
inna, the space of twoandthirty years, one month, and ten days, the South was measured out by P
olyclitus; so that in twoandthirty years’ time, the whole world was surveyed, and a report of it given
in unto the senate.”

The enrollment ordered by Augustus, then, must have taken some time. It’s not like it
could have been done on a three day weekend. It was not announced in the local paper,
TV news, or social media, so it would have taken a while for the whole nation of Judea just
to hear about the decree. Then all the population had to either enroll in their home town
or travel to the family ancestral home to enroll. Because the enrollment must have taken
some time, it does not seem that the enrollment by itself would have caused all the towns
to suddenly become crowded.

More than three decades after Augustus’ decree, the apostles were about to be killed by the
rabbis when Gamaliel gave the Jewish religious rulers this warning.

Act 5:35-38(35)  He said to them, You men of Israel, be careful concerning these men, what you are about to do.(36)  For before these days Theudas rose up, making himself out to be somebody; to whom a number
of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, w
ere dispersed, and came to nothing.(37)  After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the enrollment, and drew away some
people after him. He also perished, and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered abroad.
(38)  Now I tell you, withdraw from these men, and leave them alone. For if this counsel or this
work is of men, it will be overthrown.

Judas of Galilee rose up in the “days of the enrollment,” which might or might not have
been the same as Augustus’ enrollment, but the phrasing “days of enrollment” seems to
indicate a period of some duration for an enrollment.

The word that is translated as “world” in Luke 2:1, “that the whole world should be
enrolled,” sometimes had a smaller application than the whole earth, as to the land of
Judea only.

From Adam Clarke’s Commentary on Luke 2:1: It appears that St. Luke used this word in this sense in conformity to the Septuagint, who have applied it in precisely the same way, Isa 13:11; 14:26; 24:1. And from this we may learn, that the word ïéêïõìåíç [oy-koumen’ay, “world” in Luke 2:1] had been long used as a term by which the land of Judea was
commonly expressed. 

If the enrollment was for Judea only, then it would not have made big news around the
world. This enrollment didn’t, because it doesn’t seem to be mentioned outside of the
Bible. Apparently it wasn’t that big of a deal.

But it was a big deal.

Augustus was born into a wealthy family and he was the nephew and adopted son of the
dictator of the Roman government, Julius Caesar. Augustus became emperor by killing off
all the competition except for Marc Antony, who killed himself off before Augustus got to
him. Augustus was named ‘Augustus’ by the Senate, to signify that he was much more
than just a normal personage – he was ‘august.’ His stepfather had named a month after
himself, July, so the august one did the same. And Augustus minted coins that circulated
through the empire declaring him to be the son of a god.

This coin says Augustus, divi f (for filius), or son of the divine.

Bethlehem was a small town about six miles from Jerusalem. Augustus may have never
even heard of the town. About six centuries before Augustus, Micah’s prophecy was
connected with Augustus’ decree.

Mic 5:2 (2)  But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come
out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.

The ruler in Israel, whose goings out are from of old, was to come out of little Bethlehem.

Then, about five and a half centuries before Augustus’ decree, the heavenly messenger
Gabriel made an announcement, announcing when that ruler, the Anointed One or
Messiah would come.

Dan 9:21-25(21)  yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the
beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening offering.(22)  He instructed me, and talked with me, and said, Daniel, I have now come to give you wisdom
and understanding.(23)  At the beginning of your petitions the commandment went out, and I have come to tell you;
for you are greatly beloved. Therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.(24)  Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to
make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.(25)  Know therefore and discern that from the going out of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times.

Shortly before Augustus’ decree, Gabriel had another announcement. He announced to
Mary the coming birth of that Messiah. 

Luke 1:26-33(26)  Now in the sixth month [since John’s conception], the angel Gabriel was sent from God to
a city of Galilee, named Nazareth(27)  to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of Davids house. The
virgins name was Mary.(28)  Having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women!(29)  But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of
salutation this might be.(30)  The angel said to her, Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.(31)  Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and give birth to a son, and will call his name Yeshua.(32)  He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the
throne of his father, David,(33)  and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.

This son of Mary and son of the Most High would reign forever on the throne of David,
which had not existed in Judah for nearly six centuries. The prophecy of Micah and those
announcements from Gabriel crossed in Bethlehem, thanks to the decree of Augustus.

Luk 2:3-5
(3)  All went to enroll themselves, everyone to his own city.(4)  Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to David’s city, which
is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David;(5)  to enroll himself with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him as wife, being pregnant.

Augustus’ decree caused a descendant of David whose family lived in Nazareth to be born
in Bethlehem.

Nazareth was in Galilee, not Judea, and the territory of Galilee was disdained by the
religious rulers of Jerusalem. John Gill’s commentary says “the whole country of Galilee was
mean and contemptible with the Jews: they observe, though through mistake, that no prophet arose
out of it.”

That sneering comment of the Pharisees is from John 7:52: “Search, and see that no prophet
has arisen out of Galilee”.

On top of that, the Galilean village of Nazareth was itself spurned in popular opinion. Gill
wrote, “Nazareth particularly was exceeding despicable in their eye: hence those words of
Nathanael, “can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”” John 1:46. 

This baby boy, the ruler or king of Israel and the Messiah or Annointed One, was born into
a family who lived in a despised town in a disdained region. That family was not wealthy.
Even though Bethlehem was Joseph’s ancestral heritage, apparently he had no property
there to go to and no family to stay with. He and his betrothed wife Mary were so
unappreciated that even though she was immediately due to give birth, no one even offered
her the courtesy of a comfortable place to labor. Surely you would give up your motel room
to a woman who was about to birth, yet no one did. This child was born, not in a royal
mansion, but in a stable of some type. This king’s cradle was a feed trough. The animals
weren’t there and were still out in the fields, but he lay where they ate their grain in winter.

Luk 2:6-7
(6)  While they were there, the day had come for her to give birth.(7)  She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a feeding
trough, because there was no room for them in the inn.

So no one offered to take Mary in and there was no room in the inn.

Why was there no room in Bethlehem?

If it was unlikely that a gradual enrollment would have caused an immediate shifting of the
whole population of Israel, then why would Bethlehem be so crowded?

Jerusalem and the whole surrounding area including Bethlehem were crowded at festival
times. Every man was commanded to go to Jerusalem for these feasts and they often took
their families with them. The influx of a major portion of the country’s population surely
made for many inns with no rooms.

Jewish Virtual Library, article “Second Temple”: Normally a city of 100 to 200 thousand people, three times a year on the pilgrim festivals of
Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, Jerusalem’s population swelled to 1 million souls (the exact
number depending on the source of population estimates). On these occasions this small ancient city
had to cope not only with the throng of people but also their sacrificial animals and offerings,
necessitating temporary increases in food supplies, accommodation, ritual bathing facilities, and all
aspects of commerce.

From Rosh HaShanah and the Messianic Kingdom to Come by Joseph Good: It was only during the three pilgrim festivals (Pesach, Hag haMatzah, and Shavuot) that Bethlehem
would overflow with people. The thousands of pilgrims coming to Jerusalem for the festivals would
spill over to the surrounding towns. In ancient times, reporting for a census would be done over a
several month period due to the difficulties of travel, as well as the economics of an agricultural
society. It is highly improbable that so many people would be in Bethlehem for Caesar’s census all
at one time.

The three festival seasons are:
1. Passover/Unleavened Bread;
2. Pentecost or Shavuot;
3. Tabernacles or Succoth.

Since Christ was:
1. killed at Passover;
2. And began his assembly or church at Pentecost; folowing that pattern of Christ’s major life events coinciding with the festivals would then
have him —
3. born at Succoth.

This time of Christ’s birth is corroborated by the time of the temple service of John’s
father when he received the announcement of his son’s birth. John was born six months
before Christ.

Obviously a little baby, wet and bare skinned, was not born in a stable during a time of
winter weather. Shepherds went out into the fields after the spring rains and came in
before the autumn rains, and at Christ’s birth they were still out in the fields with their
flocks.

All these things point to Yeshua being born in the seventh month of the Bible calendar,
early autumn, when the whole Jerusalem area was filled with people. The trip from
Nazareth to Jerusalem would have taken three to five days, and Joseph likely used his
festival trip to go on to Bethlehem to enroll for Augustus. Because of the festival crowds
and the enrollment, there was no room at the inn of the small town. Specifically because
of Augustus’ decree, though, Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem instead of Jerusalem.

When Mary had given birth in Bethlehem, an angel — probably Gabriel, you know how he
got around — spoke up again. His announcement did not go to the Roman rulers or to their
puppet king Herod. It did not go to the Pharisees or the Sadducees, the religious rulers of
Judea. It did not go to the rich landowners who had illegally accrued property, wealth and
prestige.

The birth announcement from the angel of God was only made to some shepherds out in
the field with their sheep.

Luk 2:8-11(8)  There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over
their flock.(9)  Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and
they were terrified.(10)  The angel said to them, Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which
will be to all the people.(11)  For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (12)  This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough.

This baby is Christ the Lord, or the Messiah the ruler. Mickelson’s Enhanced Strong’s Greek
and Hebrew Dictionaries says that ‘Lord,’ or kurios in Greek, means “supreme in authority.” 

This little boy, born in a stable, laid in a feed trough, announced in a field, with a common
family that had nowhere to stay —

This little boy was to be supreme in authority — the King of kings!

As befits a king, especially the King of all kings, a whole army of angelic spirit beings filled
the sky and praised God for the new baby.

Luk 2:13-14(13)  Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and
saying,
(14)  Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men.

Big shot Augustus never had an honor like that!

Augustus was ruler of the civilized world, including Judea. He had ended the Roman
Republic, he became the first Roman emperor, and he had a long reign of 40 years. During
those four decades he got the Roman Empire off to a powerful start.

When Mary’s little boy was about two years old, Rome celebrated a type of jubilee for
Augustus to celebrate twentyfive years of his despotic rule. When the true ruler of Israel
was 12 and teaching the Jewish religious sages, Augustus had recently changed the puppet
king over the Jews, at their request. Then several years later in 14 CE, when the Messiah
was a young man of 18 or so, Augustus died. His last official words were, “I found Rome a
city of clay but left it a city of marble,” referring to Augustus’ political achievements.
However, his wife Livia and his adopted son Tiberius who succeeded him attested that
Augustus’ last words were actually, “Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit.”
The ‘august one,’ 76 years old, knew that he would soon go from august to dust.

For you are dust, and to dust you shall return, Gen. 3:19.

Actually Augustus was cremated before he could return to dust. His ashes, though, were
reposed in a fancy mausoleum and then the son of a god was himself declared to be a god,
in spite of the obvious fact that he was dead.

God, Yahweh the real God, did everything backwards to normal human thinking. His son
was born in a stable, cradled in a feed trough, and announced to shepherds in a field and
the Heavenly Father did all that on purpose. He did not go through the normal human
authorities because He is the authority.

So the ‘august one,’ king of the civilized world, the son of a god, the high priest of the
roman religion, the prince of peace, issued a decree that caused Joseph to go to Bethlehem
where the virgin Mary gave birth to Augustus’ ultimate replacement, the real august one,
the true son of God, the heavenly High Priest, the genuine Prince of Peace, the little boy
who would one day replace all human kings. Without that decree, it is unlikely that Mary
would have gone even to Jerusalem for the feast, given her condition. Women did not have
to go to the feasts, especially heavily pregnant women. Mary must have felt compelled to
go with Joseph at that time because of Augustus’ decree to register everyone, and that made
her little baby be born in Bethlehem and not Nazareth and thus fulfill prophecy.

And Augustus thought he was the one in charge of the world!

Rome, though, still had her power. Two millennia later, the world still goes by the Roman
calendar, with months named after Julius and Augustus. And the birth of the king, who was
killed at Passover, who began his flock at Pentecost, and who was born around Succoth —

Yes, Rome still has her power —

That heavenly king is thought by the whole world to have been born not at a Bible feast
according to God’s plan but on a Roman drunken holiday.

ENDNOTES

1. Roman politics and the birth and death of Christ, RenewAmerica.com

2. via Wikimedia Commons

3. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/secondtemple.html

4..Joseph Good, Rosh HaShanah and the Messianic Kingdom to Come, copyright © 1989, http://hatikva.org/the-birth-of-yeshua-during-sukkot.html

The End Time Church: from the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2016 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

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

Chapter 19

Pax Romana and the son of god

Rome was a republic!

When you think of Rome, you think of the world’s largest empire, with its vainglorious emperors, oppressive all-controlling government and tyrannical dictators, ala Nero. But that Rome came after the Roman Republic.

A republic?

Israel, of course, was never a republic or a democracy, because such governments are still run by people, just many people instead of a few. Israel was never a theocracy, because a theocracy is run by people, just religious people who claim to have the support of God. Israel was Yah-tocracy — governed directly by Yahweh God himself.

Of all human governments, though, a republic seems best because it most limits evil human nature.

A monarchy is the worst. There is absolutely no restraint on the pharoah, king, emperor or czar. The only question is how unrestrained the monarch will be.

An oligarchy is rule by a few, and to that degree is better than a monarchy because the few can be a check on each other. However, these few carnal people are largely unchecked. The politburo is inherently polluted by human shortcomings.

A democracy is rule by the many, with government decisions made directly by a vote of the people. Power is extremely decentralized among many people. This is somewhat unworkable with a large population. The worst thing about a democracy, or rule by the majority, is that at some point the majority tyrannizes the minority. A simple vote can lead to eradicating the opposition, just as a king could do with his enemies.

A republic has representatives of the people do the governing. This lessens the tyranny of democracy somewhat. A simple vote of the majority cannot eradicate the minority, because the governing laws and institutions of the republic do not allow such tyranny. A republic seems to be the best form of human government, because it places the greatest restrictions on human nature in government. A republic is not a government of god, but it does limit human power. Limiting human power is good, because human nature is so bad.

Of course, a republic does not eliminate human nature, but only restrains it for a while. And that was Rome — a republic — for a while.

This may be one of the great surprises of history. The greatest tyrannical empire that the world has ever known began as a republic. The widest reach of despotic kings controlling the lives of the greatest number of other people began with a government designed to limit the power that kings, emperors and dictators could have.

In the late 6th century BCE, the small city-state of Rome overthrew the shackles of monarchy and created a republican government that, in theory if not always in practice, represented the wishes of its citizens. From this basis the city would go on to conquer all of the Italian peninsula and large parts of the Mediterranean world and beyond. The Republic and its institutions of government would endure for five centuries, until, wrecked by civil wars, it would transform into a Principate ruled by emperors.[1]

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia article, ‘Rome,’ discusses the rise of Rome’s republic, after the Romans had overthrown the Etruscan kings in 509 BCE.

The prerogatives of the kings passed over to the consuls. The reduction of the tenure of power to a single year and the institution of the principle of colleagueship were the earliest checks to the abuse of unlimited authority. But the true cornerstone of Roman liberty was thought to be the lexicon Valeria, which provided that no citizen should be put to death by a magistrate without being allowed the right of appeal to the decision of the assembly of the people.[2]

Remember how Ahasuerus had the power to kill anyone who dared speak to him? With the ‘lexicon Valeria,’ the Republic of Rome eliminated that little grievance against government. The Republic also had term limits — one year of power. Power was also placed by tradition in a group of men, the Senate, rather than just one man.

The kings had reduced the senate to the position of a mere advising body. But under the republican regime it recovered in fact the authority of which it was deprived in theory. The controlling power of the senate is the most significant feature of the republican government, although it was recognized by no statute or other constitutional document.[3]

The Roman Republic had offices filled by annual elections.

Under the fully developed constitution the regular magistracies were five in number, consulship, praetorship, aedileship, tribunate, and quaestorship, all of which were filled by annual elections.[4]

Rome also had a body of written law. The nation was, to whatever degree, controlled not by an individual who ruled by royal decree or executive order, but by established laws of the nation. Ironically, those laws, like another famous law, were written on tablets.

In 451 bce Rome received its first written law code, inscribed upon 12 bronze tablets and publicly displayed in the forum. Its provisions concerned such matters as legal procedure, debt foreclosure, paternal authority over children, property rights, inheritance, and funerary regulations. This so-called Law of the Twelve Tables was to form the basis of all subsequent Roman private law.[5]

Again, how incredible it was that Rome, known for its nutty Neros and demonic Diocletians, was a republic. That human government, although designed to limit human nature in government, was still plagued by human nature in government. Eventually, after five centuries, the citizens of the Roman Republic decided they wanted a saviour, a knight in shining armor — an emperor.

Why?

Civil wars.

The Roman world had for two generations been steadily drifting toward monarchy, and at least one generation before the empire was set up clear minds saw the inevitable necessity of one-man government or supreme power, and each political leader made it his ambition to grasp it. The civil wars ceased for a century with the death of Antony. But the struggles of Tiberius Gracchus and Scipio Aemilianus, Caius Gracchus and Opimius, Drusus and Philippus, Marius and Sulla, Pompey and Caesar, and lastly Octavian and Antony had exhausted the state, and this exhaustion of political parties opened the way for monarchy.[6]

Corruption.

Events had proved that a narrow exclusive aristocracy was incapable of good government because of its utterly selfish policy and disregard for the rights of all lower orders. It had learned to burke liberty by political murders. Neither was the heterogeneous population of later Rome disciplined to obey or to initiate just government when it had seized power. This anarchy within the body politic opened an easy way to usurpation by individuals. No republic and no form of free popular government could live under such conditions. Caesar said of the republic that it was “a name without any substance,” and Curio declared it to be a “vain chimera.” The law courts shared in the general corruption. . .Elective assemblies refused to perform their proper functions because of extravagant bribery or the presence of candidates in arms. In fact, the people were willing to forego the prerogative of election and accept candidates at the nomination of a despotic authority. The whole people had become incapable of self-government and were willing – almost glad – to be relieved of the necessity.[7]

Better commerce.

To another considerable class monarchy must have been welcome – the industrial and middle class who were striving for competence and were engaged in trade and commerce. Civil wars and the strife of parties must have greatly hindered their activity….They desired only a stable condition of government under which they could uninterruptedly carry on their trades.[8]

The Romans grew tired of the Republic because individual freedoms led to societal anarchy. Like Israel, they wanted a king to protect themselves from themselves.

Just as in Israel, the people were incapable of self-government. They were out of control. Therefore government changed from rule by the many to rule by the meanest.

… [T]he actual political assemblies were made up largely of the worthless element which was so numerous in the city, whose irrational instincts were guided and controlled by shrewd political leaders, particularly those who united in themselves military ability and the wiles of the demagogue. Sulla, Crassus, Julius Caesar, Antony, and lastly Octavian were in effect the ancient counterpart of the modern political “boss.” When such men realized their ultimate power and inevitable rivalry, the ensuing struggle for supremacy and for the survival of the fittest formed the necessary process of elimination leading naturally to the establishment of the monarchy, which was in this case the rule of the last survivor.[9]

The original written law of the Republic was overruled by the superior wisdom of whoever had the most power at the time. However, the Republic was so historically respected after five centuries among the Romans that when it ended, most said it still existed. That is, while Julius and Octavian were setting themselves up as dictators, they did so while saying they still supported the Republic.

Julius Caesar is famous as a Roman emperor. He actually preceded but enabled the Roman Empire. In the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw, Rome was the fourth kingdom to reign over the Jews. All those kingdoms were not republics but were totalitarian dictatorships. Julius brought that to Rome.

Julius had won a military campaign in Spain that made him popular in Rome. Pompey was another successful Roman general who had conquered Jerusalem in 63 BCE. In their battle for supremacy, Julius defeated Pompey in 49 BC in one more Roman civil war and after that had himself declared dictator.

For a couple of generations political leaders had foreseen the coming of supreme power and had tried to grasp it. But it was Julius Caesar who best succeeded in exploiting democracy for his own aggrandizement. He proved the potent factor of the first triumvirate (60 BC); his consulship (59) was truly kingly. In 49 BC he crossed the Rubicon and declared war upon his country, but in the same year was appointed Dictator and thus made his enemies the enemies of his country…. Between 46 and the Ides of March 44 no emperor before Diocletian was more imperial. He was recognized officially as “demigod”; temples were dedicated to his “clemency.” He encouraged the people to abdicate to him their privileges of self-government and right of election, became chief (princeps) of the senate and high priest (pontifex maximus), so that he could manipulate even the will of the gods to his own purposes. [10]

Notice that Julius was a “demigod,” which the dictionary says is a minor god. He encouraged the people to abdicate their self-government to him, he became chief of the Senate and religious high priest, and he was appointed dictator for a term.

However, remember this was a republic, purposely established to avoid dictators. Julius was high handed in his approach to Roman government and he instituted laws — executive decrees — with little regard for the Senate. In other words, he really acted like a dictator. In response to Julius’ actions, a group of senators stabbed Julius to death in 44 BCE. They called themselves Liberators, for ending the dictatorship and saving the Republic.

However, the Roman people, like Israel long before them, were ready for a king. The Liberators, who expected to be hailed for their heroism, were run out of Rome. Even to this day, Julius is hailed and the Liberators are assailed.

After his assassination, Julius’ will revealed that he had adopted his grand-nephew Octavius, later called Octavian. That young man of 18 took on the popular family name of his uncle, Caesar, then set about on a calculated campaign to become successor to Julius as ruler of Rome. After fourteen years of political maneuvering and military battles, Octavian defeated Marc Antony in 31 BCE to become the prime power in Rome.

In the battle for power, Octavian was the last one standing. Like so many other rulers, he was king because he killed off all the competition.

Octavian (Augustus) proved the potent factor of the second triumvirate. The field of Actiuim on September 2, 31 BC, decided the fate of the old Roman republic. The commonwealth sank in exhaustion after the protracted civil and internecine strife. It was a case of the survival of the fittest. It was a great crisis in human history, and a great man was at hand for the occasion. Octavian realized that supreme power was the only possible solution. On his return to Rome he began to do over again what Caesar had done – gather into his own hands the reins of government. He succeeded with more caution and shrewdness, and became the founder of the Roman empire, which formally began on January 16, 27 BC, and was signalized by the bestowal of the title AUGUSTUS (which see). Under republican forms he ruled as emperor, controlling legislation, administration and the armies.[11]

Octavian seized power while saying he still supported the Republic, so the people and the Senate supported him as dictator while telling themselves they still had a republic.

By carrying the name Caesar, Octavian transferred to himself much of the popular appeal of Julius. Like his Uncle Julius, Augustus named a month after himself. And early in his political career, Octavian or Augustus, made the departed Julius Caesar a god.

That was more a political move than pious dedication to his dear departed uncle.

Octavian did not claim to be a god himself. Therefore he did not appear to exalt himself in that way. He only exalted departed Julius, in making him a Roman god.

Logically, though, since Augustus was the adopted son of Julius, that made Augustus the son of a god. In that way, he could be humble and exalted at the same time!

So Augustus became the son of a god while appearing not to exalt himself at all, and he became absolute ruler of Rome, while saying that he supported the Republic.

In 27 BCE, Octavian was declared by the Senate to be Augustus.

The epithet implied respect and veneration beyond what is bestowed on human things.[12]

Here Octavian was named Augustus, a word ringing with religious (augur) and social (auctoritas) meaning but not suggestive of overt political dominance. C. Julius Caesar Octavianus now became Imperator Caesar Augustus….By means of this settlement, Augustus was simultaneously commander, leader, savior.[13]

Commander, leader, saviour — Augustus!

From Horace, Odes
Your times, O Caesar, have brought back fertile crops to the fields and have restored to Jupiter the military standards which had been taken from us by our enemies the Parthians. You have made the temple of Janus close because we are at peace. You have put reins on sin and keep the people within the boundaries of right. You have wiped away our sins and revived the ancient virtues which made Rome great, and the fame and majesty of our empire is spread from the sun’s bed in the west to the east. As long as Caesar is the guardian of the state, neither civil dissension nor violence shall banish peace, nor will it be ended by the anger that forges swords and brings discord and misery to cities. None of our enemies shall violate the orders of Caesar. And we, both on profane days and sacred days, amid the gifts of merry Bacchus, together with our wives and children, will first pray to the gods; and then we will sing songs, with accompaniment of Lydian flutes, to great leaders whose duty is done.[14]

Augustus was a very effective dictator, or emperor. He put in place the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace that prevailed throughout the Roman Empire. As long as Caesar is the guardian of the state, neither civil dissension nor violence shall banish peace.

The founding of the Roman empire was the grandest political achievement ever accomplished. The conquests of Alexander the Great, Charlemagne and Napoleon seem small compared with the durable structure reared by Julius and his successor, Augustus…

The first universal blessing conferred by the empire was the famous pax Romana (“Roman peace”). The world had not been at peace since the days of Alexander the Great. The quarrels of the Diadochi, [Alexander’s successors] and the aggression of the Roman republic had kept the nations in a state of constant turmoil. A universal peace was first established with the beginning of the reign of Augustus and the closing of the temple of Janus [opened only in times of war]. In all the countries round the Mediterranean and from distant Britain to the Euphrates the world was at rest. Rome had made an end of her own civil wars and had put a stop to wars among the nations. Though her wars were often iniquitous and unjustifiable, and she conquered like a barbarian, she ruled her conquests like a humane statesman. The quarrels of the Diadochi which caused so much turmoil in the East were ended, the territory of the Lagids; Attalids, Seleucids and Antigonids having passed under the sway of Rome. The empire united Greeks, Romans and Jews all under one government. Rome thus blended the nations and prepared them for Christianity. Now for the first time we may speak of the world as universal humanity, the orbis terrarum [the whole earth],… the genus humanum [human race]. These terms represented humanity as living under a uniform system of government. All were members of one earthly state; the Roman empire was their communis omnium patria [common homeland]…

With the dawn of the pax Romana all these roads [that Rome built] became alive once more with a galaxy of caravans and traders. Commerce revived and was carried on under circumstances more favorable than any that obtained till the past century.[15]

Notice these points made there.

1. Rome ended her own civil wars and stopped wars among nations.
2. Rome conquered like a barbarian and ruled humanely, as long as the conquered humbled themselves before Rome.
3. The Roman Empire united Greeks, Romans and Jews; the empire was universal humanity under one government.
4. Commerce thrived under the enforced peace.

Of course, the empire did not include the Orient, Arabia, Africa or the Americas. Distances set the limit of area that could be governed by one empire and in 285CE the empire was divided into east and west divisions for better administration. The Roman Empire, though, was the epicenter of human civilization and had the most influence of any government in the world.

History records that there were around 100,000,000 people within the 1,500,000 square miles of the Roman Empire during the time of Christ.[16]

Even today the days of the week, the months of the year, the calendar of the world and the three major holidays of the world all come from Rome.

Like the rest of the civilized world, Israel was also under Augustus. Judea was ruled by a puppet king Herod, but he ruled under Augustus. This pattern of puppet kings was repeated across the empire. Augustus was truly a king of kings, a king who ruled over other kings.

Was Israel right when they told Samuel they wanted a human king, to bring them peace and prosperity?

With the Pax Romana, it now appeared so. Wars were mostly ended, with Rome only squashing periodic pushes for freedom. Roads were built across the Empire and commerce was conducted more safely than at any time up until recent history. Even today, historians laud the great Roman Empire and its most worthy emperor, Augustus.

The Roman Empire was like the Kingdom of God on earth.

Except for a few problems.

One, God wasn’t in it.

Two, socialism inevitably sinks in its own sinkhole. No human government can endure, although they all think they can.

One of the three mothers of American libertarianism wrote of the Roman Empire in the middle of World War II, when Hitler was trying to do the same thing and set up a thousand year Reich.

It was sober, ascetic, conscientious Augustus Caesar who laid the firm foundations of the misery in which all Europeans lived for generations. He began to establish a planned world-economy, the famous Roman Peace that the Roman legions gave the whole world’s people by conquering them. (Just such a peace as Hitler, and some of his enemies, are planning now.)

That Roman Peace was designed to last forever. When Diocletian perfected it, its economy was so thoroughly planned and so well administered that farmers could no longer farm nor workers work, and Government took care of them on the relief that taxes provided, until the increasing taxes pushed so many farmers and workers onto tax-supported relief that there was not enough productive energy left to pay the taxes, and the Roman empire with its world peace collapsed into the Dark Ages.[17]

In his time, though, Augustus was the king of the world, a king of kings, with puppet kings under him. He was from a noble family, he gained his kingdom by ruthless force, and he ruled by the spears and swords of the most powerful army on earth. The glory of the Empire replaced the freedom of individual choice. The Pax Romana was the epitome of this world’s government, with peace by power and faith by force, and its Emperor Augustus was revered as the son of a god.

Augustus reigned as undisputed emperor from 27BCE to 14CE. About the middle of that reign, in ~4BCE, he issued a decree. He could do, that, you know. He was emperor. That decree by Caesar Augustus, king of kings and son of god, set the stage for the birth of another King of Kings —

THE Son of God.

[1] http://www.ancient.eu/Roman_Republic/

[2] ‘Rome,’ The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE).

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] https://www.britannica.com/place/Roman-Republic

[6] “Roman Empire and Christianity,” ISBE.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid.

[13] De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families, http://www.roman-emperors.org/auggie.htm

[14] Odes, Horace, http://www.members.tripod.com/mr_sedivy/r_augustus.html

[15] “Roman Empire and Christianity,” ISBE.

[16] http://www.bible-history.com/backd2/jerusalem.html

[17] Rose Wilder Lane, Discovery of Freedom.

The End Time Church: from the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2016 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

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

Chapter 18

How Satan Rules — (and you’d better agree)

The 31 king kick-out had grown to 33.

The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah were no more. Like the 31 Canaanite kings before them, they were kicked out of the Holy Land for being unholy. Both kingdoms also had sizable portions of their population moved away from the Promised Land.

After the deportation of the ten tribes by Assyria, there never was a formal reentry of those tribes back into the Holy Land. Some of them remained in the land; the apostle Paul was a Benjamite and Anna the prophetess was from the tribe of Asher. However, God did not formally bring those ten tribes back into the Holy Land, which is exactly the opposite of what he did with Judah.

Judah was deported by Babylon in three waves. The first was in 605 BCE, and seventy years after that Cyrus sent some of Judah back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. The last deportation was in 586 BCE when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, and seventy years after that the second temple was completed. Many Jews did not return to the Holy Land from Babylon, but Ezra specifically lists those Jewish families who did make a formal reentry.

The Jews did not regain their kingdom, though. Even in their own land, they were still under the kings of other nations. Israel wanted to have a king like all the other nations, and the Jews wound up being ruled by the most powerful kings of those other nations.

When Daniel was a captive in Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of an image with a head of gold, chest of silver, thighs of brass and legs of iron. Daniel explained to the king that this image represented four great kingdoms of this world.

Daniel 2:37-45

(37)  You, O king, are king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory.

(38)  Wherever the children of men dwell, he has given the animals of the field and the birds of the sky into your hand, and has made you rule over them all. You are the head of gold.

(39)  “After you, another kingdom will arise that is inferior to you; and another third kingdom of brass, which will rule over all the earth.

(40)  The fourth kingdom will be strong as iron, because iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things; and as iron that crushes all these, it will break in pieces and crush.

(41)  Whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but there will be in it of the strength of the iron, because you saw the iron mixed with miry clay.

(42)  As the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong, and partly broken.

(43)  Whereas you saw the iron mixed with miry clay, they will mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they won’t cling to one another, even as iron does not mix with clay.

(44)  “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, nor will its sovereignty be left to another people; but it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever.

(45)  Because you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king what will happen hereafter. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

These four kingdoms of the world ruled in succession over the Jews, the tribe of David and the Messiah. Remember how Israel during the period of the judges had the most personal freedom of any people in history? Each family had their own property with no mortgage to pay to usurious lenders. There was no human king to tax them or take their sons and daughters for his personal use. No one forced them to follow a certain religion. Israel had maximum freedom and maximum responsibility — free choice, answer directly to God.

By contrast, notice how those four successive world kingdoms ruled over the Jews.

They began with Nebuchadnezzar. He was called king of kings, a very auspicious title indeed. After Nebuchadnezzar had been told that he was the image’s head of gold, that may have gone to his head because he set up an image of gold.

Daniel 3:1-6

(1)  Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits, and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

(2)  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the local governors, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

(3)  Then the local governors, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

(4)  Then the herald cried aloud, “To you it is commanded, peoples, nations, and languages,

(5)  that whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up.

(6)  Whoever doesn’t fall down and worship shall be cast into the middle of a burning fiery furnace the same hour.”

This king of kings did not allow personal choice in belief. Everyone, including the Israelites, had to bow to his religion or be burned up. Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego refused to bow to the king’s religion and God refused to let them be burned up.

The next kingdom to rule over conquered Judah was the Media/Persian empire. Cyrus conquered Babylon and then allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Haman was a close associate of a later Media/Persian king Ahasuerus and the Jew Esther was his conscripted queen. She had been raised by her uncle Mordecai.

Esther 3:1-6

(1)  After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.

(2)  All the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate bowed down, and paid homage to Haman; for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai didn’t bow down or pay him homage.

(3)  Then the king’s servants, who were in the king’s gate, said to Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s commandment?”

(4)  Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily to him, and he didn’t listen to them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.

(5)  When Haman saw that Mordecai didn’t bow down, nor pay him homage, Haman was full of wrath.

(6)  But he scorned the thought of laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had made known to him Mordecai’s people. Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even Mordecai’s people.

That king had the power of life and death. All power was centralized in him. There were no appeals when he allowed Haman to sentence all the Jews to death.

Esther 3:8-11

(8)  Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different than other people’s. They don’t keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not for the king’s profit to allow them to remain.

(9)  If it pleases the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who are in charge of the king’s business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”

(10)  The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy.

(11)  The king said to Haman, “The silver is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”

Notice the incredible centralized power of this king. Esther wanted to tell the king what Haman was doing, but she risked her life just speaking to the king.

Est 5:1-2

(1)  Now on the third day, Esther put on her royal clothing, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, next to the king’s house. The king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, next to the entrance of the house.

(2)  When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight; and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther came near, and touched the top of the scepter.

When the king held out his scepter to his wife, that meant she wouldn’t be killed for speaking to him. And she was the queen! Now that’s centralized power!

Just as with Nebuchadnezzar, this was an attempt to force religious unity: “their laws are different than other people’s,” Haman said. And just as with Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace, Yahweh saved his people from that king’s power. Haman was hung on his own gallows.

The next kingdom to rule over the Jews was the Greeks, as Alexander the Great defeated the Persians. A successor of Alexander’s, Antiochus Epiphanes, ruled over Judah this way.

1 Maccabees 1:41-64 (Good News Translation)

Antiochus now issued a decree that all nations in his empire should abandon their own customs and become one people. All the Gentiles and even many of the Israelites submitted to this decree. They adopted the official pagan religion, offered sacrifices to idols, and no longer observed the Sabbath.

The king also sent messengers with a decree to Jerusalem and all the towns of Judea, ordering the people to follow customs that were foreign to the country. He ordered them not to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, or wine offerings in the Temple, and commanded them to treat Sabbaths and festivals as ordinary work days. They were even ordered to defile the Temple and the holy things in it. They were commanded to build pagan altars, temples, and shrines, and to sacrifice pigs and other unclean animals there. They were forbidden to circumcise their sons and were required to make themselves ritually unclean in every way they could, so that they would forget the Law which the Lord had given through Moses and would disobey all its commands. The penalty for disobeying the king’s decree was death.

The king not only issued the same decree throughout his whole empire, but he also appointed officials to supervise the people and commanded each town in Judea to offer pagan sacrifices. Many of the Jews were ready to forsake the Law and to obey these officials. They defiled the land with their evil, and their conduct forced all true Israelites to hide wherever they could.

On the fifteenth day of the month of Kislev in the year 145 [167 BCE], King Antiochus set up The Awful Horror on the altar of the Temple, and pagan altars were built in the towns throughout Judea. Pagan sacrifices were offered in front of houses and in the streets. Any books of the Law which were found were torn up and burned, and anyone who was caught with a copy of the sacred books or who obeyed the Law was put to death by order of the king. Month after month these wicked people used their power against the Israelites caught in the towns.

On the twenty-fifth of the month, these same evil people offered sacrifices on the pagan altar erected on top of the altar in the Temple. Mothers who had allowed their babies to be circumcised were put to death in accordance with the king’s decree. Their babies were hung around their necks, and their families and those who had circumcised them were put to death. But many people in Israel firmly resisted the king’s decree and refused to eat food that was ritually unclean. They preferred to die rather than break the holy covenant and eat unclean food—and many did die. In his anger God made Israel suffer terribly.

Again, this king sought to unify his people by commanding everyone to have the same beliefs. All who didn’t agree would die. This was unity by the sword, not the spirit.

Many of the Jews went along with the Greeks. The Maccabees, though, rebelled against this tyranny and were able to function somewhat independently for about a century, from 164BCE to 63BCE. This was not a reestablishment of the kingdom of Judah, because the Maccabees, also called Hasmoneans, who ruled were not of the royal line of David but were priests.

Finally Rome supplanted the Greeks as the prime power in the civilized world and in 63BCE, Pompey took advantage of a war between two groups of Jews to subjugate Jerusalem under Roman rule. Rome was the fourth kingdom to rule over Judah. How did Rome rule? Was their reign like that of Nebuchadnezzar, the Medes and Persians, and the Greeks, trying to enforce religious unity by not allowing free choice?

You may have heard something about the Romans throwing the Christians to the lions. From 64CE to 311, Rome conducted ten periods of intense persecution of Christians, because Christians would not accept Roman gods and thus threatened the unity of the empire.

These four kingdoms of the world all ruled the same way. All were the opposite of what God set up when he brought Israel into the Holy Land. All these kingdoms were like Pharaoh in Egypt, not like Yahweh in Israel. Power was centralized in a human government. Then that centralized power, the king or emperor, used his power to attack God’s people. Those concentrated governments repeatedly tried to unify their people by requiring all to worship their gods.

Again, this is in the strongest contrast to the way that God worked in Israel. There was no king. There was no human centralized government to control the people. All the people were personally responsible for controlling themselves. Free from taxes, free from government service, and free to choose whatever religion they wanted.

But always answerable to God.

This is the way the two spirit beings rule. Yahweh God draws people to follow him with his spirit. Satan tries to force people to follow him by his sword.

Nothing could be clearer. Satan rules by totalitarian tyrants. God rules by himself.

This principle carries all through history, from the earliest kings that the world set up to the last king that the world will set up — religion by the sword or by the spirit.

The last of those four kingdoms of this world was Rome. This fourth kingdom has had the most influence on the world. When Israel asked for a king, they chose to go from a humanly decentralized government to a government where all power was vested in a man. Amazingly, that fourth kingdom, Rome, did something similar when they went from a republic to an emperor.

The End Time Church: from the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2016 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

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

Chapter 17

Looking Back at Gilgal

Remember how Bible commentators thought that human kings were so great?

“Only a strong and permanent leadership of the whole people would suffice! Thus the rule of the Judges gave way to the monarchy!” ISBE article Judges.

“Nothing contributes more, under God, to the support of religion in the world, than the due administration of those two great ordinances, magistracy and ministry,” Matthew Henry, Judges 17:6 comment.

Israel thought that, too, and wanted a king like all the other nations.

This is the warning that Israel had about having a king.

Deuteronomy 28:36-37
(36)  Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone.
(37)  You will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away.

When Israel had judges but lacked God — catastrophe.

When Israel then had kings, but lacked God — catastrophe.

What’s the lesson there?

More God.

Always the great problem in world history through the ages is —

How do you control the people to avoid sin and catastrophe?

Always the great problem in any one individual’s life is –

How do I control myself to avoid personal catastrophe?

And always the answer is —

More God.

Remember how the people rejoiced at Gilgal?

1 Samuel 11:15
(15)  All the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before Yahweh in Gilgal. There they offered sacrifices of peace offerings before Yahweh; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

That joy over their human king led to this.

First, Samaria was conquered, captured and carried away from the Holy Land, never to formally return. Then Judah was conquered, captured and carried away.

Hosea foresaw the time when Israel knew that their human king had done them no good.

Hosea 10:3
(3)  Surely now they will say, “We have no king; for we don’t fear Yahweh; and the king, what can he do for us?”

Their idols would be taken by one of the kings of those other nations that Israel so admired, and Israel’s king would float away, like a little twig on the water.

(5)  The inhabitants of Samaria will be in terror for the calves of Beth Aven;
for its people will mourn over it,
Along with its priests who rejoiced over it,
for its glory, because it has departed from it.

(6)   It also will be carried to Assyria for a present to a great king.
Ephraim will receive shame,
and Israel will be ashamed of his own counsel.

(7)  Samaria and her king float away,
like a twig on the water.

Israel trusted in their mighty men, led by their human king. That didn’t work.

(12)  Sow to yourselves in righteousness,
reap according to kindness.
Break up your fallow ground;
for it is time to seek Yahweh,
until he comes and rains righteousness on you.

(13)  You have plowed wickedness.
You have reaped iniquity.
You have eaten the fruit of lies,
for you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men.

(14)  Therefore a battle roar will arise among your people,
and all your fortresses will be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel in the day of battle.
The mother was dashed in pieces with her children.

(15)  So Bethel will do to you because of your great wickedness.
At daybreak the king of Israel will be destroyed.

The kingdom of Judah lasted about 136 years longer than the kingdom of Israel. Eventually, though, her king met the same fate as Samaria’s, conquered by Babylon instead of Assyria.

2 Kings 25:1-11
(1)  In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it around it.
(2)  So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
(3)  On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
(4)  Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city around it); and the king went by the way of the Arabah.
(5)  But the Chaldean army pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
(6)  Then they captured the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they passed judgment on him.
(7)  They killed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
(8)  Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
(9)  He burned Yahweh’s house, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire.
(10)  All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
(11)  Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude.

The joy of Gilgal turned to the gut wrenching reality of human nature.

Hosea 9:15
(15)  “All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house! I will love them no more. All their princes are rebels.

Hosea 13:9-11
(9)  You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your help.
(10)  Where is your king now, that he may save you in all your cities? And your judges, of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes?’
(11)  I have given you a king in my anger, and have taken him away in my wrath.

Notice Yahweh’s blunt statement: “I have given you a king in my anger and have taken him away in my wrath.

God doesn’t like the idea of human kings getting between him and his people.

The idea of a human king is so appealing. You can see him, everybody can unify behind him in doing God’s work, he can protect the flock, etc. Over and over these arguments are so appealing, when people establish new political and religious governments.

Well, then –

How do these governments work out?

Two of the first three kings of unified Israel were bad, and the only good one was a repentant adulterer and murderer. The Kingdom of Israel then had nineteen kings, and not a good one among the lot of them. Judah had nineteen kings and Ahab’s daughter. Asa and Jehoshaphat were good, Uzziah and Jotham were good, and Hezekiah and Josiah were good, but all with major problems. Joash was good until his mentor died, then he became a tyrant and a murderer. Manasseh was extremely bad, then repented, but his evil doomed the nation. Amaziah was good, then brought home the losing gods of Edom. The other ten kings of Judah were terrible.

Putting a human king between the people and God seemed like such a good idea. That idea was ruined by the humans’ humanness.

Again, God saw ahead of time that this system would not work.

Deuteronomy 28:36-37
(36)  Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone.
(37)  You will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away.

No wonder Yahweh did not give his chosen people a human king when he brought them into his Holy Land!

Every type of human government has been tried in the last six millennia. Many of these governments claimed to be the government of God. All of these governments either have failed or are failing.

Likewise, all types of religious governments have been tried, with all claiming to be the government of God. In the same way as the political kings, they cannot stand the test of time.

There is an old saying, used in several languages:

“The nearer the church, the further from God.”

Ironically, that is quoting Lancelot Andrewes, a British theologian who oversaw the King James Bible translation, and was very close to the King’s church.

This saying means that religious governments, like political governments, get between people and their God. They often hinder what they aim to help. When people need more God, they create more government. In the long term, religious rulers have the same success as Israel’s kings.

Putting in another government to do the work of God is never better than letting God do his work himself. Instead of him helping us do our work, we should help him do His work. The ultimate challenge in life is to be spiritually joined with your creator. Setting up more government does not give you more God. It only gives you more people between you and God. If God is to be our personal King, then there can be no others in the way.

Why did Israel say they wanted a king?

“[T]hat we also may be like all the nations.”

Israel simply wanted to be like the world around them. They still wanted to be Yahweh’s people and at the same time they wanted to be like the world.

This world has another king.

Matthew 4:8-10
(8)  Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory.
(9)  He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.”
(10)  Then Yeshua said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”

Satan had the power to give Christ all the kingdoms of the world. Christ called him the ruler of this world.

John 12:31 ESV
(31)  Now is the time for the judgment of this world to begin. Now will the ruler of this world be thrown out.

John 14:30 ESV
(30)  I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me.

John 16:11 ESV
(11)  and of judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

Paul called Satan the god of this world.

2 Corinthians 4:4
(4)  in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.

When Israel wanted to be like the world, they were overcome by that world. This is a lesson that must never be forgotten.

Satan’s world is completely opposite of the coming Kingdom of God. This world is selfishness, wars and tragedy, while the coming kingdom will be selflessness, peace and joy, where even the lion and lamb lie down together. Naturally then, Satan, the ruler of this world, will have a completely opposite system of governing from the Creator God. Therefore the worst thing that God’s people can do is to try to be like the world, in attitude, conduct and government.

Isaiah 33:22
(22)  For Yahweh is our judge. Yahweh is our lawgiver. Yahweh is our king. He will save us.

Ezekiel 20:33-34
(33)  As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, I will be king over you.
(34)  I will bring you out from the peoples, and will gather you out of the countries in which you are scattered with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out.

The end of the age of mankind will be a battle between these two types of spirits and between these two types of governments, between kings of the earth who follow the king of this world, and those individuals who follow the coming King of kings. At that time, the difference in the government of Satan and of God will be most evident.

Zec 9:9
(9)  Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.