TEACHING OF YESHUA MOSHIACH --- PART 5

Teachings About the Future:
As shown, Yeshua thought of the Kingdom in terms of both a present realization and a future hope. The future aspect is related to the end of the age. Although He did not spell it out in specific terms, Yeshua gave firm assurance that He would return at some time in the future.

Second Coming:
He told the disciples that the Son of Man would come with His angels in His Father’s glory -- Matthew 16:27. He describes the Son of Man coming in clouds with power and glory -- Mark 13:26, probably drawn from the familiar language of -- Daniel 7. Yeshua described various signs that would precede His own second coming. He spoke of wars, conflicts, earthquakes, famines and disturbances in the heavens. The gospel would also first be preached to all nations. At the same time, many false [christ’s] would arise. Yeshua gave such details about His return to encourage His disciples in the face of persecution. The future hope had a practical purpose. The disciples were urged to watch. The coming would happen as unexpectedly as a thief in the night. Yeshua said that even He Himself did not know when the coming would take place -- Mark 13:32.

Resurrection:
Another important theme affecting the future is emphasized in Yeshua’s teachings about resurrection. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the body. They attempted to trap Yeshua with a question about a woman who had been married seven times. They wanted to know whose husband she would be at the Resurrection -- Mark 12:18-27. Yeshua pointed out that there would be no marriage when the dead rise. The Sadducees’ idea about resurrection was clearly wrong. Yeshua’s teaching was that the resurrected would be like the angels. There is no doubt about the resurrection of the dead, although no information is given about the specifics of the resurrection body.

Judgment:
Yeshua told a story about a rich man and a poor man who both died -- Luke 16:19-31. In the afterlife, the rich man cried out in torment, while the poor man enjoyed a state of blessedness. The distinction between the two men gives a hint of judgment, although we are not told how the distinction is made. Elsewhere in His teachings, Yeshua suggested that the most vital requirement is faith. The conversation between Yeshua and the dying thief on the cross suggests that the repentant thief entered heaven -- Luke 23:42-43. The theme of rewards and punishment occurs in many passages. In -- Matthew 16:27, Yeshua says that the Son of Man will reward everyone according to what he or she has done. Those who are worthless are promised punishment in darkness -- 25:30. Moreover, Yeshua spoke of a day of judgment on which men and women must give an account, even of all their careless words -- 12:36-37. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, He spoke of a separation that the Son of Man will make when He comes. Those commended are those who have shown concern for the believers -- 25:31-46. Among Yeshua’s most solemn statements are those that speak of hell. His teachings about eternal punishment for the unrighteous -- as in Matthew 25:41, 46 are opposite to the eternal life promised to the righteous. He taught that His disciples would have a place prepared for them in heaven -- John 14:2 and He spoke of a Book of Life in which the names of all believers were written -- Luke 10:20.

Teachings About Moral Issues:
Much of the teaching of Yeshua is concerned with moral issues; so much so that some scholars have concluded that this was the main burden of his teaching. However, the moral teachings cannot be considered apart from everything else. Some may say the teachings of Yeshua and the moral teachings of Judaism are closely related. Yet Yeshua says that morality is not achieved by observing rules and regulations; the crux of Jewish tradition. Right conduct is seen to be the result of a right relationship with YHVH. Those who consider Christianity just another religion of rules have missed the whole point. They figure they will never be good enough to obey YHVH’s rules, so why try? In fact, that is exactly what Yeshua taught. We cannot be good enough for YHVH. He offers His righteousness for our sinfulness. He does not offer religion. He offers a personal, life-changing relationship with YHVH through faith in Moshiach. Yeshua was Himself the pattern for moral behaviour. He made clear that His aim was to fulfil the will of YHVH. There is no sense of legalism in His approach to ethical decisions. In the Sermon on the Mount, He compared His own teaching with that of Moses -- compare to Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28, 31-32. However, Yeshua made more rigorous demands than the Law because He was concerned with motives as well as actions. Many have dismissed the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount as entirely impractical, but Yeshua never intended that His teaching would be easy. The target is nothing less than the perfection of YHVH Himself -- 5:48. Even so, Yeshua called His yoke easy and His burden light -- Matthew 11:29-30, which suggests that He was not setting out an impossible ethical pattern. He offered instead to take over our lives to help us be the kind of people we need to be. He was not producing a manifesto for society. His concern was that each individual have powerful motives for right decisions on matters of conduct. His reaction against a rigid application of Shabbat observance at the expense of the welfare of a needy person illustrates this point. Concern for others was rated higher than ritual correctness.

Yeshua and the Church:
No account of the life and teachings of Yeshua would be complete without some indication of the place that Yeshua Moshiach gained in the developing church. Such a quest naturally takes us outside the scope of the Gospels into the testimony of the book of Acts and Paul’s letters. There we can see whether the predictions of Yeshua were fulfilled and whether, in fact, the early Christians took his teaching seriously. Yeshua Moshiach became central to the faith of the early Christians and was regarded from many points of view. He was seen as Moshiach in the sense of a Spiritual Deliverer, as Adonai in the sense of being sovereign over His people, as Servant in the sense of his obedience to suffering and as Son in His relation to His Father. In many ways, the full understanding of what and who He was could not have occurred until after the Resurrection. Therefore, we find that many facets of His teaching about Himself were more fully developed further on in the New Testament.