PART 4

FIRST CLEANSING OF THE MIKDASH

Yeshua went to Yerushalayim to celebrate the holy Feast of Pesach, as the scripture instructs. While there He entered the courtyard of the Mikdash. He saw the ones who sold oxen, sheep and doves and those who exchanged money for the sacrifices. {At that time the people were not permitted to sacrifice an animal, unless the corrupt religious leaders had put their seal on it. They raised the price of these specially approved animals so much, that it became a burden on the people to sacrifice as they had been commanded in the Torah. Thus, these unlawful Kohanim were desecrating the Mikdash by extorting money from the worshipers. As mentioned, the rightful Kohenim, the sons of Tzadok, had been exiled from serving the Holy Altar.} Yeshua was enraged with indignation {at the monopolistic merchandising of worship, which transgressed the holy purpose of the House of YHVH}. So, He made a whip out of cords and with it He drove all the merchants, along with all the sheep and oxen, from the Mikdash. Then
Yeshua poured out the money bags and overturned the tables of those who took the money and the seats of the dove peddlers. He commanded them, "take these things out of here! For it is written, 'My House shall be called a House of prayer for all the nations,' but you have made it a den for robbers. Do not make Avi's House a house of merchandise!" Someone in charge questioned Him, "What sign do you show to us to prove your right to do this?" "Destroy this Mikdash and in three days I will raise it up," Yeshua quickly answered, {speaking of His own physical body}. Some of the chief Kohanim and the Torah teachers were listening to Him and began to seek a way to destroy Him, because they were afraid of Him and jealous that all the people were awed at His teaching. So some mocked Him, saying, "This Mikdash took forty-six years to build and you will raise it up in three days!" They did not perceive He was speaking of His own body. However, many others at this Feast of Pesach trusted that Yeshua was true, because they saw the things He did and considered them significant. Yet, He did not trust them, for He knew the true motives of all mankind.

NICODEMUS

That night a P'rush named Nicodemus, a religious leader, came to Yeshua and said, "Rabbi, we know you are teacher who has come from Elohim, for no man could do the signs you do unless Elohim is with him." Yeshua responded, "Amen, amen! I tell you then, no man can look at or understand the Kingdom of Elohim unless He has been reborn." Nicodemus was confused and asked, "How can a man be reborn when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb to be born once again?" Yeshua answered, "Amen, amen! What I am telling you is that no man can enter into the things of the Kingdom of Elohim unless he has been born first physically, by way of water, then secondly born spiritually, through the Ruach of YHVH. Because that which is born through the flesh is flesh, but that which is born through the Ruach of YHVH is spiritual. So, do not be confused because I said you must be reborn. For the Ruach of YHVH blows where it is appointed and you can Shema its voice, but not know how or where it came from, or even where it is going. This is what will happen to everyone who is born of the Ruach of YHVH." Nicodemus responded, "How can this happen?" "Are you a teacher of Yisrael and yet you cannot understand this?" Yeshua answered him, "Amen, amen! I tell you, We have spoken about what We know to be fact and witnessed what We have seen take place in Yisrael and you still do not receive Our witness. Therefore, if I have demonstrated things on Earth to you, and you do not believe it, how will you come to believe the things of Heaven I am telling you now? The fact is: no man will ascend to enter Heaven, except through Him who descended from Heaven, that One being the Son of man. "{So, I will illustrate the heavenly with the earthly:} Moshe raised the serpent in the wilderness and people who trusted enough to look at it were healed in their flesh. In the same way, the Son of man must be raised up, then whoever trusts in Him will live forever. You see, Elohim cared for the world so much, that He has provided the world with the only Son of His direct issue, and whoever in the world puts their trust in Him will not be destroyed, but instead will live forever. "Elohim did not send His Son into the world to be its judge at this time, but rather, to offer the world salvation through Him. Therefore, the one who trusts in Him will not be judged, but the one who does not trust has already been judged, because he has not trusted the authority of the only Son of Elohim's direct issue. This is their judgment, that even though the Light has come into the world, mankind loved to dwell in the darkness, rather than have the Light, because their works were evil. Every person who performs evil deeds hates the Light, and will not come to the Light because His works will be revealed. But the person who does remember righteousness comes to the Light, that His works may be seen to have originated with Elohim."

YOCHANAN ANSWERS A DISPUTE

Then Yeshua and His followers went from Yerushalayim into {the province of} Yehudah and He stayed with them there, where they were officiating the mikveh. Yochanan also was officiating mikveh in Einayim near Shalem because there was plenty of water there. There arose a dispute between some of Yochanan's disciples and some of the religious leaders about the purification of mikveh. So they came to Yochanan and said, "Rabbi, he that was with you beyond the Yarden, the one to whom you bore witness, well, that same person is officiating the mikveh, and many people are coming to him." Yochanan said, "A person can receive nothing, unless it is given to him from Heaven. You yourselves heard me say 'I am not the Moshiach,' rather that I am sent to go before Him. He that has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears Him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This is my joy and it is now fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that comes from above is above all; he that is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the Earth. He that comes from Heaven is above all. He testifies about what He has seen and heard and few men receive His testimony. He who receives His testimony has secured the seal that YHVH is remembered. For He whom Elohim has sent speaks the words of Elohim, and YHVH does not measure His Ruach to Him. Abba loves the Son, and has given all things into His hands. The person that trusts the Son will live forever, but the person that does not trust the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of YHVH resides on him." The P'rushim learned Yeshua was making more followers and officiating more mikvehs than Yochanan (though Yeshua Himself did not officiate, but His disciples did). When Yeshua found out they knew, He left Yehudah and departed again into the Galil. To do this, it was necessary to travel through Shomron.

WOMAN AT THE WELL

Thus, they came to a town of Shomron, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that the patriarch Ya'akov gave to his son, Yosef. Ya'akov's well was there. Therefore Yeshua, being weary because of the journey, sat at the well about the noon hour, and His disciples went into town to purchase food. While He rested, a woman of Shomron came to draw water, and Yeshua asked her, "Will you give me a drink?" The woman, startled by His request, asked, "Why is it that you, being a Yehudah, would ask a drink from me, because I am both a woman and from Shomron? For the Yehudim have no dealings with the citizens of Shomron." Yeshua answered, "If you realized the gift of Elohim that is here and who it is that asks you for a drink of water, you would have asked from me and I would have given you living water." "Sir," the woman responded with bewilderment, "You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep, so from where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Ya'akov, who gave us this well, and drank from it himself, along with his children and his cattle?" "Whoever drinks of the water of this well will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I can give him will never be thirsty. Because the water that I can give him will be in him like a fountain springing up into eternal life," said Yeshua. She implored Him, "Sir, give me this kind of water, so that I do not get thirsty, nor have to come here to get water anymore." Yeshua said, "Go get your husband and return here." The woman answered, "I do not have a husband." "You are correct when you say you have no husband at this time, but you have had five husbands," He said and added, "The one whom you now have is really not your husband." "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet," she said. "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, but you Yehudim say that only Yerushalayim is the place where mankind should go to worship." Yeshua responded with patience, "Woman, trust me, the time is coming when you will not worship Abba in this mountain nor in Yerushalayim. Furthermore, you people do not really know how to worship the proper way. We know how we should worship, for salvation is given through the Yehudim. But the hour is coming and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship Abba by the Ruach of YHVH and in faithful remembrance. For Abba seeks such to worship Him. YHVH is the Ruach of Life and they who worship Him must also worship Him through His Ruach and in the remembrance He ordained." "I know that Moshiach is coming," she allowed. "The One who is Anointed. When He comes He will tell us everything we need to know." Then Yeshua {pointed to Himself and} said, "I am the One you are talking about." While Yeshua said this His disciples returned and were amazed that He talked with the woman. Yet, none of them would ask Him what He was doing or why He talked to her.

SHOMRON ACCEPTS YESHUA

Then she left her water pot and went into the town. She told the men, "Come and see a man who told me all the things I have done. Isn't He the Moshiach?" Many of the Shomron citizens of that town trusted Him, just because of what the woman had said when she testified, "He told me all I ever did." So, they left the town and began to go out to find Yeshua. In the mean time His followers implored Him, "Rabbi, please eat." But He said to His disciples, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." Therefore the disciples asked each other, "Has someone else brought Him something to eat?" "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work," Yeshua explained. "Do not say, 'In another four months the harvest will come.' Be attentive, I tell you! Lift your eyes up and look on the fields, for they are white and all ready for harvest." {He said this to point out that the citizens of Shomron was coming out to them.} He further taught, "The harvester receives wages and gathers fruit that will live forever. In this way both the one who sows and the one who harvests will rejoice together. This way the saying is confirmed, 'One sows then a different one harvests.' I sent you to harvest that which you did not labour to receive. Other men laboured {the righteous who went before}, but you have received because of their labours." When the citizens of Shomron came to Yeshua, they implored Him to stay with them, so He stayed there two days. Then many more trusted Him because of His own words. Those who trusted said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, but rather because we have heard Him ourselves, and we know that Yeshua is surely the Moshiach, the Saviour of the world."