When God Speaks of Himself as “Us”
by John B. Metzger Ariel Ministries Magazine – Spring 2019 The concept of the triune nature of the God of Israel has traditionally been the hardest thing for Jewish people to believe and accept. Any attempt to explain the mystery of the triune God to a Jewish person must be based on the Hebrew Scriptures. One of the points that may be made pertains to the plural pronouns God chose to use in reference to Himself. This article sheds light on these pronouns. It is based on a chapter of John B. Metzger’s excellent book Discovering the Mystery of the Unity of God. When God Speaks of Himself as...
Read MoreThe Heart of God being Understood by His People Today
by John B. Metzger What is the heart of God’s focused as it relates to us in the body of Messiah? What is the mission of the Church? What is the purpose of the Church? If we under-stand those two points as God intended it to be understood in the Church we would be half way to restoring the spiritual vitality of the church as exhibited by the 1st century Church. How was that exhibited by the apostles and disciples of Yeshua? The Mission of the Church is to go and in your going teach and baptize and include in that teaching all that Yeshua has commanded (Matthew 28:19-20). The mission of...
Read MoreThe Jewish Background of the Scriptures
by John B. Metzger This is an article on the Jewish background of the Scriptures. Is this an important component that we need to interact with in our personal study and teaching of the Scriptures? The answer is yes, and here are some important points to understand: First point is that God is the author of Scripture; it is not a man-made document. Second the Bible was written by Jewish men over the span of 1500 years. Third the Abrahamic Covenant of Genesis 12 is a Jewish covenant. The ramifications of this covenant echoes off of every page of Scripture. Fourth Israel is at the hub of...
Read MoreI Am’s of the Gospel of John
by John B. Metzger We cannot fully understand the significance of the I AM statements of Yeshua without going to the background of this I AM statement. It all starts in Exodus 3:14 when Moses asks the Name of the one speaking to him from the burning bush. Three Names are used to describe who the speaker is from the burning bush. In verse 2 and 4 the speaker is called the angel [messenger] of the LORD, the LORD [Yahweh] and God [Elohim]. God who spoke to Moses, said His Name was I AM THAT I AM, meaning He is the eternal present existent One. The theme of the Gospel of John is to present...
Read MoreWhat was Practiced became known – The Fall Feasts
By John B. Metzger In years past I merely viewed the Feasts of Israel as agricultural feasts that Israel was to practice under the Law of Moses [see manuscript #62]. I had no idea the feasts and Yeshua are intricacy tied together into a beautiful picture of redemption that was laid out in the Hebrew Scripture, fulfilled in the gospels and unveiled in the New Testament. I was raised in good Bible church and went to a good Bible College yet the significance of these feasts where unknown to me. We want to examine the fall feasts but let me give some background first. They were agricultural...
Read MoreTrinity or Tri-unity in the Hebrew Scriptures
by John B. Metzger The Trinity is a subject that we will never fully understand. But God has given us some basic information from His Word to help up grasp this difficult subject. I would like to preface our study with a concept that is largely ignored by many evangelical scholars. The Scriptures clearly state that God created all things (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-3, 10; Colossians 1:15-19). God is also the author of language and is completely capable of speaking for Himself without the aid of flesh. So when we view Scripture we should take it as God gave it and not read our human bias into it....
Read MoreTestimony to Ariel Ministries
by John B. Metzger I have had the opportunity to observe Ariel Ministries for 16 years and have personally found this ministry to be the best teaching ministry from a Jewish perspective of any that I have seen or known of today. Coupled with that is the primary purpose of Ariel Ministries which is the evangelization and discipleship of Jewish people, as well as Gentile believers. I believe that the material prepared by this ministry has a quality of biblical excellence not often seen. Founder The ministry began in the heart of a Jewish believer in Messiah to reach his people for Messiah...
Read MoreAre we Gentilizing the Word of God?
Voice Magazine Sept-Oct 2010 In my previous article (March/April 2010) I introduced the issue that we fundamentalists often subconsciously depreciate the doctrine of Messiah and the doctrine of God in the Hebrew Scriptures. In a very brief way I began to show that Jesus, who is the Second Person of the God-head, was active in the Tanakh as the “angel of the LORD” (Gen 22; Exod 3), the “caption of the LORD’s host” (Josh 5), the LORD (Isaiah 50:1-6; Zech 11:4-14), and the Shechinah (Exod 3; 13:21-22; 14:19-24;19:16-20; 33:12-23; 40:34-38). As I show in my new book, “Discovering the Mystery of...
Read MoreHave We Minimized Christ and the Trinity?
Voice Magazine Mar-April 2010 Are you startled by the title of this article? Can this possibly be true? I trust as you read this short biblical treatise on the subject of the Tri-unity of God and the Deity of the Messiah that it will bring to your attention some fresh biblical material on this doctrine from the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) and expose a glaring weakness in the Church today as it relates to the doctrine of Christ as well as challenging believers in being able to share the Gospel of Christ with Jewish people. After being raised in fundamental Bible churches I am very...
Read MoreJerusalem and Islam
Israel’s Messenger Summer – 2006 This article will be historical in nature rather than biblical since the biblical perspective has been laid out clearly in pervious articles. Today in our newspapers and on the evening news two words have been used almost inseparably, Jerusalem and Islam. We have seen in previous articles in Israel’s Messenger that Jerusalem, the Land of Israel and the Jewish people are the focal point of human history. Does Islam have a claim to Jerusalem? They dogmatically say that they do. Here is what we do understand today. The Jewish nation has the right to...
Read MoreThe City of Jerusalem
Israel’s Messenger Spring – 2006 The most important city in the world is not Washington, D.C. nor is it London, Paris or Brussels. It is not Berlin, Moscow, Baghdad (Babylon) or Beijing. It is a city that from a modern mind is insignificant and unimportant and has been so for centuries. But in this city God has placed His name and has made an eternal covenant with a group of people that have been hated and persecuted like no other people. The name of their ancient capital city and the future capital city of the world is Jerusalem. The name Jerusalem means holy city or the city of...
Read MoreSecond Temple
Israel’s Messenger Summer – 2005 After the first temple was destroyed by Babylon in 586 BCE it was 70 years before the second and less glorious temple was erected. In this article we will look at the scriptures, timing & dating as well as the problems encountered with the building of the second temple. Then we will focus on the promise that was given by God and its fulfillment in the coming of the Messiah. Scriptures: The books of the Bible that contain the significant verses on the second temple or found in Ezra 3-6, Daniel 9:27, the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah and...
Read MoreThe Tabernacle: God’s Plan and Purpose
Israel’s Messenger January – 2005 God is the greatest communicator that man has ever known and it is His desire to have fellowship with man. He gave us pictures and stories to capture the minds and hearts of children and adults alike. In the Tabernacle you have pictured the separation between a holy God and fallen man and how to approach God. The stories of Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses are a progression of people and events that capture the hearts and minds of all and illustrate God’s desire to communicate with us. God only used two chapters...
Read MoreThe Imperative of Jewish Evangelism
Voice Magazine Sept-Oct 2003 What does the word imperative mean? It means “not to be avoided or evaded, urgent”! I’m responding to this topic with a sense of urgency. Are you familiar with this definition of interpretation from Dr. David L Cooper? “When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense, therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, … indicate otherwise”. I believe, without hesitation, that the literal method of interpretation is the only way to understand the character of God, His...
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