Where the first Adam failed, the Last Adam would succeed. He would restore all things and bring all things into unity. Yeshua would restore Adam’s fallen race both male and female. Yeshua as the Word made flesh would renew us body soul and spirit as a new creation. Yeshua would restore both Houses of Israel. And Yeshua would build His Church.
The Bread from Heaven, Manna, Seed & a New Species
Yeshua came down from heaven. Before He was born of Mary he existed in Heaven. In fact Yeshua said that ‘before Abraham I AM’.
Yeshua said,
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
John 6:51
Yeshua came down from Heaven! He was in heaven first. And just as the Lord came down on mount Sinai to give the children of Israel the Torah so Yeshua came to do the same thing. For He was the Word of God and He had come to make disciples and teach them as the bread that came down from Heaven. And just as the Manna came down from Heaven so His Disciples had to take in what He said.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
John 6:51
The other aspect of His coming was to pay the price for their redemption from the power of sin because no one in Israel could keep God’s Law perfectly except the Lamb of God. This does not mean we should break God’s Law because transgression of the Torah is sin.
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1 John 3:4
But because God is perfect He requires perfection. And so only God could pay that price. So Yeshua who is one with the Father came down from heaven and gave himself as the Lamb of God.
So there is the Bread aspect of Yeshua in which He is the Word of God made flesh and we are to eat of Him, that is we are to receive His words. But there is also the Lamb aspect of Yeshua, He was to be sacrificed for them. Yeshua said unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you can have no part of me. He also said; John 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
This stumbled many Jews. It was supposed to. Yeshua was weeding out those people that did not understand spiritual things but only natural things. Yeshua was not speaking of cannibalism. And He was not instituting a Catholic Mass.
Part of the Key to his statement is the previous verses where he describes Himself as the bread that came down from Heaven. The Manna in the wilderness came down during the period between the Exodus and the receiving of the Law (Torah) during the counting of the Omer (Exodus 16). The Omer is grain which is seed that is used to make bread, we will talk about seeds shortly . The Manna was sweet as honey like the Word of God. The Manna could not be stored, you had to eat it daily, just like the word of God should be read daily. Indeed God commanded Israel to speak of His words when you sit down and rise up and to write it on your gates etc. Now Yeshua is telling us that He is that bread. He is the Word made flesh. Even Yeshua’s closest disciples were grumbling, so Yeshua went on to clarify;John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Yeshua was not speaking of physical cannibalism. But He was trying to underline something. As I said, part of the Key is that Yeshua was the bread that came down from Heaven. Yeshua was the Manna.
Exodus 16:15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.מָן הוּא ‘It is manna’They called it ‘what is it?‘ or more literally “from whatis He“. In Hebrew there is no word for the neuter “it”, things are either masculine or feminine (like the image of God). So the the Manna is referred to by the pronoun for He (הוּא).Now it just so happens that the word Manna (‘min’, מן) is related to the word for ‘species‘ or ‘kind‘! Now we are starting to get somewhere.Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.These grasses, herbs, seeds and fruits etc were to produce more of their kind. The word for kind is ‘min’, מן.
The Manna is related to reproduction after a certain ‘kind‘, מן. This is what Yeshua is, he is a different kind of species. He didn’t just come to drive off the Romans (He will do that later). He first came to make us a different kind of species. He came to regenerate from the inside the fallen race of Adam, mankind. He was the Manna. The Manna was sweet as honey just like the Word. And the Manna was a SEED!
And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
Exodus 16:31
וַיִּקְרְאוּ בֵֽית־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־שְׁמֹו מָן וְהוּא כְּזֶרַע גַּד לָבָן וְטַעְמֹו כְּצַפִּיחִת בִּדְבָֽשׁ׃
We are told that the Word of God is a seed. This is where that idea comes from!Luke 8:11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1 Peter 1:23
If we believe His word, then we are born of God, we are of His Kind, we are of His flesh and blood. This is what Yeshua was trying to drive home to his disciples and us! He came to repair the image of God in us. Now Yeshua came as the Seed of the Word of God, the Bread from Heaven, the Manna, which was a different species.
In the garden our first parents, Adam and Eve physically ingested something and it changed the way they perceived reality, they saw that they were naked. Therefore the antidote to that sin was that someone had to reverse the process. And it required the physical bloodline of the woman and the legal title of the Man (Adam). Yeshua paid that price through a substitutionary death on the cross.
The promise was that the seed of the woman would crush the serpents head. And Yeshua the Messiah, the son of David was that seed. Those that believe His message and keep his word are also born of him. Indeed if we follow Torah and do not believe in Him this shows that we do not believe what Moses says because all of Torah is to lead us to Messiah.
What was Yeshua’s Mission?
To understand what the good Lord has been doing these past 2000 years of Messiah we must go to the scriptures and read what Yeshua himself declared as His Mission.
There are three main tasks that Yeshua declared regarding His Mission.
- He came to Preach and Heal.
- He came for the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel.
- He came to build His Church.
We will look at each of these tasks as follows.
1. He came to Preach and Heal
Yeshua declares His mission in Nazareth during the weekly synagogue meeting.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luke 4:16-19
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
So that is pretty straight forward, the spirit of the Lord יהוה was upon Him and we was anointed to preach, heal and set at liberty. His purpose was to set people free. The quote is from Isaiah 61:1-2. The word annointed in Hebrew, ‘mashach’ (משח) is very closely related to the word ‘Messiah’, Maschiach, (משיח). The word gospel in Hebrew is ‘basar’, בסר. His message was rejected by the religious and political leaders of his day. He was seen as a threat to their power.
But the poor and brokenhearted heard him. Those that knew they were sick and in need of healing gladly listened, the blind received their sight.
The term ‘acceptable year of the Lord’ is similar to the term ‘acceptable time’ of the Lord mentioned in Isaiah 49:8 and is related to the ‘preserved‘ (Netzori, נצירי) of Israel mentioned a few verses earlier (Isaiah 49:6). The word ‘Netzori’ is similar to ‘Notzri’ (נוצרי) which is the Jewish word for ‘Christian’ which is entirely appropriate because the preserved of the house of Israel and Christians, they follow Yeshua. The term ‘acceptable year‘ may also refer to the Jubilee year (Leviticus 25) which was all about setting the slaves free. And this was what Yeshua came to do. Firstly he came to set them free from sin and then 2000 years later to restore the nation back again.
Anyway here is the quote from Isaiah in Hebrew and English that Yeshua was quoted as reading in Luke’s gospel.
Isaiah 61:1-2a
רוּחַ אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה עָלָי יַעַן מָשַׁח יְהוָה אֹתִי לְבַשֵּׂר עֲנָוִים שְׁלָחַנִי לַחֲבֹשׁ לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי־לֵב לִקְרֹא לִשְׁבוּיִם דְּרֹור וְלַאֲסוּרִים פְּקַח־קֹֽוחַ׃
לִקְרֹא שְׁנַת־רָצֹון לַֽיהוָה1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
Now let’s continue reading the next verse in Luke’s account.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luke 4:20-21
Yeshua read his Torah portion for that day in synagogue in Nazareth. Yeshua stated that what Isaiah had prophesied was fulfilled. Yeshua was the one who would proclarim set the captives free. But unusually he stopped midway through verse two and did not mention the second half of the verse…
Isaiah 61:2b
וְיֹום נָקָם לֵאלֹהֵינוּ
לְנַחֵם כָּל־אֲבֵלִֽים׃and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all that mourn;
This ‘day of vengeance‘ would be fulfilled when Yeshua returns at His second coming. Yeshua knew His mission right from the outset and stopped mid sentence before it went on to mention His mission on His second coming. While we are on the subject of the second coming let’s read on a bit more in Isaiah to see what He will do when He returns…
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,
Isaiah 61:3-4
to give unto them beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
לָשׂוּם לַאֲבֵלֵי צִיֹּון לָתֵת לָהֶם פְּאֵר תַּחַת אֵפֶר שֶׁמֶן שָׂשֹׂון תַּחַת אֵבֶל
מַעֲטֵה תְהִלָּה תַּחַת רוּחַ כֵּהָה
וְקֹרָא לָהֶם אֵילֵי הַצֶּדֶק מַטַּע יְהוָה לְהִתְפָּאֵֽר׃
וּבָנוּ חָרְבֹות עֹולָם שֹׁמְמֹות רִאשֹׁנִים יְקֹומֵמוּ
וְחִדְּשׁוּ עָרֵי חֹרֶב שֹׁמְמֹות דֹּור וָדֹֽור׃
So both the first and the second comings of Yeshua are about restoration. First there is a restoration of individuals and then there will be a restoration of the Nation and it’s waste places and cities after many generations.
So we have individual restoration first and then after almost 2000 years we have ‘the day of vengeance of our God‘ followed by national restoration.
Now returning to the text in Luke we read; 22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Not only was Yeshua’s legal father’s name called ‘Joseph’ but Yeshua came in the spirit of Joseph as the suffering Messiah or in Jewish theology, Messiah Ben Joseph (Messiah Son of Joseph).
2. He came for the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel
The Kingdom of Israel split into two houses after the reign of Solomon. The northern Kingdom comprised of 10 tribes were led by the descendants of Joseph. Thus it is appropriate the one of the tasks of the Messiah (as the ‘Son of Joseph‘) is to restore the kingdom. And before He can do that he must restore the lost sheep of the house of Israel, the ten tribes that separated from the House of Judah after Solomon. This separation is recorded in 1 Kings chapter 12. After this these 10 northern tribes went into idolatry to such an extent that they were driven from the land and lost their identity. The Lord divorced them from himself, the prophet Hosea talks all about this and their later restoration.
Yeshua is recorded twice in the gospel of Matthew as coming for ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel‘ as follows;
Matthew 10:5-6
- These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
- But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Matthew 15:24
3. He came to build His Church.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter,
Matthew 16:18-19
and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
See the article ‘The Church & Israel‘ for more on the relationship between these two entities, the Church & Israel.
The Number 4 & Ben Adam
The purpose of the Torah is to bring us to the Messiah (Romans 10:4).
The Messiah brings all things together in Unity under Him. His friends, his bride and family are bound to Him in Love. His enemies are under His feet in Hell (Sheol, שאול in Hebrew, which is the ‘grave’) which the Valley of Gehenna in Jerusalem symbolised. The grave and death will ultimately be judged and thrown into the Lake of Fire to be tormented before the Lamb forever (Revelation 20:13-14). This is a terrible fate but one that is ultimately deserved in a way that we may not fully understand down here.
In any case Messiah Yeshua brings all things into Unity. The Messiah is thus central to all Israel. And the Messiah is central to the Church which is the Congregation of Israel in Messiah or Adat Israel in Hebrew.
The central role of Messiah Yeshua who is THE ‘Son of Man’ (Ben Adam, בן אדם), is depicted in the Israelite encampment in Numbers chapter 2. The Prophet Ezekiel had a vision of the heavenly throne room that contained the Chariot of God, the Merkava, which was supported by the four beasts or Cherubim. The number four binds these encampments and Cherubim together.
We have four gospel’s that look at the Son of Man (Ben Adam) from the four compass points; East, West, South and North which correspond to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John respectively. These of course correspond to the four encampments around the tabernacle in the wilderness. Theses encampments were made of three tribes each and were led by Judah in the East, Ephraim in the West, Rueben in the South and Dan in the North. These equate to the four Cherubim in Ezekiel and Revelation, the Lion, the Ox, the Man (Adam) and the Eagle.
Solomon’s Temple had four Cherubim in the Holy of Holies. Two were part of the Ark’s solid Gold Atonement Cover (Mercy seat). The other two were the ones made of Olive Tree (Olive wood). Thus making four in total. No wonder Ezekiel had his vision of the Cherubim, these things would have been on His mind, Ezekiel was a Priest after all. So the Lord opened his mind and gave him a vision of the heavenly court. Remember that Moses was instructed to make sure that the tabernacle was fashioned precisely as the heavenly temple plan. The temple is not just a physical building but it represents the building plan for all creation, all dimensions, all time domains, both things above and things below. It represents the heavenly hierarchy. And it represents our physical and spiritual bodies and the body of Messiah and His bride. There is both a masculine and feminine aspect to it as it represents the image of God. And this image is what Yeshua came to restore.
All four Cherubim are focussed upon the one on the Throne, the Son of Man (Ben Adam).
And Yeshua came for a bride…
The number four is related to reproduction and dominion (four corners of earth, heaven, 400 pieces of silver four the price of the land to bury the Patriarchs). Jacob had two wives and they had two maidservants who were used as concubines. Thus adding up to four ‘wives’ in total by which to reproduce and raise up seed for Jacob.
So the number four has everything to do with the the bride, procreation, the firstborn and spreading dominion over the four corners of the Earth and the four corners of heaven.
We will talk more about the bride in the article titled, ‘The Church & Israel‘.
