Y'hoshua - One of the Witnesses of Revelation.

[Joyous Song]

Background and Making Connections


Then he showed me essence of (- את ) - Y’hoshua (Joshua) the High Priest standing before the angel (messenger, prophet) of HaShem, and Satan standing at His right hand to accuse Him. And HaShem said to Satan, ‘May he, HaShem, rebuke you, O Satan! HaShem Who has chosen Jerusalem rebukes you (indeed)! Is not this a fire brand (stick or even poker) plucked from the fire?’ Zech.3.1


First off, is this Y’hoshua of Judah’s return or even the Messiah as some claim? To answer this we need to look at a Hebrew adverb “at” that means “the essence or substance of”. His coming and anointing is also a sign of the coming of the branch (8), so he cannot be the Y’hoshua the high priest of Judah’s return from Babylon because the Messiah did not come back then.

This then leads to that adverb “the essence of”. Why the essence? Because like Y’hoshua the high priest who long ago lead Judah back to Israel and assisted Governor Zeru'babal and rebuilt the Temple, this man will lead E’phraim home and help a modern Zeru'babal (governor of the Body of Christ) to rebuild the Temple of the Holy Spirit just before Christ’s (the Branch) return. That is what these two texts are about.

To continue, those who read our write up on Is.28 might recognize this attack from Satan actually struck E’phraim into exile, but now coming back by Christ and His Church (Is.28.1-4, 9-10, 11-13). In verse 13 we learn HaShem, praise be He, called them to return to their Hebrew identity, precept upon precept, measure upon measure, and a little here a little there by studying His D’var (Word).

When they tried to do so, they went to their brothers in Judah within the body of HaMoshiach (to go). Yet they were not embraced. Instead their brethren chose genealogy for their identity, which doesn’t work for those who ceased to be a nation and a people over 2700 years ago (Is.7.8).

To speak in Judah within the Body’s defense, it’s not easy to keep the Jewish traditions in the Christian calendar. This makes sense because that calendar is hostile to anything Jewish (Rom.11.28) when the Church was seeking the godless to bring them Light and HaShem.

The doctrine described above is called The Parting of Ways Theology. It was created because the new gentiles coming into the Church needed a different Gospel than the one Judah accepted when Christ came (Paul’s mission). It was a Gospel grounded first in grace, and once grounded to learn to be holy. So this theology was good in its day to help the Church spread the Gospel.

However, the Gospel has been preached to the four corners of the earth. No longer do we need that theology any more. Moreover, it helped to fuel a holocaust and is often an excuse for anti-Semitic misunderstandings that lead to hate. And there is evidence in Rom.11 where Paul foretold this theological doctrine birth, that this mystery would not be forever (25-26), but only until E’phraim (“the fullness of the gentiles”, (Gen.48.19) arises/comes in.

 

[Joyous Song]

The Great Miracle:

As a text of Is.28 said, this would happen (E’phraim’s return) to be a great miracle, like when a young King David faced a huge army and vanquished them with HaShem’s help’; and Y’hoshua and the gentile people of Gibeon saw giant rocks pick and choose where they fell to overcome their enemies as HaShem’s grace poured down upon them, Is.28.21.

The rebuke of Satan, the accuser, leads to that great miracle. Y’hoshua, the high priest was with those E’phraimites when they fell on their collective backsides as Judah in the Church choose unwisely. Yet, unlike some in Israel who refused the prison of Rev.2.10, Y’hoshua embraced it and was “snared and taken” as the text stated. As said, Y’hoshua was snared, and throughout these symbolic years of Awe (Rev.2.10), Y’hoshua and those associated with him have faced prison, like a fire brand (stick or even poker) in the fire.

Yet, it is the accuser who tests us to see if we will fall or reach for HaShem. So is this rebuke over his testing Judah within the body and Judah choosing unwisely? Or is this something else?

A clue is seen in what else Satan is rebuked over, “HaShem Who has chosen Jerusalem rebukes you (indeed)!” Not Rome, which HaShem established two thousand years ago for E’phraim’s Temple through Peter and Paul (Zech.5.9-11), but Jerusalem in Tzion which runs on the Hebrew time and calendar (see Is.28 PDF and The Bridge for details as to why this is important)

Therefore, Satan’s temptation that led Judah to choose genealogy connected to the idea the Mother Church would never change her Parting of Ways Theology. As a result, genealogy was the only choice they felt they could make if they wanted to remain Jewish within the Church. The problem is this is a weak foundation, as it was tried before and never succeeded. He tempted them expecting them to fail.

Yet even though His actions caused Judah within the body to stumble badly, he is not guilty, because he was sent to test, they choose freely. Still, there was fall out and is it possible he went further than he should have? His actions ultimately led to one influenced by the devil/demon to judge and imprison Y’hoshua and those associated with him in that prison; however, Y’hoshua will be freed.

We know Satan, the accuser fails, and in that text of Rev.12.7-9 he connected one to one with the Devil. So here he is not only the tempter but also the deceiver. So this would suggest he did not act like a tempter with Judah, above.