Freedom in Messiah

“The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is upon me, because Yahweh has anointed me, he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to the captives and liberation to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor, and our God’s day of vengeance, to comfort all those in mourning, to give for those in mourning in Zion, to give them a head wrap instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a faint spirit. And they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, to show his glory.”

Isaiah 61:1-3

Why exactly did Jesus come to Earth as the physical embodiment of Yahweh? Jesus, or in Hebrew, Yeshua, meaning the salvation of Yah, is referred to as the Word in flesh, the aleph and the tav, which is the beginning and end of the Hebrew alephbet.

Isa 44:6 Thus says Yahweh, the king of Israel, and its redeemer, Yahweh of hosts: “I am the first, and I am the last, and there is no god besides me.
Isa 44:7 And who is like me? Let him proclaim it! And let him declare it and set it in order for me since I established an eternal people and things that are to come, and let them tell them the things that are coming.

Yahweh is the first and last and His Word is the aleph tav. There is so much that could be discussed with this subject. I recommend visiting eriktology.net to study some of the correlations of the Word of Yahweh and the Hebrew twenty-two letter alephbet.

Rev 22:12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
Rev 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Rev 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

Alpha and Omega are the beginning and end of the Greek alphabet, and the Aleph and the Tav are the beginning and the end of the Hebrew alphabet. For example, the first letter Aleph, represents everything outside this cosmos, such as eternity and the omniscient Father. The second letter is the Bet, which is a house, or womb. Yahweh coming into our world, the bet, as a human, Yeshua, through the womb of the woman can be told with just these two letters. It is quite a study when looking at the Word as all of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

When Yeshua started His ministry, He quoted Isaiah 61. This is found in the account Luke gives us.

Luk 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.
Luk 4:17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
Luk 4:19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Yeshua, or Jesus, is telling us what He came to do. Notice it was His custom to keep the Sabbath? Why do we we say the Sabbath is a different day now because some believers may have assembled together on a Sunday somewhere in history, when we have the custom Jesus followed given to us? Jesus went on to tell the people He was doing more than reading scripture that day; He was actually fulfilling it.

Luk 4:20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
Luk 4:21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luk 4:22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

Jesus came to give sight to the blind and free the oppressed. Not only did He give physical sight to the blind, but He revealed the true meaning of prophesies that were hidden, and showed people how to live according to the instructions of Yahweh, much like Moses had done. Jesus was the one whom Moses spoke about.

Deu 18:15 “Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your countrymen, and to him you shall listen.
Deu 18:16 This is according to all that you asked from Yahweh your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘I do not want again to hear the voice of Yahweh my God, and I do not want to see again this great fire, so that I may not die!’
Deu 18:17 And Yahweh said to me, ‘They are right in what they have said.
Deu 18:18 I will raise up a prophet for them from among their countrymen like you, and I will place my words into his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him.
Deu 18:19 And then the man that will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I will hold accountable.

It is a terrible thing to claim Yeshua, taught something different than Yahweh, yet this is a prominent teaching today. When Yeshua said he came to free the oppressed, He not only meant slaves to sin, but those oppressed by demons. These usually go hand in hand.

Luk 4:31 And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath,
Luk 4:32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.
Luk 4:33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,
Luk 4:34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
Luk 4:35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.
Luk 4:36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”

John tells us Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil:

1Jn 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
1Jn 3:8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
1Jn 3:9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

Luke chapter four is packed with information when one considers all of these things. Before Jesus went into the temple to read Isaiah and start His ministry, He was tempted for forty days by the adversary.

Luk 4:1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
Luk 4:2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.
Luk 4:3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
Luk 4:4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”
Luk 4:5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,
Luk 4:6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
Luk 4:7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”
Luk 4:8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
Luk 4:9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,
Luk 4:10 for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’
Luk 4:11 and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
Luk 4:12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Luk 4:13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

When the adversary told Jesus he would give up the authority of all of the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would just worship him, Jesus never argued with him about having the authority over all the kingdoms. Jesus knows who runs this world, and He chose to take the world back the hard way. The demons knew this was going to happen, that is why they asked if He had come before the time.

Mat 8:28 And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way.
Mat 8:29 And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
Mat 8:30 Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them.
Mat 8:31 And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.”

When a person turns away from keeping the commandments of God and turns to things polluted by idols, demons are attracted and start to oppress. This was the condition people were in when He walked the Earth. The demons in the Matthew account asked, “Have you come here to torment us before the time?”. They were confused because they knew it was not the time of the end yet. The wrath of Yahweh is also one of the missions of Messiah. He will purge the Earth of all evil and uncleanness. These demons are unclean spirits because they are a result of a forbidden union of angels and mankind, or angels and animals.

Jud 1:5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
Jud 1:6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—

In the proclamation of Isaiah sixty-one, it also mentions the great judgement day.

Isa 61:2 to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor, and our God’s day of vengeance, to comfort all those in mourning,

Yeshua will purge the world of evil on the “great day of vengeance”. This is the day the overlords, principalities, demons and all entities who have rebelled will face judgement.

Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war with the one who is seated on the horse and with his army.
Rev 19:20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs before him, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who had worshiped his image. The two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur.
Rev 19:21 And the rest were killed by the sword of the one who is seated on the horse—the sword that comes out of his mouth—and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

Mortals have a way out of this judgement. All they need to do is turn from their evil ways and have faith in Yeshua unto righteousness. The immortal entities; however, know they are doomed with no chance of salvation.

Psa 82:1 A psalm of Asaph. God stands in the divine assembly; he administers judgment in the midst of the gods.
Psa 82:2 “How long will you judge unjustly and show favoritism to the wicked? Selah.
Psa 82:3 Judge on behalf of the helpless and the orphan; provide justice to the afflicted and the poor.
Psa 82:4 Rescue the helpless and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
Psa 82:5 They do not know or consider. They go about in the darkness, so that all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
Psa 82:6 I have said, “You are gods, and sons of the Most High, all of you.
Psa 82:7 However, you will die like men, and you will fall like one of the princes.”
Psa 82:8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth, because you shall inherit all the nations.

The Messiah frees people who are obedient and faithful from the evil entities that oppress, as well as death itself.

Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne and the one who was seated on it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled, and a place was not found for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead—the great and the small—standing before the throne, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and each one was judged according to their deeds.
Rev 20:14 And Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.
Rev 20:15 And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Yeshua revealed this to His apostles in front of “the gates of hades”. This is the account when they were in front of the temple of the underworld god Pan in Caesarea Philippi.

Mat 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it!
Mat 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will be released in heaven.”

Often our understanding of the mission of Yeshua is a series of Christian platitudes that no one even understands any more. If one doesn’t understand the spiritual realm, the importance of obedience and know who rules the world, then they are setting themselves up for serious failure. Yeshua is taking the world back by force from the overlords that currently are running it. The penalty of breaking the instructions of Yahweh is death; however, the gates of hades, which is the grave, will not prevail if we align ourselves with Yahweh through faith in Yeshua. Faith in Yeshua is proven by obedience to what He said to do.

Deu 18:19 And then the man that will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I will hold accountable.

The featured image is by Zulmaury Saavedra on Unsplash.