Sacred texts are spiritual and religious writings that were kept hidden and guarded for centuries because they conveyed information handed down from people who were considered very wise and holy. They were also kept hidden and guarded because there were no duplicating machines back then. Making copies required the help of a person who was literate (a scribe). Also, it was a very laborious and time consuming task to translate and transcribe many of the texts because they were often written in foreign languages. So the scribe not only had to be literate but also be able to read and write foreign languages. Such as person was rare and literally worth his weight in gold. Today, all of these texts can be read in English and even are on audio tapes, CDs, and the internet. Anyone serious about wanting to know what these texts say should read them for themselves and not rely on someone else to interpret them and tell you what they mean.

Many years of painstaking work, contemplation, and inspiration went into making these texts. As you read through these short synopses of the texts see if you can detect a common theme or thread that runs through them all. The texts are in ascending order – from the most ancient of the texts to the more recent. The years in which the texts were written are only approximate and are referred to as B.C.E. (before Common Era) or C.E. (Common Era). Basically BCE is the same as B.C. (before Christ) and CE is the same as A.D. “Anno Domini” (the year of our Lord). These abbreviations are done all over the world today so as not to offend any one particular religion.

The Vedas

The Vedas, written in Sanskrit, dating back 1500 BCE are the oldest written texts known to man. There are four Vedas and they are the primary texts of Hinduism. They contain poems, hymns, rituals, and metaphysical writings having to do with how to live life. There is much wisdom in these texts and they were written a thousand years or more before the birth of Christ. Then, people had to exist the only way they knew how. Staying alive had a lot to do with having faith in God, praying, practicing rituals, singing hymns, and anything else that could possibly make life a little bit happier and easier. Looking over these writings gave me a sense of appreciation for what these ancient people had to endure.

The Rig Veda contains ten books of hymns that have to do with prayers, sacrifices and the worshipping of Indra (God). Each book contains hundreds of hymns that make very little sense to modern man. These hymns were probably sung by groups of people who gathered in meetings places much like our modern-day churches.

The Soma Veda contains holy songs that were used by priests while offering juice from the Soma plant to the various deities they worshiped during that period. Both the Rig Veda and the Soma Veda were translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith in 1895.

The Yajur Veda is a lengthy and detailed manual on sacrificial rites (including mantras) that go along with the sacrifices. This text was translated by Arthur B. Keith in 1914.

The Atharva Veda contains all kinds of incantations and metaphysical sayings to charm away just about any kind of disease or sickness. There are also many chants for living a long life, charms to keep enemies at bay, to secure harmony among neighboring tribes, to avert evil and just about anything else in life. This Veda was translated by Maurice Bloomfield in 1897.

The Old Testament

The Old Testament of the Holy Bible was written between 1400 and 500 BCE. The first five chapters are said to have been written by Moses and are considered to be the book of the Jewish law (the Torah). The Old Testament has to do with God’s commandments and what will happen to man if we don’t obey them. The Ten Commandments can be found in Deuteronomy 5:17 – 21. There are many stories in the Old Testament about diseases, pestilence, wars, famine and a whole host of other bad things to support the idea that God is supreme and that it is best to fear him and obey him.

The Upanishads

The next oldest texts are probably the Upanishads that were written by many wise sages 800 to 400 BCE. They tell stories and give advise on how to be pure in mind and spirit. These writing are relatively short saying and very interesting. I highly recommend reading them.

The Four Noble Truths and the Dhammapada

The Buddha was born around 560 BCE at the base of the Himalayan Mountains near Nepal into a very rich family. His given name was Siddhartha Gautama. He had everything a boy could want: the finst clothes, horses, servants and a palace. Practically anything he wanted he could get, but he gave it all up to roam the countryside and teach about how to live in peace with oneself and to gain enlightenment. He taught for 45 years and accumulated many disciples who wrote about his philosophy of karma, selflessness and suffering. He is probably best known for his teachings of the four noble truths; 1) recognizing the fact that every living being suffers, 2) the origin of suffering lies in our false belief of a permanent self or ego-clinging, 3) suffering is temporary and is realized only when nirvana (a fully liberated mind) is reached, and 4) the eightfold path which teaches the eight ways to perfect discipline, meditation and wisdom.

The Dhammapada is an anthology of 423 short, poetic verses spoken by the Buddha and is worth reading. In it, the Buddha speaks of hate, love and the mind. The Buddha spends much time talking about the wonders of the mind and how to control the mind through meditation. He encourages people to seek awareness and enlightenment through good deeds, mindfulness and meditation.

The Mahabharata The Bhagavad-Gita and the Ranayana

The Mahabharata and Ramayana [the national epics of India] were written around 500 BCE. They consist of some of the longest poems ever written and are based on oral traditions passed down from one generation to the next.

The Mahabharata, the longest and one of the most ancient Sanskrit epics of India was written by Vyasa, one of the characters in the poem. This magnificent piece of work is over 100,00 verses long. One of the major and most popular pieces in the story is the Bhagavad-Gita which is a beautiful poem about a reluctant warrior going to war against his relatives. The Mahabharata, in brief, is about the struggle for dominion over a kingdom within a single family, the Kuru. It’s a story of the elders in the family pitted against the younger members. It is rather complex but interesting story of their marriages, conflicts, fights, wins and losses including a lot of Hindu mythology. It is a very sad yet philosophical story that ends in a tragedy, but not really. Near the end there is a long, bloody battle whre the youngsters end up victorious until they view the carnage and decide it wasn’t worth it. They feel so bad they renounce everything and go up into the Himalayas where they die one by one and ascend into the heavens.

The Bhagaavad-Gita or Celestial Song is one of the main chapters in the Mahabharata and is considered a sacred text of Hinduism. It consists of 700 poetic verses depicting a conversation between Arjuna (a warrior) and Krishna (God). The story line between Arjuna and Krishna takes place on a battlefield near New Delhi, India about 1,000 years ago. Two of my favorite lines in this story are; ‘when we see that the God in ourselves is the same God that exists in all that is, we do not hurt ourselves or others and it is in this way we reach the Supreme.”/”All creatures, although they appear separate, are truly only One.” The main theme in this epic is the idea that life is nothing but an illusion and one must detach oneself from that illusion by getting rid of desires and become a person of discipline. Krishna explains to Arjuna that he has nothing to fear or to feel sorry for because all of the people on the battlefield are already dead anyway.

The Ramayana is another sacred text of India that is still used today by the Hindu community in India for making astronomical almanacs that are used as calendars for astrological predictions and to organize events. It also establishes a code of conduct that is considered to be the benchmark for morality, ethics and posterity. Its importance could probably be equated to the Old Testament for the Jews and New Testament for the Christians. The Ramayana consists of no less than 24,000 verses contained in seven chapters originally written in Sanskrit by Valmiki about the same time Vyasa wrote the Mahabharata. The story was handed down generations after generations by sages and was finally written down by Valmiki 2500 years ago (500 BCE). From all of the astrological descriptions in the story, experts have placed it as occurring many thousands of years ago, possibly as far back as 50,000 years. I find the story very interesting, not because of its moral and ethical implications, but because of how the names of the people in the story resemble the names of various animals that depict their characters.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

In 1947 some goat herders looking for their lost goats among the cliffs along the Dead Sea came upon some old, earthen jars in a cave. The jars contained seven scrolls that dated back some 2,000 years. For the next nine years archaeologists scoured the hillsides and found ten more caves containing all kinds of artifacts – more scrolls, pieces of scrolls, pottery, cloth and other items of archaeological interest. A total of 800 manuscripts were found dating from 200 BCE to 68 CE. The caves are known as the Qumran caves and the people who lived in them are now called the Qumran community that consisted of mainly Jewish people. The people who wrote the manuscripts were probably priests or people closely connected to the priesthood in some way. The writings are mainly in Hebrew and Aramaic containing much of the same material found in the Old Testament that we have today. For the most part, the writings contain rules and regulations on how to conduct life in a Jewish community. Some new understandings about early Jewish culture were learned and how that culture may have helped give rise to Christianity.

The New Testament

The books in the New Testament were written around 60 CE, about 2,000 years ago, by the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter and James. They tell the story of Jesus and his teachings. Jesus was born in Palestine, a region in the Middle East just east of the Mediterranean Sea. in Bethlehem in the year 4 BCE give or take a few years. He grew up poor and worked as a carpenter in and around Nazareth; and according to scripture, began teaching the word of God when he was about thirty years old. Jesus left no writing about what he thought or preached and there are no pictures, drawings or sketches of what he looked like. Life the Buddha, he had followers or disciples that evidently took notes because the scriptures that were laid down in the New Testament were written by people who were with him, knew him or knew people who knew him. Therefore, our knowledge of jesus consists of what people wrote about him. We know that he was a man of modest means, owned nothing, wrote nothing, was a healer, a teacher, spoke often about the power of the Holy Spirit and had a tremendous influence on the world.

His sermon on the Mount conveyed what he was all about. His message was simple but demanding – always tell the truth, do not lust even in your heart, forgive those who have wronged you, love your enemies, give without expecting anything in return, don’t be judgmental, and always strive for peace. He also taught that some of the things in the Old Testament were not necessarily correct, such as rather than to not kill it is better not to hate; and rather than take an eye for eye and a tooth for a tooth, it is better to turn the other cheek. He also said that all people were equal in the eyes of the Lord – slaves, Gentiles, women, everybody. When the Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees, heard what he was preaching they became outraged and soon began plotting ways to get rid of him. The Pharisees wanted a Messiah that was a conquering hero not someone speaking love and peace. They soon convinced the Romans to kill him by crucifixion – a slow, torturous, agonizing death. Before they crucified Jesus, however, they beat him mercilessly with lead-tipped whips, a process called scourging, and made him carry the cross to his place of crucifixion.

Jesus died at the age of 33, only three years after starting his ministry of preaching love and peace. To many people the cross symbolizes total helplessness, total vulnerability, exhibiting all of humans limitations (sickness, pain, mental illness, imprisonment, or whatever), the inability to move – limitations at its greatest. One then becomes non-limited by moving through it and letting it be. According to John 19:30, Jesus’ last words on the cross were, “It is finished.” The duality of suffering and non-suffering is finally united as one and is symbolized by the crucifix.

The things that were written about Jesus were put together as time went by and were held as sacred texts by various people over various parts of that area. The Romans continued to dominate the land but slowly turned toward the teachings of Jesus. Their turning point was probably led by Saul, a Roman diplomat and an enemy of the Jews. Saul’s name was changed to Paul and later became known as St. Paul. He established many churches throughout the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. He later wrote letters to these churches and the letters were put into the New Testament along with the writing of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John by the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Emperor Constantine was basically the person who decided which writing went into the New Testament and which ones didn’t. Around 330 CE he eliminated hundreds of writings he considered against the church doctrine and classified them as heretical, dangerous and corruptive. Those that were included in the New Testament are said to be canonized, meaning they are the only ones that are recognized by the Catholic Church as authentic or sanctioned by the Church as to what Jesus actually said. All other writings are said to be non-canonized texts, which include the gospels of Peter, Mary, Philip, Thomas, James and the Secret Gospel of Mark.

Non-Canonical Gospels

In 1945 thirteen volumes of sacred texts were uncovered in an abandoned dump near Nag Hammadi, Egypt by three young men who were digging for fertilizer. The writings were sealed in a large earthen jar. One of the boys took it home with him and his mother used some of the texts to make a fire for the cold evening. The boy’s name was Muhammad ‘Ali. Fortunately the young man had sense enough to hide the remaining texts thinking that maybe they were worth something. He sold the texts for a few Egyptian dollars and fortunately they finally ended up in Cairo and the museum. It was discovered that these writings were of great importance because most of them were written by the Jesus’ disciple Thomas. It is thought that the people who had the scrolls 2,000 years ago were Christian Gnostics who were being chased and hunted by the Romans. The Gnostics regarded the texts so sacred that they guarded them with their lives until they could no longer afford to be caught with them. They wrapped the scrolls in sheepskin and sealed them in the clay jar and buried them deep in the ground. Since they lived in caves, they knew that the Romans would look for them there; so burying the scrolls on flat, unobstructed ground was the smartest thing to do. They probably hoped to return to the spot later and retrieve them but that never happened. More than likely they were all killed by the Romans.

The texts were written in Greek and the translation into English took fourteen years. Like the New Testament, they tell the story of Jesus and his teachings but in a different light. These texts, of course, are not in the New Testament but are well worth reading. They are rich in spiritual quotes from Jesus written by Thomas. Thomas is the disciple called “doubting Thomas” because he wants to touch Jesus after he comes back from the tomb to see if it is really Jesus. He touches Jesus’ side where he has been speared while on the cross and realizes that it is truly Jesus.

The Yoga Sutras

When Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutras 2,000 years ago and suggested reading the sacred texts, I’m sure he was referring to the writings of the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Mahabharata and Ranayana and possibly even Buddha’s Four Noble Truths. He may have even included the Old Testament which had been set down at about the same time. However, Patanjali could not have known about the many gospels about Jesus because they hadn’t been written yet. None-the-less, they are still sacred texts as much as the ones mentioned earlier.

No one really knows who Patanjali was. He may have been some saint or wise person or possibly even several people. There is no hard evidence for his identity. In any event, these writtings mention very little about how to do yoga poses (asanas). The Yoga Sutras deal mainly with the process of reaching samadhi – a state of total unity with all beings. The word sutra means linking things together as in sewing. The Yoga Sutras linked short and to-the-point thoughts by describing how one relates to the next. It is the relationship that all things have that forms the basis of yoga. The word yoga means union, primarily the union of the mind with the body and the spirit.

When the Yoga Sutras were written, spirituality was more important than doing exercises to reach samadhi. In most western yoga classes today, the opposite seems to be the case. We seem to be afraid to teach or discuss spiritual and ethical matters in yoga today out of fear of offending someone. The first two limbs of the Yoga Sutras, the Yamas (self restraint) and the Niyamas (self observation) are very similar to the Old Testament’s Ten Commandments. One might wonder if this is coincidental. Being non-violent, always telling the truth, practicing moderation in everything, not being greedy and being pure in mind and body are also very similar to what Jesus taught as well.

The Yoga Sutras encourage internal purity which goes along with moderation in all things. Internal purity in yoga is an important thing because the body is basically the temple in which the Spirit lives. The Self is the caretaker of th body and the job of the Self is to keep the body pure and healthy. To the yogi this means refraining from excessive alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and food. The use of drugs and stimulants is a no-no. Fresh, clean water, teas, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, fish are the mainstays for a yogi; but actually a yogi can eat anything as long as it’s considered healthy. Moderation is the name of the game in being a yogi.

The Koran

The Koran was written by the Prophet Muhammad over a period of twenty-five years during the first part of the seventh century. According to Muhammad, he was instructed to write the the Koran while living in a cave. The word of Allah (God) came to him through the Angel Gabriel. Muhammad wrote the word of God wherever he was. He wrote on cloth, rocks, palm-leaves, skins and just about anything handy at the time. The many verses that he wrote were eventually bound into the form of a bible between 644 and 656 CE. Islam was born and Muslims, the world over, consider the Koran the infallible world of God. The word “Koran” comes from the Arabic word al-quar’an which means a recitation.

The Koran teaches that God is compassionate and merciful and there is only one God – the true God and only God. There are no other gods, never were and never will be. Any one who believes otherwise and doesn’t follow the world of Allah is considered an infidel, a non-believer. According to the Koran, the two major non-believers are the Jews and the Christians. The Jews heard the word of God but failed to follow His word. The Christians believe that Jesus is God. The Koran teaches to take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends. They are friends with one another.

The Koran puts a lot of credence in the Old Testament and paraphrases many things from it. The Koran speaks highly of Moses and Abraham, the prophets of God. The Koran says that it was Moses and Abraham who brought the word of God to the people of Israel but the people failed to follow it.
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Throughout the Bible, there are many examples for us to follow. We all know that prayer is a tool and is effective in our daily lives. One very good example in the Bible is Hezekiah. The Bible tells us in James 5:16 The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective; and in 1Peter 3:12 it says For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer. Well let’s see what the Bible says about Hezekiah and his prayer.

Look at Isaiah 37:1 it says When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They told him, This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.

When King Hezekiah’’s officials came to Isaiah, Isaiah sad to them, Tell your master, This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard-those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! I am gong to put a spirit in him so that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword. When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he with drew and found the king fighting against Libnah. Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: Say to Hezekiah king of Judah; Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them-the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvain, or of Hena or Ivvah?

Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God. It is true, O Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, O Lord our God, deliver is from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.

Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word the Lord has spoken against him: Thhe Virgin Daughter of Zion despises and mocks you. The Daughter of Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee. Who is it you have insulted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! By your messengers you have heaped insults on the Lord. And you have said, With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines. I have reached its remotest heights, the finest of its forests. I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt. Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone.

Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up. But I know where you stay and when you come and go and how you rage against me and because your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.

This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: He will not come before it with shield or built a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the Lord, I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!

Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eight-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning-there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyia broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. One day, while he was worshiping the temple of his god Nisroch, his soms Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.

In closing, this holds God word true, the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective and the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer. In Hezekiah time of distress he took his concerns to the Lord, he spread out the letter in the temple of God and prayed. He also ask the Lord to look, listen and hear the insults of the living God. God truly showed that He is the living God. I just pray that in your time of your distress that you find the strength to approach the living God and tell him your troubles. And Yes he will fix them.

Always Remember To Read Your Bible!
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“God’s lesson is that you can run from me, but you can’t hide,” says Kate, age 10.

“If you are playing hide and go seek or if somebody can’t find you, God can,” says Sara, 10.

We all think we’re experts at hiding from God. Our stories may not be as dramatic as Jonah’s, but they’re just as real. God always wins at hide and seek.

“You cannot run from God even in the belly of a fish!” says Aaron, 11. “It’s like God has see-through glasses. He’s got heat-seeking eyes or life-seeking sensors.”

In this case, God’s life-seeking sensors detected something in Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. God told Jonah to deliver his message to the Assyrians, but Jonah bought a one-way ticket for a cruise in the opposite direction. God changed Jonah’s travel plans by making him the world’s first submariner.

“Jonah was in the fish for three days and three nights,” says Madison, 10. “He prayed day and night that he could get out of the fish’s slimy, smelly stomach.”

God has ways of stopping us in our tracks when we’re running from him. Jonah’s prayer is desperate: “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord” (Jonah 2:7).

Why wait until you’ve exhausted your resources before turning to God? He will hear you from the depths of despair, but he’ll also hear you before you buy a wrong-way ticket.

“Once when I was 4 years old, I tried to steal some candy from a store,” says Patrick, 10. “I tried to hide it from God, but he let my mom know that I had done it. My mom told me to put it back, and I was grounded for three hours that day.”

Whether it’s three hours in your room or three days in the belly of a fish, the lesson is the same, says Patrick: “You shouldn’t never run away from God.”

Today, we have more sophisticated ways to run. No need to buy a ticket on an ocean liner. Select your escape from several television channels, computer games or websites. Keep the noise level high at all times. A prolonged quiet period is too dangerous. Your conscience might intrude.

“I think God gets really sad when we run from him just like we do when we want to play with our friends, and they leave us out,” says Kelsey, 9.

There’s a tendency to think of God as an impersonal being incapable of being hurt. God is a passionate, jealous lover, and he pursues us when we run from him.

In the end, Jonah did obey God, says Langdon, 11: “Jonah did go to Nineveh, and he told people about God. The people in that city were saved, but then Jonah got angry and went east of the city.”

Jonah wanted to see God zap the Assyrians. They were some of the cruelest, most wicked people in recorded history. We shouldn’t be too hard on Jonah for wanting a ringside seat. Like Jonah, perhaps our view of God’s grace and mercy could use some adjustment. We may condemn sins in others while ignoring, denying or excusing our own.

The people of Nineveh believed God when they heard Jonah’s message. God withheld his judgment after Nineveh’s king issued a nationwide decree to fast and turn away from evil.

In the end, Jonah learned a lesson we all need to learn: “Even if you really don’t want to go or do what God tells you, just trust him to make things right,” says Laura, 11.

Think about this: When you run from God, he will always find you.

Memorize this truth: “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7).

Ask this question: Are you running from something you know God wants you to do?
About the Author:

The concept of a God-man savior preceded the pagan counterfeits, when God revealed the woman (no mention of a man, since God is His Father) would give birth to One who would suffer and die but would be resurrected and crush the snake and defeat his purpose against mankind (Gen. 3:15).

The suffering servant of Isaiah 53 is the Jewish nation.

Many Jewish people are self-righteous enough to consider themselves worthy of atoning for mankind, but only One from the Jewish nation – Yeshua – qualifies, having died and been resurrected, atoning for many, seeing his spiritual descendants, since He is alive. How else could someone who died – as the The Suffering Servant did (Israel is still alive – remember Am Israel Chai? The Nation/People of Israel lives), see the travail of His soul was well worth the sacrifice?

Isaiah 53:

1 “Who has believed our report? (most of Judah and Israel – professing Christianity – haven’t believed the Report and either reject Yeshua or accept a Gentilized version)

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,

And as a root out of dry ground.

He has no form or comeliness;

And when we see Him,

There is no beauty that we should desire Him.

3 He is despised and rejected by men,

A Man (not a nation, a man) of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we (collective Israel, especially Judah) hid, as it were, our faces from Him;

He (one man) was despised, and we (Israel/Judah) did not esteem Him.

4 Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;

Yet we (collective Israel/Judah) esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten by God, and afflicted (and curse His holy Name).

5 But He was wounded for our (Israel/Judah) transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we (Israel/Judah) are healed.

6 All we (Israel/Judah) like sheep have gone astray;

We have turned, every one, to his own way;

And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He opened not His mouth;

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,

And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

So He opened not His mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,

And who will declare His generation?

For He was cut off from the land of the living (just as Daniel foresaw He went “missing”);

For the transgressions of My people (the sins of Israel and Judah – they can’t be their own savior) He was stricken.

9 And they made His grave with the wicked (Am Yisrael Chai – Israel has never died or God’s Word would have been broken to the Fathers)—

But with the rich at His death,

Because He had done no violence,

Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;

He has put Him to grief.

When You make His soul an offering for sin (something Judaism denies possible but God’s Word and Yeshua prove true),

He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days (having been resurrected to see and enjoy his spiritual seed),

And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.

11 He shall see the labor of His soul,and be satisfied.

By His knowledge My righteous Servant (One Savior) shall justify many,

For He shall bear their iniquities (which Judaism denies but the Bible teaches).

12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,

And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,

Because He poured out His soul unto death (Israel and Judah never died),

And He was numbered with the transgressors,

And He bore the sin of many (which Judaism denies but the Bible teaches),

And made intercession for the transgressors (as our resurrected High Priest in Heaven, at the right hand of the Ancient of Days).”

Remember Moses lifted up the snake on the pole in the wilderness and all who looked to it were saved? “…the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all…”. Yeshua knew it foreshadowed His death.

John 3:14

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up…”.

Yeshua took all the sins of Israel and Judah and the world upon Himself on the stake as THE Suffering Servant, crucified for all mankind – ONE whose life meant more than all, died that the nation might live, as the High Priest prophesied in His day:

John 11:50

“… it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.”

The entire nation wasn’t crucified, wasn’t upon the pole, but Yeshua is the One who we’re to look up to and perceive that He is the Pierced One who is our Lord and Savior, our Priest and King, the One who has died in our stead:

Genesis 22:13

“Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.”

Joseph’s brethren were also blind to his identity his first appearance before them. The second time their eyes were opened to recognize His revealed identity. Zechariah foresees Judah and Jerusalem will learn to look up and recognize the ram Yeshua as the Firstborn Son of God and Savior-King of Judah and mourn their former rejection of Him and prepare for His imminent arrival to liberate Jerusalem and save klal Yisrael, as encouraged by the Two Witnesses (in the spirit of Elijah) who announce the coming of our King (Zech. 12:8, Matt. 23:39).

Zechariah 12:10

10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

Come Lord Yeshua! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD!
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A king who revered and honoured the Lord God in every way in Judah called on the great God Jehovah through Isaiah the prophet of God. Judah needed God’s intervention to escape the coming Assyrian armies’ takeover.

God answered and sent the armies back to their land after his Angel killed 185,000 of their soldiers in one night.That is One Angel, one night, one enemy beaten. Wow!

33By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.

34For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.

35And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

36So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

37And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

This history is told in the Holy Bible in the second book of Kings, chapters 18 and 19. A huge lesson is to be learned here.

Why did God help Judah and not Israel this time? He found no idol worship in Judah nor any other god being consulted. Judah was clean before Him. Judah was following God alone. Israel had been taken captive because it served other so called gods as well as the true and living God Jehovah.

In Canada, U.S.A., and other christian countries we are as Israel was at that time. We have accepted foreign gods whith anti-Christ ways and called it freedom of religion. Idiots is the only term that comes to mind! Our countries were established on the foundation of Christianity. One God, the Great Jehovah, one teaching, one church of Jesus Christ.

Now we wonder why so many nasty things are allowed to happen to us in our nations by the Lord our God, the True and Living One. HELLO!

Warning signs are all around us. We must get back to the God of the Bible, the God of Israel, Isaac, Abraham and all the wonderful prophets of the Lord. God will not share His glory, His countries, His nation.

Was 9/11 not a wake up call for all of us? Is New Orleans and all the terrible weather not enough to stir us to repentance? We must expel all other teachings and idols and enemy religions before we are taken over by wicked forces and destroyed. Stop the insanity!

The enemy has infiltrated our lands with the guise of new found freedom in Christian societies. Sin abounds and grace abounds much more so far, but our God is a jealous One, a consuming fire and our time is running out to call on Him and have us answered. When He checks us out what does He see? We must act quickly and send out the message throughout our christian based countries. ‘Serve the true and living God or leave our lands.’

Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. Do we want the Angel of the Lord on our side or on the enemies’ side. God will use them to cleanse His countries. Fast, pray, repent, expel the enemies of God the Lord, the Great Jehovah.
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