Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader.
See Premium Plans
 
God has not forgotten the Jewish people, and neither have we.
 A Publication of CJF Ministries and Messianic Perspectives Radio Network 
 
Messianic
Perspectives
®
Post Office Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292-0345 Iyyar–Sivan–Tammuz 5772 / May–June 2012
 
Messianic Perspectives
®
Dr. Gary Hedrick,
 
Editor in Chief 
 
Rachel Zanardi,
 
Editor 
 
Erastos Leiloglou,
 
Designer 
Messianic Perspectives 
is published bimonthly by
CJF Ministries
, P.O. Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292-0345, a501(c)3 Texas nonprofit corporation:
Dr.
 
Gary Hedrick
,
President
;
Brian Nowotny
,
Director of Communications
;
Rachel Zanardi, Editor; Erastos Leiloglou, Designer
. Subscription price: $10 per year. The publication of articles byother authors does not necessarily imply full agreement with all the views expressed therein. Unless otherwisenoted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version of the Bible (Nashville, TN: ThomasNelson Publishers, 1982). Visit us online at www.cjfm.org. Toll-free OrderLine: (800) 926-5397.© 2012 by CJF Ministries. All rights reserved.
2 M
ESSIANIC
P
ERSPECTIVES
• M
AY
 /J
UNE 2012
 Y 
eshua of Nazareth is, without adoubt, the best-known figure inhistory.Even today, 2,000 years after He washere, multitudes know Him as the Sav-ior, the Messiah, and the Son of God.In the pages of the New Testament(NT), He is revealed as Teacher, Rab-bi, Healer, and Creator of heaven andearth.Children were attracted to Him (Matt.19:13-14), which tells us somethingabout His personality and disposition. After all, little ones don’t generallygravitate to dour, stern-faced adults.But did you know that this gentle, lik-able Carpenter from Nazareth is alsoa destroyer?That’s right—Yeshua is a
destroyer
.The Bible tells us that there are cer-tain things He has already or willsomeday destroy. You might say, “Wait a minute—Ithought the devil was the destroyer.” And you’re right—he is. In fact, oneof Satan’s biblical names is Apollyon,which means “destroyer” (Rev. 9:11).But the Lord Jesus (
HaAdon Yeshua
)is also a destroyer. You might think that’s out of charac-ter for Him, but it’s really not.The divine personality—like the God-head itself—is multifaceted. Yes, He’sa loving and merciful God. But He’salso a God of justice and holiness—andthere are times when He moves swiftlyand unrelentingly against His enemies.Is this a sort of divine schizophrenia, assome skeptics claim?
1
Of course it’s not.It simply means that God adapts to dif-ferent circumstances and responds ac-cordingly. Sometimes we’re the sameway. Under normal circumstances, wemay be passive and gentle; but whenwe’re threatened, we adapt.It’s like the young, single mom whosestory appeared on a news programseveral years ago. She shot and killedtwo armed hoodlums who had brokeninto her house. Friends and familymembers said she was a mild-man-nered and soft-spoken woman; theywere amazed that she was capableof acting so quickly and aggressivelywhen she and her babies were threat-ened. They said it was a side of herpersonality that they had never wit-nessed before.The Lord, likewise, is normally kindand merciful. It’s His character to bethat way (Psalm 118:1-4). But whenHis loved ones are threatened, or Hisplan is otherwise placed in jeopardy,He can bring down judgment and de-struction unlike anything you couldever imagine.So, then, what does the Bible say aboutthe Messiah’s role as a destroyer? Whoor what are the targets of His wrath?
Philippe Jacques De Loutherbourg | Paule Patterson
 
M
ESSIANIC
P
ERSPECTIVES
• M
AY
 /J
UNE 2012
3
1. The spiritual agents of evil.
Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, “Let us alone! What have we todo with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? Iknow who You are—the Holy One of God!”
(Mark 1:23-24).
First, the Lord will someday destroy the demonic agentsof evil who work behind the scenes in this world. In thispassage, Mark recounts an incident that took place inthe synagogue at Capernaum. Our tour groups, over theyears, have visited the site of the Capernaum synagoguemany times.
2
Two thousand years ago, whenever the Lord was in thearea, that synagogue was where He attended Sabbathservices. On this occasion, His teaching provoked an “un-clean spirit,” or demon, to speak out against Him.
3
 
Clear-ly, the forces of darkness saw Him as a threat—and theyalso knew He was the Messiah.How ironic that even the demons recognized Jesus as theMessiah—but the Pharisees and other members of theSanhedrin didn’t!“Holy One” was a term King David applied to the Messiahwhen he spoke prophetically about the Resurrection:
“ForYou will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allowYour Holy One to see corruption” 
(Psalm 16:10).
4
These evil spirits in Capernaum were afraid that the Lordmight destroy them. They knew He was capable of doing just that!However, this wasn’t the divinely ordained time to de-stroy the forces of evil—that’s yet in the future (2 Thess.2:5-8, Rev. 20:7-10). So for now, the Lord commanded theevil spirit(s) to shut up and come out of the man—and it(or they) obeyed Him instantly (Mark 1:25-26).This raises perplexing questions. Why didn’t God destroyevil long ago and be done with it? If He is really all-goodand all-powerful, why does He allow pain and sufferingto continue unabated? Philosophers and theologians havewrestled with these questions for millennia.
5
 
Maybe theanswer is as simple as this: God knows that evil—due toits very nature—must be allowed to run its course beforeit can be finally and completely eradicated.
Saint-Martin de Florac
Search
Search History:
Searching...
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
  • p.
    • Notes
    Load more