Yahushua: The Bridge Between the Covenants | Part C

The King James Version (KJV) is mostly used in these lessons. Click here to access the KJV online.

Apostles: Carrying on the Gospel Message of Yahushua

Acts 24:14. The apostle Paul in his response to accusations brought against him before Felix said, “According to the Way, which they [the Jews] call a sect, I worship the Yahuwah of our fathers, believing everything written in the Law [Pentateuch] and the Prophets.” There was no hesitation here. Paul was dogmatic about his belief and appealed to the scriptural source of his faith. “The law and the prophets and writings” (Luke 24:44) were contained within the two bookends of the Hebrew Bible. The writings included some historical books as well as Psalms and Proverbs and Daniel.

Romans 1:18-20. Paul refers to the creation, not in a poetic metaphorical sense, but in a real and historical sense. I don’t think that Paul would have been swayed in his thinking by the theory of evolution. Interestingly enough, the Greeks were the first to propose and teach a form of evolution. Darwin just brought it forward in time. Paul was undoubtedly familiar with Greek teaching since it shaped the prevailing world view of the time throughout the Roman Empire.

Romans 5:14. “Death reigned from Adam to Moses.” Paul knew and believed that Yahuwah created Adam as the first man (not as an evolving organism), and he gave no indication that pagan Greek thinking had clouded his understanding of the plain sense of the Scriptures.

1 Corinthians 10:1-4. Paul rehearses the Exodus and Israel passing through the Red Sea and compares it to baptism. He saw the “rock” as a type or pattern pointing forward to the coming Messiah. Paul did not believe that the Son of Yahuwah was alive before he was born!

2 Corinthians 11:3. Paul compares going astray from the simplicity of Yahushua to the episode when the Serpent deceived Eve. Paul did not feel it necessary to challenge the creation account.

Hebrews 1-4. Paul describes how mankind fits into the creation plan and compares man to the angels’ position in the past and future.

1 Peter 3:20. Peter lends his considerable weight, having walked and talked with Yahushua for many years, to the Noachian Flood narrative. Once again, there is no problem with Peter’s belief and understanding. He took the Hebrew Bible literally as a historical narrative.

2 Peter 2:6-8. Peter recounts the history of the ancient world and how Yahuwah spared righteous Lot from the cataclysm that befell Sodom and Gomorrah.

Finally, the book of Revelation is replete with references to the Hebrew Bible. There are some 450 allusions to it. This is the revelation of Yahuwah, which He gave to Yahushua to pass on to the churches. We have come full circle from Genesis to Revelation and the continuity of the Scriptures is confirmed. No Apostle broke ranks and challenged the revealed knowledge coming from Yahuwah the Father and His Messiah Yahushua who is Yahuwah’s final messenger, Son of Yahuwah and of David and the promised prophet (Deut. 18:15-18; Acts 3:22; 7:37). No Apostle ever intimated that he did not believe the Holy Scriptures or that his Lord Messiah (Luke 2:11) was in any way mistaken.

Yahushua upheld the authority of canon and Scripture in every instance and passed that faith along to the Apostles. If we are truly to claim the designation “Christian” then how can we deny these unbreakable links to the past? To say “I believe in Yahushua” and yet reject the very Scriptures he confirmed is beyond understanding. Yahushua was the Word incarnate. He could not have denied or challenged the revealed Scriptures any more than he could have denied Yahuwah. It wasn’t Yahushua’ responsibility to edit the Scriptures but it was his responsibility to uphold them.

I believe I can safely say that anyone who denies the narratives of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament: Law, prophets and writings, Luke 24:44) and the Greek New Testament Scriptures is at odds with Yahushua and Yahuwah. Yahushua bridges the Old and New Testaments with one foot in Genesis and one foot in Revelation. And he is telling the world and Satan, “This is my domain. Stay out of the way.”

Yahuwah, the Father revealed His word to the fathers and prophets who wrote and preserved the sacred Hebrew Scriptures (Luke 24:44). Only after that Old Testament time did Yahuwah speak through His Son, Yahushua, the word, a supernaturally begotten human being (Heb. 1:1-2; Luke 1:35). Yahushua fully confirmed those Scriptures, introduced the New Covenant, affirmed not the Law of Moses but “grace and truth” (John 1:14, 17). Having completed his work Yahushua now sits at the right hand of Yahuwah (“my lord” in Ps. 110:1), as High Priest, awaiting the green light to return to earth and set the record straight once and for all to an unbelieving and rebellious world. The Greek New Testament Scriptures record Yahuwah’s final word to us in His Son, the son of David.