WHEN TRUTH IS TOLD

YAHSHUA!

And He came to Nazareth where He was brought up. And as was His custom, He went in on the day of the sabbath, into the synagogue, and He stood up to read.
And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. And unrolling the book, He found the place where it was written:
"The Spirit of Yahweh is upon Me. Because of this He anointed Me to proclaim the evangel to the poor; He has sent Me" to heal the brokenhearted, "to proclaim remission to captives, and to the blind to see again," to send away the ones being crushed, in remission,
"to preach an acceptable year of Yahweh." [Isaiah 61:1,2]
And rolling up the scroll, returning it to the attendant, He sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
And He began to say to them, Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears.
And all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words coming out of His mouth. And they said, Is this not the son of Joseph?
And He said to them, Undoubtedly you will speak this parable to Me, Physician, heal yourself. What things we heard were happening in Capernaum, do also here in your fatherland.
But He said, Truly I say to you that no prophet is acceptable in his fatherland.
But truthfully I say to you, Many widows were in Israel in the days of Eliyah when the heaven was shut up over three years and six months, when a great famine came on all the land;
and yet Eliyah was sent to none of them except to Zarephath of Sidon, to a widow woman.
And many lepers were in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was made clean except Naaman the Syrian.
And rising up, they threw Him outside the city, and led Him up to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, in order to throw Him down. Luke 4:16-29

The consequences of telling the truth can be fatal! Why would anyone want to kill you for telling the truth? What would your reaction be to the Messiah Yahshua's message if you were to hear it personally from him? Would you recognize him as the anointed of Yahweh? Or, would the words he was speaking convict you so deeply, and annoy you so much, that you would want him silenced? Would you be in the crowd that wanted to throw him down from the hill? That seems to be the case during his earthly ministry, and even now in our own era! Kill the messenger!

"But now you seek to kill Me, a man who has spoken the truth to you, which I heard alongside of Yahweh. Abraham did not do this. John 8:40

Yahshua therefore answered them and said, My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me.
If any man seeks to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of Yahweh, or whether I speak from myself.
He that speaks from himself seeks his own glory: but he that seeks the glory of him that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you does the law? Why seek you to kill me?
The multitude answered, You have a demon: who seeks to kill you? John 7:16-20

Hear another parable: There was a certain man, a house master, who planted a vineyard and placed a hedge around it; and he dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. And he rented it to vinedressers and left the country. [Isaiah. 5:1, 2]
And when the season of the fruits came, he sent his slaves to the vinedressers to receive his fruits.
And the vinedressers, taking his slaves, they beat this one, and they killed one, and they stoned another.
Again he sent other slaves, more than the first. And they did the same to them.
And at last he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son.
But seeing the son, the vinedressers said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and possess his inheritance.
And taking him, they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Matthew 21:33-39

PAUL

But declared both to them of Damascus first and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to Yahweh, doing works worthy of repentance.
For this cause the Jews seized me in the temple, and assayed to kill me. Acts 26:20-21

Five times I received forty stripes minus one from the Jews.
I was flogged three times; I was stoned once; I was shipwrecked three times; I have spent a night and a day in the deep. 2 Corinthians 11:24-25

But Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium, and persuading the crowds, and stoning Paul, they dragged him outside the city, supposing him to have died. Acts 14:19

ABEL

And Cain talked with his brother Abel. And it happened as they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.
And Yahweh said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel? And he said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?
And He said, What have you done? The voice of the blood of your brother cries to Me from the ground. Genesis 4:8-10

Because this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
not as Cain was of the evil one, and killed his brother. And for what did he kill him? Because his works were evil, but the things of his brother were righteous. 1 John3:11-12

Can you truthfully say that you would have reacted differently? Can you say that you would not have killed or followed those that did kill the prophets, or holy men? You underestimate the power of the dark one, Satan! Perhaps you would have been a faithful follower? What are you now? A true faithful follower of the Holy Word, or are you a killer?

"And you say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
So you witness to yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.
And you fill up the measure of your fathers.
Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How shall you escape the judgment of Gehenna?
Because of this, behold, I send to you prophets and wise ones and scribes. And some of them you will kill and impale, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and will persecute from city to city;
so that should come on you all the righteous blood poured out on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berechiah whom you murdered between the Holy Place and the altar." Matthew 23:30-35

STEPHEN

Now hearing these [things], they were cut through to their hearts [fig., they were infuriated], and they began gnashing their teeth at him.
But being full of [the] Holy Spirit, having looked intently into heaven, he saw [the] glory of Yahweh, and Yahshua having stood at [the] right hand of Yahweh.
And he said, "Look! I see the heavens having been opened and the Son of Humanity having stood at [the] right hand of Yahweh!"
But they, having cried out with a loud voice, covered their ears and rushed on him with one mind.
And having driven [him] outside of the city, they began stoning [him]. And the witnesses laid their cloaks down at the feet of a young man being called Saul.
And they kept on stoning Stephen as he [was] calling on [the Master] and saying, "Sovereign Yahshua, receive my spirit!"
Then having placed the knees [fig., having knelt down], he cried out with a loud voice, "Master, do not hold this sin against them!" And having said this, he fell asleep [fig., died]. Acts 7:54-60

Another Saint is slain for the truth of Yahweh's Holy Word! What did he say? What did he do to deserve stoning? He spoke the convicting truth of Yahweh's word! His words convicted the listening audience, and they killed him for speaking the truth!

Very few people are ever killed speaking the words and wisdom of this world. Listen to the news, read the newspapers, look around you. People are not killed for everyday conversations as a rule.

"They are of the world; because of this they speak of the world, and the world hears them.
We are of Yahweh; the one knowing Yahweh hears us. Whoever is not of Yahweh does not hear us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." 1 John 4:5-5

This passage answers both questions as to why people want to kill the people of Yahweh, and why they don't usually kill their own. Those that would kill are of the spirit of error, Satan. And those that would be the targets of these killers, are of the spirit of truth, Yahweh's chosen. Remember Stephen's dissertation? Only spoke the truth, didn't he? Killed for speaking he truth by evil men.

Therefore, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together a High Council [or, Sanhedrin] and said, "What are we doing? For this Person is performing many signs!
"If we leave Him in this way, all will believe [or, trust] in Him, and the Romans will come and will take away both our place and nation."
But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest of that year, said to them, "_You*_ do not know anything,
nor do you* take into account that it is advantageous for us that one person should die on behalf of the people, and the whole nation should not perish."
But this he said not from himself, _but_ being high priest of that year, that one prophesied that Yahshua was about to be dying on behalf of the nation.
And not on behalf of that nation only, _but_ so that He shall also gather together into one the children of Elohim, the ones having been scattered abroad.
So from that day they plotted among themselves so that they should kill Him. John 11:47-53

This passage is certainly not the key centre of their intent on killing Yahshua. The key lies with the perception of Pilate.

But Pilate answered to them, saying, "Do you* desire [that] I release to you* the King of the Jews?"
For he knew that because of envy the chief priests had handed Him over. Mark 15:9-10

This was really the focus of their evil intentions towards Yahshua! They envied him without a doubt! They thought Yahshua had come to dispose them of their positions and authority. They were troubled by the multitudes that followed Yahshua. They were angered by Yahshua's ability to heal the sick, open the eyes of the blind, raise the dead, and do all the things he did because they could not do them! And this was a real thorn in their side. Who can stand before envy? No one! Remember how the patriarch Joseph was treated by his brothers? All because of his peculiar talents and the coat of many colors. Not that righteousness had anything to do with it, did it? Joseph was a righteous man, and they were not up to his level. So they were convicted by what he said and did! Thus; he had to die! At least in their eyes!

Yahshua did not come to displace the leaders of that era. He acknowledged their position in Matthew 23.

"Then Yahshua spoke to the crowds and to His disciples,
saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees are sitting on the seat of Moses.
"Therefore, all [things], as many as they tell you* to be observing, be observing and doing, but stop doing according to their works, for they say and do not do." Matthew 23:1-3

He tells the gathered crowd to do what they say. However; he did tell those gathered, not to follow their hypocritical ways though! A good passage to close with is this:

"Man that is in honor, and understands not, Is like the beasts that perish." Psalm 49:20

The leaders of the temple in Yahshua's time were in honored positions. The patriarchs of Jacob's seed, the progenitors of the twelve tribes, were also in honored positions. Sometimes these people of renown are at their best, carnal and brutish. If you would kill anyone for telling the truth, where does that leave you in Father Yahweh's eyes?

^{Yours in Messiah, Hawke}