Excerpt from The Yahushaic Covenant volume iii Melchizedek and the Passover Lamb Rav Sha'ul $9.99 on Kindle - $15.00 on paperback   The Prophesied and Miraculous Births of Two High Priests of The House of Zadok by Rav Sha'ul   I want to fully explore these two descendents of the High Priest Yahusha III; his grandson John the Baptist and his great grandson Yahusha the Messiah both royal Princes by law of the Sanhedrin: ·        Both were prophesied by YHVH to come ·        Both had the bloodline to be King of Israel. ·        Both had the bloodline to be a High Priest in the Order of Zadok. ·        Both had the unique bloodline to be The Messiah of Israel. ·        Both were born with a miraculous birth as a sign of their importance in the Plan of YHVH. ·        Both were regarded by the Jews of their day possible Messiahs. So what were their respective roles? We have learned so far that Yahusha III was appointed as the first High Priest over the second temple to restore the rightful Zadokite line over the office of High Priest. As I demonstrated in Chapter 1, Prince John was born to Elizabeth who was the daughter of the High Priest Yahusha III. John was the first male descendent and heir of Yahusha III and assumed the mantle of High Priest in YHVH's eyes as prophesied Elijah. If King Herod had not killed the High Priest Yahusha III then Prince John would have been (and truly was) the rightful heir to the office of High Priest in succession being the first male heir. However, Herod had Yahusha III killed and then appointed Simon IV as High Priest so the line of succession of High Priest was moved out of Yahusha III’s descendents. Yahusha the Messiah would then as Hannah's son (as great grandson of Yahusha III) would have succeeded Prince John the Baptist as High Priest. This, in fact, is exactly what happened as the “anointed” line of High Priest continued with John not with the High Priest appointed by Herod. Hence, Prince John was executed followed by Yahusha (a standard practice to those who are a threat to the throne and a corrupt High Priest). I also explained in Chapter 1 how the High Priesthood in The Temple had been totally corrupted. YHVH in fact kept the High Priesthood of The House of Zadok in line by anointing Prince John the Baptist who abandoned the corrupted Temple System and served YHVH directly in “the wilderness” as High Priest. Many Jews of that time (who were seeking the coming Messiah and guarding the bloodline) knew of Prince John’s lineage to Yahusha III as the successor of the Zadok Priesthood. They also knew Herod was evil and followed Prince John as their High Priest not the Temple Priests. These followers of John's were known as Nazarenes. Yahusha too, followed the teachings of the High Priest Prince John and was John’s disciple until age 30 when Yahusha could become a “Rabbi” and succeed John as High Priest. Yahusha’s teachings very much mirrored that of John’s. We see clearly how Yahusha felt about his cousin, High Priest, mentor, the "coming of Elijah", the who made his paths straight teaching Yahusha the true meaning of The Torah, repentance, and salvation: Matthew 11:11 “I tell you the truth, among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist. This is well known among scholars and Jewish history. It should be expected that the young Messiah would indeed follow, learn from, and be mentored by the rightful Zadokite High Priest… Prince John the Baptist. After all, Yahusha was the next heir in succession to John as a descendent of Yahusha III. So John was Yahusha's High Priest; who else would the next in line High Priest learn from? This is why Yahusha went to John to be Mikveh’d (baptized). Because John was Yahusha's High Priest. It was required by Torah standards for Kings and High Priests to be Mikveh’d (consecrated) by the High Priest of Israel over them. Yahusha knew his cousin, Prince John the Baptist, was that ordained High Priest of Israel. The role John would play and the reason the "sign of miraculous birth" preceded John was that he was the prophesied chosen Elijah who would prepare the way for his successor Yahusha and make his path straight. Isaiah 40 40 Comfort, comfort my people, says Yahuah. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from YHVH's hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice of one (John) calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way (Yahusha is "the way" that John was to prepare) of Yahuah; make straight in the desert a highway for our Father (to reveal Yahusha which means the Salvation of Yahuah see verse 5 below). 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 the Salvation of Yahuah (Yahusha is a compound name which literally means Salvation of Yahuah) will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of Yahuah has spoken.” So John was prophesied by both Isaiah and his father Zachariah to "prepare THE WAY who is Yahusha" and make straight a path for YHVH to reveal Yahusha. John was literally born to transfer all authority of the Aaronic/Zadok Priesthood over to Yahusha as well as transfer the sins of Israel onto the shoulders of The Messiah. It is very important to understand John's position as anointed High Priest when he Mikveh'd Yahusha. John, knowing Yahusha was The Messiah, acknowledged Yahusha's greater authority as his successor and future High Priest in the Order of Zadok not to mention Messiah. That is why he told Yahusha he was not worthy to Mikveh him. Because Mikveh is required to consecrate a Priest and John knew Yahusha was The Messiah and didn’t feel his position was above Yahusha’s. Since Yahusha was THE Eternal High Priest an exception had to be made to fulfill all righteousness (Torah requirements). This was the only way Yahusha could be Mikveh'd and consecrated as High Priest, King, and Passover Lamb by Torah Standards as prescribed by YHVH. So John, the current High Priest, obeyed his protégé now ready succeed him as High Priest and Messiah and performed the ritual as required. Now that we realize both John and Yahusha were prophesied Zadokite High Priests for a reason and qualified by blood, let's look at a few more similarities. We see YHVH setting the stage to bring about His "Plan of Salvation" through a human Zadokite High Priest consecrated by Torah standards by another human Zadokite High Priest: both in the rightful line from the House of Zadok the lineage required to be High Priests of Israel. We will see both were born, raised, and prophesied in identical fashion. They both recognized that in each one another as they were close cousins and very well aware of both's prophetic calling and annointing. John’s mother Elizabeth was Yahusha’s mother Miriam’s auntie after all and they grew up together. Remember Miriam went to live with Elizabeth. These two men knew what they were doing and had been groomed for it. Both born miraculous births Both John the Baptist and Yahusha the Messiah were born almost identical miraculous births as a "sign" of their unique and important anointing in YHVH's Plan of Salvation. Much like others who were very important in that Plan of Salvation such as Isaac. The miraculous birth of John the Baptist is recounted in Luke’s Gospel where we learn of the elderly priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth who was barren. Like Yahseph (Joseph) and Miriam (Mary) it was very unlikely any sexual relations occurred between Zechariah and Elizabeth. Because they both were very old, Elizabeth was barren, and Zechariah “doubted” the whole thing to begin with! Just like Abraham and Sarah, identical. Not to mention he served as Priest in the Temple at that time. In each of these cases (Yahusha, John, Isaac, among others such as Sampson) YHVH used the seed of both parents to heal either dead wombs or make fertile a virgin womb. Make no mistake, YHVH is Spirit and has no physical seed: John 4 24 YHVH is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” and those born of THAT seed (of YHVH upon resurrection not human birth) cannot die (Yahusha died proving he inherited death genetically from his father Yahseph): Luke 20:36 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are begotten children of Yahuah, being children of the resurrection. and we all including Yahusha are begotten into His Family upon resurrection. A miracle birth does not make Yahusha a god or "YHVH incarnate" anymore than it did Isaac, Sampson, or John. YHVH would never violate His own "order" by creating a child outside of the seeds of a man and woman. Maybe that is why Yahusha is called "the son of man" 87 times because he was truly the Yahusha ben Yahseph (Yahusha the son of Yahseph). Yahusha clearly explained his claim as Yahusha ben Yahuah by tracing his lineage back to Adam ben Yahuah. Back to John; while Zechariah was performing his priestly duties in the temple, the angel Gabriel came to him and prophesied the birth of a son. Because Zechariah doubted the word of the angel, he was struck dumb until the day of the birth, at which time, filled with the Holy Spirit, he proclaimed his prophetic canticle (Luke 1:68-79). Zechariah’s Song 67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit (breath of YHVH) and prophesied: 68 “Praise be to YHVH, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. 69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), 71 salvation (Hebrew: Shua) from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us 72 to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant (not abolish it as Christianity teaches), 73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham: 74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before YHVH to prepare the way for him (to introduce Yahusha: Yahuah's Shua) 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins (which as part of preparing Yahusha or mentoring him this is what he was to teach the young Messiah and his followers. A doctrine that Yahusha then taught his followers), 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” 80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel. Here we see clearly that John’s father Zechariah knew his son was not The Messiah, but the prophesied one called Elijah (which too is a title meaning Strength of Yahuah) that would come beforehand to prepare as High Priest the way of The Messiah. It is most certain that Zechariah the Priest taught his son Prince John (heir to Yahusha III) exactly what his role would be. John was to properly prepare the people and teach them (including young Yahusha) of salvation and forgiveness of sin and then anoint The Messiah as Eternal High Priest in succession to him. Preparing the way (mentoring Yahusha) and then through Mikveh “setting his path straight”. I want to point out one very important truth. His mother Elisabeth was barren. Zechariah was serving in The Temple. They were both VERY old at this time. They probably stopped having sex a long time ago. Zachariah wasn't buying any of it anyway... They probably DID NOT have sex to produce John. Even if they did, Elizabeth was barren and couldn’t have children. Yet, the seed of Zechariah was “placed in the womb and the womb healed” in miraculous fashion to produce John. Just because John was born a miraculous birth almost identical to Yahusha. In John's case an Angel of YHVH prophesied his birth and gave a child to a barren womb using the father’s seed... in Yahusha's case an Angel of YHVH prophesied the birth and gave a child to a virgin womb using the father’s seed. John's miraculous birth did NOT make John the Baptist part of the "GODHEAD" nor did it make YHVH a pagan Trinity. We do not worship John as equal to YHWH, YHVH in the flesh, or in any way does it make YHVH a polytheistic deity in fashion of pagan gods (they were all Trinities as I demonstrated in my book) John had all the same lineage Yahusha did. John was prophesied to come just like Yahusha was. We need to come to grips with the fact that Yahusha's miraculous birth was not unique! It was a SIGN just like it was prophesied to be and nothing more than that. Isaiah 7:14 Therefore YHVH himself will give you a sign: The virgin (in Hebrew this means "young maiden" has NO sexual connotation) will conceive and give birth to a son (not YHVH). We don't need to elevate Mary to "Mother of God" because Yahusha was not "YHVH" or make YHVH a pagan Trinity or worship Yahusha as god or any of that Babylonian religious "stuff" we have inherited. It is all lies. Speaking of the time when the sons of YHVH are gathered from among the nations (that time is now)... Jeremiah 19 19 YHVH, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say... “Our forefathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit." 20 Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!” 21 “Therefore I will teach them— this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that my name is Yahuah! (not Yahusha and definitely not "Jesus"). Why is Zechariah considered the biological father of John when it was YHWH who gave Elizabeth the child? Because YHWH used Zechariah´s seed in performing the miracle. The same is found with Yahusha, it was Joseph's seed used. I cover this in detail here: http://www.sabbathcovenant.com/doctrine/virgin_birth.htm Both John and Yahusha had to be perfected and learned obedience through suffering The reason I want to quickly touch on this topic is for the same reason I briefly made my point about the miraculous births and “pre-existing”. We are taught that Yahusha was YHVH because of the miraculous birth but for some reason that doesn't apply to John, Sampson, Isaac, Jeremiah, and others. Either a miraculous birth IS reason to deify a man or it ISN'T. Either Yahusha had his beginning in his mother's womb or he didn't. Scripture clearly says one thing and we clearly aren't listening. Let's make up our mind and move forward with Wisdom on this such things. Which brings me to the next points. YHVH has no need of "growing in wisdom and knowledge of Himself" nor does He need to "learn obedience to Himself" not does He have a need of "being perfected"... HE IS GOD! Yet Yahusha was in need of all of these things because he wasn't God. In the same way we are taught Yahusha was born without sin (by denying Yahseph his right as father when "sin" was never passed down genetically in the first place) and we are taught that Yahusha was perfect from birth until death. We lead to believe that Yahusha just pretty much "knew everything" from day one. We aren't made aware that John was his prophesied mentor from which Yahusha learned The Torah and the way of salvation through repentance. We are never taught the truth concerning "Original Sin" that sin is not passed on genetically. In fact Yahusha was not born perfect but was perfected just like John. He was not born with the knowledge of YHVH but had to grow into it, just like John. He was not always perfectly obedient to YHVH, but had to learn obedience through suffering just like John. Yahusha had to be mentored in the faith by John for years (until age 30) before he was ready to succeed John as High Priest. Even after Yahusha was Mikveh'd by John it is well known that Yahusha taught the message of "salvation and repentance" that he learned from John. Why? If Yahusha was "YHVH in the flesh" and a demi-god, would he have need of anything? No, he a man in every way "fully human in every way", albeit a HIGHLY anointed one. We will learn in the next chapter that YHVH even made being The Messiah conditional on his obedience to the Torah! We never learned this either in "church". Truly we have inherited nothing but lies, things that profit us nothing. Yahusha's life was exactly how the life of John the Baptist was described in scripture... identical. ·        Both prophesied to come for a specific annointed purpose. ·        Both born miraculously as a "sign" of their anointing. ·        Both born seemingly outside the physical union of their parents yet with the seeds of their fathers by an Angel planting the seed in a barren womb and then in a virgin womb. ·        Both born Zadokite High Priests descendents of Yahusha III by blood. ·        Both Davidian Princes by blood. ·        Both had to be perfected in obedience through suffering and had to come to know and obey YHVH. ·        Both were mentored in The Faith; John by Zachariah the Priest and Yahusha by John. The only difference between them was their destiny! John was the destined High Priest to consecrate The Messiah who as Yahusha. Luke 2:40, 52 NKJV 40 And the child (Yahusha) grew and became strong in spirit, (and became) filled with wisdom; and the grace (favor) of YHVH was upon him. ... 52 And Yahusha increased (over time) in wisdom and stature, and (increased) in favor with YHVH and men. This doesn't sound like Yahusha was YHVH in the flesh to me. Yahusha GREW in wisdom, strength, stature, etc., just like John the Baptist (see Luke 1:80). This shows that Yahusha was not born "perfect" but BECAME perfected like all other righteous men of Israel (Yet Yahusha was the most Anointed One). We see below that all these attributes were not present in Yahusha at birth (because he was NOT God but a man). Yahusha obtained all these things by "inheritance" as I have demonstrated so far in this book... by blood! Hebrews 1:4 NKJV 4 having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Hebrews 5:8-9 NKJV 8 though he was a Son (not God), yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered (just like all men do). 9 And having been perfected (not born perfect as a God), he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him, Hebrews 7:28 NKJV 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness (Yahusha too was appointed High Priest according to The Law from The House of Zadok), but (in addition to The Law) the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son (to be the Melchizedek or the Ruling Zadoc) who has been perfected forever (as The Eternal High Priest). It should be quite obvious that Yahusha was not born perfect, but he submitted his imperfect personal will to the Perfect Will and Ruach (Spirit) of YHVH. Therefore, he BECAME perfected and thus qualified as the Messiah of Israel BY INHERITANCE!. This is very important as we continue in this book. Next: The consecration of Yahusha as High Priest of Israel HOME   |    DONATE

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