B’reisheet & John 1:1-18

Giving definition:

Torah is most often referred to as THE LAW.

• As New Testament believers, that’s the English equivalent
to the Greek Word “nomos” (law) which was the word
chosen to represent the Hebrew word “Torah” in the New
Testament.

NOW...

We could spend WAY to much time debating if the “Law” is the

right word to use when translating Torah... but I would rather
paint a picture...
because debating semantics becomes irrelevant when you see
the picture
• The picture is where we can all agree.

Strong's H845 - Torah

(From root word yarah Strong's
H3384)==== 
1) law, direction, instruction
Strong's H3384 - yarah
1) to throw, shoot, cast, pour
2) to shoot arrows
4) to direct, teach, instruct
5) to throw water, rain

TORAH comes from the root word yarah, meaning "aim," "cast,"
"throw" or "shoot."

Ironically the word translated “SIN” in our Bibles comes from

the Greek word hamartia -- Strong’s G266
• which means to be without a share in or to miss the mark

• Yarah (the root of Torah) is to shoot or throw

• Hamartia (sin) is to miss the mark

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So...in context Messiah is the bull’s eye. Anything that doesn’t
aim or point to Him misses the mark …Yeshua (Salvation)

Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for

righteousness to everyone who believes.
• End – “Telos” G5056… it can mean:
o point or goal
o the end to which all things relate, the aim or the
purpose

Sterns - Complete Jewish Bible reads:

For the goal at which the Torah aims is the Messiah, who
offers righteousness to everyone who trusts.

It only makes sense that if

• Torah is to shoot or throw

• Sin is to miss

… then Messiah has to be the bulls-eye according to Romans

10:4

With that in mind let me tell you a story from the Talmud about
two famous rabbis and potential convert.

• A gentile came to Rabbi Shammai saying that he would

convert to Judaism if Shammai could teach him the whole
Torah in the time that he could stand on one foot.
• Shammai drove him away with a builder's cubit (measuring
stick!)

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PAUSE… lets define some terms and look at some
principles

• A Cubit was the basic unit of measure in biblical times

o Elbow to finger tip
 Subjective (different length of arms)
 Subjective morality
 We all walk away with “OUR OWN” sense of right
& wrong
• Shammai was holding a builders cubit rod
o Standardized unit of measure
o Figuratively “ the length from God’s elbow to His finger
tip”
o His objective standard of right and wrong
 Black & white
 Thou shalt and thou shalt not
 Clean & unclean
 Holy & profane
 Universal standard of righteousness
o Shammai summed up the Torah (if you will) by soundly
bruising the guy

UNPAUSE… back to the story

• Same guy goes to Rabbi Hillel and asks him if he could teach
him the whole Torah in the time that he could stand on one
foot.

• To which Hillel answers: "That which is hateful to you, do

not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is
commentary. Go and study it."
o Hillel summed up the Torah in single statement
o Did Hillel say the rest of Torah was irrelevant?
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 o Did he believe that nothing else in Torah mattered?

NO! He was Torah teacher… He simply drew a convert in by

going to the center (LOVE) and working toward the edges… (as
Yeshua did as well)

I’ll leave it there for this week and we’ll talk definition and context
as we go…please be sure to pick up a “glossary of Terms” sheet
in the back as you go tonight to familiarize yourself with the
terms.

In the Beginning

Genesis begins by telling us about the beginning.

• The history or chronicles of the creation of heaven and
earth.

The history or chronicles of the Messiah shares the same

beginning. The opening of John’s Gospel declares that the
mysterious “Word”…
• Which takes on Human flesh and blood in the person of
Yeshua
…existed with God and as God “in the beginning”

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning
with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and
without Him nothing was made that was made. John 1:1-3
Why does John call Him the “Word”?

The Greek word here is Logos

• Word
• Speech
• Account
• Reason

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In the Greek philosophical world, logos was first used by
Heraclitus in 600 BCE to describe the impersonal divine reason
or plan that coordinates the universe.

Unlike the philosophers, the Septuagint (the greek translation

of the Hebrew scriptures) uses logos in the normal sense,
meaning
• Word
• Speech

John ties Logos...

• Word
• Speech
...back to creation!

He starts his story with the equivalent of the Hebrew word

Bereshit:
• “In the beginning”

John wants us to read His gospel in concert with it’s parallel

narrative:
• Gen. 1, the Work of Creation.

John masterfully points to the Messiah not only through the

written Torah of Gen 1:1 but also confirming oral teachings of
the sages:

Listen to this from Genesis Rabbah 1:2

• Midrash or interpretation of the Rabbi’s
o written around 5 CE
• In Context John was written around 86ish CE
• So He would have had this in mind as He wrote… to point
his fellow Jews toward Messiah…
“The Spirit of God moving over the surface of the waters is the
spirit of Messiah as is written, “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest
upon Him”, (Isaiah 11:2)

• Again… Scripture points toward Messiah.

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 o Even in a non canonized book… the scripture is
interpreted to point to Messiah
 Even though they missed the person of Yeshua,
they still knew that Messiah was with God at
creation.

By Wisdom:

I Corinthians 1:24 refers to Messiah as the wisdom of God: but

to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, this
same Messiah is God's power and God's wisdom!

7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the

hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for
our glory, I Corinthians 2:7

What is this “hidden” wisdom that existed before the ages?

• Could this “hidden wisdom” be Yeshua the Messiah
Himself?

The idea that God created the heavens and the earth through
Wisdom, definitely has a Biblical thread.

19 The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; By

understanding He established the heavens; Proverbs 3:19

22 "The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way,

Before His works of old. 23 I have been established from
everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever
an earth. 24 When there were no depths I was brought
forth, When there were no fountains abounding with
water. 25 Before the mountains were settled, Before the
hills, I was brought forth; 26 While as yet He had not
made the earth or the fields, Or the primeval dust of the
world. 27 When He prepared the heavens, I was there,
When He drew a circle on the face of the deep, 28 When
He established the clouds above, When He strengthened
the fountains of the deep, 29 When He assigned to the
sea its limit, So that the waters would not transgress His

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command, When He marked out the foundations of the
earth, 30 Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman;
And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him,
31 Rejoicing in His inhabited world, And my delight was
with the sons of men. 32 "Now therefore, listen to me,
my children, For blessed are those who keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction and be wise, And do not disdain it.
34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily
at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors. 35 For
whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the
Lord; 36 But he who sins against me wrongs his own
soul; All those who hate me love death." Proverbs 8:22 –
36

By His Word:

God created the universe through His Wisdom and His Word
• Both, pointing through type and shadow to Yeshua the
Messiah!

God brought the universe into existence through speech.

• Speech expresses the speaker

Yeshua Himself said in Matt 12:34 …out of the abundance of

the heart the mouth speaks.

Psalm 33:6 - By the word of the Lord the heavens were

made, And all the host of them by the breath of His
mouth.

15 He sends out His command to the earth; His word

runs very swiftly. 16 He gives snow like wool; He
scatters the frost like ashes; 17 He casts out His hail like
morsels; Who can stand before His cold? 18 He sends out
His word and melts them; He causes His wind to blow,
and the waters flow. Psalm 147:15-18
• God’s “Word” originates from God Himself
• …enters the World
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 • ….and expresses His being.

10 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from

heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed
to the sower And bread to the eater, 11 So shall My word
be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to
Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it
shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

The divine living Word (Yeshua) is not less than God Himself,
yet at the same time, His living Word is a finite or measurable
form or figure of God.
• I say that… because Yeshua (the Word… or speech)can
function within the limitations of the created universe
o In other words… the creator cannot Himself, exist
within the confines of what He has created
o He lives outside of what has been created

Example:
• Like an author that’s writing a novel, He creates
o Settings
o Situations
o Stories
o Plotlines
o Characters
• He likes the characters so much that He wants to interact
with them… but he can’t because the story is His creation.
o The characters in the book cannot hear the author;
o They can’t see Him
o They can’t experience Him
 Why?
 Because the author transcends the words on the
page…
 As the author and creator… He lives outside of
the story
o So how can He interact with them?

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 o He writes Himself into the novel as one of the
characters
 Creating a written, story version, or form of
himself.
 The WORD became flesh and dwelt among the
characters in the novel
o The written version of the author accurately
expresses the author’s person.
o It is not disconnected from the author
 …But neither is it really the author in his total
transcendence outside the book.

Heb 12:2 talks about us having an “author and finisher of

our faith.”

Think of it this… if God was a luminary like the sun.

• His Word id the light that shines forth from the sun.
o No man can touch the sun
 But we can see it’s light
 And feel it’s warmth
• No man can see God and live…
o but we can experience His living “Word”
 the light that shines in the darkness

The light and warmth are not the totality of the sun!
• They’re merely the parts we can experience here on earth.
• And might I add… all I want to experience in this physical
body.

John continues to allude to the creation narrative.

• In his first act of creation, God said “Let there be light and
there was light.”
John 1:4-5 - In Him was life, and the life was the light of
men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not comprehend it

John says that in the Word or

• in the creative speech that came forth from lips of God
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…there was life

He goes on to say in verse 9

9 …the true Light which gives light to every man coming

into the world.
Explaining… THAT word… the spoken extension of God’s
voice… came to life and became light for man (or humanity)
• The divine light from the first day of creation shines into
the darkness of the world of men.
• Four days prior to God creating luminaries… the Light of
creation was already shining.
o Before the sun
o Moon,
o Stars

Listen to it again

4 In Him (“Him” is referring to the “Word”) was life, and

the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in
the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
• So basically… as God began to speak the Word (Salvation
– Yeshua/Jesus) turned to light and began to displace the
darkness and that very darkness could not comprehend it.

Darkness can symbolizes exile…which is the state we are born

into as sinners
• You will see a theme this year… of obedience leading to
liberty
• Disobedience leading to exile and bondage
o Life
o Death

It’s always a choice, Always has been, always will be…

When we choose to follow Yeshua and His principles (which are

inseparable from the whole of scripture) we walk in liberty…

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when we disregard Him and His ways, we see the spiritual,
physical, and emotional state of that darkness
• Addiction
• Broken relationships
• Pride
• Lust

Those things are the result of spiritual blindness…not

punishment as much as wages of not seeing

Example: walking around with your eyes closed…

HOWEVER;

Light symbolizes revelation…

• There is no revelation in darkness because darkness
conceals
• There is only revelation in the light… because the light
reveals

6 For it is the God who once said, "Let light shine out of
darkness," who has made his light shine in our hearts,
the light of the knowledge of God's glory shining in the
face of the Messiah Yeshua.
1 Cor. 4:6

The Word left God’s lips…

• Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word
(salvation) of God

…Entered the world and became the light for men to see (or
revelation)

…then that Word from Gods lips that revealed salvation

(became light) to men put on flesh and dwelt among us in
tangible form in order to deliver us.

12 But to as many as did receive him, to those who put

their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to
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become children of God, 13 not because of bloodline,
physical impulse or human intention, but because of
God. 14 The Word became a human being and lived with
us, and we saw his Sh'khinah, the Sh'khinah of the
Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. John 1:12-14

Receive
• Accept the Words and ideas of this Rabbi

Who is this Rabbi? YESHUA (S A L V A T I O N!)

• The yoke of a Rabbi… is to follow as he has instructed!

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