Chapter 41, Part 1 Preview: After Yeshua (Jesus) was crucified, the people who claimed to be His followers were soon divided into two camps: “Nazarenes” and “Christians”. Both terms are found in the Bible.

Nazarenes” is what the Torah observant Jewish believers came to be called. This stems from the verse calling Yeshua a Nazarene (once). It seems apparent that the enemies of the faithful also popularized this application of the term Nazarene towards His disciples, tho the Bible doesn’t apply it to His followers!

The name Nazarene is derived from the Hebrew word “netzer”, meaning  BRANCH.

Jeremiah 23:5-8 The days are coming,’ says Yehovah, ‘when I’ll raise up for David a righteous Branch. He will be a King who rules wisely, and do what is fair and right thruout the land! 6 In his lifetime, Judah will be delivered, and Israel will live in safely. This is the name that He will be given, ‘Yehovah Our Righteousness!’

Many people think that all of the Branch references refer to Yeshua but this particular Branch fears Yehovah and is in awe of Him. This Branch will have the spirit of Yehovah rest on him (this is not the spirit resting on itself):

Isaiah 11:1-6 Then a shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse, and a BRANCH from his roots will take root. 2 The spirit of Yehovah, she will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and power, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yehovah. 3 He will be delighted with and in awe of Yehovah. He won’t judge by appearances, or make judgments based on hearsay. 4 He’ll judge the poor with righteousness, making decisions with equality for the poor of the earth. He’ll strike the earth with the scepter of His mouth, and with a breath from His lips He’ll destroy the wicked. 5 righteousness will be the belt around His waist, and faithfulness the belt around His hips. 6 Wolves will live with lambs, and leopards will lie down with young goats. Calves, young lions and fattened calves grazing together, and a little child will lead them.

This Branch will sprout onto the scene; sounds like an end time descendant of David.

There is one more branch Scripture that is ofter lumped in with the preceeding ones, but it refers to “the man whose name is the Branch”. He’s sort of the John the Immerser of the BRANCH, which accounts for the name. The Yeshua who builds the coming temple will be human, and he will be killed.

Zechariah 6:12-14 and tell him: This is what Yehovah, the ‘Warrior’ King says: Here is the man called the Branch. He’ll branch out of his place, and he’ll rebuild Yehovah’s Temple! 13 Yes, He’ll rebuild Yehovah’s Temple. He’ll receive royal honor. He’ll sit and rule from his throne and he’ll also serve as a priest from his throne, and there will be perfectly sound council between the two responsibilities. 14 The crowns will be given to Helem, and Tobijah, and Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, as a memorial in Yehovah’s Temple.

Christian/s is mentioned three times in somewhat derogatory context in the Bible. The name Christianos, (khris-tee-an-os’) “Christian”, was coined by the enemies of Greek speaking believers in the “(so-called Gentile”) regions. So “Christians” and “Nazarenes” in the Bible can be counted together on one hand. Interestingly, the Bible calls His people disciples 268 times, but never after Acts 21! Various terms are translated as “saints” all thru the Bible, with frequency, from Deuteronomy thru Revelation. Yet that word is derived from paganism. So I prefer to call the people of Elohim (God) what Yeshua called them—kadishea.

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“It is a necessary basic assumption of biblical interpretation that attention to the plain meaning of the text is the door to healthy understanding of the Bible.” (Paul S.Karleen Ph.D.)