The theology of our Messiah insists that truth matters, and that knowing the truth about God is absolutely essential for life itself. Nothing is more important; nothing is more vital. As Yeshua solemnly affirmed: “This is eternal life (חַיֵּי עוֹלָם), that they may know you, the only true God (אֶל־אֱמֶת), and Yeshua the Messiah (יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ) whom you have sent (John 17:3). Note that the Hebrew word for knowledge is da’at (דַּעַת), a word that implies intimate cognitive differentiation and the apprehension of spiritual reality. Your life is a venture of faith, an irrepeatable, infinitely costly venture.
Faith both affirms and negates at the same time. Like falling in love with someone, the cost of passionately believing that Yeshua (alone) is the “way and the truth and the life” comes at the expense of other faith possibilities — and thereby incurs the risk of offense (Rom. 9:33, 1 Pet. 2:7-8; Gal. 5:11, Matt. 24:8-11; etc.). Does this make faith in Messiah intolerant then? Not at all… All faith expressions – including skepticism, universalism, or “politically correct” humanism – are exclusivistic commitments to whatever the believer embraces as his or her “ground of ultimate concern.” Each person has their own “narrow gate” — though this gate does not necessarily lead to life. Yeshua taught that the “narrow gateway of life” (שַּׁעַר אֶל־הַחַיִּים) is found only by the few (Matt. 7:13-14), and this doubtlessly was said to reprove the mob mentality that regards “tolerance” as the greatest of all virtues and fanaticism as the greatest of all evils. There is safety in numbers, the mob reasons, and the life of genuine conviction makes you an outcast of the group, since it exposes the “groupthink” and its inevitable moral evasions…. To worldly culture, public enemy number one is the person of real conviction. This was true in the days of the Hebrew prophets as it is today. “The voice crying in the wilderness” often cries alone.
Hebrew Lesson:
