Lazarus and the New Mixed Multitude

Lazarus and the New Mixed Multitude
The Gospel of John studies mentioned in this video are at https://firstcenturychristianity.net/the-gospel-of-john/
The benefits of studying the whole bible and living the way Yahweh intended for us to live are plentiful. We understand it’s the same story, with the same expectations for mankind, from Genesis to Revelation. Today’s message is an excerpt from our congregational study on the Gospel according to John. You may watch those studies at firstcenturychristianity.net. These studies show things you Sunday preacher likely never contemplated. They show the remarkabl harmony of scripture and many levels of value for keeping the commandments, just as the Bible authors did.
Slide 2 Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock. (Exo 12:37-38 NAS95)
The congregation at the base of Mount Sinai was a mixed multitude. It included Israelites and non-Israelites. When YHVH spoke the Ten Commandments, it was for all mankind. There is a stark parallel with the Exodus and the end of days. When God executed the 10 plagues on Egypt, He wasn’t just calling out the Israelites. He was calling anybody inside that country who would listen. He was showing the known world that He is the Elohim of elohim, the most powerful being in existence, and if you knew what was good for you, you would hitch your existence to Him and leave the false gods in the dust.
The net result was a mixed multitude being on the other side of the Red Sea and hearing YHVH when He spoke the commandments. These people were grafted into Israel and began the history of the children of God.
This is very similar to those of us who accept Yeshua as the Messiah, also coined Jesus as the Christ. We are adopted children of Abraham and heirs according to the promise. We join the family of God when we accept that His Son died for the sins of those who would accept Him.
Yeshua started to allude to this when He began His ministry. In Luke 4, He provoked those in the synagogue to expel Him by pointing out God worked miracles with the gentiles in days of old. The Jews did not care for that at all. They wanted to be exclusive and He was reminding them that was never the intent. Yahweh is the God of all the universe, not one just for the Jewish people. While they are special, we can see they started as a mixed multitude and the Gospel was intended for all mankind.
What if I told you the New Covenant was also inaugurated with a mixed multitude? What if I told you that the death and resurrection of Lazarus was intended to bring that mixed multitude together? Well, that’s what happened!
Slide 3(Joh 11:4 NAS95), (Joh 12:17-23 NAS95), and (Joh 12:28-30 NAS95)
One of the things we emphasize in our ministry is that the chapters and verse numbers in the bible are not really there. They were inserted over 1000 years after scripture. Those chapters and verse breaks tend to make us think episodes and stories end where the breaks are. But that is not the case at all. In John 11, when Yeshua says the Son of God will be glorified by Lazarus’ death, we read to the end of 11 and think that the story ends with Lazarus’ resurrection and everybody marveling. But the story continues to John 12 and shows many, many people were drawn to curiosity because of this specific miracle including some Greeks. The bible uses the terms for Greeks not just to mean people of Greece, but to refer to the nations – people who are just “not Israel”.
The net result here is that the death and resurrection of Lazarus was a miracle used to create another mixed multitude who were blessed to hear the voice of Yahweh answering His Son on earth. Those people, both Jew and Greek, would become aware that something big was happening. This time it wasn’t ten plagues to destroy a pagan nation, it was miracle performed through the Messiah to give the glory to God. These Greeks who came to hear a Rabbi that had raised a dead man would later have the opportunity to become grafted into Israel by accepted that Rabbi’s own death and resurrection. This is incredibly similar to those of the nations in Egypt who realized what was good for them when Israel was led across the Red Sea. A big different is that we today have the opportunity to join Israel and obtain the same salvation as those Greeks in Yeshua’s day, who were curious about the Son of God. Today, we all have the opportunity to leave Egypt and join the family of God. Are you curious enough to listen as well?
Thanks for listening. Again, this is an example of our teachings at firstcenturychristianity.net. You can join us each Sabbath at 1pm central time either in person, on Zoom, or through YouTube. I’ll put a link to our website wherever this gets posted. See you then!