"KABALA"
Apologetics • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 27 viewsWe will be discussing the basis, beliefs, and the refutation of kabala.
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Background and Development of Kabala -
Background and Development of Kabala -
Kabbalah, also spelled Kaballah, Qabalah, or Cabalah, developed between the 6th and 13th centuries among the Jews in Babylonia, Italy, Provence, and Spain. The word “Kabbalah” means "to receive" and refers to revelation from God received by Jews and passed to succeeding generations through oral tradition.
The word was first used by mainstream Judaism but later came to refer to those who believed that only a select few were given the secret knowledge from God as to the "true" meaning of Scriptures. Kabbalah uses occult practices and is considered to be a cult.
Kabala is a school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism.
It was systematized in 11th-13th century France and Spain, and again after the expulsion of Jews from Spain and 16th century Palestine.
It was popularized in the form of Hassidic Judaism in the 18th century.
It is a set of scriptures that exist outside traditional Jewish Scriptures.
Kabala is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an eternal and mysterious Creator and the mortal and finite universe (His creation), and to define the nature of the universe and its purpose.
Kabbalah originally developed entirely within the realm of Jewish and constantly uses classical Jewish sources to explain and demonstrate its esoteric teachings.
These teachings are thus held by kabbalists to define the inner meaning of both the Tanakh, traditional rabbinic literature, and Jewish religious observances.
Kabala Theology vs. Biblical Theology -
Kabala Theology vs. Biblical Theology -
Kabbalah closely resembles some of the beliefs held by the Greek Gnostics in that both groups believed that only a select few were given deeper understanding or knowledge. Also, Kabbalah teaches that “emanations” from God did the work of creation, denying that creation was a creative act directly from God.
With each descending emanation, the emanation became farther away from God. The final emanation took the personal form of angels. This would be like God creating a lesser god, and that one then creating a lesser god, and this kept happening until the end result was angels.
Kabbalah does hold to the inspiration of Scripture but does not seek the plain meaning of Scripture. The Kabbalah approach is mystical and very subjective, using such things as numerology to find "hidden" meaning.
Through this method, almost any teaching that one desires could be "found" in Scripture. This goes against the very heart of communication. God provided Scripture that He might communicate with mankind and teach humanity about Himself. It is obvious that Scripture is meant to be taken at face value and not interpreted by some mystical means.
Kabbalah even has a pantheistic characteristic. Pantheism is the idea that God and His creation are one. Kabbalah says that creation is one of God’s emanations, exhibiting the pantheistic quality of Kabbalah.
Makes claims based upon mystical personal revelations, and holds itself out as making truth claims, but these claims are never subject to falsification (there is no way of either validating or disproving the claims).
It teaches that there is a divine being, neither male nor female, that has 10 primary aspects called sephirot which are represented in the Tree of Life.
Kabbalah teaches that the supreme being created the universe through a series of those 10 aspects that descended through various levels until creation was fully realized.
Kabala is a philosophical system that teaches the importance of personal awareness, but ignores the reality of sin and man’s separation from God.
The Bible
Prophetic Revelation comes only to God’s chosen prophets, a process which has stopped.
Deuteronomy 13:1–5 (NASB95)
1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’
3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 “You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.
5 “But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.
Deuteronomy 18:15–22 (NASB95)
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. 16 “This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’
17 “The Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. 18 ‘I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
19 ‘It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. 20 ‘But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’
21 “You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ 22 “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
1 Corinthians 13:8–13 (NASB95)
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part;
10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book;
Creation was pure when God made it.
31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Mankind sinned and brought curse upon all creation.
Genesis 3:1–13 (NASB95)
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. 8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Romans 8:18–25 (NASB95)
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
Mankind is born dead in sin due to Adam’s rebellion and that this is his greatest problem.
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Restoration is possible, but only through the sacrifice of God’s Messiah and faith in Him.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Summary and Application -
Summary and Application -
We need to remember that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). Therefore, we must not pull back from preaching the message of Christ.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
We need to remember that it is God, by His grace, who saves sinners through the redeeming work of His Son.
We need to remember to pray for those with whom we are sharing the gospel, that the Spirit of God would open blind eyes to respond in faith to God’s Son.
Kabbalah, like all false doctrine and religions, denies the deity of Christ and the necessity of faith in Him as the only means of salvation (John 14:6). Jesus is God in the flesh, and He came to die for the sins of all who would believe in Him. If an individual trusts in Christ—that He is God (John 1:1-3) and paid for sin (Romans 8:3)—then that person is forgiven and becomes a child of God (John 1:12).
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
SO WHAT?
Be committed to live out the great commission!
