Jeff Andras's Blog, page 2

All Stitched Up

Exodus 35:1-38:20, Vayak’hel, “And He Gathered Together”

Over the last few days, I have been thinking back over the last few weekly readings and thinking about how they link together.  I have been trying to hear from the Holy Spirit and move confidently into writing on what I have been thinking.  Then I read the meaning of this week’s parsha.  “And He Gathered Together”.  I am taking this as a confirmation to where I was being led because this is exactly what I have been thinking about doing, gathering together some key concepts from the past few parshas.

Going back a few weeks, when we were discussing the priests’ garments, the concept that kept coming up was “glory and beauty”.  From there, in last week’s parsha, we find Moses moving up onto the mountain and asking HaShem to show him His “glory”.  This week, we move into the description of the coverings for the tabernacle.  As I read the description of the coverings my mind took me back to the priestly garments.  It seems to me that the image of the “coverings” for the tabernacle are an image of the garments or “coverings” that were meant for the priests.  As I thought about this, I considered that the priests’ garments were meant to reveal His “glory and beauty”.   So, with this, I started pondering if the “coverings” that were meant for the tabernacle were designed to reveal the same attributes.  The concepts of the “glory and beauty” came to mind, and this led me back to Moses asking HaShem to reveal to Him His “glory”.

So, with all this, I started contemplating what exactly did HaShem reveal to Moses when Moses asked to see “His glory” and how these attributes are revealed in the priests’ garments and again in the coverings of the tabernacle.  Ultimately, here is where I am going with this.  Is there something particular about HaShem’s nature that He wants us to see, that Moses sought, and that is specifically revealed in the priests’ garments and the tabernacle coverings.  In other words, is there something about HaShem’s “glory” that He knows is particularly important to our relationship with Him and that He wants us to see as “beautiful”?  And is this revealed in these coverings? 

The point is these “coverings” were the first things that the people would see each morning when they gazed upon the tabernacle.  It is what they would see all day when they looked toward it. It is the last thing they would see each night if they took the time to look toward the tabernacle and thank HaShem for His presence amongst them.  And it is what they would see as they stood in line waiting to see the priests and offer their sacrifices.  At the same time, each time they would take a sacrifice up to the priest they would see the priests’ coverings and be reminded of the same imagery as the coverings of the tabernacle itself.  

I believe that ultimately, when we gaze upon Yeshua, we are to see the same things.  However, is there a chance that something is being lost that maybe through the imagery of taking ourselves back in time and joining the children of Israel in the desert, and gazing upon the tabernacle ourselves, that we might discover something about His “glory” that we might be missing?

What I am seeing, is that all of this was created to reveal particular aspects of His nature.  More specifically, the very nature of how He views His glory and what He wants us to see as beautiful about it.    First on the macro scale of the tabernacle as being the image of His presence amongst His people and the work He is doing on us cumulatively.  Then on the micro scale of the personal relationship that He offers each of us individually as He takes us on our own personal journey with Him as His priest.

With this in mind, I sought to consider what He might be attempting to communicate that He specifically references as His “glory" that He sees as "beauty”.  I have to believe that what these garments were intended to communicate go well beyond a physical concept of “glory” or a physical concept of “beauty”.

This led me to taking a little deeper look into the word “glory” from the Hebrew perspective.  In the Hebrew, the word for “glory” is translated as glory, honor, or abundance. It gets a bit more interesting when we look at the root word that “glory” is made up from.  The root word leads us to seeing something as being heavy and weighty.  When we put the two together, we get a form of “glory” that is found in the heavy or weighty aspect of being in relationship with Him.  From here, let’s take a look at what HaShem said to Moses when He was revealing His “glory” to him to see if we find this concept repeated in HaShem’s words. 

In Exodus Exo 33:19, after Moses asks HaShem to show him His glory, HaShem responds with “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” (NASB)

From there, the next thing we find HaShem saying to Moses about Himself is in Exodus 34:6-7 “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” (NASB)

I find it interesting to see that this is the way that HaShem chose to speak into Moses during this most intimate moment when Moses asked to “see” His glory.  The thought of this led me back to the priests’ garments and the concept that they were to reveal both “glory” and “beauty”.  With this in mind, I felt that I had been given what I was called to share in this week’s summary. 

What I am seeing is that Moses was able to see a beauty in this “heavy” side of what it is to be in relationship with God, and that in and through the process of being in relationship with Him in this way, we will bring Him glory.

The questions then become, do the priests garments and the coverings for the tabernacle reveal these same characteristics of His nature?  Taking this one step further, how does this connect to the concept of this week’s parsha title “And He gathered together”.

Let’s start with the title.  The concept of “gathering together” is repeated on so many different levels when considering what we are discussing.  First, the materials had to be “gathered together” from the people.  Once the materials were gathered together, they had to be “put together” with some form of intentionality.  Once put together under the intentionality of the one for whom they would represent commanded, the people became capable of “putting together” an image that was intended to be seen.  Specifically, the image of Him in all of His glory and beauty.  Now it is our turn to use this same process and “gather together” for ourselves a complete image of His relationship with us individually, and His relationship with His people cumulatively.

From here, let's go back to what I believe to be the real key of what HaShem was attempting to reveal as He “gathered together” the elements that would best represent His “glory” and that which He desires for us to see as “beautiful”.  I believe we can find this in the words that He spoke to Moses in response to his asking to see His glory and from the Hebraic understanding of the word "glory".

Once we take the Hebrew understanding of “glory” into the context of what HaShem is saying we gain a greater ability to understand the last few lines in each of the two sections of what He spoke to Moses.  Sure, it is easy to see the beauty in the first half of each section of what He shared.  He will “make His goodness known (pass before him)”, and He will be gracious to whom He chooses to be gracious, and compassionate to those whom He chooses to show His compassion.  But wait a second, what happens to those that He doesn’t chose to be gracious toward?  Or those that He chooses not to show compassion to?  Where is the glory and beauty in that?

The second discussion doesn’t go much different.  Again, He starts out by telling Moses how compassionate and gracious He is.  He goes on to share how He is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.  He goes on to share that He keeps lovingkindness for thousands.  He even goes on to describe His glory as having the capacity to forgive iniquity, transgression and sin.  But then He adds in that He will “by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

Just like in the first section, right there at the end of the second, things seem to go astray.  Is it really to His glory to “visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations”?  And how is this “beautiful”?

Let’s take a look at another example that might help us relate.  Proverbs 23:13-15 “Apply your heart to discipline and your ears to words of knowledge.  Do not hold back discipline from the child, although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.  You shall strike him with the rod and rescue his soul from Sheol.” (NASB)

From the child’s perspective, are we capable of seeing the “glory” and “beauty” of how HaShem is calling parents to parent?  The same principle can be applied when looking at Deuteronomy 28-30 where we read about the blessing and the curse as relative to the children of Israel as a whole.  Again, can we see the “glory” and “beauty” in what HaShem tells us about how He will parent His children as a nation?

The question then becomes, is it possible that these coverings were intended to lead the children of Israel into reflective meditation whereas they could ponder this aspect of His sovereignty relative to the desert journey that He was about to take them through?  From there, the question becomes, are we capable of moving into the same place of meditative contemplation as we reflect on our own journey with Him?  When I think about the various materials that the tabernacle, its covering, the priests’ garments, and the various utensils were to be made of, the list is quite diverse.  Let’s take a look at the list:

Gold, silver, and bronze metalsBlue, purple, and scarlet materialFine linen, goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, and porpoise skinsAcacia wood, oil for lighting and consecratingSpices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incenseOnyx and other fine gems for the ephod and for the breastpiece.

Without going into all the detail of what each of these materials could have represented, I think we can all agree that the various colors can easily represent different moods and emotions.  Additionally, the different materials can represent different feelings and lead us into remembering different life experiences that may have felt soft and comforting or hard and unbending.  The same can be realized when looking at the various metals and how those metals are refined and how the greater the refinement, the greater the value. 

It is interesting to me to note how the various elements were set in gold, held together with gold, and even stitched up with fine gold thread that had been beaten flat and precisely cut into thin enough strands to sew with.  This takes me back to the title of this parsha and forces me to think about the gold and what has to be done when transforming raw gold into a precious metal of the highest quality.  Considering all this and knowing that the gold was at the center of the “bringing together” truly helps me make sense of my life and the journey of the nation as a people in the context of a loving father whose ways are truly “beautiful”.

As I think about Yeshua speaking to Nicodemus and telling him that we must be born of the water and of the spirit, I tend to think about how HaShem didn’t tell us what each of these elements stand for or what they represent.  I think much of Torah is meant to simply lead us into a personal journey were the spirit leads us into a revelation that is unique to us and our own personal journey with Him.

With this in mind, I will cut my writing off before I impose too much, lead too far, or share too much of what the Holy Spirit is speaking into me.  What I am seeing in these things, and how they reveal His “glory” and how I see this side of His relationship to the creation of a nation as a whole as “beautiful” is unique to my relationship with Him.  At the same time, as I reflect on the dynamic of the unique journey of my life with Him, I again find His “glory” to be quite “beautiful” in the context of the diversity of the journey with all its ups, downs, joys, and hardships.

In the end I am left considering that a rainbow of a single color just wouldn’t be that darn special.  Similarly, a life of nothing but joy wouldn’t be that joyous.  A diet of nothing but sweets isn’t healthy.  And, a life of never being challenged to grow would become boring.

With this said, I trust that the point has been made, and that each of you will, in your own time, and in your own way, meditate upon these things and allow Him to reveal to you how the various elements come together as an expression of who He is to you and who He is to the “nation” that He is creating.  

As we close, I ask you to pause, take a moment, and put yourself out in the desert with the nation of Israel.   Can you picture yourself gazing upon the tabernacle?  Can you see all the colors, textures, materials, and metals?  Can you smell the burning fire and the giving of the sacrifices?  Can you see all the people around you and relate to their journey and how they are relating to Him?  With all this in mind can you slow down and look at each element individually and consider how that element might be there to remind you of one aspect of your life journey with Him?  Can you see your emotions in the colors?  Can you relate to the gold, the silver, or the bronze?  Are you able to see the various elements as an expression of who He is, and gain an appreciation of the diverse nature in which He chooses to interact in our lives? 

I pray that as you allow yourself to go down this road that you can see His presence with you throughout all the transitions of your life, that you can appreciate the times that were a bit weightier, and that in this you see a new aspect of His glory.  I pray that as you see the glory in these more difficult aspects of your journey with Him you have the ability to see the beauty found therein.  In and through this, I pray that you are set free in one way or another, and that you grow in your relationship with Him.  Amen

Up The Mountain

Exodus 30:11-34:35, Ki Tisa, The weight of Glory

As I settle into the various concepts of this week’s parsha I am beginning to see a few common themes that run through it.  At first, I thought the discussion on the census felt kind of out of place, but ultimately, I am beginning to see just how important it is in the progression toward the big picture.

Close to the end of the reading we find Moses going before the Lord and interceding on behalf of the people.  He isn’t just looking for their atonement.  By this point, Hashem had already given in to Moses and decided not to destroy the people.  By this point, Hashem had already told Moses that He would send an angel to accompany the people on their journey.  This wasn’t enough for Moses.  He insisted that the Lord not distinguish him as any different than the rest of the people.  Either the Lord was going to be present amongst all, or none.  Moses saw himself as one of the people and refused to let Hashem establish him as anything different.

I take this back to the concept of the census, because within the context of the census, each person was to give the same “offering” to the Lord regardless as to their financial whereabouts.  Basically, I see the exact same thing taking place here with Moses.  As we walk through the progression of this week’s parsha, we can’t help but seeing the contrast between Moses and the people.  Even between Moses and Aaron.  Yet, Moses understands something very deep and Hashem Himself puts forth the principle from the very first words of this parsha.  Basically, what Hashem tells Moses is that “it doesn’t matter how much you can or cannot give, at the end of the day, next to Me and what I provide, from my perspective, each of you is only capable of giving the same and, as far as I am concerned, you all are of equal value. Each of you are but one in the bigger picture of who you are as a whole.”

Within the context of this week’s parsha, this concept bookends the entire reading.  With this concept in mind, there are some finer points that we can take from “the books” that fall between the bookends.  When I picture bookends on a bookshelf, I realize the importance of what the bookends provide.  In short, the bookends are there to keep the books from falling over.  Soto is the case with this week's parsha.  We must remain grounded in this principle that we are “all but one” in the context of the bigger picture.  At the same time, we must learn from what is recorded and available through the “books” that are being supported by this overarching principle.  The point is, let’s learn from what comes between the bookends while remaining grounded in what the bookends teach us.  In this case, “we are but one, and in God’s eyes, all of our sacrifices appear to be the same in the context of atonement”.

Skipping the chase and going straight in for the kill, I am going to spell out exactly what I am seeing.  From there, I am going to expand outward.  The point is this, it isn’t about what we have to offer Him, it is all about what He has to offer us.  This is the hinge pin that holds this entire parsha together.  How are we going to go about this relationship?  Are we going to approach it as if we have something to give Him, that He demands something of us, and that somehow, we make a difference to His plan of salvation?  Or are we going to go about this from the prospective that He has something for us and that we ARE His plan of salvation?

Ultimately, I think this is the difference between Moses and the people.  Aaron is stuck somewhere in the middle.  What I am seeing is that each of these characters approached Hashem in a different way.  How and why they approached Him differently had a lot to do with their life experiences and the interactions that they had had with Him up until that point in their lives.  At the same time, how they approached Him also had something to do with how He created them, what kind of fortitude, motivation, and strength of character they had from the point at which they came into this world.  These are the principles that we must keep in mind when tempted to look at others and make comparisons as to “how their walk looks next to mine” or, “how my walk looks next to theirs” and where the principle of the bookends keep us “standing”.  Ultimately, we have two distractions that take us off the journey of becoming a Moses.  The first is to use ourselves as a plumbline and look down on others for not meeting the standards we have risen to.  The second is to use how we see others as the plumbline that beats us down to the point of self-loathing and condemnation.  Once we can move beyond these two pride-based views and can settle into what this relationship with God is really all about, we are poised to learn a little bit from this week’s parsha. 

Again, I am going to skip the chase and go straight in for the kill.  For me the rest of this parsha comes down to this; Are we approaching this relationship based on minimums or maximums?  Simply put, Torah is a foundation and atonement is the lowest level of the relationship.  When we look at Torah form a legalistic perspective while focusing on atonement it becomes a burden and a weight that we are “under”.  The next step is to see Torah as a foundation that holds us up and that we spiritually walk on. In this context, Torah provides stability to our lives.  Here, we know that we are walking in a right standing with God, and that we are His children.  The question then becomes, how far above the foundation do we want to live?  Another way of looking at this would be, how far up the mountain are we willing to climb?

Again, I am going to go back to the image of Moses, Aaron, and the people.  At the same time, I am going to introduce the concept of the Sabbath.  In Isaiah 58:13-14 we read: “If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (NASB)

What I am seeing in this verse is that the Sabbath is but the introduction to a walk with God.  Let’s call it the foundation.  It is what keeps us on track when we are at the foot of the mountain so that we stay focused on what is taking place on the mountain instead of giving up and making idols of the “gold’ that He has given us.  This concept is introduced early in the parsha.  Later in the parsha, Hashem gives Moses the instructions for the other holidays and connects these holidays to the covenant.  Again, these holidays are simply the foundation to remaining grounded in Him and trusting in all that He is doing.  These holidays reveal His character and remind us of how He has interceded in the past giving us assurance that He will be there to intercede in the future.  From this vantage point we are given the courage to trust Him, and this leads us into a confidence that maybe we too can proceed up the mountain and gain all that Moses has.

I think this is why Moses ground up the gold from the false God (the calf) and mixed it with the water and made the people drink it.  I think he was making a point something to the effect, “this day chose, what will you consume, the water of the living God, or the death of that which is false”.  There is so much here with the gold, the idolatry, and the water that I’m not going to even start down this path.  But maybe this introduction is enough to quicken something into your spirit where He can reveal something deep within you on what you chose to consume each day believing it is what you “need” to survive.

Wrapping this up, the point is this.  Honoring the sabbath, choosing to look to Him for our sustenance and provision, trusting in Torah, waiting on Him, and believing in our salvation are the basic precepts of what it takes to remain in the lowest form of relationship with Him.  In this state we are still a part of the people.  What we are offering is acceptable for atonement.  The question is, is it pleasing unto us?  Is the relationship providing all that we desire?  Are we becoming as free as we would like?  Are our relationships as strong as they could be?  Are our lives filled with the fruit of the spirit?  And is He as pleased as He would be if we were willing to be more dedicated in an effort to be more intimate with Him?

On the other hand, we can allow the Sabbath, the festivals, and all of Torah to give us the faith to know that the journey up the mountain will be worth it.  In so doing, we can grow into the image of Moses who did as He called us to do in Deuteronomy 6:5 when he said, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (NASB).

You see Moses shared these words with us knowing what it is like to go well beyond the requirements of Torah.  For in Deuteronomy 4:29 he tells us that IF we seek the Lord in this way, we surely will find Him.

Personally, I have to believe that this is the way Hashem would want to be pursued. I believe He wants us to know Him, to spend time with Him, and to be transformed through Him.  I believe this is what He wants for us, and when we move into this, I believe it pleases Him very deeply.

Ultimately, we must each ask ourselves a few simply questions.  First off, are we approaching our walk from a pride position where we compare ourselves to others?  Secondly, are we believing that somehow, He is rating us based on what we are or are not capable of providing and the “quality” of our “offerings”?  Thirdly, are we content hanging out at the foot of the mountain or are we really into this for something more?  Have we come to the point of seeing Torah as a foundation that is meant to support us, drive us forward, and give us the footing that will lead us into a lifelong journey with Him?  And, have we come to that place of trusting that giving our full heart, mind, soul, and strength to this journey will be the best choice we have ever made, for in the end, we will see His face, and in the process, our faces will become like that of Moses?

I pray that this has been a blessing and that in and through what I have shared, the Holy Spirit has quickened something into your spirit that will help you take one more step closer to Him.  Amen Amen

Here is a summary of the parsha for those that want to take the time to review:

Up on the mountain Hashem is giving Moses instructions on:

The taking of a census,

The making/use of the laver for washing,

The making/use of the anointing oil,

The making/use of the incense,

The assignment of craftsmen to make all that the Lord had commanded Moses to be made, and

The importance of honoring the Sabbath.

At the same time Moses is getting these instructions from Hashem, the following is happening at the camp:

The people grow weary of waiting on Moses’ return and ask Aaron to make them a god to go before them,

Aaron collects their gold and, using a graving tool, makes a molten calf for them to worship,

The people receive the calf and worship it as the god that brought them out of Egypt, and

Aaron builds an alter before the calf and proclaims a feast which began the next day.

Back up on the Mountain Hashem tells Moses:

What is happing on the ground and to go down to the people,

That He is going to destroy the people, and

That He is going to start over and create a great nation starting with Moses. 

Moses responds to Hashem:

Asking Him if this is what He really wants to do after what He has already done,

Suggest that this will discredit Him in the face of the Egyptians,

Reminds Him of His previous covenants with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, and

Reminds Him that they are HIS people and not his (as Hashem implied).

Hashem changes His mind against destroying the people,

Moses goes down to the people,

Moses throws the tablets of the testimony of the Lord to the ground and destroys them,

Moses burns and grinds the golden calf into powder, spreads it on the water, and makes the children of Israel drink the water,

Moses challenges Aaron and Aaron lies about his involvement in the making of the calf,

Moses gathers the sons of Levi to himself and assigns them to destroy the people.  The killed about 3,000 in total,

Moses challenges the people to dedicate themselves to the Lord, and returns to the mountain to seek atonement on their behalf,

Moses seeks atonement for the people while asking that their fate be his fate,

Hashem compromises and tells Moses that He will send and Angel to go before the people, but He himself will meet with Moses,

Hashem commands the people to remove any jewelry from themselves and the people do this,

Hashem and Moses meet face to face in the tent of meeting,

We are told that Moses came and went from the tent, but Joshua would not leave the tent,

Moses returns to Hashem and convinces Him to personally go before himself AND the people and to accept the people as His own,

Moses asks Hashem to show him His glory,

Hashem responds, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” (Exodus 33:19 NASB)

Per Hashem’s instructions, Moses cuts two new tablets of stone, takes them up the mountain, and Hashem stood with him, and passed by in front of him,

In His passing, Hashem spoke these words to Moses: “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

Moses again requests Hashem’s favor, to make the people as His own possession, and that He be present in the midst of the people,

Hashem provides Moses with ten distinct instructions that include the requirements for the feast days, ties these instructions to the covenant, and tells Moses to write them down,

Moses was with Hashem on the mountain for 40 days and nights and did not eat or drink,

Hashem writes the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets,

Moses descends the mountain not aware that the skin on his face shone because of his speaking with Hashem,

Moses spoke to the leaders and moved into a practice of veiling his face when before the people and unveiling his face when before Hashem.

A Holy Scent

Exodus 27:20-30:10, Tetzaveh, “To Command”

All I can say is WOW.  What an amazing week this has been.  As I sit here and contemplate where I started with my concepts of what this blog would be about, and where I am today, I simply can’t believe that only a week has passed.  Not even a week, five short days.  Sadly, I really had to have my world rocked a bit to get to the point to where I have come.  But, as is the case, true to God’s form, it is in these moments of our greatest trials that He shows up and shows off.  Today has proven to be one of those days.  Praise God with an Amen Amen!!

As I look at the title of this weeks parsha and consider where I saw myself going at the beginning of the week, everything fit nicely into a neat little box with a really cute red bow.  Simply put, we are God’s priests, He calls us to look like priests, act like priests, walk like priests, and live like priests.  To say that He commands us to do this is an understatement.  Torah isn’t about telling us how to act. Torah is about telling us who we are to become.  Torah defines the very purpose of our existence and the reason that we have been given life.  Torah tells us about who we are, who we are to identify with, and what our destiny is.  Within this week’s parsha and the description of the priests garments all the imagery of this comes flowing out through the astounding creativity of God and His Word.  It is all right there.  Last week I shared what I call the first great commission.  It is found in Deuteronomy chapter 4.  It reads:

“See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it.  “So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’  “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him?  “Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?  (Deuteronomy 4:5-8 NASB)

Simply put, our calling, our identity in the world, and our purpose is to become the priests that God can use in this way; to lead the world to seeing His statues and judgements as righteous, our wisdom, and our understanding with Him as the source of all that we are, all that we believe, and all that we do.  With this concept in mind, I moved into the reading.  Right at the beginning we read “You shall charge the sons of Israel, that they bring you clear oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. (Exodus 27:20 NASB)

My mind immediately made the connection that the quality of the “light” that we emanate is directly proportional to the “purity” of the spiritual influences that we allow to drive our thoughts, words, and actions.  The next verse that really stood out to me was Exodus 28:2 where we read, “You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.” (NASB)

With this I thought, “Yes, for glory and for beauty”!!  Amen Amen.  Praise God, this is our calling and of course, living Torah is beautiful, it is attractive, and it does give off a magnificent light.  This is what it is to be a priest.  This goes beyond commandments; this is about identity.  We are to be beautiful, inside, outside, in our words, in our actions, in our thoughts, and in every aspect of our lives.  This is what it is to live in the Holy Spirit and truly trust in Him.  This is what brings Him the glory; when we can become the priests that He has called us to be”.

And so, it went, each element got a concept that fit nicely into my little box with the cute red bow. 

Each element…..glory and beauty…..the breastpiece, the ephod, the robe, the tunic, the turban, the sash, the holy garments!!!!  All of this on the coat tails of the light of the lamp burning from the most PURE and CLEAN perfect first beating of the most virgin of the olive oil.

Then the gold, the blue, the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen.  All used to make up what the priest were to wear.  Can you imagine what these garments looked like?  To say glory and beauty is almost an understatement.  They must have been radiant!!

Then comes the addition of precious gems.  On the shoulders, two onyx stones.  And if the stones aren’t enough, they were to be engraved with the names of the sons of Israel in the perfect cut of a jeweler engraving a signet!!  Then these stones were to be set in pure gold.  Can you feel it?  Glory and beauty!!  The calling, the identity, the destiny of what it is to be His.  Simply amazing, isn’t it?

As I continued to read and “listen”, I was reminded that this is what we are called to look like, to have the Holy Spirit so deep in us that all the world sees is the most perfect light.  No other spiritual influences, nothing but pure Holy Spirit, shining through all the time, holy, Torah observant, following the commandments, and trusting them.  To be priests so in tune with God that we are not just following Torah, we are Torah.

Just as the priests carried the names of the children of Israel on their shoulders, we carry the names of our wives, our children, and all those that God brings into our sphere of influence on ours.  It even goes beyond that; we are even entrusted with the names of the hurt and lost of the world; those that don’t even know we are praying for them.  Yes, this is what it is to be a priest.  To see all those people as fine gems, to know them by name, and knowing that simply being who we are called to be is the answer.  Glory and beauty.  What an amazing plan to lead the world out of the death of sin and into the glorious light of being His.

Just when I thought the imagery was deep enough, I read that the breastpiece was made up of more fine gems, twelve in total, each bearing the name of one of the tribes of the children of Israel. As the verses came alive, and the words so precise, it is apparent that carrying those we are entrusted with on our shoulders isn’t enough.  God knows that we simply can’t carry anyone on our shoulders who isn’t also in our hearts. 

Exodus 28:30 “Aaron shall carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the LORD continually.”

YES…..this is the truth.  As priests, this is our calling.  We are to be all of this, and we are to carry the judgments of those that God has entrusted us with in our hearts.  This is what keeps us humble.  And the prayers of the humble are heard and answered.  This is what it takes to be intercessors, spiritual leaders, and spiritual covers for those that God has entrusted us with.

The more I meditated on these things the more excited I got.  Nothing but glory, nothing but beauty.  The light of lives exhibiting nothing but the perfection of the Holy Spirit’s exclusive presence, emanating from our mouths words that are as pure as the sounds of tiny bells nestled in the midst of the sweetness of pomegranates.  Never any evil speech.  Never any course talk, never anything said in anger, frustration, or bitterness.  Above our mouths and upon our head we are to wear a plate of pure gold engrave with “Holy to the Lord”.  Amen Amen

From here my mind went through the process of sacrifice, of dedication, and of consecrations.  I contemplated how each of these stages exemplified the journey of our lives as God takes us through the trials and tribulations that refine us.  I heard Yeshua’s words “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25 NASB).  Again, the image of glory and beauty. 

Then I got to the incense and I started to get a little uncomfortable.  I’m not sure why.  Each of the other images should have been equally intimidating, but here, in the sweet smell of the perfect aroma I stopped dead in my tracks.  I didn’t spiritualize the fragrance of the incense into the image of perfect prayers.  I could have.  It would have been easy.  But the Holy Spirit didn’t let me.  All of a sudden, I came to something that didn’t fit into that nice little box with the cute red bow.  Something ugly was happening and I didn’t like it.

I called out to God and I said: “God, I can be all that other stuff, but I can’t make myself smell good all the time.  I work, I play, I live life, and (excuse me for being curt) but sometimes my digestive system embarrasses me.  What am I to do with this one God?  What am I supposed to say?  How can I write a blog holding people accountable to forever, day in and day out, emanating nothing but the smell of perfect holiness?  It just isn’t possible.”

As I started allowing myself to see myself for who I truly am I started letting my self-image slide into the abyss.  I heard myself saying; I am not a suitable spiritual cover, I am not a suitable spiritual leader, I am not holy, my words are not those of a priest, and my actions fall short, I stink, and I’m not convincing anyone of anything any different.

Then, just as fast Romans 8:1 was quickened into my spirit.  “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  (NASB)

And just that fast I was led into what this blog is really all about.  The truth is, I will never be able to walk in the holiness of what the priests’ robes imply they are covering.  I just can’t do it.  You can’t either.  None of us can.  That is why we need Him.  Yeshua is our covering.  He is the one that makes us beautiful and in being the garment that covers us, He gets the glory.  It simply isn’t ours to take. 

The questions we must each ask ourselves are these:

Do we have the grace to accept ourselves when we don’t “smell” as pleasant as we think we should?Do we have the grace to live with people who “stink” from time to time? Can we look at ourselves and those that God has surrounded us with and see each other as the priests we have been called to be; priest who are in the process of “becoming” and not priests who haven’t yet “arrived”. 

You see, I have come to accept that this is who I am.  The truth is, as a man of God, I chose to live every single day to please Him and to become the priest that He has called me to be.  But in that process, I know there will be times that I blow it.  I will make mistakes, and I will fall short of the Glory of God.  Simply put, I just won’t be that darn beautiful and from time to time, my actions, words, and thoughts might even “stink”.  That’s just the way it is, but it won’t be hypocritical about it.  My failures will be in the image of a man broken by the reality of the truth.  I need Him, and He is what the world sees when I am “holy and set apart”.  It is for His glory and it is Him who is beautiful.  My job is to simply let Him transform me as much as I can each and every day knowing that I will never be capable of being seen as Him when I let myself be seen without Him. 

I pray that this has been a blessing to you and that if you have been too hard on yourself, that you always remember, there is no condemnation in Yeshua.  At the same time, if you have struggled with being too hard on others, I pray that the brokenness that I have been taken through this week be a path to a place of brokenness for you.  I pray that in this brokenness you find peace, and in and through this, maybe we can all “smell” just a little more holy.  Amen Amen

Looking to Heaven

Exodus 25:1-27:19, Terumah, “Heave Offering”

As I moved into what I felt the Holy Spirit was giving me on this week’s reading I landed on something that I have been wanting to write about for a long time.  I have been considering what it looks like to “have a contemplative approach to the bible that does not wash away the orthodoxy of our calling”.  I don’t think there is a better place to see and understand this concept than with a discussion around the Tabernacle and the various elements.  Often, we hear that the Tabernacle (which ultimately modeled the construction of the Temple) was designed to point to Yeshua.  I fully agree with this while at the same time, maybe not in the way most people would consider.

Let’s start out by looking at some definitions and make sure we are all on the same page.  The first thing is, what exactly am I talking about when I say “contemplative” and “orthodoxy”?  The word “contemplative” in the simplest form means to contemplate or meditate.  Orthodoxy is associated with the practice of customs, beliefs, rituals, and/or religious disciplines.  In modern years these two concepts have almost been portrayed as being in opposition to one another.  New forms of “Christianity” have sprouted up that claim to be “contemplative” and suggest that through their “deeper” insights, they see the orthodoxy as less than important in what they would argue to be the “bigger picture” of God.  At the same time, there are those on the side of orthodoxy that tend to see meditation and contemplative thought as something non-biblical and out of the scope of “Christian” disciplines.

With the later in mind, I think it is important to look at the biblical support for approaching God, the Torah, and our relationship with Him through meditation and contemplative thought as a biblical truth.  Here are just a few of the many scriptures.

“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.”  (Joshua 1:8 NASB)

I will meditate on Your precepts, And regard Your ways. (Psalms 119:15 NASB)

And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Your statutes. (Psalms 119:48 NASB)

On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. (Psalms 145:5 NASB)

One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek:  That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple. (Psalms 27:4 NASB)

For me contemplation and/or meditation is a really important aspect of the Judeo-Christian walk.  It is important to note that I do not see this form of contemplation as one of emptying out the mind and seeing where it ultimately goes.  I believe the scriptures are very clear that we are to mediate on the scriptures, on His precepts, on His Word, and on how He says He interacts in this world and in our lives.  I believe this “contemplation” is a form of simply taking what He has said and going to Him and asking questions, to listen to His voice as He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, and to consider a more thorough understanding of His basic precepts.  The image is that of an inquisitive child seeking a deeper relationship with their father by coming to Him with questions.  Here are some scriptures that support this form of discussion with the Holy Spirit.    

‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ (Jeremiah 33:3 NASB)

“But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.  (Deuteronomy 4:29 NASB)

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  (Matthew 7:7 NASB)

‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.  (Revelation 3:20 NASB)

With all this said, I think it is time to move into the meat of where I believe the Holy Spirit is leading me.  Ultimately, through my time of contemplation and meditating on the Tabernacle, the Word, Yeshua, and all the scriptures written about them, I have come to see the Word in a lot of different ways.  One of the ways that I have come to see it, is that it is a guide that helps us to understand the interaction between the physical world and the spirit world.  Ultimately, we are physical beings living in a physical world. At the same time, we are spirit beings living in a spirit world.  All too often, we forget the second part of this and end up seeing things strictly through our physical eyes.  I believe that through meditating on the Word we are moved back into center in our relationship with Him whereby we are reminded of the spiritual nature of the world around us, our very being, and who we are as His children.

At the same time, it is important to remember that, it is just as easy to get overly focused on our spiritual nature and the fact that we are spiritual beings living in a spirit world.  We must remember that we are physical beings living in a physical world.  If we get overly spiritually minded, we lose connection with others, we move beyond compassion, and lose our sense of empathy.  It is also important to remember that God gave us a way of life that is substantially physical and how we embrace or reject those precepts leads to manifestations in the spirit world.  He calls His ways life and our wisdom.  He says that they are holy, and He calls us to be holy.  Regardless as to what is revealed to us in the spirit, we must always remember what His Word says about the physical too.  Yeshua was fully man and fully divine.  He was nailed to a physical cross, and He bled real blood.  That real blood was shed for us.  We simply can’t lose sight of these physical realities and how important they are to the Judeo-Christian calling.

I believe the fullness of Torah being about where the physical and spiritual worlds intersect, and how they relate to each other, is best portrayed through the Tabernacle and Yeshua Himself. 

In Hebrews 8:1-5 we read: 

Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man…….Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things (NASB)

From this, it is clear that the earthly tabernacle erected by Moses and the subsequent Temples that were built all “serve (as) copies and shadows of heavenly things”.  So, the question then becomes, what heavenly things?  I would argue that when these things were given, Yeshua was still at the right hand of the Father in heaven and these things pointed to Him, His nature, and His grace.  I believe that this is what John was seeing when he wrote 1John1: 1-3.

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also (NASB)

Putting this into my own words, what I hear John saying is, that as they came to know the physical Yeshua, they grew in their understanding of the savior aspect of the trinity that was with God from the beginning.  I believe he is even saying that he came to the place of seeing how all of Torah communicates an understanding of this aspect of the trinity and, from the beginning, was intended to lead us into a relationship with Him.  This is further clarified in Philippians 2:5-7 where we read:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. (NASB)

In other words, I would argue that one of the major reasons that God sent Yesha down to earth in the form of a man was so that He could serve as a sense of “copy or shadow” of who He is in the spirit, who He had been as the mediator of the Mosaic Covenant, and who He would be as the mediator of the New Covenant.

From this perspective, we can now start seeing that the physical tabernacle and Yeshua were both pointing to the same thing.  They were both pointing toward that which is and has forever been in heaven.  The spiritual Yeshua who was with God in the beginning.  It is no mistake that the Tabernacle points to the man of Yeshua, and that the man of Yeshua is revealed in the Tabernacle.  This is simply a byproduct of the two of them both being given for the purposes of helping us to see and understand the nature of the trinity and who He is in the heavenly realm.

Herein is where things can get a little sticky if we are not careful. This is the stumbling block that I believe most the contemplatives fall into.  I believe that what I have shared is fully accurate and biblically supported.  I believe it is the heart of what God has been attempting to communicate to us for thousands of years.  At the same time, we must remember that Torah is not strictly about helping us understand that we are spiritual beings living in a spiritual world with a spiritual father who is quick to forgive and full of loving kindness.  We must remember that Torah is about the intersection of the physical and spiritual worlds.  We must remember that during the times of the temple there were animal sacrifices that met the ways of God and through which the spirit of Yeshua manifested.  For the last 2,000 years embracing what Yeshua did on the cross is foundational to doing things God’s way.  This is where the orthodoxy comes in.

We must remember that we are fully physical, living in a physical world, and bondservants to God, bought with the price of the blood of Yeshua, and dedicated to making Him Lord.  In this magnitude, we have agreed to do things His way, allow Him to work through us, and to use us to reveal the truth of His Word.  We must always remember that Torah provides the rules of how the physical and spiritual worlds interact, that He wants the world to see Torah as a gift, and that our side of the covenant is to lead the world not only to Him, but to His ways and His truths.  This is a major part of our faith walk.  To believe that Torah is good, our wisdom, and life reveals that we trust Him in what we do not understand.

I think this is summed up in what I call the first great commission.  It is found in Deuteronomy 4:5-7

See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it.  “So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’  “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him? (NASB)

When I think about the tabernacle and meeting Him there, I am taken back to Revelation 3:20.  ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.  (NASB)

I believe this is a wonderful image of what it is to tabernacle with Him, to invite His Spirit into our being, and to open ourselves up to experience His presence within us.  I pray that this has been a blessing to you and that through something you read here today you have been given an image that will help you find a more balanced walk in your relationship with Him.  I pray that we all continue to grow in our likeness of Him, our relationship with Him, and in and through these things, our relationships with others.  

A Heart of Love

Exodus 21:1-24:18, Mishpatim, “Judgements”

As I started preparing for where I felt God was leading me with this message, I had a lot of thoughts as to where I would ultimately go with this.  At the core is the concept that we tend to approach things from how they appear to us in the physical.  From there, I started contemplating how mankind has been conditioned by the concepts of bartering, trade, and exchange.  True love does not barter, it does not keep track, and it does not trade itself for anything in return.  True love is an open hand, an open heart, and simply an extension of ourselves.

What I am describing here is the Love of God.  You see, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wants to extend His love to us in such a way that it simply sets us free.  In this freedom we become His friend, and in that relationship, we can experience and spread “life” and “life to the fullest” as we love others in the same way He loves us.

On the other hand, the pagan or demonic gods tend to use our flesh desires to lead us into bondage so that we serve them and in so doing, they can experience and spread “death” through us.  They are demonic, self-serving, and care about nothing except their desire to manipulate us through their false promises so that they can use us for their own purposes. 

Sadly, we are so conditioned by these types of relationships that we tend to approach God in the same way and even repeat the pattern with our own families, friends, and those that God has entrusted us with.  The pathway to true intimacy, love, and relationship must go through the self-reflection of investigating the real motives behind our every action.

Ultimately, this self-reflective journey will reveal to us what we are truly focused on.  Are we looking at what we are going to get?  What we want?  Or, our own feelings?  The concept of seeing what we are focusing on and how we approach the relationship ultimately dictates what our relationships will end up being. When it comes to our relationship with God, these principles dictate how rewarding the relationship will be, and ultimately how much freedom and life it delivers us into. This ultimately dictates how well He can use us to spread his Light, love, and life to others.  “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”  (Matthew 6:25 NASB)

I believe this is what Paul is addressing in Romans chapter 9.  When speaking of the Children of Israel he says.  “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.  Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone (Yeshua).  (Romans 9:30-32 NASB)

I really like how Paul worded this.  Notice that he is saying that the gentiles “did not pursue righteousness” where as Israel, “pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law”.

From what I am seeing, our entire relationship with God comes down to what it is that we are putting our focus on (pursuing).  In this, I am going to use an example.  I do a lot of driving.  One of the first things that my dad taught me when I was learning to drive was that I would drive the car toward what I was looking at.  In this example, it doesn’t matter that our desire might be to keep the car on the road, if we let our gaze move off to the side of the road and don’t return our eyes back to the road in front of us, sooner than later, we will be driving the car off the side of the road.

This is exactly what I believe Paul is getting and, and sadly is still so common within the family of God’s people still to this day.  Here are some questions to consider:

What do we want our relationship with God to look like?What do we believe will be necessary to lead us into that relationship?What are we “focusing” our attention on as we seek that relationship?

 

As we read through this week’s parsha we are led through three full chapters of judgements.  After completing the summary, God calls Moses to bring Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel up to worship Him.  Before doing so, Moses recounted the words of the Lord and all the judgements to the people.  Upon hearing these things, the people responded “All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do!”. (Exodus 24:3 NASB) From here, Moses wrote all the words of the Lord down, arose early, built an altar, and sent young men of the sons of Israel to sacrifice young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord.  From this, Moses sprinkled half the blood on the alter, and the other half onto the people.  Prior to sprinkling the blood onto the people, Moses read the words to the people, and again they said “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” (Exodus 24:7 NASB) While Moses was sprinkling the blood on the people, he said to them ““Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.” (Exodus 24:8 NASB).

As I read these words, I feel like there is an emphasis on the “words” or judgements.  Although what Moses is saying is fully accurate, I believe John is saying basically the same thing in 1 John 4:7–5:3 in a much better way.  Ultimately, John connects the honoring of God’s commandments to the blood of Yeshua, but the presentation comes across as focused on the Love of God more than the commandments themselves.

Before I share these words, I want to add one more scripture.  ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’ (Leviticus 17:11 NASB) Because Yeshua is the way, the truth, and the life, I would argue that He is the life force that is within the blood of the clean animals.  If I am correct in this, it is the “blood by reason of Yeshua that makes atonement” for us.

With that said, let’s take 1 John 4:7-5:3, reduce it down a little, and change the wording to go back to Moses sprinkling the blood on the people and connecting that to the covenant and the words that the Lord had given him to share with the people that day.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has given of Himself in this blood that I sprinkle on you this day so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and offered Himself in this blood [to be] the propitiation for our sins.  …………… We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.  …………………  We love, because He first loved us………………Whoever believes that this blood is given of God is born of God, and whoever loves the Father sees the life that is in this blood and that through that life our sins are atoned.  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.  For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

What I am getting at is this.  When we approach the commandments of God and say “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” as our primary focus, we tend to move into a position of attempting to please God through the keeping of His commandments.  This is what I was talking about in the opening paragraphs of this message.  Our tendency is to focus on the ticks and tacks because they are tangible and physical.  We must remember that He is spirit, and it is His love that truly is at the center of the covenant.  The only thing we need to receive that love is to accept it in the way He is offering.  It truly is that simple.  When Moses was speaking these words, His love was manifest in the blood of sheep and goats.  In this dispensation, His love is manifest in the blood of His only begotten son.  These are His only terms and there is no barter.  It is simply an offer from Him that we are free to accept or reject.  In accepting, His Spirit moves into us and He grows us into the image of the covenant.  It is not something that we do to earn anything.

In this, we approach the blood knowing that it is being given specifically because we CAN NOT fully keep His commandments, and this frees us to approach the covenant from a completely different perspective.  This is the perspective that keeps us on the road toward a deep and meaningful relationship with Him.  It keeps us on a path that avoids a spirit of religion, and keeps us on the path where His love inspires us and motivates us to walk more and more in His word each and every day.

There is no doubt that He does have a way of life that He has given us.  It is truth.  It is holy.  And it is righteous.  There is no doubt that He wants us to grow into it.  To walk in it.  And to live in harmony with all that it is.  At the same time, the heart of the covenant is not found in our ability to do these things.  The heart of the covenant is His heart.  It is a heart that is full of love, grace, understanding, and compassion.  It has always been this way and it will forever be.  When we accept His invitation to come under His blood, to enter into the family, to become a part of the “nation”, we step into relationship with Him.  In and through this relationship He will pour out His love on us and mature us into the children that we were created to be.  In and through this He will give us new hearts and set us free from the ways of this world.  In His love, He will transform us, make us holy, and set us apart.  Our part is listening to Him, allowing Him to do what He is doing, and let Him make us into all that He has called us to be.

I pray that in and through this message we have been challenged to take a deep look into how we go about relationship in general.  Are we open to accept the love that others extend to us?  Or, are we always on guard wondering if someone is attempting to manipulate?  Are we truly open handed in our expressions of love? Or, are our own desires and needs truly at the center of what we want to believe is an expression of “love”?  As we work our way through these questions, I have to fall back on those verses I shared from 1 John.  We are only able to love when we finally embrace the love that He has for us.  His love teaches us to love others in the same way He loves us and it transforms us into beings that are capable of doing it.  If any of us are struggling in how we are accepting and extending love in our human relationships, maybe it is time to investigate what is at the center of our relationship with Him.  If we focus on the love, we will move toward it.  On the other hand, if we are focused on anything else, that is where we will ultimately go.  I pray that his has been a blessing.  Amen Amen   

Embracing Death

Exodus 18:1-20:23, Yitro, “Jethro”

As always, I tend to try to see how the title of the parsha may be a theme that runs its way through the reading.  This week, I came to a kind of interesting concept.  It may be a little far reaching, but maybe not.  I will let you be the judge.  In any event, I think the end message has value.  I pray it is a blessing.

As I entered into the reading, the first thing that hit me was what Jethro was doing.  He was taking Moses’ wife and children to meet him so that they could enter the promised land together.  The first thought that came to me was Moses having his bride brought to him as he made his decent upon the land.  This immediately gave me an image of Revelation 19 where Yeshua is descending down from heaven, through the clouds, on his white horse, with the trumpet call, and the bride is carried away to the marriage supper.

The question hit me, could this section of scripture be a foreshadowing of what will ultimately take place when Yeshua returns to set up the millennial kingdom?  Throughout history, the sages have seen Moses as a messiah of likeness.  As such, making this connection is very in tune and in harmony with rabbinic imagery. 

As I pressed forward, I kept in mind that there are other characters to this story.  More importantly, I remained open to asking the Holy Spirt to reveal what can we take from all this that provides something that is real and tangible in our pursuit of God and a deeper relationship with Him? As I contemplated the other characters, I was led to Isaiah 49:22 where we read: “Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations and set up My standard to the peoples; And they will bring your sons in their bosom, And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.” (NASB).

So, there you have it.  From what I am seeing, the two children are the individual sides of the one new man making up the whole house of Israel.  In this image, the “whole house of Israel” is made up of those who are the natural descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob together with those believers who have allowed themselves to be “grafted” to His people.  In this, Jethro represents the nations that will have their eyes opened to the truth of who He is.  In this, they will fulfill these prophecies as they facilitate the delivery of the “nation”, this time in the fullness of her maturity (as the bride), to the real Messiah (Yeshua), when He descends upon Israel to set up His kingdom.

This gets a little more fun when we start looking at the names of the two children.  Moses’ first son was named Gershom meaning “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”, and the other son was named Eliezer meaning “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.”  From how I am seeing this, the first child represents the natural relatives.  Since the time of Yeshua, we have been sojourners in a foreign land.  His name represents the very words that the natural children of Israel will speak as we are gathered into Him.  From there, I am seeing the second child as representing those believers who have grafted themselves into the “nation”.  Historically, when a person, other than that of the natural blood line of the patriarchs, wanted to join themselves to the “nation” they would go through a formal “re-birth”.  In this re-birth, they would go through a mikvah (basically what we know of as baptism).  In this, they would go under the water as children of their earthly family.  As they passed through the waters, they joined themselves to the “nation” and took on a new identity.  When they emerged from the water, for all intents and purposes, they had from all perspectives, been fully adopted into the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  This is an image of those Egyptians who left Egypt, passed through the waters of the red sea with the children of Israel, and who moved out into the desert with them as they began this journey with Him. 

In this context, the second child’s name makes perfect sense. They no longer see their father as their natural father, but Abraham.  In grafting themselves to the “nation” they escaped Egypt along with those that were natural descendants just as if they were one in the same.  Together, they were all set free from the sword of Pharaoh through the help from the God of “their” father Abraham.  Again, I realize I am taking some creative license with all this, but this is what I love about Hebraic thought.  This kind of thought is commonplace within midrash and Hebraic life.

So, now that we have the stage set, let’s get into the meat of what I think is really important.  In what I am seeing, the two sons and the wife in this story are separate and distinct at this point in time.  However, by the time of the second coming of Yeshua and the establishment of the messianic kingdom, they will become one and the same.  The “nation” will no longer be two distinct children, but one bride.  What keeps the children “separated” is our heart condition toward Torah.

Even within the messianic community the debates and arguments still exist between what is and is not “required” of the gentile believers.  From here I am going to take us to Acts 15 and move into a really important concept.  Instead of interpreting this from the angel of traditional debate, I am going to move in from the other side.  The angle I am going to approach this from is relative to people like me.

I am fully Jewish.  Both my mother and father are blood relatives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  I am Levitical on my mother’s side.  So, according to Acts 15, what is my “obligation” to Torah observance?  If we take the argument that Acts 15 is about establishing that natural descendants have a different obligation than those grafted in sheerly based on our blood line, I think we are missing a really big point.  Obligation is a legal term that implies guilt when not honored.  Guilt is connected with knowledge and understanding.  Yeshua hits this point in John 15:22 where He says ““If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have guilt, but now they have no excuse for their sin.” (NASB).  This ties back to Leviticus 4:13-14 where we read “Now if the whole congregation of Israel commits error and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly, and they commit any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and they become guilty; when the sin which they have committed becomes known” (NASB)

This concept is further clarified in Numbers 15:30-31 where we are told “‘But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from among his people.  ‘Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him.’” (NASB)

According to some, their interoperation of Acts 15 would have me fully yoked and obligated to Torah simply because I am a blood relative of the patriarchs.  The reality is, I grew up very secular with only limited exposure to Torah.  According to Leviticus, Numbers, and what Yeshua says in John 15, I am only obligate to what I am aware of.  In this case, when I came to faith, I was only marginally more aware than the average gentile.  It simply isn’t biblical to impose a higher “obligation” onto me than anyone else just entering the faith.  At the same time, if Torah is life and our wisdom, why wouldn’t God want gentiles to move into Torah to the same depth as me?  I believe this is an approach that leads to the fulness of the bride in all of her maturity as the image of the one new man with both the natural and grafted children coming together as one for the testimony to the nations.

I believe this is the heart of Acts 15 where in verses 19-21 James makes this statement “Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles…….. “For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

For me, what James is stating is fairly obvious.  Here is how I would paraphrase it.  “Hey guys, these gentiles are currently involved in some really unholy living, they worship other gods, and they are involved in occult practices.  There is no way that God is expecting them to step out of that life and into full Torah compliance overnight.  We are saved by faith and so are they.  Ultimately, these four restrictions are adequate to break the spiritual strongholds and move them into a position of being able to receive Torah into their hearts. I believe with those strong holds broken, sitting under Torah weekly is all they need.  The Holy Spirit will talk to them, reveal what is their next step in Torah compliance, and grow them into strong disciples and followers of Him.”  Now that we are 2,000 years into the disbursement, I believe this mentality is as applicable to natural descendants as much so as any gentile.

The interesting thing is that, according to Torah (Leviticus 4 and Numbers 10) this is really the heart of the covenant from the very beginning.  So, with all that said, let’s circle back to this week’s reading.  But first, we need to look at one scripture form Romans.  In Romans 8:12 Paul discusses how we must allow our flesh driven lives to be re-conformed through the interaction of the Spirit.  He shares that a mind that is set on the flesh is hostile toward God because it does not subject itself to the Law of God.  Ultimately, in verse 12-15 he states that “we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again”. (NASB)

As soon as I read that section of Romans my mind immediately went back to this week’s parsha and the moment that came after God had shared the tenth of the commandments that He was speaking out to the people.  In Exodus 20:19 we read, “Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.” (NASB)

I believe that Paul was specifically referring to this moment in time when he wrote the words of Romans 8:12-15. These verses connect the “fear” to “death” whereas the true spiritual path is to embrace the death as he points out “for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die” (NASB).  You see, the children of Israel knew something about accountability, and it goes right back to Numbers 15:30-31.  They understood that if God talked to them directly, they would be fully accountable.  In that place of accountability, they would have to bend their knees to what God spoke, and in so doing, allow Him to remold their lives in a way that their flesh simply did not want to be changed.  This remolding is what Paul speaks of as death in Romans 8.

Going back to the prophetic implications I put forth at the beginning of this blog, here is what I propose. Fear of change comes from a spirit of slavery to sin.  This is the image of a spiritual child.  The bride on the other hand is a representation of Yeshua’s priesthood during the messianic area.   During this time, His priesthood will have fully embraced Torah with the heart felt understanding represented by a fully matured wife.  This maturity only comes when we allow ourselves to move beyond a fear of death and into a place of actually embracing it.  When we move into a place of embracing death, we set the stage for a deeper relationship with Him as was intended with the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Sadly, the majority of us continue to lean on our religious teachers instead of truly seeking dialogue with Him.  I believe at the bottom of this is the same fear that the children of Israel suffered and that same spirit that Paul speaks of.  Ultimately, God will give us new hearts and make us into the bride that He chose us to be, we will join Him when He sets up His kingdom, and we will rule with Him from Israel.  At the same time, we have a choice to become those kinds of disciples today. 

I pray that as we allow these concepts to work their way deep into our souls, that we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us where we too are walking in the fear of death, still being held hostage to the desires of the flesh, and pulled away from a deeper relationship with God through the sin natures we were born into.  I pray that as He reveals these things to us that we step up in courage, become expectant of what is possible, and chase after the life that is available on the other side of death.  In and through this, I pray that we become a testimony and a blessing to the world as we demonstrate the freedom of embracing Torah, dying to the flesh, and being His bride NOW.  Amen Amen

Battling Fear

Exodus 13:17-17:16, Beshalach, “When (he) Let Go”

 

I am currently in a place of seeking God in a way that is much deeper than my traditional daily walk.  It is amazing that what God is calling me to is taking place at this very intersection of our parsha readings.  About two weeks ago I felt called to cut down an old dead tree on my property, set up my tent, make a fire, and tabernacle with Him for 14 days regarding a specific relationship.  In my mind, the fire represented the relationship between this person and myself.  As such, I committed myself to keeping it burning the entire 14 days because my “goal” in this was for God to “keep the relationship going” in the way I wanted it to be.  Keeping the fire going the entire time was particularly difficult because we had major storms one night, it got very cold and windy, and I had long days where I had to be traveling for business.  Ultimately, through a series of smaller revelations, God led me to the following two major realizations. 

The first is, when life gets difficult, I can tend to repeat patterns that bring me a perceived comfort but only lead me into deeper bondage.  This might include eating patterns, thoughts of sexuality, or not being true to myself within the context of a relationship.  Through this He was showing me my tendency to “return to Egypt” and not trust Him through the desert experiences of life and the struggles of relationships.  I came to understand that “Egypt” isn’t the person, place, or thing that we return to, but it is a state of mind.  It is a place of comfort that we believe is found in and through those people, places, or things that we tend to go to when life gets hard.

The second is really the biggest and just came to me this morning.  I came to realize that in the context of relationship, when things get tough, I tend to push toward resolution.  He showed me that I do this for a few reasons.  None of them are good, and all of them prevent me from being a qualified spiritual head or spiritual cover for those that God has entrusted me with. 

Here is what I am seeing.  In the case of a misunderstanding, I take on the burden of the other person.  I feel bad that they are experiencing grief as the result of information that is less than accurate.  This sense of burden leads me toward pressuring them to talk and work toward resolution.  I do this because I don’t like the feeling of being burdened with someone else’s pain, and I don’t like that the other person is experiencing pain based on a misunderstanding with me.  The problem is, I am not their savior.  It is not my responsibility to take on their burdens, and it is not my responsibility to “save” them from the bondage they are experiencing.

The next thing I saw is that I am operating in fear. The truth is, when tension comes into the relationship, I become fearful that the other person, based on their impression of things, is going to do something drastic that will have lasting impacts on the relationship.  If this happens, both of us will suffer loss as the result of a misunderstanding.  I don’t like the idea of this, and it is scary to me.  I don’t like when Satan wins!!

But the reality is, it is when we operate in fear that Satan takes control and wins.  You see, people need processing time and we need to trust God.  When I am capable of slowing down and falling into a place of peace in spite of the storms going on around me, I demonstrate leadership.  In this place of peace, I can extend grace to the other person as they move through their processing.  In this I demonstrate that I am one with Yeshua and safe.  These two things allow the other person the time to process at their own pace without feeling rushed or pressured.  This gives them an appreciation for me and a desire to come back together and talk.  This also gives the Holy Spirit the time to give both of us the opportunity to see things from new perspectives and work out the misunderstandings before we even come together.  In any case, we need to trust that if the relationship is meant to grow, God will be at the center and lead us back together in His time where He knows when that time is best.  If the relationship is not meant to grow, there is nothing we can do to change it, and no matter how much effort we put in, we simply can’t.  This takes us back to a place of peace knowing that God is going to make sure that whatever happens is “best” and in the end, He get’s the glory.

When I think about Moses and the children of Israel in this context, I come to see Moses in a way that I had not seen him before. Throughout the last several readings we have seen the children of Israel holding Moses responsible for how God was interacting in their lives.  In previous readings we didn’t see Moses attempting to correct the people.  We simply see Him going to God and talking to God about it.  In this week’s reading we see a few dynamics.

In Exodus 14:11-13 we read “Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt?  “Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”  But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. (NASB).

 

In this part of the story, we see Moses taking on real spiritual leadership.  In spite of the very real threat of danger, Moses stands firm in his faith.  He makes no attempt to defend himself or to even correct their stinkin thinkin.  He simply tells them “Do not fear!  Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD”.  This is the kind of person I find God leading me into becoming.

On the other hand, let’s look at the thought process of the people. They not only attack Moses, but, in the face of fear, their first instinct is to return to the security of the only thing that they have ever known.  In this case it is to “serve the Egyptians”.  This is a clear statement of believing that bondage would be better than the current situation.  They don’t really want to go back to being slaves of course. But they fear death, and, in their minds, slavery is better than death, so they chose to rebel against Moses and long for the implied security of Egypt.  This is what we do when we return to those people, places, and things that we know are not “best”. We do this because those things provide us an opportunity to return to what we have managed to endure in the past so we can avoid the potential suffering that may lay ahead.  This is the kind of person that God is leading me away from being.

This pattern repeats itself in Exodus 16:2-8.  In the earlier verses we see the children of Israel grumbling against Moses and Aaron over not having food to eat.  As we get to the later verses, we see Moses telling the people that God is going to come through, He is going to provide meat, and that their issue is not with him or Aaron.  He goes on to tell them that God is the one that is hearing them and it is He who will get the glory when things work out.

This takes me back to my story and how important it is that we allow God to be God and that we don’t try to resolve the burdens other people are experiencing.  When we take on their burdens and work in our own strength to resolve their problems, we become their God.  Moses knew better.  He did not take on the burden of the people and simply told them that they needed to turn to Him for their answers.  In doing this he let their fear and discomfort pass from him to God where God could properly deal with it.  Then when God did deal with it, God got the glory as their “savior” and not Moses.  Here again, I see where this is a demonstration of who God is calling me to be.

The pattern repeats itself a third time in this week’s readings.  As we get down to chapter 17, we find the people grumbling at Moses over not having water to drink.  In this case they approach Moses and demand that he produces water for them (Exodus 17:2).  Moses immediately responded by saying “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” (NASB).

Again, we find Moses deflecting their attack, not allowing himself to take on their burden, going to God for his answers, and pointing the children of Israel to Him.   Again, God shows up, takes care of the people’s needs and gets the glory for Himself.

From all of this, I gathered a new perspective on what it is to be a “spiritual head”.  What I discovered, is that being a spiritual head is to lead by example and not attempt to be the holy spirit in somebody else's life.  It is not our role to be the one that provide all the answers, facilitates the peace, or gets the glory.

Moses was able to walk in this kind of leadership because he was humble.  He knew that he wasn’t capable of leading these people without God.  He knew that only God could protect them.  And He knew that only God could provide for them.  He knew that they would fall into fear, that they would not understand what God was doing, and that often he would get the blame.  In and through all this, Moses kept his faith in the Lord.  He knew that any attempt to satisfy the people would fail.  He knew that God either would or would not provide.  And he knew that either way, God would ultimately get the glory.  This was enough for Moses.  He didn’t need to have all the answers or know how the story would end.  He simply knew how to point the people to God, look to God for his own answers, and trust that God knew what He was doing.

I pray that each of us grow a little more in this kind of faith each and every day.  I pray that as this faith grows, we discover a greater sense of peace in our lives.  I pray that as we grow in these things, we become better followers who look toward God when things get tough, we resist going back to the things that put us in bondage, and that we support the leaders who God puts over us.  At the same time, I pray that we become better leaders for those that we have been entrusted with, that we resist the temptation to defend ourselves, that we put our faith in Him, and that we emanate peace and grace in our example of how to walk with Him.  All in all, I pray that each and every day we all move a little further out from under the control of fear.  As we allow Him to set us free from fear, we naturally gravitate to a deeper faith that trusts God in all things.  I pray that this is our common journey.  Amen, Amen.

A Sign For You

 

Exodus 10:1-13:16, Bo “Come”

As is usually the case, there are just so many points that I could run with in this week’s reading.  In this section of scripture, we find the final three plagues.  We are introduced to the Passover.  We see God killing the first born of all the Egyptian children.  We can make the connections to Yeshua on the cross as the “unblemished” lamb of God.  We could enter into a debate as to whether or not these events pointed toward Him, or if He and His work on the cross are pointing back to these events.  We could use this debate to discuss what it is to have “faith” in Him, to be His, to trust in Him, and to walk in accordance with His ways.  All of this could lead us into a discussion of what walking in “faith” prior to Yeshua looked like and how this walk of “faith” relates to our current “faith” walk.  We could talk about how the children of Israel had “light” in their homes when everything else was so dark that it had an oppressive “feel” about it.  We could talk about God hardening Pharoah’s heart, and the list of potential topics just keeps going.

In the end, as I approach what I am about to share, from what I believe to be the epicenter of this section of scripture, maybe some of these things will naturally flow into the discussion.  For me, the thing that is jumping out the most is found in Exodus 12:13.  Here is how it reads in the NASB:

“The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

As I read this, my mind immediately went back to Exodus 3:13 when Moses saw God in the burning bush.  It was then that Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13 NASB)

What I am seeing is something that I believe to be very important.  You see, here, in these later chapters, after God has revealed Himself to these people in a way that He had not revealed Himself to the earlier generations, He is telling them something very important.  Something that is like a string that is laced through this entire section of scripture.  What He is saying is, “it isn’t just about me”.  What I hear God saying is, “I want you to know who you are just as much as I want you to know who I AM”.

In last week’s readings we were introduced to the “name” that God wanted the children of Israel to know Him by.  But it really isn’t about the “name”, it is really all about the character.  I do understand that in the Hebraic, names are VERY important and if we understand the name, we understand the character behind the name.  For me, this is the most important part of last week’s parsha.  This is what I was attempting to capture in what I shared.  The point is, God was about to reveal Himself to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in a new way.  Last week’s blog was all about what aspect of His character He intended to reveal, and how those aspects of His character manifest within the dynamic of the relationship between Him and His people.  Moving into this week, I am seeing another really important aspect of what God was attempting to reveal about His character, what it is to be His, and what it looks like to walk in the confidence and freedom that He desires “His children” to walk in.

In Exodus 12:13 we find God telling Moses to tell the people “The blood shall be a sign for you”.  On the other side of the coin, we find several verses where God, through Moses, is saying just the opposite to Pharaoh.

In Exodus 8:23 we hear him saying that when He puts the plague of flies on the land that He would put a division between “My people and your people” (Exodus 8:23 NASB).  This theme continues into Exodus 9:4 where we see Him saying He will “make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt” (NASB).  Finally, in Exodus 11:7 when speaking of the death of the first born, He says so “that you may understand how the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.” (NASB)  In all of this, I hear God basically saying, “Pharaoh, all these signs are intended to show you that you are not mine, Israel is, you are not.”

What really hit me hard is what Moses is relaying from God regarding who would be impacted by this last and final plague.  In verse 11:7 He says, “all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well.” (NASB)

What is really important to note is that the distinction is not between what we would tend to see as good and evil, or even between what we would consider innocent or guilty.  The distinction line is, who is His and who is not; He sets His distinction between the Children of Israel and those that are not.  This is what is really hitting me in this week’s reading that God is revealing to this generation that I do not believe that He had revealed to any other. 

For this generation, He is saying, I am going to make a distinction between you and all the other people of the world.  It doesn’t matter if they are good or if they are innocent.  It doesn’t matter if they are the slave girl or even the child.  Either they are of the children of Israel, or they are not.  It is that simple.

Later in this week’s readings we hear God telling Moses to relay to the people how they are to wear the “sign” upon their forehead and upon their arms.  He also tells them that the celebration of the Passover is to be a perpetual festival that will forever remind them of their relationship to Him and what He did for them in setting them free from Egyptian bondage.  All of this reminds me of the tsit-tsit (the tassels) that are worn at the corners of the garments.  These are worn to remind us of the Torah and the way of life that God has given us that set us apart from the rest of the people of this world.

But with all of this said, why was God providing them with a “sign” for themselves?  For me, when I contemplate this, I can’t help but hearing Psalms 23:4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” (NASB).

I think this is what it is really all about.  God was about to visit the entire nation, Moses told the children of Israel that God was going to be visiting every house, and any house that did not have the sign, He would kill the first-born children.  The children of Israel knew that something really terrible was going to happen that night, and they needed a sign to know that they would not be impacted.  I believe this is what God was revealing.  I believe that He was preparing them for a new life, a new way, and a new journey.  I believe that what He was saying is that “When you are mine, I will protect you, but make no mistake, I will ask you to walk through the valley of death, but fear no evil, I will be with you”.

What I am seeing is that when we do what God tells us to do, and we chose to live lives that are in harmony with Him and His ways, we should come into a very important realization.  Just like the children of Israel were reminded of something when they saw the blood on their doorposts, so should we when we look at how we are living, how we are trusting Him, and how we are different from the world around us.  All of these things should remind us that He is with us, that He will be with us, that He will see the “sign”, and His “death” will pass over us.

Knowing who we are does not always protect us from hardship, pain, struggle, or even death.  The children of Israel had to endure several of the plagues that God sent upon Egypt.  The entire nation of Israel was taken into captivity several times.  In leading the children of Israel out of Egypt, He led them into the desert.  Daniel and his friends trusted in God when they were about to get thrown into the fiery furnace.  They knew that one of two things was going to happen. Either they were going to live, or they were going to die. Either way, they knew they were going to be safe because they were stepping into the fire with Him. 

Knowing who we are is all about knowing that we are in a relationship with Him.  And a huge part of knowing what it is to be in a relationship with Him is to know how He distinguishes between those that are His and those that are not.  Just like the children of Israel had to do it His way and not attempt to prove that they were His in any other way that they felt “should” convey the message, we too must learn who He is and what it looks like to live in such a way that He sees the same signs we do that say “I am His”.  Those that chose to follow Him and accept doing life in the ways that He says are set apart will know who they are and in the same way will be recognizable to Him.  We look different, we think different, and we interact with the world around us in ways that are uniquely Him.  In so doing, we join Him in a story that is much bigger than life itself. 

In John 3:5 Yeshua said “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (NASB)

When we accept Yeshua as the perfect, unblemished, lamb of God, put to death for our sins, we accept that what He did for us was done so that we may remain in a right standing with God.  As we remember the truth of this while also walking, to the best of our ability, in harmony with what the Holy Spirit has revealed to us as supported by the Word itself, we are reminded of who we are in Him.  We can visualize His blood on the door posts of our homes, and rest assured that we too are safe, that we have been adopted into the family of the children of Israel, and that when He looks upon us, He sees us as one of His.

In this, we too can walk in the confidence of knowing that although death is just on the other side of the door, He is with us.  Just like Daniel and his friends had to acknowledge, either we will live, or we will die, either way, He is with us, so must we.  This is the peace that we have when we are reminded of who we are in Him.  Ultimately, our confidence remains in Him, not in the things of this world, not in health, not in prosperity, not in His giving us the things that we want.  But that no matter what happens, He will not take us before it is our time, He will not withhold from us unless it is for a greater purpose, and as He uses His rod and His staff to guide us, it is done in the fulness of His love.  This is what it is to be His and to understand His character.  And sometimes, when the fires get hot, and the journey becomes difficult, when death is just outside the door, having a sign is just the thing we need.

As we partake in communion, celebrate His holidays & festivals, or simply walk in His ways, we are reminded of our unique relationship with Him.  In these “signs” that He has given us, we are reminded of who He is, of His faithfulness, and of His love.  As we gaze, meditate, or focus our attention on these “signs” we are reminded of who we are, that He loves us, and that He died for us.  As we walk in a way of life that is distinct from the rest of the world, He uses us to give them a sign that reveals to them what they are capable of being a part of.  I pray that as each of us allow these things to be a “sign” of remembrance to these things, that we each remember how important it is to allow His light to shine through us so that we become an attractive beacon of His light so that those who see the “signs”, recognize the distinction, and comprehend what they are capable of becoming a part of, that they are actually attracted to it.  I pray that as He reveals these things to us and to the world, for each of us on the side for which we stand, that we all comprehend what it is to be His and long to be in deeper relationship with Him, not for what He offers, but simply for who He is.

I pray that his has been a blessing to you and that in and through what I have shared you have come to a place of new understanding, new growth, greater peace, and most of all, a greater desire to know Him in all of who He is.  Amen Amen 

Slavery and Freedom, A Beautiful Dance

Exodus 6:2-9:35, Va’era, “And I Appeared”

As we move into this week’s reading, I am a bit overwhelmed with the imagery of a few interconnected concepts:

True freedom and being set free from slavery and bondage,God’s willingness to use others to impose hardships that lead us deeper into the bondages of this world,God’s divine interaction and miracles that ultimately set us free,Our struggles with feeling unworthy, incapable, and inadequate,Our deep need of approval as demonstrated through intimacy,The concept of “idolizing” self or others as it relates to these things,Our total dependency on Him,The concept of a cord of three strands, and ultimately,The Gospel message.

All of this is coming into mind because this is the very place that God has me right now in my personal journey with Him.  When looking at the concepts of “freedom”, “slavery”, and “bondage”, it is interesting to see that we can become a “slave” or fall into “bondage” in a few different ways.  Some of those include becoming a slave to what has been imposed upon us, becoming a slave to the things we self-impose upon ourselves, and even becoming a slave to our own emotions as we respond to the circumstances that are really not “enslaving” us.  There is a dance between these three that is very difficult to understand and comprehend when we are emotionally involved and in the midst of the trials and tribulations of life.

In the first situation, there are times when things are completely out of our control, and we really have not done anything to put ourselves into the position of being enslaved.  Some people are simply born into situations that they have no control over.  Someone might be born into a third world country where there is terrible persecution, born into and brought up in an immoral environment, or abused in their innocents before they have any idea that what is happening is even wrong.  These are just a few examples.

Sometimes we put ourselves into the slave position as the result of deep wounds associated with the situations noted above.  It is somewhat “normal” for a child who is brought up in an abusive home to put themselves into abusive relationships.  Although there are reasons for this kind of behavior, at the end of the day, the bondage is, to a certain extent, self-imposed.  Most co-dependent relationships would fall into this category as would the “bondage” of bad health linked to poor diet and/or a lack of exercise, debt associated with poor financial decisions, excessive work hours connected to an unhealthy pursuit of materialism, and the list goes on and on.

Finally, there is the concept of being enslaved to our own emotions when the circumstances of what we are emotional about are really not putting us into any bondage at all.  This final category would be summarized by the concept of “stinkin thinkin” and is summarized by those times when we become too self-focused to see where God is inviting us into a place of growth, dying to self, and/or sacrificial service.

The dance between these is what results in co-dependency and/or a self-destructive lifestyle.  This usually happens when someone was brought up in a situation where the bondage was imposed, they then move into a situation where they are put into bondage voluntarily, and then they stay in that bondage as they make excuses rationalizing that what they are doing is selfless and for the benefit of the other person or somehow justifiable.  This is the destructive side of the dance.  As we go through this week’s reading, and the subsequent discussion, we are going to discover the growth side of the dance. 

We pick up in Exodus 6:6-8.  Here we find God making four promises to the sons of Israel and connecting all four of these promises to “His being LORD, and that He, by this name, will bring them out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and He will deliver them from their bondage.  He continues in noting that He will do this with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.” 

Earlier, in Exodus 6:3, we came to see that God was going to reveal Himself, as defined by the name “Lord”, in a new way to this generation, a way that He had not made Himself know to the previous generations.  As God makes these promises, in Exodus 6:6-8, we specifically see Him referencing Himself as “Lord” in connection to what He will do and as the one who will fulfill all the promises.  It is interesting to consider what aspects of His nature He did not reveal to the prior generations who knew Him as “God almighty” that this and the future generations would come to know as “I AM” and “Lord”.

As I ponder these things, I go back to the other thoughts that came to me as I considered where the Holy Spirit was leading me with this week’s summary.  What is it to know Him as LORD, to know Him as I AM, to know Him as the one who will deliver us from bondage, and redeem us?  What is it to know Him as the one who executes judgements, and who honors promises?  And how can we apply these concepts to our own lives as we attempt to move beyond the bondages of life and truly become free?

As we move through chapter seven, we find “Lord” telling us that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart, multiply His signs and wonders, and lay His hand on Egypt by great judgements.  He then tells Moses that, in and through this, the people of Egypt shall know Him as “LORD”. 

In Exodus 7:14 we are told that Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn.  According to a true Hebraic understanding of the word used for God “hardening” Pharaoh’s heart we see that the word “hardening” is actually meant as “increasing or strengthening the attitude that already existed there”.  In other words, God simply added strength to Pharaoh’s existing stubbornness.  In so doing, God insured that Pharaoh would not relent the battle against Him out of fear or a sense of defeat.  In so doing, the only thing that would end the battle between God and Pharaoh would be true repentance or victory.  As it was, God pushed through to victory as Pharoah never came to repentance.  Ultimately, Pharaoh was the victim of his own self-imposed bondage as his stubbornness led him into an ultimate showdown with God.

Coming to verse 8:22 we see something very interesting being revealed. Up to this point in the story, God has imposed 3 previous plagues.  First the water of the Nile turning to blood, then frogs, and then gnats.  In verse 8:22 we see that with this plague, God is going to send swarms of insects, but this time, He will not send them into the land of Goshen (where the sons of Israel lived). It is difficult to tell which of the plagues God protected the Children of Israel from, but it definitely appears as though they had to suffer through some of the same plagues that the Egyptians had to suffer through.  Here God makes the point that how He shows a distinction between Egypt and Israel, with this plague, will stand as a testimony as to His “Lordship”.

As we continue reading, we come to verse 9:20 where we see that some of the servants of Pharoah began to see God as “LORD” and as such headed the warnings of God (through Moses) and did what they needed to do to protect their livestock.  As such, their livestock was protected.  I would bet that when the sons of Israel ultimately leave Egypt, these are the Egyptians that go with them.  These people would then represent the first community of people “grafted into” the nation of “God’s people”.

Just like last week, I am going to go two extra verses for context and read through verses 10:1-2.  Here God makes a really interesting point to Moses that takes us full circle back to what God said about His names, and how this generation and all future generations would come to know Him in a way that the previous generations had not.  These verses read (NASB)

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you (Moses’ future generations) may know that I am the LORD.”

Moving backwards from the concept of the Gospel message I will develop my point.  A major aspect of walking this journey out with Yeshua is understanding that we are weak, and He is strong.  It is in our humility and acceptance of the fact that we are helplessly weak, utterly underqualified, exceedingly inadequate, and far too prideful to protect ourselves from falling into bondage or subjecting others to some form of bondage that we impose upon them, that keeps us in a right standing with Him.  It is only in the power of Yeshua that we are able to:

Have prosperous relationships,Have successful careers,Remain alive and healthy within the dynamic of the dangers of this world, andEnjoy peace and a general sense of well-being.

We must acknowledge that we are only successful in these things because it is Him who is operating in and through us.  This supernatural power to defeat the temptations of sin, to walk in wisdom, to have discernment, to walk in obedience, to exemplify love, to put the needs of others before our own, and even to know what precautions to take, are all aspects of God’s grace acting in and through us.

Focusing in on relationships, this is why a cord of three strands is so strong. The reality is, we must allow Yeshua to come into the middle of our relationships for them to have any chance of success.  The question is, what does it look like for Yeshua to be at the center of our relationships?

In essence, it is allowing Him to hold up a mirror and reveal to us where we are still living in the bondages of this world and our own “stinkin thinkin” so that we can be honest with ourselves and look to Him for the power to change.  As we walk this out, He sanctifies us into His own likeness, and in so doing we become capable of interacting with others in a way that is representative of the Fruit of the Spirit.  At the same time, there will be times that He allows us to act in our own strength, our own knowledge, or to fall back on that “stinkin thinkin” that is rooted in pride, old wounds, or old patterns.  In these cases, He acts through the other person as He uses them to extend His grace into the midst of the relationship as His presence overwhelms their “stinkin thinkin” rooted in the same garbage ours is.  When we are truly putting Him at the center, we are capable of seeing and expressing our own needs while at the same time being free from selfish ambitions and leaning on others to provide the emotional stability that only He can provide.  At the same time, we are free to hear and respond to the needs of others while not allowing them to lean on us for the emotional stability that only God can provide to them.

If we allow ourselves to move into a place of believing that we should be, or are capable of having successful relationships without Him, we have just made idols of ourselves.  This is the pressure we tend to put upon ourselves when we are in a place of low self-esteem.  Low self-esteem is different than humility.  Humility accepts one’s own imperfections and utter dependency upon God.  Low self-esteem sees the flaws of our own humanity and moves the mind into a place of condemnation based on the belief that one “should” be able to be strong enough, qualified enough, adequate enough, humble enough, disciplined enough, and thorough enough to ensure that every aspect of life will remain in perfect harmony without any dependency on God.  This leads us into believing that we are capable of providing for the emotional needs of others as we become their "savior".  The bottom line is, there is only one "savior" and I'm not Him!!

Low self-esteem, like pride, ultimately leads us into a place of seeking false intimacies, self-soothing, burdening things and others with the demands of what we need from them to make us feel whole, or taking on the burdens of others as we attempt to make them feel whole.  Low self-esteem and pride are like two sides of a bad coin that ultimately lead a person into a God complex mind set.  Pride simply elevates one above God right there in the open.  Low self-esteem is more subtle as it takes a back door approach by simply implying that we “should” be just like God living free from the need to have to rely on Him or that we can somehow give to others what only He is capable of providing.

Ultimately both lead us into the same progression toward sin and death as we burry ourselves and those we love in the pursuit of perfection.  In closing this out, this is why I believe it is so important for God to reveal Himself as Lord through the supernatural manifestation of miracles and to demonstrate that He is “I AM” and “Lord”. 

I believe that if He interacted in and through us in such a powerful way that we actually became strong enough, qualified enough, adequate enough, humble enough, disciplined enough, and thorough enough to ensure that life would be nothing but 100% successful, it would be really easy to fall back into an “I AM God” mindset.  It is in and through the delicate balance of how much He protects us in these ways, and how much He lets slide that sets up the progression of our remaining in relationship with Him.  This allows Him the opportunity to reveal to the world that He is “Lord” when He steps in and makes the impossible possible.

If all He ever did was save us through supernatural miracles, we simply wouldn’t learn anything, and we wouldn’t grow.  At the same time, if He just changed us and made us perfect, we would be led astray into believing that we too could be just like “Lord”. 

I believe this is what it is to see Him and accept Him as “Lord” and the great “I AM”.  As we walk out this journey of life, we learn to lean on His strength to become stronger, more qualified, adequate, disciplined, thorough, and humbler.  At the same time, He never brings these manifestations into 100% fullness. This limitation forces us to depend upon Him to, through His sovereignty, turn the messes we make in our imperfections into blessings that bring Him glory.  

As we lean on His grace and trust Him as "Lord" we let His love set us free from the pitfall of low self-esteem.  In and through this process, He forces us to remain dependent upon His interactions in the lives of others as they extend us His grace to us as He brings transformation into their lives.  These interactions remind us that it is okay to express our own needs while not expecting things or others to provide for our emotional well-being or allowing others to lean on us for theirs.  Ultimately, in the end, He steps in and makes the impossible possible so that we, our future generations, and the world around us will come to know Him as “Lord our God”.  It is only in and through this process and this delicate balance that He keeps us in a place of true freedom, saved from bondage, reveals us to the world as a people set apart, uses us to lead others to Himself, and ultimately, through the fires of life, delivers into the promises of all that He offers.

I pray that each of us continue to allow Him to be “Lord” of our lives, that we seek to let Him reveal to us our pride as well as our low self-esteem issues.  I pray that as we allow Him to show us these things about ourselves that we allow His love to surround us, hold us, nurture us, and ultimately provide the only form of intimacy that is truly 100% pure.  I pray that as we lean into the intimacy of His great love that we allow Him to set us free from the false intimacies that destroy our lives and the lives of those around us.  I pray that as this continues that we stop burdening others with the demands that they are somehow capable of making us feel complete and adequate.  Following this progression, that in and through this, we stop competing with Him for the control and the outcomes of our lives shedding the belief that somehow, we can perform well enough to make ourselves feel complete and adequate.  I pray that we let Him reveal to us that with Him we are fully capable because even when we are not, His divine presence will bring things into the perfect harmony that will be best.  I pray that in and through these understandings, and the faith to believe, our minds are set free to remain in a perfect peace that surpasses all understandings as we stay fully rooted in the faith that He truly is “Lord”.  Amen Amen.

What's In A Name?

Exodus 1:1-6:1, Shemot, “Names”

Again, this week, I am going to key off the name of the reading as the theme for what I am going to share.  Things start off for us when, during his conversation with God at the burning bush, Moses asks God the simple question, what shall I say to the sons of Israel when they ask me your name?  To that, God replies, “I AM WHO I AM; and He said, “This you shall say to the sons of Israel I AM has sent me to you”.  In this, I AM is derived from the root word HAYAH which means “to be”.  One of my favorite questions when talking to people about God’s sovereignty is, “what part of “I AM” isn’t?  In other words, “I AM” is all inclusive.  There just isn’t anything that is separate from what God is.  When overlaying this with the root word of HAYAH, we can understand that not only is He everything, He also tells us that He will be what He chooses to be.

The concept of this is all over the entire story of everything we have read up to this point through Genesis and into Exodus.  We see this in God’s relationship with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  We see it in how He uses Joseph’s brothers’ hatred to put Joseph into Egypt where He can preserve life, and we see it in how they all stay in Egypt well beyond what they needed to preserve life so that God could create a nation in them.  Looking back, this is the story of Jacob and his relationship with Laban that led to Jacob wrestling with an Angel of the Lord and “becoming” Israel.

As we approach the last few verses of this week’s readings, we see another example of God just being who He says He is and not acting like we, in our flesh, would like Him, or expect Him, to act.  By the time we reach the end of chapter 4, Moses has met up with his brother Aaron.  They met with the elders of the sons of Israel, and the people believed, bowed low, and worshiped.  In chapter 5 we find Moses and Aaron approaching Pharaoh, challenging him to let the people go into the wilderness to worship God, and Pharaoh not only being resistant, but increasing the workload on the people.  This led the people to meeting with Moses and Aaron again.

This time, the people said to them “May the LORD look upon you and judge you, for you have made us odious in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”  Then, Moses returned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me?  “Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all.” (Exodus 5:21-23 NASB)

Our final verse of the reading is God’s response: “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion, he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.” (Exodus 6:1 NASB)

But I’m not going to end there because I think we need to connect something from next week’s reading into this week’s to really get the point.  In verse 6:3 God says to Moses “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.” (Exodus 6:3 NASB)

In other words, God’s response to Moses asking “why have You brought harm to this people?  Why did you ever send me?” is “because I am going to make Myself known to you and this people in an entirely new way, a way that none of your ancestors have ever known me.  They knew me by one name.  You and these people are going to come to know me by another name.” 

And form this, we go full circle back to the title of this reading; “Names”.  You see, the God we serve is not a simple one name God.  He is so much vaster, so much more all-encompassing, so much more…..  well, He just is…. I AM.

Going back to God’s answer, quite honestly, this is not the kind of answer most of us would like to hear.  This is not the kind of answer we would expect.  And, sadly, this is not the kind of answer we are given when we ask similar questions in a multitude of the churches across this country relative to the challenges and complexities of life.

The point is, how well do we want to know Him?  How much of all that He is are we willing to accept?  And, how much of all of who He is are we willing to be in relationship with so that we too can “know” Him in a way that can only be discovered through the trials and tribulations of what it takes to transform us from who we have been into what He is giving us the opportunity to become.  And even more so, how many of our perspectives are we willing to let go of?  Perspectives on those moments when we felt like someone was out to harm us but in reality, it was Him using the circumstances of life to make us, mold us, transform us, or simply to bring glory to Himself.

When I read about how Yeshua connected our forgiveness to our ability to forgive others, I can’t help thinking about the complexity of God’s interaction in the journey of the Hebrew people.  If I allow myself to truly embrace His sovereignty and the concept that He is “I AM”, I have no choice but seeing life in a similar way as Joseph did when he told is brothers to not be angry with themselves because what they had intended for evil, God had intended for good.  This has led me to a very simply, yet maybe hard to embrace, understanding of things.  I have come to see that actions themselves are neither inherently “good” or “evil”, but that the heart behind those actions is.  In the case of Joseph’s brothers, they intended murder, but God saw well into the future and set the stage for the preservation of life and the character transformation of each of those involved.  For the brothers the action was evil.  For God, the same action was good.  In the case of Pharaoh, Pharaoh’s intention was murder, but God’s was to set the stage for the redemption of the Hebrew people.  Again, when looking at the same event, Pharaoh’s actions were evil, God’s were good.    Later when we see God killing the first born of all the Egyptian children we are faced with the same comparison.  When Pharaoh was killing all the innocent children of Israel it was evil because of his heart.  When God killed all the innocent children of the Egyptians, it was Good because God had good intentions.  Taking this one step further, only God knows what those children experienced, where they ended up, and if that experience was horrific or blissful for them.  We simply do not know.  When we look at the relationship between Jacob and Laban the same kind of understandings can be drawn.  Laban was cheating Jacob.  This was an evil way of dealing with a fellow human being.  God was using Laban to reveal something to Jacob about his own character that would later set the stage for the wrestling match and Jacob being given a new name (no longer to be known as supplanter (to cheat), but Israel (the father of a nation)).

Ultimately, one of our biggest challenges in life is to not make the same mistake as Adam and Eve.  “Eating” from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil will not make us just like God.  God has a view of life, death, struggle, affliction, blessings, and curses that we simply do not have.  When we attempt to judge God based on our view of good and evil, we take the bait of Satan just like Adam and Eve and are led away from seeing God in a way that we have never known Him before.  When we refuse to allow Him to reveal himself to us in these ways, we miss the opportunity to know Him by some of His other names.  And, in so doing, we miss the opportunity to be in a deeper relationship with Him.  Ultimately, if we hold onto unforgiveness, is there an underlying unforgiveness toward God?  If He truly is sovereign, and He is using people in our lives just like He used Joseph’s brothers, Pharaoh, and Laban, then isn’t forgiving others a pathway to seeing God’s use of what they intended for evil to still be good?

I think this comes back to the people challenging Moses when they said, “May the Lord look upon you and judge you, for you have made us odious in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”  The reality is, Moses did exactly what God asked him to do, and Pharaoh responded exactly how God knew he would.  This really is the dynamic of life.  God knows the people He has surrounded us with, the people He has put into our sphere of influence, and the people who are influencing us as they go about their own lives.  He truly is in control and when we judge others, we are ultimately judging Him.

Ultimately, unforgiveness is rooted in pride because at the end of it all, we are basically saying “that person does not deserve to be forgiven because their sin is worse than mine”.  The truth is, if Yeshua took on my sin, He is there to take on there’s too.  Taking this one step further, He didn’t take on my sin because I deserve it.  He took on my sin because I don’t deserve it.  The same holds true for every human being on this planet.  That is what grace is about.  And, if we allow ourselves to realize that God uses our sin to mold and transform others, then ultimately, we need to give Him the latitude to use the sin of others to mold and transform us.  Maybe this is why Yeshua is so strong on forgiveness being such an important part of being His.

As I consider these things I wonder where Jacob would have been if all he could have done was to hold onto unforgiveness toward Laban?  Where would Joseph and the entire nation of Israel ended up if Joseph would have held onto unforgiveness toward his brothers?  And where would the nation of Israel ended up if they would have held onto unforgiveness toward Moses and Aaron?

I pray that as you reflect back on some of the challenges you are going through, or the challenges that maybe you have experienced, that this blog has helped open your heart to see things in a new way.  I pray that it has led you to thinking about some areas in life that could change for the better if you could see things in a different light.  I pray that as you ponder what I have shared, that you come to know God by a new name, and that in and through this, He gives you peace surrounding all that has been, and all that is.  Amen.