Jeff Andras's Blog, page 5

Feeling Judged?

Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9, Shoftim, “Judges”

This section of scripture covers a wide range of the laws given to the children of Israel through Moses.  Included in this section of scripture is an outline on the appointment of the Judges, Priests, and Kings.  There is a section on the evil of divination and occult practices followed by a section on honoring the words of THE prophet of God.  The laws surrounding the cities of refuge are recounted and there is a section that discusses the evils of murder, false witness, and the moving of land markers.  The final section addresses some interesting laws surrounding war and who could be excused from participation.

I think the term “Judges” really does a GREAT job summarizing this section of scripture.  In this blog, I am going to share a personal perspective.  In doing so, I will present both sides of the discussion.  As a starting point, it is important for me to point out that, sadly, this is rarely the case when it comes to theological discussion.  In most cases, people present their views as “truth” and avoid sharing the rational understanding of their counterpart.  Sometimes I may present this way but please hear that my heart when I say that I understand that what I share is “how I see it”.

In Deuteronomy 16:18-17:13 Moses outlines the responsibilities of the Judges.  In 17:9-13 he outlines our responsibility to accepting and living by what is passed down by the judges and priests.  These are the verses that some people would use to support the argument that we should not only strive to live lives in harmony with the Laws, statutes, and ordinances outlined in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, but even to live in harmony with the more expanded “Torah”.  The expanded Torah includes additional writings and even oral traditions passed down through the ages.  Within this interpretation, according to Deuteronomy 17:12-13 someone who does not embrace this expanded Torah is acting presumptuously and is evil in the sight of the Lord.

That all sounds fairly straight forward doesn’t it?  So, how is it that I believe that it is biblical to not honor the expanded Torah while believing that I am not acting presumptuously or in a way that God would see as evil?

Let’s start with Deuteronomy 4:2 “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.”

From my view, I see the written laws, status, and ordinances as the perfect foundation for a life devoted to a relationship with God and others.  What I believe to be true in what God is saying here is that if we add to what He has given it will become a burden that oppresses the people and no longer encourages the development of the relationship.  At the same time, if we remove anything the foundation becomes too weak and does not support us in all the areas that we need to be pressed in our desire to grow in the most intimate relationships possible.

The argument from those who hold the theology that we should honor the more expanded Torah is that these things that I see as being added are not actually being added but more so greater clarifications to what has already been given.  As noted, they see that the judges and priests were given this latitude through this section of Deuteronomy.

So, what gives?

In Deuteronomy 18:16-19 God uses Moses to remind the people that when He came to them on Mount Zion, they became fearful and stopped God after the first ten commandments.  God agreed that what they had requested was wise and led Moses to the top of the mountain where He gave them the balance of the commandments, statues, and ordinances.  I believe that the Prophet God is referring to in Deuteronomy 18 is Jesus.  In John 15-16 we hear of Jesus sharing with his disciples that it would be better for Him to leave them then to stay because in His absence, He would send from the father, the spirit of truth.  I believe that this “spirit of truth” was given to move us out from under the same religious fear as the children of Israel and into the one on relationship that God has always desired for us.

In Romans 8:15 we hear Paul speaking to us in regard to this “fear” of the truth and how this “fear” of truth stems from a “slave” mentality that leads to religion and a works-based relationship with God.  What Paul is saying in Romans 8:15 is that we no longer have to live like the children of Israel in fear of hearing the entire truth or sending a mediator to talk to God for us.

Where Paul is going with this is that there is “no condemnation in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) and as such, we do not have to worry about hearing the ENTIRE TRUTH because this is NOT a works based relationship with God and any shortcoming on our part will NOT lead to our eternal damnation and separation from Him.  Paul is emphasizing that this awareness is foundational to a faith-based walk with Yeshua and that only in this faith-based walk do we move out from a flesh-based mindset into a spirit-based approach to life.  I will dig into this more next week as we look at the next section of Deuteronomy, Hebrews, Galatians, and Ephesians.  But for now, what I am trying to convey is that by the time God sent Jesus, things had gone very astray.

By the time God had sent Jesus, the Jewish people were looking at Gentiles as hopelessly unclean beings created that way by God.  They had also set up a complex religious system and had tied that religious system to salvation.  I am not going to get into all of the things that God used Jesus to set straight, but will address a few.  First off, Gentiles were not made unclean.  This is the point of Peter’s vision with the sheet and what God DID make unclean.  Jesus came to tear down the wall between Jew and Gentile and to create a one new man.  He also came to teach and demonstrate that salvation is through faith and not through works.  He also came to stand against the hypocrisy of the teachers and to help move the people away from a burdensome religious system back into a faith-based relationship with Torah.  In so doing, He walked with mankind providing us with a clear understanding of many things.

Where I really want to go with this is in looking at how Jesus responded to people and discuss some of his teachings.  Based on the approach to Deuteronomy 16-17 outlined above, Jesus as our high priest and the prophet sent by God, would have “expanded” Torah to include lust and hate into legally binding laws (from the sermon on the mount).  Furthermore, He would have imposed that all people sell all of their possessions and give them to the poor if they want to inherit the kingdom of God (as He instructed the rich young man).  I could go on and on but I think I have made the point.  The reality is, Jesus relied on God the Father to give Him the spiritual insight to respond to each person based on what they needed to hear based on their own personal walk with Him.  Paul summarizes this when he tells us that if eating meat or drink alcohol is a sin conviction to someone, then it is sin for them.  At the same time that does not make it sin to others.

What I see so deeply engrained in what Jesus provided and what we have been given in the New Testament writings is the breaking of this religious yoke.  I believe God has a desire to move us into a personal one on one relationship with Him.  In this personal relationship we are living by faith that we WILL receive the promises of the covenant and as such are free to embrace all the Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances outlined in the basic Torah.   In this relationship we are no longer slaves to this foundation but bondservants of faith.  In and through this God will use the foundation to speak to us just as Jesus did when He spoke to those we read about.  In so doing, we will grow in our insight and understanding leading us toward ultimate truth in and through our relationship with the Holy Spirit.  We will be able to look at this truth without fear of loosing the promises and as such forever be pushed into greater growth and freedom.

This is all great, but, if it is not in harmony with the commandments of God as provided by Moses, I have a problem.  

So, let’s go back and look at what Moses actually says in this section of scripture.  What I am seeing in my heart of hearts is that this entire section of scripture is devoted to civil issues.  From what I see, the judges, with the help of the priests, were given authority over rulings between people.  Moses is telling us that we are to abide by the “terms of the verdict” with respect to their rulings.  There is a substantial difference between spiritual matters between people and God and civil disputes between people and people.  

For the most part, the rulings on the interactions between people can be used to create case law because the issues are all about justice.  At the same time, the rulings that would be applicable to a discussion between a person and the Holy Spirit are not.  Each person has a unique relationship with God.  We each have our own idols, fears, hurts, attitudes, habits, and patterns of life.  Jesus responded to each person based on their own personal issues.  Similarly, Yeshua, through the Holy Spirit is there for each of us in the same way today.  We simply cannot take what the Holy Spirit has revealed to us and impose that onto another person.  Holy Spirit revelation is simply not of the context to use for “case law” and this is what I believe the heart of God is in Deuteronomy 4 and why He tells us not to add to His perfect law.

In Deuteronomy 17:6 we are told that a person is found guilty on the evidence of two or three witnesses.  In the case of a civil infraction that becomes the judicial system.  In my opinion, man cannot determine what is in the heart of another man and as such the judicial system fails at expanding Torah in such a way to facilitate growth and relationship.  In the case of spiritual matters, the two primary witnesses come down to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.  Often God will lead another person into our lives to confirm what He is already attempting to communicate.  These people, teachers, friends, or relatives become the third witness.  

As spirit filled disciples of Jesus Christ, we are free to move out from under a fear of loosing the promises of God and into believing that we can hear the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  We are free to receive the deeper understandings of the law, statutes, and ordinances as we mediate upon them, and we are free to allow the foundation that He provided to become all that He provided it for.  As we progress through this faith relationship with the truth, we are free to become free as we live out our days in service to Him.  I pray that this has been a blessing to you.  Amen.

Always and Never, Together At Last

Deuteronomy 11:26-16:7, Re’eh, BEHOLD

Moving into this week I am being challenged not to get up on my soap box and make this entire blog circulate around one VERY important scripture.  My spirit is calling me to another subject and that is where I will spend the majority of my writing.  However, as noted last week, I do believe that the primary messages I have been called to share are from God and as such a major calling on my life.  As such, it is important to mention this one scripture and point out the implications while allowing God to lead me to other areas of scripture that He is attempting to reveal.  The implications of this one scripture not only tie us to one of the messages that is so deeply embedded into my being, but it is also foundational to our understanding of the principals that I will share in the remainder of the text.

On first read, the following script may seem very simple and mater of fact.  However, there is something very important being stated.

[Deuteronomy 13:1-5 NASB] 1 "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,' 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 "You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. 5 "But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk.

In the first half of this scripture the message is pretty easy to get.  If someone claiming to be a prophet is attempting to lead us toward other gods we are not to follow even if they are performing great signs and wonders.  The next part gets a little more challenging when God tells us that He will be giving/allowing this false prophet the ability to perform these signs and wonders as a test of our love of Him.  The third part of this verse becomes a bit more challenging again when it expands the definition of this false prophet’s teachings as those that would lead us away from His commandments and “seduce you away from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk”.

At this point I am going to ask you to take a second and ponder what is being said.  Now, let me paraphrase:  “Beware to follow the teachings of any prophet who teaches that the commandments of God are no longer applicable, have been replaced, are out dated, not necessary, are simply ritual, are a burden, or any other reason that may sound attractive, logical, and enticing for you to believe even if that prophet can perform signs and wonders.  If such a prophet comes along, they are to be put to death because they are a false prophet sent by God to test your love.” 

Now, take a second and consider what traditional theology teaches about Jesus and Paul.  In the context of traditional theology, what is someone who loves God to do?  If Jesus is who we know Him to be and if Paul and his writings are to be embraced, we MUST understand them in the context of a true prophet who would not teach against the commandments of God or the “way in which He commanded us to walk (as outlined in Deuteronomy where this scripture is found in context)”.  This forces us to look at Jesus and Paul and decide if we believe they are the true prophets that we believe them to be.  If they are, and we have held onto traditional theology, then our image of them and their teachings must change.  If we cannot see their teachings in a way that supports the Old Covenant laws, statutes, and ordinances, then our image of them as prophets must change.  Either way, this scripture boxes us into a corner and forces us to evaluate our walk with New Testament theology, Paul’s writings, and Jesus.

With that in mind, let’s look at two more scriptures from this week’s Torah portion.

[Deuteronomy 15:4-5 & 11 NASB] 4 "However, there will be no poor among you, since the LORD will surely bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, 5 if only you listen obediently to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today. ……….. 11 "For the poor will never cease [to be] in the land; therefore, I command you, saying, 'You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.'

Every time I have read this in the past, I have seen it as a contradiction and kept on reading.  This time I stopped and meditated a bit on it and soon the answer came to me.  Between these two verses is a discussion of an aspect of the law that outlines the process of lending and debt forgiveness.  The commandment is that we are to lend to those who are needy.  The one who is needy is to do the best they can to repay the debt.  However, if the 7thyear of a debt forgiveness cycle comes along before that person can repay the debt, the debt is to be forgiven.  Torah even goes as far as to tell us to watch our hearts and not be perverted by fear of financial loss if that needy person comes to us in the 6th year of a given cycle. 

What I finally saw that I had never before seen is this:  God was telling the Jewish people that there would be people who would come upon hard times from time to time and would be needy.  However, if the people would obey His commandments and lend and forgive, then there would never be anyone who would have to live in a state of need because their needs would have been met by others within the community.  The challenge in keeping the commandment is for the needy one to ask for the help and to allow the debt to be forgiven if the 7th year came and they were not able to repay the debt.  At the same time, there had to be people willing to honor God’s ways and be willing to lend even when they knew “lending” was going to actually be “giving”.  There are many reasons that someone might find themselves in a position of need.  I tend to believe that this could be the result of some sin in their lives, the result of God seeing an area of pride or needed growth, or even to create the opportunity to test the hearts of others.  We are never to assume that someone is in need just because of their own poor choices or behaviors.  The point is, having some be in a position of need challenged the people of Israel to remain in faith and continue in their trust and belief in God.  Those who were in need would grow, and those who had plenty would grow.  Everyone would be tested, and if they did as they were instructed, no one would go without.  God would make sure of it.

This concept took on new meaning during my Torah Club preparation.  First Fruits of Zion pointed out that the word used to describe “what we give to the poor” is literally interpreted as “righteousness”.  As soon as I read this, I started seeing a parallel between the financially poor and those that are struggling in having any kind of righteousness in their lives.  From there my mind went to those who are needing forgiveness.  I began to see that this teaching on keeping God’s ways in the most literal sense would provide a society where there would never be people remaining in a state of financial need.  At the same time, I began to see that as the Jewish people would honor the ways of God in a physical sense while understanding the spiritual implications they could have a society where although there would be people who would temporarily find themselves in an unholy, unclean, or unrighteous stance, there would never be people living in a “state of unholiness, uncleanliness, or unrighteousness”.  From there, I realized that the third realm of the reality of these things is the moving fully into the Spirit.  In our inability to fully walk in all aspects of the righteousness of God there will be sin.  There will be people who bring hurt and pain into the lives of others.  It may be through not honoring the letter of the law, or it may be in not honoring the Spirit of the law.  Either way, people are people and we hurt each other.  When this happens, we become needy of forgiveness and it is in the spiritual understanding of the nature of God and our walk with Him that we come alongside Him and extend what He has given us.  FORGIVENESS!!

Re-phrasing what was outlined in Deuteronomy 15:4-5 & 11 we could say:

Even though there will always be people who come into short term financial need, as long as you honor the laws of lending, there will never be anyone who will have to live in a state of need amongst you.

Even though there will always be people who slip up from time to time, as long as you focus as much on the commandments of re-establishing each other into a righteous state with God as much as you do the commandments that lead to an unrighteous state, there will never be people living in a perpetual state of spiritual need amongst you.

Even though there will always be people who hurt others from time to time, as long as you all are willing to forgive each other as you have been forgiven, there will never be those living in a perpetual state of self-condemnation amongst you.

Going back to the scripture on the lending of money and the debt forgiveness I see paralleling principles that apply.

The person in financial need must be willing to go to others for financial help and allow those others to lend them money even if they know they will not be able to pay the money back by the end of the 7th year in the lending cycle.  They must drop their pride, acknowledge they need help, and go to others for assistance.  At the same time, the person who has enough must be willing to lend the money even if they know the money will not be paid back.  They must let go of the love of money and their own pride.  They must allow God to use this opportunity to show them where they might be judging the one in need believing that if they would have been more _________, they wouldn’t be in that spot.  They must acknowledge that it is God’s money and not theirs.  It is His to do with as He pleases.  If He replenishes it, He does, if He doesn’t, then that’s OK too.

Similarly, the person who sins against the commandments of God must be willing to go to the priest.  They must drop their pride and acknowledge that they have moved into an unclean, unholy, or unrighteous stance and seek God’s chosen intercessor to reestablish them into a holy, clean, and righteous stance.  The priest must move beyond any sense of pride and judgement and appreciate that they too seek their righteousness from Yeshua our savior and redeemer and what they are extending is not coming from them, but from Him.  Today, we have direct access to Yeshua as He fulfills the role of High Priest in our lives and operates from this place of humility.

Finally, the person who hurts another must be willing to repent, acknowledge what they have done, and ask for forgiveness.  They must move beyond their pride of believing that they should have been better than they were and that they are somehow “above” what they did.  They must acknowledge that they will never be fully capable of repaying the "debt" of their sin and that it is only through Yeshua and His grace that their spiritual needs are satisfied.  At the same time, those who have been hurt must realize that maybe God is using their pain and suffering to lead another hurt and lost soul to their knees before Him.  They must acknowledge that a request for forgiveness may never come but extend the forgiveness anyway.  They must operate in a realm of intercession, love, and understanding regardless as to if that love and understanding will every be returned.  Again, He is the one who will carry us through these moments and what we are giving is only what we have been given.  It is His to use as He pleases and it is not ours to hold onto.

I pray that this has been a blessing to you and that through it you have come to see a new perspective; A perspective that will allow you to live more freely, in greater peace, and in greater love.

 

Because

Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25, Ekev, "Because"

When I sit down to write these blogs, my pattern is to write on the Torah portion from the previous week.  I do this for several reasons.  Mostly, it puts my writing after I have allowed myself the greatest exposure to where the Spirit may be leading me.  

First I do my own reading and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal what is personal to me.  Then, I do my study and preparation for the weekly Torah Club I attend on Wednesdays.  As I go through their literature, I am led down a path that First Fruits of Zion felt the Holy Spirit’s leading relative to their ministry.  Wednesday mornings are usually dedicated to writing about the prior week’s Torah Portions and this reminds me of where we were the week before and sets a foundation of continuity as to where the Holy Spirit may be leading me into this week’s journey.

During Wednesday night’s time together at Torah Club, I am given another perspective as the facilitator of the group will take what First Fruits of Zion has provided and blend it together with where the Holy Spirit is leading her and present the material from that slant.  As the week moves on, I might watch a few movies, go to the Aleph Beta site and watch a few teachings, or do some other reading.  Life happens and through the experiences of life I find that the principles the Holy Spirit is revealing are being presented in real and tangible ways through all the nuances of life.

Finally, the Sabbath arrives, I spend Saturday starting this cycle over as I move into the upcoming week’s readings while also holding onto the readings associated with the week we are still in.  Saturday evening a small group of us meet here at my home and it is during this time that the foundations of the blog I will be writing during the upcoming week are formed.  During this group discussion I try to follow where I believe the Holy Spirit has led me through all of what has been presented to me through the week I have lived with this particular section of scripture at the front of my mind.  As others share, new insights are added to what I have felt, and I feel a confirmation as to where the Spirit is leading me to write.  Over the next few days I spend some time reflecting over what I have “heard” and prepare myself for this time of writing.

My final preparation is to clear my mind, sit down in front of my computer, and begin typing.  I usually have a concept of where I am being led, but I try not to be too specific in where I believe I will go and how I will say what will ultimately be said.  As I begin typing, bits and pieces of what I have been “shown” and what I have “seen” come to the surface and the writing flows forth.  Usually there are new understandings and insights that I have not even considered through the previous ten days journey with the scriptures.  This is why most writers will say that even though they write for others, they are truly writing for themselves.  I simply would not see what I see without this commitment to share what He is giving me with others.  Do you see the double meaning in the answer of “I write because”?

There are two things that I really want to focus on today and I believe they are interconnected and they both stem from this concept of “because”.  Ultimately, they tie back to what was shared last week in regard to “Why God would bless us and/or curse us over what appears to be such trivial laws and rituals”, what the purposes are of the blessings, and ultimately who our covenant with Him is really all about.

The first concept I would like bring up is a soap box.  Have you ever heard the expression about someone getting on a soap box?  This expression comes from times past when someone would come into town and have a message to share.  In an effort to elevate themselves above the people and be more easily heard they would grab a shipping container and stand upon it as an impromptu stage.

The point is, all of us have soap box ideas that we are passionate about.  It’s OK.  I believe that this is a major part of being in the Body of Christ.  The Holy Spirit has created each of us differently and put a burning within us relative to different aspects of who He is.  This area of great passion can tend to lead us in seeing this particular message in any section of scripture that we read, message we hear, or teaching we are presented with. 

The challenge is to get off our soap box long enough to let the Holy Spirit use the scriptures and other people’s revelation to lead us into new areas of understanding.  As a facilitator, it is vitally important to “get off my soap box” or I will find that every message I share has the same basic concept.  As a facilitator I must understand that this passion is from the Holy Spirit and is what God is asking me to bring into the Body.  At the same time, I must understand when to put that aside, be open to where the Spirit is leading me, and present new and refreshing ideas each time I am called to facilitate and lead. 

We must remember that everything does not revolve around our particular passions and that God has a greater purpose in and through us on a moment by moment basis.  We must be willing to do this “because”.  In this week’s reading the word “because” takes on new insight and in this comparison back to our particular passions and the putting down of the soap boxes we tend to carry around with us there are three “becauses” I would like us to consider:

Because He wants us to open up so that we can see, hear, and carry something new,Because He wants us to carry this new thing so that He can use us to share it with others, andBecause He wants to use this process to lead us and them into greater freedom and Christ likeness.

On Friday I had a chain of events that led me into a place where I found myself emotionally involved and responding in a way that I have not done in a really long time.  This led to some repentance, and a lot of time with God, and those I turn to who I know can speak truth to me.  During these conversations I learned a lot about myself.  At the same time, I became more confused about what to do with what I was seeing.  In one hand, I learned that I tend to let myself be taken advantage of and that good character wouldn’t allow this.  On the other hand, scripture teaches us that the world will take advantage of us, and as His followers, this is to be expected.  So, what am I to do?  Grow in my character and not let myself be taken advantage of, or grow in my Christlikeness and not let it bother me when I do?

After spending some time in prayer, the answer came to me.  Because.  you see, the problem is we are this or that in our thinking and not this and that.  Hebrews reminds us that anytime the priest would go into the Holy of Holies for the purpose of interceding for the people of Israel he would first have to spend one on one time with God and get himself right with Him first.

It wasn’t a question of “OK God, which do I do today, get right with you myself, or come before you to intercede for the people”.  It was simple.  “OK God, first I need to get right with you, so that I am capable of interceding for the people.”  In this we get the answer to the great “because”.

When things happen in our lives and we are moved into emotional circumstances that push us to becoming what we don’t like to be we must go before God and ask why.  When we do, He will respond back with two answers.  It isn’t until we get through the first that we are capable of hearing the second.  The first because is always about us, our freedom, our journey with Him, and our journey in this world.  It is for freedom that He made us free (Galatians 5:1).  At the same time, it is only in our freedom that He can use us to lead the world to Him and their own freedom.  That is the second and GREATER because.

This takes us full circle back to what was shared last week and is the heart of this week’s readings.  The heart of the covenant that God has with us is about the hurt and lost people of the world.  He blesses us to give us tools so that He can reach them His way, not as a response to how committed we are to the tools He has given us.  (you might want to read that again).

What I came to realize is that no two situations are the same and no two people are the same.  Because of this, the intercession (and the interaction) must be different in each situation.  However, it isn’t until we experience the growth that we need to experience that we can be open to and of the character to intercede and interact as He would have us.  Once we get right with God and come to understand the heart of our emotional response to a given situation, we can let God transform us in a way that allows us to be more greatly used by Him.  Once in this position we are now capable of listening to Him and hearing how He wants to use us in the lives of others. 

What the world would view as codependent might be what God is calling us to do in the name of love.  On the other hand, what may appear as unloving in the eyes of a scripture that calls us to allow the world to take advantage, may be the very response God is asking of us.  God may be attempting to use us to move that person into a new area of growth.  Allowing ourselves to be taken advantage of would only reinforce the old patterns that have that person in a self-destructive life cycle.  In this case, standing up and pointing out the wrong may be the very thing that is “best”.  In this case we must remember that there doesn’t have to be conflict in confrontation.  When confrontation is done in true love there is no conflict but relationship and intimacy.  The "truth" must revolve around them, not us.

The bottom line is this.  Every day we are flooded with choices.  Each time a choice presents itself we make a decision.  Those decisions are typically entered into because of emotions.  Our daily growth is to allow ourselves to investigate how we may have missed an opportunity to be used by God in a positive way because we acted on our emotions instead of His calling.  In the past two weeks, I missed at stopping at two accidents that I should have stopped at because I allowed my emotions to dictate my interaction (or lack thereof).

This is the great because.  Because He loves us.  Because He loves the world.  Because He wants us to be free.  Because He wants them to be free.  Because it is in our freedom that we become available for Him to use us.  Because it is in our freedom that we are most like Christ who said “I do nothing on my own initiative” (John 8:28).  Because this is what we have been called for, called to, and been given.  Because this is the promise.  Because this is what is possible.

I pray that this has been a blessing to you, and that in and through what the Holy Spirit has spoken to you in this brief time together, you have learned something about you that will help Him use you in a new and exciting way.  Amen.

The First Great Commission

Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11, "And I Besought", Va’etchanan

This section of scripture again has a multitude of subjects that each deserve our time and attention.  Included in this section of scripture is:

Moses re-telling his last plea to God to allow him entry into the promised land and God refusing,Moses again seeming to blame the people of Israel for God not allowing him to enter,Moses shares how God will use Israel to lead the nations to Himself and His ways,Moses makes a prophetic statement regarding the future of Israel (Deuteronomy 4:25-31),Moses recounts the Ten Commandments and the circumstance of how the people cut God off and asked Moses to intercede for the balance of what God had to share, andMoses shares three reasons behind God’s giving them the promised land. 

Of these, I am going to focus on:

Moses shares how God will use Israel to lead the nations to Himself and His ways, andMoses shares three reasons behind God’s giving them the promised land.

In sharing these, we will come to understand the importance and relevance the others have to these foundational aspects of this section of scripture.

In Deuteronomy 4:1-8 we find Moses sharing what God has shown him about Israel taking possession of the promised land and how God will use them to lead the rest of the world to Him and His ways.  This is one of my favorite sections of scripture.  It is the “Great Commission” in the Torah.  In this, we find the heart of God relative to so many things.  This is one of my go to scriptures when people ask me about the application of God’s laws within the context of the New Covenant and how relevant they are to non-Jewish believers.  I believe this section of scripture really makes us look inside and consider some very hard questions relative to our heart attitude toward the laws, statutes, and ordinances given to Israel from God.  More importantly, it forces us to look at the commission God has on our lives.

As we look at the commission on our lives, we are led into even deeper thought regarding “the blessing and the curse” and what God’s purposes are in blessing us and bringing curses into our lives.  I know that even me just stating that God brings curses into our lives may have led some people to feeling a need to pull away from this.  If you are one of those people, I encourage you to stick with me a bit longer.  I’m not going to belabor this point but I will make this one point.  The challenge against God that the serpent put forth to Eve in the garden was “did God really say?”.  If we look at the context of the entire sermon called “Deuteronomy” I see one main point.  It is, Moses telling the people “God surely did say”.  I believe the greatest sin of the church is minimizing the importance of what God said and believing that what He says about how He will interact with us if we do not listen doesn’t apply to us.  In our flesh we wash away the importance of what we don’t understand and redefine God into our own image.  We must acknowledge that “Surely God did say”.  It really is that simple.

The question we are looking at today is why.  Why such harsh curses?  How can such a harsh response be love?  Why would God respond so harshly over what appears to be such trivial things? 

Have you ever stopped to consider the other side of the coin?  Why such amazing blessings?  How can such amazing blessings be connected to such trivial life choices?  Why would God bless us in such an exuberant way for making an effort to live in harmony with a way of life that is healthier and provides beautiful times of worship and celebration? 

I guess the first question would be, why do we believe anything God gives us is trivial?  This really is where we must start and this is a personal journey for each of us.  Maybe we aren’t that different form the children of Israel who stopped God after the first ten commandments and sent Moses up to talk to God about the rest.  Are we making the same mistake?  Are we telling God we don’t want to talk to Him about these things?

One of the resources I like to go to each week in my Torah study time is an online source called AlephBeta.  Each week they do a video teaching on the Torah Portion.  Their presentation is fantastic and the depths of their insight well worth considering.  In this week’s video “why God promised Israel the land” https://www.alephbeta.org/playlist/why-god-promised-israel-the-landthey present a wonderful understanding to God blessing Israel with the promised land.  I am going to take that teaching and go one step further and use it to help us view all of God’s blessings from this stand point.

In their presentation, they pointed out that through Moses God gave the children of Israel three reasons for why they were being given the promised land:

Because of their obedience to the Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances,Because of the covenant promises made to Abraham, andBecause of the evil of the people (not because of their own righteousness).

They point out that on first glance these seem to be contradictory statements.  But, in fact they are not.  I believe the connection between these three “reasons” is found in Deuteronomy 4:1-8 and what I refer to as “The First Great Commission.”  Let’s look at verses 5-8: 5 "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?

Here are the bullet points:

Keeping the Laws, Statutes, and Judgements is our wisdom,The world will see this wisdom and acknowledge those who follow God’s ways as wise and understanding,This will lead the world to the Lord our God, andThis will lead the world to seeing ALL of God’s ways as righteous.

This implies that they would allow this understanding to lead them to putting away their gods and accepting the Lord our God, and replacing their ways of life with the “whole Law” because in their view it is not trivial, stupid, pointless, outdated, or mere ritual, but “righteous”.

Taking this understanding back to the teaching on “why God promised Israel the land” and applying it to the blessing and the curse will lead us into an understanding that will help us trust that “God surely did say” and why such amazing blessings and such harsh curses are tied to what appears to be so trivial when compared to the greater commandments of love, mercy, and justice.

Here are the two main points:

There are a lot of religions and anti-religions that believe that unity with god and spiritual enlightenment is all about love, mercy, and justice.  Living by His ways is what makes us different and leads them away from their gods and to the Lord our God.His ways are important to Him because He loves us.  When He gave us His ways, He gave us a gift.  He wants us to share this gift with the world because He loves them too.  He wants them to have the same wisdom and life that He offered us.

Putting it all together this is what it looks like.

For the world to see “us” we must be a presence in the world.  This requires children and the blossoming of the family tree.  To become a nation, we must have land.To catch the attention of the nations around us, we must live in peace, be blessed with abundance, and remain in peace when things don’t go our way. 

Understanding how this relates to the three seemingly contradictory reasons as to why “God blesses us” leads us to the true revelation of this section of scripture.  This understanding puts, not only the blessing into perspective, but also gives us greater insight into “the curse”, why the progression of the curse is what it is, and the prophetic statements that Moses makes about the future of Israel and our journey with God.  Going one step further, this even helps us understand why Yeshua will return to earth, set up His earthly kingdom, and why He will institute all of God’s ways as the ways of the land.

The point is that God wants to use us to lead the world to Him and His Gift (His way of life) because the people of the world are evil and He wants to set them free from that evil.  The expanding family tree, the land, nor the blessings are rewards for living in harmony with His ways.  These things are provided because they are our testimony and the tools by which we are to lead the world to Him and His ways.  However, if we are not living by His ways, and He would continue to bless us, allow us to live in the land, and continue to make us a thriving nation, we would not lead the world to His ways but only to Him.  This is simply not acceptable to Him.  As such, He cannot perpetuate the blessings and must fall back on curses and remove us from the land to lead us back to His ways so that we can fulfill the fullness of the commission on our lives.  This is the foundation of the covenant that He established with Abraham and is the foundation of our relationship with Him.  It is as easy as 1, 2, 3.  The reasons work together and are not in conflict with each other.

As God allowed me to see the greater image of this understanding it really put me into a place of appreciation and humility for all of the blessings that He has bestowed upon me.  It really made me think about the interactions that I have had with some of the more “evil” people in this world, and how His blessings have not been on my merit, but for the purposes of putting me in a place where I have the ability to be an impact in the lives of those people.  It reminded me of how faithful He is, how He will more than replace what those hurt and lost people have taken, and how His doing so is based on the promises that He made to my ancestors and to me.  All of this is helping keep me grounded in knowing that the blessings are not for me, not because of how I strive to live by His ways, nor because of how I interact with the hurt and lost people of this world.  His blessings are given because of Him, because of the calling that He has on my life, and because of them.  He has blessed me because He loves them and He wants to use me to lead them to Him and His ways.  It really is that simple.  My working with Him does not cause the blessings as a reward for me, but perpetuates them so He can reach THEM.

I pray that this has been a blessing to you, that it will impact your life in a mighty and powerful way, and that what has been shared will deepen and enrich your relationship with Him and those around you.

Same Message, Different Perspective

Deuteronomy 1:1 -3:22

Devarim, “Words” 

A few months ago, I felt compelled to gain a deeper understanding of the context of one of the verses in these first few chapters of Deuteronomy.  In order to gain the context, I needed to find where Moses began the train of thought leading into the verse, and where he moved on to another point.  As I read, I came to realize something that I had never seen before.  The entire book of Deuteronomy is the record of one sermon given by Moses.  It was what he felt most important to share with the people of Israel before they entered into the promised land.  Not only that, it was the last words he knew he would ever get to share with them, and with the world.  It is his last record of anything and everything. 

In chapter 1, verse 5 we read, “Moses undertook to expound this law, saying,…..

From that point on, the rest of the book of Deuteronomy is just this, Moses expounding on the law of God.  Last week during one of my studies, the group presenting the study shared that Deuteronomy is a repeat of Numbers when “the Law” was first given by God.  But, true to typical form, I saw something different.  There is no doubt that Moses does go back through and repeats the vast majority of the laws, statutes, and ordinances that God had given the Israeli people through him and as recorded in the book of Numbers.  But, although Deuteronomy is the same, it is entirely different.

Later in last week's study, the group presenting pointed out that someday, Yeshua will return to earth, and when He does, He will set up His kingdom here and He too will teach Torah.  The difference will be that when He comes back to teach, He will teach the deeper understandings that are so spiritual that mankind has not been able to comprehend or understand.

As they made this point, I immediately saw something that brought what I was sensing into a place of greater understanding.  Moses was re-stating “the Law”.  But he wasn’t just restating what he had already stated.  He was expounding on, or emphasizing, aspects of “the Law” that were not emphasized when first presented in Numbers.   Maybe he chose this time to share a deeper understanding of “the Law” with Israel because it is what they would need as they embarked on this new season in their journey with God.  Maybe, he chose this time because he knew this would be the last opportunity to share these things.  Maybe, this is his record of what he came to know and understand about “the Law” through his own 40-year experience in the desert.

What I have come to believe I see, is a progressive revelation of “the Law”.  As the nation of Israel is progressing through our maturity to becoming the “bride of Christ”, God is slowly giving us deeper and more complex understandings of what has always been.  Included within “the Law” is the definitions of what is holy, and what is unholy.  Included within “the Law” is the definitions of what is clean, and what is unclean.  Included within “the Law” are the directions for living a life of life, and an understanding of what it is to live a life of death.  In other words, “the Law” as presented in Numbers is an instruction book for Godly living.  This is God’s “Law” for His children and what He expects us to strive toward in our pursuit of life.  But, the story doesn’t end here.  Within “the Law”, as given in Numbers, there are words and phrases, and a way of presentation that point to something deeper, something that is not exactly stated.

Now comes Deuteronomy and what we find is God having Moses give the children of Israel a very different aspect of the same “Law” that He had him give 40 years earlier.  Although the vast majority of the ticks and tacks of “the Law” are restated, the vast majority of Deuteronomy is overshadowed by an understanding of the relationship that God has with us.  The emphasis is what God will do if we honor “the Law”, and what God will do if we dishonor “the Law”.  Here is the point.  This interaction is also a part of “the Law”.  It always was, and it always will be.  There is a “Law” that governs God’s interactions with us and this “Law of interaction” is fully intertwined with “the Law” we read in numbers.  THEY CANNOT BE SEPARATED.  Just like maintaining our driving privileges or losing them is as much a part of the driving laws as stopping at stop signs, so too are the blessings and curses to the ticks and tacks.  I believe this is what Moses was attempting to convey in Deuteronomy.  The concept of “fearing the Lord” is repeated 15 times throughout the book.  At the same time the book is laced with the understanding that God chose us because of His righteousness and not ours and the theme of His never giving up on us, and His unending grace, is repeated time and time again.  It is here that the blessing and the curse is given and repeated with examples through a reflection back on the previous 40-year journey and a look ahead to what will come in the future.

As I allowed myself to consider the concept that each time “the Law” was given it included the fullness of all of what it is, I began to see something quite beautiful.  What I believe I began to see is that each time different aspects are emphasized, it is fully based on the nation’s maturing process.  From what I have been able to gather, “the Law” has been given 3 times, and will be given once more.

In the first giving, just like parents would do with a very young child, the ticks and tacks of how to live were emphasized.  Just like parents would do with that same child a few years later, the ways of life were re-stated, but this time an emphasis was put on how the parents will interact with the child if the ways of life are and are not honored.  Does this mean that when the child was younger the parents didn’t interact with the child based on their willingness to honor or dishonor the ways of life presented by the parents?  Of course not.  In the initial stating of the parent’s expectations the interaction could only be implied because of the immaturity of the child.

As we know, about 2,000 years ago God sent His only begotten son to earth to dwell amongst us.  He too is the Word.  But, again He emphasized a different aspect of “the Law”.  As Yeshua walked the earth, teaching, sharing, and just being, He demonstrated another aspect of what has always been.  Through the stories of His life and the writings of His teachings we come to realize who we are capable of being when we are “alive in Christ”.  In this third “giving of the Law” (the life of Christ), we are given an emphasis on the Love of God, that as His children we are not to see ourselves as His slaves, but His friends, and we are shown the power available to us.  We are given the images of what it is to have life and what it is to live in death.  We are given a greater understanding of unclean things and a deeper understanding of the spiritual laws that surround our relationship with God.  These “spiritual laws” define what is available to us as His children yet, just like the “laws of interaction”, are fully intertwined within “the Law” provided in Numbers and again CAN NOT BE SEPARATED.  It is all “one Law”.

When He returns He again will teach and exemplify Torah.  However, when He returns, He will be returning to a bride that has been given a new heart.  She will have a heart that will finally be able to see all that she has never been able to comprehend.  Sadly, this is on us.  Just like everything that He expounded on the first time He was here had always been there for our understanding, so too will be the case when He returns and expounds on new and deeper things.  This is my pursuit in life.  To know and understand that which has always been.  This new heart that God tells us He will give is the same heart that He told us to have, to make for ourselves, and to allow Him to mold ours into.  Time and time again through the prophets He tells us that it is possible.  Will you come alongside me and believe that it is?  Can we believe together and allow Him to start presenting now the same Torah He will share when He returns?  The Word tells us that the only thing limiting us is our hearts.  Let’s pray together that we let our hearts be changed into hearts that are fully for Him, for His Word, and for His Torah.  Let’s become the bride we were called to be.  Let’s not be complacent or rebellious.  Can we allow ourselves to see where our hearts are hard to those ticks and tacks, where we lack trust, and where we allow our lack of understanding to dictate what we believe and what we don’t?  Let’s pray together that our prejudices be removed, that our eyes grow ever more observant, and that our minds become flooded with the truth of what has always been.  Amen amen.

The Pathway to Parenthood

Numbers 30:1-36:13, Massei, “Tribes”

As I read through this week’s Torah portion and the various study materials I refer to, the first thing that jumped out at me was the connection between the word massei (Tribe) and the root word from which it is derived which is masei which means journey.

This immediately made me think of Isaiah 66:7-8 "Before she travailed, she brought forth; Before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy.  "Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.

Very often this verse is used in connection with the forming of Israel as a nation in 1948.  It is said that because the nation was created in a day that this prophetic scripture was fulfilled.  Personally, I take a different approach and this approach really helps me understand what this “journey” with God is all about.  For me, when I read this scripture, I am actually hearing God mocking those who believe that a “nation” can be formed in a day.  What I hear God saying is that a nation is not a physical place but a people.  For the purposes of this blog, let’s say a tribe, even a tribe of priests.  Wouldn’t you agree that this is what the entire journey of Israel has been from the very first moment that God came into Abraham’s life?

According to the Oxford Languages definitions, the word travail means to “engage in painful or laborious effort, (of a woman) be in labor”.  In other words, what this verse is saying is that it takes great pain and the process of labor to bear children.  It just is what it is.  A girl can’t go from a girl to a woman and a mother without lots of pain.  Not only is this true in the physical sense, but for sure in the spiritual.  How much time does a mom dedicate to preparing her little girl for motherhood?  Then later, after the physical child is born, how many years does it take that woman with a child to become a true “mom” to her own children.

When I read the final line in the scripture and hear the word “sons” I think of so much more than just a boy child.  There is something in the word “son” that makes me believe that this boy child has a relationship with his parents.  I picture a relationship that is founded on love, respect, and understanding.  I know that in the physical sense, as soon as a boy child is born, they are a “son”.  But I am hearing something more.  What I am hearing is a young man of maturity, a boy that is no longer a boy but a young man ready to start his own family and begin the long journey of becoming a “dad” for his own sons and daughters.

As I consider the progression from Abraham to the promise of him becoming the father of a great nation, I picture this slow progression.  Not just a physical progression of reproduction, but a spiritual progression.  The foundation of this spiritual progression is the family dynamic with God at the center.  As physical parents through the love, respect, and relationship that they have with the previous generations they grow from children and become spiritual sons and daughters.  As spiritual sons and daughters they can then preserver what they have received and pass it along to the next generation.  Each generation going through their own life experiences.  These life experiences shape us and lead us to a place of humility where we are to bend our knee to God, His ways, and grow in our respect of those that came before us.  This is the process of allowing Him to be our ultimate father where we are His spiritual sons and daughters in co-harmony with our earthly parents.

Through this journey we have images of those that came before us who walked closely with God.  And, sadly, we all have images of those who didn’t.  As we move to the end of the book of Numbers, we come to this pinnacle moment just prior to the people of Israel entering the promised land.  Almost the entire generation that had come before them has passed away in the wilderness.  It has been 38 years.  During the last two years before leading the people into the promised land God leads this new generation into a final preparation.  They are to face the physical battles of war and the spiritual battles of sin and temptation.  They have been traveling through the dessert for 40 years because of the decisions of their parents.  Their parents have died, and they are at the end of their journey.  But before they are prepared to enter the promised land, they have this final preparation that they must endure.  As we read last week, they did not do too well.  They had the faith to fight the physical battle of war but they didn’t do too well with the spiritual battle against sin and temptation.

I think one of the biggest points of the maturing process and what leads us to the capability of moving forward into all the promises that God has for us, and the ability to be true moms and dads, is the humility failure brings.  As easy as it is to look at the failures of those that came before us and to learn from their mistakes, it is equally important to drop to our own knees and realize that we too are totally capable of falling prey to the temptations and sin that will lead us off track where Satan will use our failures to destroy the generations that come after us.

As Satan would like to use these opportunities to destroy the family tree that God is attempting to create, I believe that it is the sovereignty of God that puts this entire dynamic into play.  You see, a nation simply can not be born in a day because moms and dads can’t be created without some failures, a little humbling, and a whole lot of growth.

As I think about God’s plan of salvation and the creation of this nation of priests, I see a pattern that I believe represents the same pattern that each of us go through on our own journey through life.  You could probably add to this, but right off the top we have the people who came out of Egypt who wondered in the desert for 40 years and had a final preparation just before entering the promised land.  Skipping forward a few thousand years, and we are told that prior to Yeshua’s return to earth and the setting up of His kingdom here, temptation will grow, there will be a great turning away, and there will be physical war.  Finally, at the end of the 1,000-year physical kingdom and just prior to our moving into the new heaven and the new earth, God will release Satan one last time.

 I pray that as each of us goes about our days and as we walk through our own personal journeys, and as the trials, temptations, and battles come that we remember to lean on these verses.  I pray that we allow God to use these moments to humble us, to mold us, and to grow us.  I pray that each of us learns to see these moments not as a time to be fearful, but as a time of promise.  I pray that we can start seeing these times as moments that might just be telling us that we are reaching the end of one season and are about to enter a new one.  I pray that we each have the strength to endure the test, allow God to use it for His purposes in and through us, and that we become the leaders that He has called us to be.   I pray that each of us pass our own tests and that we are allowed to move into the next season along with those that He has entrusted us with.  Those that we have been called to lead and as such, those that we have come to know as our “sons” and “daughters”.

Emotions Count Too

Pinchas, Numbers 25:10-29:40

Pinchas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron

Last week we discussed how much of scripture points us toward the relationship between this physical world and the spiritual world that exists all around us.  We discussed how this interconnectivity should not be overlooked when considering the ways of God and in our view of those things that could be considered “out dated”, “mere ritual”, or “for someone else and not me”.

In this Torah portion I am proposing that our emotional state plays a very important role that binds what we do in the physical with what is foretold to come about in the spirit.  In doing a biblical word search with “your heart” you will find hundreds of verses where God tells us that the condition of our heart (and soul) matter.  I think most of us know Deuteronomy 6:5 where God tells us that “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  In all reality, as I review this list it is amazing to me that the entire book of Deuteronomy is laced with this reference.  In fact, in Deuteronomy alone there are 33 verses where God ties the condition of our heart to the practice of living a life in harmony with Him and His ways.

In today’s scripture it is not so obvious, but as I read the scripture, I came across two verses that really made me ponder, to move into a place of silence, to ask some tough questions, and to wait on His answers.

In Numbers 25:10-13 God tells Moses what to say to Pinchas after Pinchas kills two people with a spear.  The people Pinchas killed were a man who was a leader of an Israeli household and a woman who was the daughter of a leader of a Midian family.

Prior to Pinchas killing these two the men of Israel were “playing the harlot with the daughters of Moab”.  God sent a plague upon the people, and during this time of plague Pinchas comes across this couple while they are together and pierces them both through with a single blow of his spear.  The plague ends (after 24,000 had died), and God tells Moses how to address Pinchas.  For me the highlights of verses 10-13 where God is telling Moses what to say to Pinchas are:God tells Moses that what Pinchas did led to the withdrawing of the plague,The “wrath” was withdrawn because Pinchas was jealous with God’s own jealousy,God re-iterates His covenant with the descendants of Pinchas (Aaron’s family line),An atonement was made for the sons of Israel.

The last line is the one that really made me ponder.  God says that what Pinchas did brought atonement for the sons of Israel.  Is God condoning human sacrifice?

In our relationship with God, there are things that come between us and God that break the intimacy of the relationship.  An atonement is something that removes that which is standing between us.  Putting this week’s summary together with what we learned last week I would say this.

God has given us particular and peculiar “rituals” that are performed in the physical that when done with the right heart remove what is standing between God and us so that our intimacy may be restored.  When our intimacy is restored, we are capable of walking in the full power of the relationship.  This power is manifest in and through the spirit world around us.

In this verse we find that Pinchas heart was in the right place when He thrust his spear through this couple.  At the same time there is something else that we must take into consideration.

God had sent a plague among the people.  24,000 had died.  This couple were heads of families of Israel and Midian.  From what I gather, the plague was not leading the people to a change of heart.  In spite of the plague, the people of God were still doing what they had been doing, they were still playing the harlot, and were not listening to what God was attempting to tell them or hear what He was attempting to convey.

Because I believe that God is a good father, I do not believe that He sent this plague as a way to get even and to “punish”.  Instead, I believe that He sent the plague in His attempt to show the people His Jealousy for the hearts of His people.  They had turned their hearts toward the women of Moab AND toward the God’s of Moab.  All He wanted was for them to return their hearts back to Him.  This is the jealousy that He had and this is the jealousy that Pinchas had.  But is the jealousy of the priest alone enough?  I don’t believe that it is.  I do believe that when Pinchas did this, because of what God told Moses to say in front of the people, because of the graphic nature of what happened, and because of the position of these two people within each of the communities, something was heard that had up to this point not been heard.  I believe that Pinchas actions set into motion a series of physical and emotional events that led to a place of repentance in the hearts of the children of Israel.  Because the repentance and heart change were the things God was looking for, He removed the plague, and called what Pinchas had done “atonement”.  To say it in the words that I believe I heard it.  “Because the repentance led to the re-establishment of the intimacy between God and the people, the action that led to the repentance became the “atoning” action.  It was the catalyst that led to the repentance.”  If the people would have been able to understand what God was communicating through the plague, repented, and turned back to Him with all their hearts, minds, and strength, He would have lifted the plague and it would have been the atoning action.

A verse that really helps bring this home is Isaiah 1:11 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD.  “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.

It is all about the heart, not the “ritual”.

The next verse that really jumped out at me was Numbers 27:20.  God has just told Moses that Joshua would be the one who would pick up where Moses would leave off and would be the one to lead the Israeli people into the promised land.  God tells Moses to commission Joshua in the midst of the congregation of the people through the laying on of his hands and through this “ritual” Moses was to “put some of your authority on him”.  In the Hebrew this “authority” is seen as Moses majesty and interpreted as the glow that was upon Moses face.

This really made me think about the “ritual” we do when we lay hands on people and what we might be missing.  I was overwhelmed about how hard this could have been for Moses.  God wasn’t just asking him to lay his hands on Joshua and pray over him.  He wasn’t just asking Moses to ask God to bless him.  No, God was asking Moses to be willing to let go of something that God had blessed him with and let it pass to Joshua.  This made me think about tithing.  When we tithe we know that the money we have is all God’s, that He has only given it to us because He sees us as trust worthy, and that He knows that when He asks us to give it to someone else we will.  There is an understanding that what He has given me is not “for me”.  Instead, what He has given me has been entrusted to me, it is for me to have and use for His purposes.  I never made this connection with spiritual gifts or other blessings that I should be thankful for.  This made me think about how I have abused my body yet remain reasonably healthy.  It made me think about the number of toxins I have ingested yet I remain cancer free.  It reminded me of how many times I have almost been in horrific accidents, yet somehow had a hedge of protection that I simply can not explain.  It made me wonder what the New Testament authors understood from Moses example that we are simply not taught.

How much would it change things if when we laid hands on someone who was sick we would be willing to “put on them” what we have been blessed to carry for all the years of our own lives?  How much more grateful would we be for the blessings that we have had?  How much faith would it take to put our lives back into God’s hands and trust that He will either replace what we let go of or not?

Isn’t this the promise of His Word?  Isn’t this the foundation of faith?  Do we believe that the more we give in trust the more He will entrust us with?  How much would this kind of heart attitude change what is taking place in the spirit realm when we do some of these “rituals” that we have been doing with little to no understanding?  How much more might be possible?  How much faith would it take?  How much love?  How many of us are really willing to lay down our lives for another?  Isn’t this what He calls the greatest love?  And, isn’t loving God and others what this is really all about?

Maintaining Orthodoxy Within The Contemplative

Numbers 19:1-25:9, Chukat/Balak, Statute/Balak

 Just the titles of these two Torah portions cries out to the challenge of opening up our hearts and minds to the balance between the orthodoxy of our faith (the laws and statutes) and the contemplative or mystical side of our faith (the story of Balak, Balaam, and his talking donkey).

The two titles only provide a glimpse into what these scriptures reveal in what I believe to be at the heart of the Judeo-Christian faith experience and the heart of our journey with God.  As we read these sections of scripture we are given the opportunity to ask some tough questions about our faith, allow the Holy Spirit to quicken into our minds other scriptures that support what I believe these scriptures support, and as such move deeper into our understanding of Him, this world, His ways, the spirit realm around us, and how all of these things are interconnected.

The reading covers: The law of the red heifer and the return to "clean" after contact with the dead,The death of Miriam,Moses striking the rock and being told he will not enter the promised land,The death of Aaron,The first official battle Israel faces on their journey,The people complaining, the Lord sending fiery serpents, and the bronze serpent,The introduction of Balaam, his relationship with the Lord, and his using God's words for self-promotion,Balaam's talking donkey and how it protected Balaam from his death at the hands of the Angel of the Lord,Men of Israel led astray by Moabite women and their gods,God's steadfast commitment to His plan in spite of His people,God sends a plague upon the people, andThe plague is put in check when Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, kills an Israelite and the woman he is with.

As I began reading the statues of the red heifer my mind instantly went to the statues of the bitter water found in Numbers 5:11-31.  This is another section of scripture that tells us how deep the mystical runs in the veins of the Judeo-Christian faith.  As Christ followers we simply cannot ignore that this is a major part of our faith.  We must allow ourselves to look at this and ask some hard questions.  The answer to these questions will ultimately define our walk with God and how we observe and interact with the world around us. Let’s look at the questions we must ask ourselves as we look to grow in our understandings of the world around us:

What do we believe about the spirit realm?Do we believe God talks to us through the Holy Spirit?Do we believe the demonic realm speaks to us through unholy spirits?Do we believe that witchcraft and occult practices are real in that these people are in deep connection with the demonic powers of this world and are acting as their agents doing their work their way?

One of my favorite New Testament scriptures comes in Ephesians 6:12 where it reads "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."  Have you ever considered that every time an evil spirit is referenced in the New Testament it is referred to as an "unclean spirit”?  If there are "unclean spirits", are there "clean spirits"?  Just something to think about.

This section of scripture also forces us to ask some other questions that will also be foundational in defining how we interact with God, others, and the world around us.

What do we believe leads to blessings or "good things" in our lives? What do we believe leads to curses or "bad things" in our lives? Has God brought us into this covenant for His purposes or for ours? Do we believe that blessings can appear as curses and curses appear as blessings? How open are we to embracing new understandings of what it looks like to represent Him, to live according to His ways, and to "be Holy as He is Holy"?

I want to explain that I am not holding a position of right or wrong in these matters.  I am simply sharing scriptures that definitely support a case for how I view this walk with Him and why I believe it so important to understand the value of the orthodoxy (the ways of God) and equally important to recognize the contemplative (mystical aspects) as well.  

In saying this, I ask, if you disagree, to not let yourself believe that what I share is not biblical.  Because it most assuredly is.  Instead, if you tend to disagree, take on a position that takes responsibility for your decision to disagree that is reasonable, justifiable, and that you can own as if you were standing before Christ Himself and explaining your beliefs and decisions to Him.  

To take a stance that you believe Moses, Jesus, Paul, and the other bible authors lived in a time when mysticism was popular and as such, they were swayed by these misunderstood practices is a reasonable argument.  When it comes to the description of the clean and unclean, maybe you believe that Jesus and those that God commissioned to write the scriptures just didn't understand what science has come to show us and as such created the concepts of "clean", "unclean", "blessings", "curses", and evil spirits.  Maybe you believe that it would be evil for God to do what Moses, the prophets, Jesus, and the other bible authors tell us about God's interactions in our lives and as such, you don't believe that they really understood God as well as we do today.  

I am not saying that these are the only reasons that you may have for not believing that God is involved in sickness, disease, "curses", or casting people out where there is torment and gnashing of teeth.  I am not implying that these are the only reasons that you may have for not believing that there are things that are "clean" and things that are "unclean" and that God defines these as holy and profane.  And I do not believe that I understand every perspective that would disagree with how I see things.  I am simply asking you to take a deep look inside, pose the tough questions, and be honest with yourself.  Why do you believe what you believe and more importantly, why do you reject what you reject?

As I began this blog, I thought I knew where it was heading but assuredly I did not.  I never saw what I just shared and I had so much more that I was sure God was going to ask me to share.  In light of the direction this has gone I believe He is asking me to simply share a few basic points from this scripture without getting too teachy.

The scripture starts off with this incredibly mystical understanding of how important water is in transforming the unclean ashes of the red heifer into the most important potion held by the priesthood.  This potion is the only thing that can be used to transform a person who has been in contact with a dead body from an unclean state back to a clean state.  It should remind us of how important water is in the general practice of moving people from unclean back to clean and as such reminds us of how important water is in the spiritual aspects of our relationship with God.  Very soon after God gives Moses this statue Miriam, his sister, dies.  When she dies the water stops flowing.  The people of Israel start grumbling against God because there is no water.  What were they focused on?  What do you think Moses was focused on?  Moses needed a red heifer and some water so he could spend his last moments honoring his sister and attending to her burial without putting himself into the position of forever losing his relationship with God.  All the people cared about where their physical bodies.  Does this give us new understanding as to why Moses called them rebellious just before striking the rock?  What were they rebelling against?  For me, my mind goes to the story of Jesus with the woman at the well.  She too was focused on water to drink but Jesus told her that He was the living water and that if she drank of Him, she would never thirst again.

Now let's look at John 3:13-16.  We all know John 3:16, but how many of us know John 3:13-14?  In John 3:13 Jesus tells us that he descended from heaven.  In 1 Corinthians 10:4 we are told that Jesus was the "Spiritual Rock" that followed them through the desert WAS Christ and that when they drank, they were drinking Him.  In John 3:14 Jesus sets the conditions for what the faith referenced in John 3:16 must be.  "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

I see a few things in this.  First of all, it was mystical for the people of Israel and it is mystical for God's people today.  This is the entire context of John chapter 3.  Nicodemus couldn't understand it.  Jesus said to him in John 3:10-12 "Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? "Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?"

Isn't it interesting that the image that God told Moses to put before the people was to be the very thing that He sent to kill them?  With this in mind can we see Jesus in the same way?  He did come to bring life and life eternal.  But, if we are all just like the Israelites in the desert, don't we need to die just like they did?  The entire context of 1 Corinthians chapter 10 is Paul comparing our walk with Christ to the Israelites walk with Spiritual Christ as they too struggled against the tendency to return to the death of what we were all born into and God's unending pursuit of delivering us into the lives that He has promised.  

On the mystical side, the spirit of Messiah has been and forever will be.  He is the aspect of God that washes us, feeds us (He was the mana too), and sustains us.  He is also the aspect of God that is sent to bring death to the death we live so that we may gaze upon His love and be delivered into the life that He has promised.

On the side of orthodoxy, we come to see that we have been born into a physical world that is not only physical but is also spiritual.  This is a place of immense struggle, temptation, and battle.  He has given us tools to help us understand, and through faith, believe that what we do in the physical will somehow shift things in the spiritual and that these practices, sometimes referred to as rituals, are real.  

This is what the Israelites just couldn't see.  They saw the physical as physical and the spiritual as spiritual.  They missed the interconnectivity.

As we walk out the rest of our days may we allow the love of God to reveal to us how we struggle against the same things that the Israelites and other bible characters did.  My we forever bend our knees when we force Him to send fiery serpents into our lives to reveal where we are doing the same things they have done.  And may we learn to gaze upon those "curses" in the same way we look upon Christ on the cross, with the love in His eyes, knowing that all that He has done has been for us and not against us.  Finally, may we come to grow in our understanding of the interconnectivity of the spiritual and the physical, be set free from the belief that anything is "ritual", and be delivered into a heart that can understand the spiritual nature of all that He has offered.

 

Ultimate Rebellion

Numbers 16:1-18:32Korach"Korah"
The scripture begins with our being told that Korah was a Levi and he led a group of 250 "men of renown" in a revolt against Moses and Aaron.  Ultimately, God opens up a gorge in the earth that swallows Korah and his entire family (including Dathan and Abarim and their families).  Then the Lord sent fire and consumed the 250 who had joined the revolt.  The next day the people of Israel come against Moses and Aaron and blame them for the loss of these lives.  A plague breaks out and 15,000 die before Aaron's intercession stops the plague.
As I allowed myself to meditate over these scriptures one scripture kept coming back to me:
[Num 16:3 NASB] 3 They assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?"
Some of the concepts that are worth discussing are:Open doors that lead to rebellionHow these things relate to anti-SemitismHumility as we approach GodA thought that kept coming to me as I read these verses is "Who intercedes for Moses and Aaron"?  It was this thought that ultimately led me to what I am about to share.
Without quoting a bunch of scripture we know that Jesus is currently at the right hand of the father where He acts as our intercessor.  In my own words, I would say that He is the "unmerited favor" side of the God Head.  We also know that He descended from heaven and ascended to where He came from.  We also know that He was with God during creation and it was He who breathed all of creation into existence.  With all this in mind, my theological position is that spiritual Jesus performed as intercessor at the right hand of the father in the Old Covenant just as He is now for the New.  As I see it, all those Old Covenant clauses that say "If you_____, then_____, and I will forgive" are explanations of the legal relationship between spiritual Jesus, God, and Israel within the context of the Old Covenant law.
Hopefully that didn't trip you up too bad and you can move on with me through the next thoughts.  I understand that this is somewhat of a unique approach to the Old Covenant.  The simplest way to come alongside me in this is to agree that Jesus (Yeshua) has forever been a part of God, that He does not change, and that He will forever be who He has always been.  Maybe that helps.
I believe that ultimately, Moses and Aaron understood the heart of the Covenant and even their legal rights under the covenant to access Spiritual Jesus and the forgiveness promised.  I believe this is what qualified them to be the leaders and priests.  They understood the covenant from a spiritual perspective, they saw the face of God, and understood what it is to be one of His children.  They understood that it was only because of Him that they were Holy, that they were able to accomplish what He accomplished through them, and that it was Him who was acting through them.  I believe that they understood that without Him in them they were not capable of approaching Him.  And, I believe that they understood that all the understood was simply not because of them but because of Him and what He put into them.  They understood the gift.
This is what I see as the primary difference between Korah and Moses and Aaron.  Korah, leads a rebellion based on the precept that "all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst". 
In other words, he is saying, "We don't need an intercessor.  We are holy enough to approach God directly."  I believe this is the ultimate rebellion.  It is the sprit that says "I don't need Jesus.  I can approach God as I am.  I AM HOLY".
As I reflect on these scriptures I ponder how Korah and this band of rebels fell so far.  There are a few things that I believe each of us can take from this.I believe that Korah was jealous of  Moses and Aaron and how he perceived that God saw them.  I believe that he thought that God saw them as holy enough to approach Him directly without an intercessor.  This led to a more than/less than comparison.  Sadly, nothing could have been further from the truth.  I believe that God simply saw the humility of Moses and Aaron and knew He could trust that they would never get so prideful that they would forget that it is only in and through spiritual Jesus that they have access to Him and that in this they were the ones chosen to represent what relationship with Him looks like.Another more than/less than comparison is possible in that what Korah may have been experiencing was a jealousy that God, our ultimate father, saw Moses and Aaron as somehow "better" then he and his family.  This again is a lie of the enemy.  The simple truth is, we are all just different.  Some of us have been called to one thing, others to another.  Moses and Aaron were not called to do what Korah and his family were instructed to do right?  So, why did Korah want the jobs of Moses and Aaron but neither Moses or Aaron challenged Korah for his role?Maybe there was a jealousy over the power.  As human beings we tend to see hierarchy and struggle to move out from the control of others and into the control of our own doing.  Ultimately Korah and those he led in the rebellion may have seen Moses as being in control.  Again, this is a lie of the enemy.  Ultimately, God was in control.  Moses and Aaron bent their knee to God.  If Korah and the others would have seen truth, they would have known that they were not submitting to Moses and Aaron but to God.  Our battle over control is a battle with God.When I think of the "men of renown" I can't help but thinking of Jesus telling us that it is harder for a rich man to get into heaven then a camel through the eye of a needle.  I realize how easy it is when things are going good to believe that we, in our own abilities, have brought about what we have accomplished.  From this place of pride it is easy to leave God out, believe that we are capable of climbing the corporate ladder on our own, and that we are the ones who should be making all the rules.  From this place of pride we believe we are capable of being better leaders than those guys who are currently at the top.  We do not see God in control but man and want to resolve all the problems our way.Finally, the concept of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence comes to mind.  I believe this is the jealousy of anti-semitism.  I can't even begin to tell how many times I have heard the words "chosen people" being used in a context of jealousy.  "Why them"?  Why do they think they are so special?  Why do they think that God would have chosen them over any of us?  They are so full of pride!!  Isn't this exactly what Korah was questioning in Moses and Aaron?  Isn't this accusation of pride the same?  The reality is that as leader Moses was caring a substantially larger burden than any of the other Israelites.  As priests, Aaron and his family never got a land inheritance, they bore the guilt of the sanctuary, and they bore the guilt of the priesthood.  They became substitutes for the "first born" of every animal and every family as "being dedicated to the Lord".  This was their calling, their appointment, and their lives. They had no choice in the matter.  How often do we want the benefits of someone else's life without weighing the costs of the effort of living it?Ultimately, Moses was the greatest prophet because he was able to speak to God face to face.  I believe this was because of his great humility.  He was able to see and understand all of what I have outlined above, stand above the temptations of the enemy, and trust that it is only in and through God that He was able to accomplish all that God had done through Him.  He understood that all of his assignments were based on who God is and separate from who he was.  He understood that it is only through His grace and His cleanliness that we are capable of approaching Him.  And He understood that before he could approach God in behalf of the people that he himself needed to look into the mirror of God's perfect light and see his own flaws, what God was revealing to him about his own un-holiness, and even to get right with God in those same regards surrounding his own family.  Finally, Moses allowed God to be God.  He took God at His Word and was able to share that Word with us.  He was able to allow Him to take responsibility for the things that He did that most of us would say is "not love".  Because of this he was able to speak to God face to face, to be His guy, and was chosen to lead the people.  In seeing God for all of who He is Moses had a tough life.  He saw things and understood things that most of us could not bear.
As we think about the torn veil, our ability to move into the "holy of holies" and approach God ourselves I pray we think about these things.  Do we remember that it is only in and through Him that we can do this?  Are we ready to hear what we need to hear about ourselves before our prayers for others will be heard?  Are we willing to let Him be who He says He is?  Are we ready to bear the weight of knowing?

Learning to "SEE"

SHELACH "Send Thou"  

Numbers 13:1-15:41

Within Numbers 13-15 there are several concepts that I believe the Holy Spirit quickened into my being:

Lashon hara & grumbling (commonly known as evil speech),Innocent sin and Rebellion, and"Cut off" and His “rest”.

Ultimately, what I discovered, is that these three concepts are not operating independently through this section of reading but there is a common theme that links them all together as one overarching theme.  I believe the common theme is simply God’s plan of salvation and our willingness to let God be God, to trust Him in His plan for our lives, and to walk in harmony not only within the context of the Written Word (His commandments), but in an ever growing walk that grows our trust in Him and teaches us to walk as His children.

Additional scriptures that I felt quickened into my spirit while reading these scriptures are:

Matthew 12:31

"Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.”

Numbers 12

1 Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses ...…..13 Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "O God, heal her, I pray!" 14 But the LORD said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again." 15 So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again. 16 Afterward, however, the people moved out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

Jdg 3:1-4

1 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them ([that is,] all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan; 2 only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly). 3 [These nations are:] the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. 4 They were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses.

Mat 22:1-14

1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. …... 8 "Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 'Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find [there,] invite to the wedding feast.' 10 "Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. 11 "But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12 and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?' And the man was speechless. 13 "Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 "For many are called, but few [are] chosen."

Hebrews 4:11

Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.

Let’s recap the general highlights of Numbers 12-15 with these concepts in mind:

Miriam and Aaron grumble about Moses, Moses intercedes, and Miriam and Aaron are protected,The spies are sent out, ten provide a bad report against the land,The people listen to the bad report and grumble against Moses,Moses intercedes and God does not send pestilence but does kill the ten who gave a bad report with plague immediately,The people attempt to step into faith and take the land but God is not with them,Those people NEVER enter the promised land,God tells Moses to tell the people that there will be one law for the native and for the alien who lives amongst them,God lays out the image of His grace for when His commandments are broken unintentionally,God lays out the image of His judgement for when His commandments are broken intentionally,An example is given with a man collecting fire wood on the Sabbath, andGod reminds Moses of the commandment that the children of Israel are to wear Tzit-Tzit (tassels) on the corners of our garments reminding us of the commandments.

Lets look at Numbers 15:30-31 and Matthew 12:31 side by side:

[Num 15:30-31 NASB] 30 '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. 31 '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.'"

[Mat 12:31 NASB] 31 "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.”

I find it very interesting that in chapter 12 Moses’ intercession for Miriam and Aaron was received by the Lord (when their blasphemy was against a person (Moses)), but in chapter 13 when the spies blasphemed the land the intercession did no good and they were given a plague that led to their instantaneous deaths.  Furthermore, all the people who listened to the bad report and rebelled against Moses ended up in a judgement about half way between full forgiveness and immediate death.  The intercession led to an extension of life, but never overcame the ultimate judgement of those people never being allowed to enter into the promised land.  In fact, their fate ended up being a 40 year walk in the wilderness where many of them became future examples to their children in how not to grumble.  This all supports what Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 12 regarding gossip against others verses gossip against God and even as to why this is so important and will not be forgiven.  The truth is, when we gossip, grumble, and slander God and His commandments we lead others astray and into their own rebellion.  People who are doing this must be cut off from the people.  God simply must do what God must do. As a side not, it is interesting to see that God drew the line at age 20 and above implying that the age of accountability is 20.

Taking this a little deeper I see something very important and it comes from Judges 3:1-4.

What was the real issue of the spies who came back with a bad report and what were the people really grumbling about?  Putting it into my own words, I would say that rebellion is not only going against His written commandments, but also going against the commandment that we embrace the life that He has chosen for us, that we step into the battles that He has destined us for, and that we understand that these battles are BEST.  Wasn’t all the grumbling about not wanting to fight?  Not wanting to risk being killed?  Not wanting to see their women and children taken into captivity?  Isn’t this the same kinds of things we grumble about in our own lives?  Maybe it isn’t war with a sword.  Maybe instead it is war with a pen.  A pen that has written the words divorce, law suit, terminated, foreclosure, terminal, or a multitude of other wars that rage on within the lives we live out every day.  In Judges chapter 3 the Word clearly teaches us that God saves battles for future generations because we must learn war and we must allow war to test us, refine us, and move us into trusting God.  Let us all take a moment and ponder who and what we are grumbling about and consider that maybe, just maybe we are grumbling about the wars He has set before us, to test us, refine us, and lead us back to His commandments.  We must accept that when we grumble about the outcomes of these wars we are grumbling against Him and if this is true, His Word tells us that He will cut us off from His people.  He must.  He has no other choice.

Here is the cool thing….each of us is on our own journey and at different points in our relationship with Him.  No one can look into the life of another and determine what they are doing from a place of ignorance and lack of understanding or where the Holy Spirit has revealed truth and they are acting in rebellion.  These chapters truly reveal the heart of God in the Old Covenant and where we see Yeshua and know that He has always been and will forever be.  Interestingly though, God wraps up this chapter on forgiveness -vs- judgement surrounding innocent error -vs- blatant rebellion with the commandment of wearing the Tzit-tzit.  I have to ask the question, is it possible to “forget” the law, our identity, and the foundation of who we are in Him if we are putting the Tzit-tzit on the corners of our garments every morning?  Doesn’t this process unto itself to some level or another move us from a position of excuse to a place of accountability?

And then comes the wedding feast where everything gets tied together.  Notice how everyone from the streets are invited into the feast?  Did you also notice that at the time of the banquet only those who are “dressed” appropriately are allowed to remain?  Jesus says this is what Heaven will be like.  Doesn’t this remind you of the entire generation that died in the wilderness who Moses interceded for?  Moses interceded for the rebellious house of Israel and they were allowed to live, enter into the wilderness, become a teaching tool for their children, but never allowed to enter into the promised land.  During this time of the Gentiles we have Jesus interceding or a rebellious people, those people will be allowed to remain with all those who have come before them and who are also waiting to enter into His rest (Hebrews 4:11) but for those who are not dressed properly, the rest will never come.

What is it to be dressed properly in that day?  Do I see God strolling through the heavenly realms looking to see if people have the Tzit-tzit on the corners of their garments?  No, this is not the imagery I foresee.  But what I do see is a father that is looking to see if the spiritual covers that we have placed over us are bound and tied at the corners with a commitment to His Word, a faith that embraces the way of life that He has set before us, and a willingness to walk out the journey that He has prepared so that we will know that He is God, that we are not, and that everything in life has been provided by Him so that we may become all that He has chosen us to be.  It is a cloak of righteousness that can only be discovered when we allow the commandments to be at the four corners and the foundation that holds everything together.  For it is the fear of knowing the relationship between honoring His commandments and the victors alongside the rebellion and the losses that becomes the fabric of our covers, the covers we provide to our children, and the understands that are required to move this world from the pain and suffering we endure into the perfect rest that will come in the end of days.  These spiritual covers are the transformation of our souls as we allow God to be God and put our trust in the revelation of the blessing and the curse and how His commandments ARE at the center of these two extremes of the human condition.

Our Sabbath rest will come when all the all the wars have been fought, and the enemy has been removed.  Our cloaks will be tightly knit through our experiences of the blessings and the curses and the understanding that all of life circumstances hinge on our willingness to faithfully trust.  No more will the threat of war have a purpose.  The curse will be removed.  The work will be done.  Our Sabbath will have arrived.  

Will we be properly dressed?  Or will we still be wearing a cloak knit of rebellion, grumbling, and a lack of belief that the blessings and curses are real?  Will we attempt to enter that rest unmoved by His laws?  His Holiness?  And His ways?  Will we still be holding onto unforgiveness of the people that He has attempted to use to refine us?  Will we still be trying to avoid the work that He has put before us?  I wonder how overwhelming the world will look before He sends us into it?  There will be lions, cobras, and wolves right?  Who will know that their natures have changed?  That we can reside with them in no fear?  Who will send back a bad report in that day?  Who will see with their physical eyes and see unclean and evil?  Who will see with their spiritual eyes and see that everything has come into the knowledge of the Lord and no more evil will exist?  What will it take to even see with those eyes?