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Luke 15:22-24
. Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' As he terminated his task of writing the Torah, Moses commanded the children of Israel that, at the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing (Deuteronomy 31:10-11). At the return from the Babylonian captivity, under the strong unabashed leadership Ezra and Nehemiah, we learn of a contrite Israel gathering as one man at the newly rebuilt temple during the Feast of Booths to listen to the Words of the Torah (Nehemiah 8). At that time, Hebrew was no more the fluent language of the Children of Israel, but Aramaic. The text tells us that certain of the priests “helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading”. When Ezra opened the scroll and blessed the God who had allowed them to return home, the people “bowed their heads and worshiped Adonai with their faces to the ground”. The emotion was so strong that even though the Feast of Booths is a festival of joy, the people wept and Nehemiah had to command them to rejoice. Why did they weep? It seems that the Spirit of God was doing its job convicting Israel of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16.8). Reading Scripture should convict us. Oh yes, as we read the admonishing Text of Scripture we can easily justify, exonerate and absolve ourselves from guilt and responsibility. Like Paul on the road to Damascus we can “kick against the pricks” of conviction (Acts 9:5 KJV), but ultimately, true repentance, true return towards the Father does not happen until, even though we have sorely suffered loss as the results of our foolishness, we put down all our self-justification mechanisms, run back home, and prostrate to the ground in utter vulnerability saying, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son' (Luke 15:21. As we realize the error of our way, as we weep worm tears of repentance, we will realize that the Father Himself is crying, He is crying tears of joy having lived in mourning and never comforted Himself since our departure. May it be as this season of renewal and repentance approaches, as we hear the words of Torah, that we let them sink into our hearts and allow the Spirit of God to convict us of our ways. As we hear the divine utterances, may we weep warm tears of repentance that we may enter the season of the Festival of Booths with the joy of a Father having killed the ‘fattened calf’ for us.
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Matthew 24:12
Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold Once Moses finished his address to the Children of Israel, The Eternal called him and his faithful disciple Joshua to the Tent of Meeting. There, the One who first appeared to Moses in a non-consuming burning bush revealed that the Children of Israel will eventually forsake the God who rescued them from bondage; that they would also forsake and reject His commandments. To his great dismay and disappointment, Moses would also learn that because of it God would, for a time, hide His face from His people (Deuteronomy 31:14-21). Yeshua gave His disciples the same warning that eventually His followers will forsake the Torah. He said, because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:12). History records that before the end of the first century C.E., a movement coined as the ‘Anomians’ had appeared on the scene and was growing in strength. The translation of ‘Anomians’ is: the ‘Lawless ones’. It is the term that gives us the word, ‘iniquity’, or: lawlessness. This early heretical movement defined itself by a permissive and licentious understanding of ‘grace’. Misreading and misinterpreting Paul’s letters, these people proclaimed that the mosaic code of Law was no longer valid as the expression of faith in Messiah. Yeshua also warned the early congregations about these people. In His address to John on the Isle of Patmos He refers to those people as the Nicolaitans and the followers of Jezabel (Revelations 2-3). Paul always claimed to adhere to the code of conduct defined in the Torah (Acts 24:14). Peter remembered his Master’s warning and in turn warned the believers. He calls the anomians, untaught and unstable, saying that they distort the Scriptures to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16-17). Jude, the brother of the Master calls them ‘hidden reefs in your love feasts’ (Jude 12-13). As we can see, the apostolic era believers followed in the footsteps of our fathers in the Book of Deuteronomy of whom it was said that they would reject the commandments. Today, the grand majority of those who claim to be followers of the Master actually define themselves by a rejection of those commandments. This is just as Yeshua prophesied, because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:12). About 150 years before the manifestation of Messiah on earth, a group of Torah loyalists started by a father and his five sons rebelled against the Hellenistic secularization of Israel. They fought to preserve the Torah and the sanctity of the Temple. This happened during the reign of one, both Prophet Daniel and Yeshua proclaimed to be a prototype of the Anti-Messiah of the end (The Book of Maccabees). In these days of introduction of the ‘man of lawlessness’, the ‘lawless one’, (2 Thessalonians 2), we again need a group of faithful ‘Maccabees’, unafraid neither of the king nor for their lives (Revelations 12:11); true warriors of the faith who stand against ‘anomianism’ and its perverted king to inspire the people of God to return to the Torah of Yeshua. Please Abba, raise them for us now! Marc 15:2
And Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered him, "You have said so." As long as they lived in the Land, at the end of each seven years, at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles also called the Feast of Ingathering, the Children of Israel were required to assemble in Jerusalem, men, women and child, citizen or resident alien, to hear the reading of the Book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 31:10-13). While nothing forbids congregations from reading Deuteronomy together during the Feast of Tabernacles, the very demands of this commandment decree that it can only be fulfilled while the people of Israel live in the land, with Jerusalem as their capital. New generations were bound to be born and time which would erase the days of espousals in the desert (Jeremiah 2:2), so this practice served as a regular reminder of the origins, culture and understanding of the history of this people redeemed from Egypt. The commandment says to ‘gather’, to ‘assemble’ the country together in Jerusalem its God-chosen capital. So it was later decided that this commandment was incumbent on the only person who had the authority to require such a gathering of the people: the king. The religious leaders also declared that it was the king’s duty to read the Torah to the people. Religion was not meant to be separate from state affairs; in fact, the ostracizing of religious obligation from state affairs is what later brought the downfall of Israel.Prophets tell us that at the fulfillment of the Messianic Age, not only Israel, but the whole world is to be represented in Jerusalem to hear the Torah at the feast of Tabernacles. The prophet Zachariah informs us that in those days, whoever does not come to celebrate Tabernacles in Jerusalem will not receive rain (Zechariah 14:16-21). In that day, at the time of the great jubilee, the true legitimate King of Jerusalem; He who is called ‘the King of the Jews’ and who has been called to lead the people of God; Yeshua the Nazarene who has been manifested unto us as the Messiah-King, priest and prophet of Israel, will command the world to stop their feverish activities, come to Jerusalem and stand to attention while He instructs them reading the very words that He dictated to Moses before his death. While this time may be in a distant future, there is a very distinct possibility that it may not be so far away. As the children of Israel stood waiting to enter the Land, we here also stand close to the time of the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom in the world. For them and for us, the stories of Egypt are a distant memory belonging to a past generation. Just like them, we believe having not seen, just because of a word of promise. As we acknowledge these things, may we today start acknowledging the Feast of Tabernacle as a time to review the historical foundation of our trust in Yeshua the Messiah in the Book of Deuteronomy. Hebrews 12:15
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; In their wonderings from Egypt to Canaan, our fathers learned to become a new nation. Birthed in a worldwide culture of idolatry they learned to become a people with a sense of morality and humanity: Hashem’s people,. They learned that both good and evil has consequences and retribution not only in the sight of man, but in the sight of God, and that He is the One who establishes what is justice and righteousness. One of Moses main point as he readies the people to enter the Promised Land is that being God’s people does not absolve us from the punishment of sin; that to the contrary, adoption into God’s Kingdom legally binds us to His rulings. Moses especially warns against the rationalization of sin. He says, Beware lest there be among you a man or woman … whose heart is turning away today from the LORD our God … Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, … saying, 'I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.' … The LORD will not be willing to forgive him, … (Deuteronomy 29:18-20). Many years later, the apostle uses the same imagery to warn the Israeli Messianic community of believers about the dangers of disobedience and sin (Hebrews 12:15-16). Many seem to have an erroneous idea of ‘grace’. They see God’s abundant grace as some sort of divine unswerving ability to forgive our sins and wickedness. Any would be deity who absolves iniquity, sin and injustice without proper recompense and retribution is certainly not the God of Israel (Deuteronomy 29:20), and neither is he the god that Yeshua claims to be one in spirit and principle with (John 17:11). The Corinthians’ congregations had a difficult time pulling out of their Hellenistic sensual culture. They often argued with Paul trying to rationalize sin and disobedience, especially along the lines of sexual immorality. They had a hard time to obey so to them Paul explained the purpose of God’s grace. He said that, God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8). The expression ‘good works’ is not solely referring to charity and good deeds. It is the Hebrew word ‘mitzvah’ which refers to the commandments. It refers to charity, but only in the context that charity and good deeds are commandments from the Torah. The ‘grace’ given to us is like an extra ‘boost’ from the Holy Spirit to help us obey God’s commands such as charity and good deeds, but also the other ones. Grace therefore has nothing to do with forgiveness and absolution, but everything to do with the ability to obey God’s commandments. In fact, if we claim to have the grace of God, we even take away our excuse for disobedience. May Hashem help us in properly evaluating our lives. May He deliver us from the evils caused by the rationalization of sin. May He give us His abundant grace that we may please Him through our obedience towards His will and commandments. Romans 7:24-25
“ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to Hashem through Yeshua HaMashiach …!” “Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them” (Deuteronomy 27:26) is the curse the Children of Israel had to pronounce upon themselves before entering the land. If they disobey the commandment, they die! Paul refers to this passage as the ‘curse of the Torah (Galatians 3:10). Sadly though, Paul’s statement to the Galatians’ congregation is often interpreted that if someone wants to adhere to God’s commandments like eating kosher and keeping the Sabbath, they are placing themselves ‘under the Law’ and pronouncing this curse upon themselves. How could that be when Paul agrees that the wages of sin is death and that John defines sin as the breaking of God’s commandments (Romans 6:23; 1 John 3:4)? Also, no matter how much we adhere and obey the commandments, in the end, we are all destined to die. Death is everywhere lurking upon us in the form of corruption and decay. Death is an inherent part of our lives so to speak. Paul’s point was simple. He knew that any law without enforcement is no law at all. In order to be effective, a law has to carry consequences. In this case, the consequence is the curse of death. It certainly cannot mean that the Torah itself is death since it is pure and life-giving (Psalms 19: 7-8), and that by it we should live (Leviticus 18:5). Paul tells us then that yes, we have a wicked and disobedient nature; we find it difficult to be the way we should be and easy to yield to our evil inclination, (Romans 7:15-19). He says that we cannot be kept from reaping the earthly consequences of our disobediences (Deut 28: 1-14), but that what saves us concerning eternal life and the World to Come, is the same as what saved Abraham, Moses, David and all the others in their days: ‘faith’ in Yeshua (John 14:6). Paul confirmed that was what the ancients believed and that it was what Habakkuk the prophet was reminding his audience in, the righteous shall live (as in eternal life) by his faith (Habakkuk 2:4). The teaching that salvation was consequential to Torah obedience was never based on Torah. That school of thought was even relatively new at the time of the Master. Paul’s statement to the Galatians carries no implication whatsoever to disregard the commandments, only a statement of Hashem’s eternal mercies in spite of our incapability to obey. To totally disregard God’s rules for life just because we can’t do it all is really faulty logic; we don’t do that with anything else! What if we gave up trying to be godly at all just because we failed sometimes? May we do our best to please Him by living in the way He would want us to, while retaining the assurance that even though, He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him (Psalms 103:7-11). 1 Corinthians 3:13
Each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. In the text of Deuteronomy the Children of Israel promise to, walk in God’s ways, to keep His statutes and his commandments and His rules, and to obey His voice (Deuteronomy 26:17). On many levels, this is a generic statement. Many people, each living different lifestyles, claim to live in keeping with God’s commandments and statutes. To walk in someone’s way is a Hebrew idiom for imitating them. Discipleship in the Sacred Texts is not to learn someone’s knowledge, but to imitate them. So to walk in God’s ways means to imitate Him. How then do we imitate God? An ancient Hebrew text puts it in very simple terms. It says that just as God clothed the naked (Genesis 3:31), we should also clothe the naked; that as God visited the sick when He came to Abraham in the plains of Mamre when he was recovering from his circumcision, so we should also visit the sick (Genesis 18:1). The text also mentions that as God appeared to Isaac after the death of his father Abraham, in the same manner we should comfort the mourning. Finally, we learn from this text that as God buried Moses in the plains of Moab, we should also give proper attention to the dead (b.Sotah 14a). Another ancient text mentions, ‘Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, is called Merciful, so shouldst thou be merciful. Just as He is called Gracious, so shouldst thou be gracious. Just as He is called Righteous, so shouldst thou be righteous. Just as He is called Devout, so shouldst thou be called devout (sifre on Deuteronomy 10:12). The Master followed this imitation principle of discipleship. He said, I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him." (John 8:28-29). According to the model of the ancient Jewish sages, Yeshua also encouraged us to, feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit those in prison (Matthew 25:35-36). In fact, this is the type of righteousness He will look for in us as we meet Him at the End of Days. James also taught the early Hebrew congregations that, Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27). To sum it all up, acts of compassion and mercy seem to have much more to do with the Biblical way of walking after God’s commands than head stuffing of doctrines and accurate statements of faith. As we walk through life, may we always remember that when all is said and done at that the End of Days, our life’s work will tested by fire (1 Corinthians 3:13). At that time all the wood, hay and straw of pride, self-righteousness, selfishness and vanity will burn. At that time, only the gold, the silver, and the precious stones of the positive treatment of those made in the image of the Father will count in our Master’ eyes. Act 4:32-35
Now the full number of those who believed … had everything in common. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Our world is plagued with economic instability. The specter of the Great Depression hangs over Presidents and nations. Even though measures have been taken to avoid a repeat, these seem to be nothing more than band-aids trying to keep an inflating balloon from bursting. The world calls a healthy economy one with much movement. Whereas movement is a proof of life, one can still move and go in the wrong direction. A healthy economy should be one where everyone has enough, and more, without the use of oppression and slavery. Any economy based on credit and interest is based on economic oppression which God hates (Leviticus 25:17). Like an old farmer of an Eastern European country told me many years ago, “in our country, we don’t have much, but everybody has some’. On the other hand, a diseased economy is one that shows a polarization of wealth, where a very few have the very most, and the very most have the very least. The Anti-Messiah of the end will provoke such economy that he will use as a form of control of the masses and persecution of those who obey God’s commandments (Revelations 6:5-6; 12 and13). There seem to be two major economic philosophies in the world. On the one side the ultra capitalistic system, and on the other side the ultra communistic way. Both seem to have good points and flaws, and both certainly use oppression, though in different forms. An ideal situation would be a merging of the good points of both, but politics and partisanship keep us from such wisdom. The economic system of the Bible actually provides a good model. It is funny that people don’t want to use it. God teaches us an economy based on capital, but balanced by a social system of tithes and offerings which support both the religious community and the poor. Also, the system is to reboot every seven years with all debts being forgiven Leviticus 25), which creates an automatic re-balancing of wealth where no-one becomes too rich, and no-one becomes too poor. I believe this will be the system used in the World to Come when Messiah rules the earth. At that time, He will force money-lenders to forgive debts every seven years and thereby abolish economic oppression. May it come soon Abba, even in our days! 1Corinthians 7:21-22
Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Messiah. Here is an interesting story from the first century C.E. Onesimus, an escapee slave from Philemon a prominent slave owner from the community of believers of Colossi, finds refuge in Rome where per inadvertence he meets with the apostle Paul, who is at that time in house arrest. While in the company of Paul, Philemon is introduced to Yeshua, the ‘Slave-redeemer’, and becomes a member of the Roman community of believers, as well as a substantial helper to Paul. Here is the problem now: the Torah commands that asylum be granted to runaway slaves (Deuteronomy 23:15-16). This is practice as old as Abraham who took Eliezer, a Damascus runaway slave under his wings (Genesis 15:2). Roman law on the contrary required that Paul, who is already in trouble with the authorities, immediately returns the slave to its owner. This is a dilemma. I do not believe in the picture of a maverick Paul who went out of His way to deliberately create problems by breaking man’s laws just to prove a point. Some people even to portray the Master as some sort of radical revolutionary. I believe that picture to be false and the result of one’s own worldview and problem with authority. In the book of Philemon Paul shows us his wisdom. He obeys Roman law sending Onesimus back to Colossi with a letter to Philemon, asking the slave-owner to show mercy on both him and Paul, and to free the slave of his own volition. Thus we have the Epistle to Philemon. It’s like the story of Miriam who also obeyed the Pharaoh’s command to put her baby in the Nile; she did it, but she put the baby in a basket! In books detailing the history of early believers, we read of an Onesimus was a great leader in Ephesus, Paul’s personal secretary and the one who preserved the Pauline epistles. Was it the same person? Whether this is the same Onesimus or not, what will be said of us that WE did with the freedom the Master obtained for us? Matthew 23:37
"O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, … How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,…! From the very beginning of time Hashem established Jerusalem as the central place of worship for His people. Ancient writings even point to it as the place where Adam first stood on his feet. It was also in Jerusalem that Abraham performed the act of obedience by which today all of humanity stands a chance to reconcile with God (Genesis 22; 28:14). As the Children of Israel are readying to enter and conquer the Land God gave them, Moses gives his final instructions (Deuteronomy). What most concerns him is the assimilation of the people with the cultures already in the land. It is for that reason that God had demanded the centralization of the worship system in Jerusalem. Offerings could be given to Levites anywhere, but God’s tithes were to be given only in Jerusalem. This drew the people to always return to the focal point of Jerusalem. This did not eventually prevent assimilation, but it kept it at bay; even if the country would stray, Jerusalem would still be a point of reference. This is what happened at the time of the division of the kingdom. In order to get the loyalty of the people, Jeroboam initiated a worship system in the regions of the tribe of Dan. Most of the Levites then fled to Judah, so Jeroboam also established his own priesthood in disobedience to the command that only Levites, sons of Aaron, should be priests (Exodus 27:21). Jeroboam also changed the days of the Feast of Tabernacles (1 Kings 12). All this, Jeroboam did in contravention of the Torah command to not add nor take away from the Commandments of God Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32). Come to think of it, this is what the Anti-Christ will do at the end of days; he will create a counterfeit religion that looks like the original, but is actually the anti-thesis (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). When the disciples were discussing the issue of Gentile assimilation to the faith of Messiah, they referenced themselves to Amos’ prophecy concerning the ‘resurrection’ of David’s Tabernacle. This Tabernacle was in Jerusalem (Acts 15; Amos 9:11-12). Because of the abomination (Daniel 9:27;11:31), Jerusalem was desolate for nearly 2,000 years. Now the time to comfort Zion has come and Jerusalem is resurrecting (Isaiah 51:3). We should therefore all look to Jerusalem, the Place where our Messiah also resurrected, as our focal point, the ‘Ground Zero’ of our Messianic conviction. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, the psalmist said (Psalms 122:6). As he uttered these words, did he foresee how much they were needed? Jerusalem is the most war-torn conquered and re-conquered city in the world. Do you hear the galloping hooves on the horizon? Yeshua, the real King of Jerusalem is coming to take His Bride from those who abused her for centuries. When that day comes to full fruition, you will want to be on the right side of history! Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Yeshua our Messiah. One of the most difficult Biblical laws to understand and even apply is the one about the rebellious son. It says, "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear (Deuteronomy 21:18-21). This sort of law would very quickly solve the teenage problem in the industrial world! This may sound harsh but we must not permit ourselves to judge God’s laws according to our own weakened sense of values. According to Hashem there are not ‘teenage pranks’, but, rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry (1 Samuel 15:23). Actually, ‘teenagehood’ is an invention of our modern society. In Biblical days you were a man, or a woman as of the age of puberty, and from a youth one carried his own weight participating in the communities’ workload. There were probably much less teenage issues then. The straight reading of this law can lead to abuses by unwise parents. As a result, Jewish sages wisely put such fences and stringencies around this commandment that Talmudic texts declare that “There never has been a case of a stubborn and rebellious son brought to trial and never will be”. Even without the protection of the sages though, the dynamics of parenthood make it impossible. Can you imagine two parents making that decision? Usually in parenthood, when one is through the other declares mercy. Isn’t that the case most of the time? Children always receive undeserved mercy from their parents. That’s why they need parents! Why was this Law written then? The answer is found at the end of the verse, So … all Israel shall hear, and fear (Deuteronomy 21:21). It is good to have a healthy fear of breaking the Commandments of God, but without dire retribution, there is no need to fear. We also need to fear our Father, as though He redeemed us from certain death (Romans 6:23), we are not absolved from the results of our sins. Here is in a nutshell the nature of our Father, And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation (Exodus 34:6-7). All in all we, each of us are this self-indulging stubborn and rebellious son who deserves to die, but even as at the foundations of the world He formulated the Torah, He also created Redemption (Proverbs 8:22-36; Revelations 3:14). May we live in serve Him in everlasting gratefulness. |
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