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Matthew 24:15
So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand) … From Cain to Nebuchadnezzar, everyone who tried to conquer the Jewish, the People of the Covenant, did it forcefully through land and military conquest. In his Jewish Antiquities, Flavius Josephus gives a detailed account of Alexander the Great's visit to Jerusalem and the transpiring events that caused him not to invade and destroy it. Even though Alexander the Great did not conduct a military campaign against Jerusalem, the Hellenic empire is responsible for the historically most successful conquest of the People of God, and that through cultural assimilation. The Western philosophical Greek is as opposite to the Eastern covenantal Jew as day is opposite from night, but is commonly said, 'opposites attract!' When Israel had gotten truly addicted to Hellenism and even had a Greek appointed corrupt Jewish High-Priest, all Antiochus Epiphanes thought he had to do was to send his emissary with a list of reforms to put all of Judaism into his evil hands. He didn't expect the Maccabee revolt. From where I stand, the Maccabees may have won the war and rededicated the Temple, Antiochus Epiphanes may be dead, but the form of Anti-Semitism that he taught is still alive and vibrant. In his great graciousness and compassion Hashem gave us His Messiah. This Jewish, Righteous, and Torah-observant Messiah was high-jacked by Greco-Roman believers who in less than two hundred years displayed Him as a Roman god dressed as a Greek Adonis teaching Greek philosophy. Under a twisted ignorant interpretation of Paul's epistles, this identity theft of our Messiah included the same set of religious reforms initiated by Antiochus Epiphanes which are to stop observing the Sabbath, practicing circumcision, eating according to biblical dietary laws, and studying theology as per the Torah. As a Jewish believer, I find myself in awe that today, my non-Jewish brothers live by the same religious reforms as those pushed by Antiochus Epiphanes and even find myself shunned from their fellowship as one whose, to say the least, theology is overly influenced by Judaism. I wonder what Yeshua would think of the fact that if I want fellowship with non-Jewish believers, I have to live by Antiochus Epiphanes rules. It may be OK for others, but Jewish believers need another Chanukah revolt where with Matthias Maccabee we say "NO" to Antiochus Epiphanes' rules and live our faith in Messiah according to the terms of the covenant Hashem gave to His people. Maybe that Day will be the Day of Messiah. May Hashem give us another Matthias Maccabee who will stand for us and lead us into the cultural battle to defeat Antiochus Epiphanes once and for all! May it be soon Abba, even in our days.
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Romans 3:30
Since God … will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Hashem told Abraham to circumcise his boys: Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac was circumcised at eight days, and Ishmael at thirteen years old. Later Hashem instituted that all the Children of Jacob should be circumcised at eight days; the children of Ishmael who united with the Children of Esau to make the Arab nations still circumcise their children at thirteen years old. Circumcision is an outward sign of an inward reality. It serves as a branding in the flesh so people know we have a Master, that we belong to a family of people who has been redeemed that we belong to a Redeemer. Whereas this 'branding' is applied to our 'secret parts' allowing us to blend, it also reminds us that we are not our own: that we are responsible to the Law of our Master and not to do these things which are done in 'secret'! Moses spoke of a second circumcision, this time of the heart (also Jeremiah 4:4). It isn't to replace the circumcision of the flesh but rather worked as an addendum. The heart is the seat of the will. A person with a circumcised heart is one whose 'flesh' has been removed from his will; carnality does not dictate this person anymore. Isaiah also spoke of the circumcision of the ear ( As Paul wrote of circumcision, he did not need to write to the Jewish believers who already had instructions in the matter. He referred mostly to this promised circumcision of the heart to give us a 'heart to know' (Deuteronomy 29:4; 30:6). Physical circumcision was only given to the children of Abraham and particularly imposed on the Children of Israel. Given the fact that when Abraham was still uncircumcised he was made the 'blessor' of all the families of the earth, Paul then spoke to the uncircumcised Colossians (Gentile believers) of the circumcision of the heart (Romans 4:10-11; Colossians 2:11) whereby they would be 'grafted-in' to Israel (Romans 11) though Messiah.. As circumcision in the flesh changes our body showing that we have a Master and rules to abide by, so should the circumcision of the heart. One who claims to belong to Messiah should show the signs of being a different person, one not subject to his evil inclination but subject to the spirit of God. Hashem has promised that in the time of the end, when He gathers his chosen people from the four corners of the earth he will circumcise their hearts. There is no 'if' in there: this promise is unconditional (Deuteronomy 30: 5-6). One may wonder, "How can it be unconditional?" For millennia before the world ever knew about God and the Messiah the Chosen People have carried the persecution of being chosen and separated. We cherished and preserved the Word that the world today enjoys through the effort of the early Jewish disciples of the Jewish Messiah. I told a young woman who told me that her parents were Jewish but that it meant nothing to her, that to be Jewish is like being the inheritor of a vast wealth of future blessings, and that we should not like Esau throw away our glorious inheritance because of discomfort in this present reality. May we all, biological Jews and 'grafted-in' Gentiles, remember that this appurtenance to our Messiah means an unconditional Promise in the World to come. As the early Jewish martyrs starting with Moses who considered the riches of Messiah greater than Egypt (Hebrews 11:24-26), may we never let go of that hope. This is the very hope, 'Hatikvah' that kept the Children of Israel for 2,000 years, and it will keep us until that Day comes. May it be soon Abba, even in our days! Luke 2:22
And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. In the twelfth chapter of the Book of Leviticus we are told that, 'If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. As at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Then she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed’ (Leviticus 12:2-4). Luke ties this verse to the birth of Messiah when he says, ‘And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord’ (Luke 2:22). Miriam therefore came to make an offering at the end of the days of her purification as was prescribed by Moses and that is when she meets Simeon (Luke 2:25). Luke actually makes sure to tell us how Miriam and Joseph did everything according to the Levitical process. It is important here to note that even though most Biblical texts relate to Miriam’s post-natal state as ‘unclean’ and therefore having to present an offering at the Temple; her condition has nothing to do with moral deficiency or spiritual unworthiness. A woman giving birth actually is at the height of her godliness and righteousness before God. What the Torah refers to as the ritual unclean state is solely the reality of being human and therefore impure before. This ritual uncleanliness is solely Temple related. We are told in the Gospel of Luke that ‘when the time came for their (Miriam and Joseph) purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him (Yeshua) up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."’ (Luke 2:22-24). We see in Luke’s rendering of the story that Miriam and Joseph brought "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."’, and that is because they could not afford a lamb (Leviticus 12:6-8). Little did young Miriam know, oh how little did she know that whereas she could not afford to bring Lamb to the Temple for her purification, she actually brought to God the ultimate Lamb who would end up purifying not only her, but the whole world with her! |
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