|
James 5:7-8
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of Adonai. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of Adonai is at hand. Egypt received its water from below, from the regular flooding of the Nile leaving fertilizing sediments behind. Anyone could grow a crop in Egypt; it was almost guarantied (Deuteronomy 11:10). The Children of Israel were now going to a place where their increase and their success will require for them to be on good terms with 'Heaven' (Deuteronomy 11:11-14). I live in Western Oregon, a place that receives its fair share (and more) of rain from September to May, sometimes even June. I drink water from my own well tapping an underground spring of melted snows. Water is never an issue here but in the Middle East downpours and water rights are at the heart of economics, politics, and even religion. It used to even be the sources of wars. Grain, wine, and oil speak of abundance and form the imagery of Messiah and the Messianic age. In the Promised Land this abundance will be dependent on obedience, and the 'early' and 'late' rain from 'above'. As well as being a natural reality, it is a reminder of where our attention should be! These two seasonal downpours have particular names in Hebrew: 'yoreh', and 'malkosh'; they could respectively be translated as 'Spring', and 'Autumn' rain. They refer to the rains that come in the Spring around the season of Passover, and the Fall after the Feast of tabernacles. Messiah manifested Himself to the world at the time of the 'Yoreh', the Spring festivals rains around the time of Passover. It is significant that the word 'Yoreh' originates from the verbal root 'to teach, to instruct', and therefore is connected to the word 'Torah': 'Instruction'. The prophets often poetically play on those words alluding between rain, teaching, and Torah which come down from Heaven, as well as the Messiah (Deuteronomy 32:2;Joel 2:23; Hoseah 6:3; 10:12). After the Spring rains, comes the long hot summer of Messiah's absence, a time of harvesting wheat and barley, ending with the fruit harvest in the Fall and the Feast of Tabernacles also called 'Ingathering', because this is when the harvest is gathered into barns. As reliable servants, may we be faithful with the harvest of souls He has entrusted with at His first manifestation (Matthew 28:18-20), that when He returns in the Fall, He may receive His own with interest.
0 Comments
Luke 1:54
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy. Through Moses God instituted that His people should remember the Passover, the great Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. In those days the Creator of the universe revealed Himself to His people in the form of a burning but non-consuming bush to show them His great love, care and power to redeem them from their Egyptian oppressor. At that time God wrought great miracles, miracles we still talk about today and are even documented with evidence from land and sea. One of those great miracles was that as God redeemed His people, a great multitude of Gentile eventually followed them and found refuge from tyrannical doomed and destroyed Egypt in the God of Israel. During His last Seder, the Master enjoined His disciples to also remember Him at the time of the Passover. For in those His days the Creator of the universe revealed Himself to His people to show them His great love, care and power to redeem them not only from Rome, but from the ‘world’, from the ungodliness that is in them since the Fall.. At that time God wrought great miracles, miracles we still talk about today and are even documented with evidence from land and sea. One of those great miracles was that as God redeemed His people, a great multitude of Gentile eventually followed them and found refuge from tyrannical doomed and eventually destroyed Rome in the God of Israel. Since the time when Rome expulsed Israel from the country God had given them, Israel sought refuge in those nations that came to the Messiah of Israel. These nations for the most important part oppressed them. But even before the days of the Master the prophet Jeremiah uttered the following words, "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' but 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers (Jeremiah 16:14-15). This will be the third Passover. In those days the Creator of the universe will reveal Himself to His people in the form of to show them His great love, care and power to redeem them from the nations that will surround them in an attempt to annihilate them. In those days, God will perform again great miracles, miracles that will be documented and spoken about forever and ever over land and sea. One of those great miracles will be that as God redeems His people, a great multitude of Gentile will also be redeemed joining Israel in finding refuge n the great Kingdom of God to come. May it be soon Abba, even in our days! Matthew 18:21-22
"Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? … Yeshua said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. As they were leaving Egypt, God gave Israel commands concerning their lives in their Land. One of them was to celebrate the Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:19). If this command was already given in Exodus and in Leviticus twenty-three, why is it repeated in Numbers (Numbers 9:1-5)? The distance from Mount Horeb to the borders of Israel is not that great so technically at the times of Numbers, the Children of Israel should already have been in the Land. The problem was that they were delayed at least three months by the Golden Calf’s incident. The Bible is a Book of second chances. We may orchestrate the most elaborate fail-safe plans but life has a habit of throwing curve-balls at us. In spite of our loftiest dreams and ideals, at the end of the day, we have to deal with the reality on the ground, and it seems that God knows it. In Numbers nine we also have the case of a family who would miss the precious Passover celebration because of a death in their family. In that case the Father gives them the chance to celebrate Passover on the following month. This case foreshadowed Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. The two men cared for the Master’s body on the night of Passover 2,000 years ago so they were ritually unfit to celebrate the Holy day that year. It was a traditional belief with the early Jerusalem believers that the two men reclined at the Passover table this year on the second month of the year for what is called: Pesach Sheni: The Second Passover. It takes maturity and godliness to not be frustrated at the way things are compared to the way they should be. I have a good friend who when things do not work out the way he had dreamed always says, ‘It is what it is!” I think sometimes that our perfect Creator God looks at us with empathy and says, “It is what it is”, and then, tries to give us a second chance. He tells us that we can celebrate the Passover in the desert instead of in the Land, or that we can celebrate it on the second month if reality kept us from doing it on the first. The whole idea of redemption and atonement is in fact about second chances. Again we stand in awe at the perfect Almighty God Creator of the universe as He bends to the bare facts of our lives on earth. He proposes and offers the great ideals of His Torah with the full knowledge of our imperfectness towards it and says (in a manner of speech), ‘It is what it is’. How much more then should we be able to bear with each other’s imperfection. How much patience and forgiveness and bending ability the Father has for each one of us should be the standard of ours towards others. It is the novice who forgets about his own imperfections looks at others condescendingly wondering how come they don’t toe the line better. The seasoned mature elder knows life, that “It is what it is” and deals with it not according to his lofty dreams but according to the realities on the ground. May we learn from the great Father who loves us so and give second (and more) chances to people as He also gave us. |
Thanks for thinking of us... even a tiny donation is a blessing to us...
Order our new CD at: http://www.thelumbrosos.com/shop.html
Also available on itune. 
Our 'UNDER THE FIG TREE' atL:
http://www.thelumbrosos.com/shop.html 
Check our original judaica and other jewelery at:
http://www.thelumbrosos.com/shop.html Archives
May 2013
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed