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Romans 11:12, 18
Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!? Do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. “You find that as long as Sarah lived, a cloud hung over her tent … her doors were wide open … there was a blessing on her dough, and the lamp used to burn from the evening of the Sabbath until the evening of the following Sabbath …" In this scrap of tradition, Sarah’s tent is homiletically compared to Jerusalem typified by the Temple. The cloud is symbolic of the Shekinah of God’s presence, the doors of the temple being wide opened is an invitation to the world to the house of prayer (as Yeshua called it); the blessed dough is the showbread which miraculously never spoiled, and the lamp is the seven-branches candelabrum which burned continuously in the Holy Place. In the Book of Galatians Paul builds on this illustration. Using the concept that Judaism views Sarah as the great matriarch he says, But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. Then, using Isaiah’s allegory and adding the fact that that Sarah was barren (not Hagar) He quotes, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! Though Paul doesn’t quote it, the rest of the oracle says, Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes (Isaiah 54:1-2; Galatians 4:26).This is an illustration that Jerusalem, (the center of Jewish religion) is one day to open its doors to all nations. The next chapter of Isaiah goes on to call all nations to drink and be fed from the fountain of Jerusalem (Isaiah 55; Zechariah 14:16). Referring to modern history, I now will build on this concept. In their impatience while waiting on God to fulfill the messianic promise of the birth of Isaac, Abraham and Sarah brought Hagar into the picture. As Hagar bore fruit she despised and boasted against Sarah who was still barren and dry. In His own time, Hashem miraculously caused Sarah to bear the fruit of the messianic promise. In the end, though blessed by God because of beloved Abraham, Hagar paid for her attitude having to leave Sarah’s presence. For 2,000 years while waiting for the 19th century when Jerusalem would miraculously birth the present-day world-wide Messianic movement, the nations of the world, who did bear fruit unto Yeshua have done so while ‘boasting’ against the ‘natural branches’ in a doctrine called ‘Replacement Theology’, and even subjecting these ‘natural branches’ to horrible persecutions (or were silent in the face of it). Will the nations suffer the same fate as Hagar? The Text tells us that not, but that in the end Jerusalem will return to its rightful original owners, and that the nations will come and serve and worship God in Jerusalem, bringing in their glory (Isaiah 66; Haggai 2:7). For what it’s worth, there is an ancient Jewish teaching which suggests that Keturah, Abraham’s second wife after Sarah died, is actually Hagar returned (Genesis 25:1-6).
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John 14:9
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” The dear sages who compared Jerusalem to Sarah our matriarch could not have foreseen the extent of their analogy. In the midrash of the barren woman, Hashem reveals the messianic future of His dear city to the prophet Isaiah. Since its sacking by the Romans in the first century C.E., many have looked at Jerusalem just as Isaiah saw her: a barren woman sitting on a heap of ashes, ostracized and rejected by her husband because of her many infidelities (Isaiah 54; Jeremiah 26:6). One of the legends I like the most is the one about the weaning of Isaac. It is said that Abraham called in a great feast (Genesis 21:8). The rumor had gone around that Isaac was actually Pharaoh Abimelek’s child (Genesis 20:2). Not only people couldn't believe that old Abraham sired a boy, but they also could not conceive Sarah lactating at ninety years old. The point of the feast was to vindicate the miracle God had performed and put the rumors to rest. Great Sheiks came from all around in great caravans and pomp to attend Abraham’s feast. To prove herself, not only did Sarah nursed her son, but she offered to nurse every baby in the camp. She did, and the story goes on to say that every child Sarah nursed eventually became a king or a person of great influence and integrity. Also, in order to erase any doubt that the child was truly Abraham’s, God had made the face of Isaac similar to that of his father, so that it was said that he who saw the son saw the father. Sounds familiar doesn’t it (John 14:9)? Look now why our ages compared Sarah to Jerusalem. Just like Sarah was, twice Jerusalem was conquered and taken captive by foreigners, first by the Babylonians, and the second by the Romans. With the re-establishment of the State of Israel, the Roman captivity shows signs of coming to its end. Having the past of Jerusalem in Sarah's life, let us now see now its future. After the return from her second captivity, Isaac, the promised child, the fore-shadow of Messiah was born. Sarah who barren and past the age, finally bore fruit. In the same manner today, Jerusalem, one of the oldest city in the world, a city that has been used, abused, rejected, redeemed, to be rejected again and re-redeemed, prides itself of a new vibrant Messianic community rising all over in Israel: the ‘remnant of the seed of the woman’ (Revelation 12:17) preparing the way for the soon return of the King (Revelations 19). The same miracle that rejuvenated Sarah to conceive Isaac and lactate happens in our day through Jerusalem. Think of it: a whole country was re-born in a day with a new generation of messianic believers preparing the way for the soon-coming of the King who will rule the earth in the justice and righteousness of the Father. Will they become the kings of integrity ‘nursed’ to rule in the Jerusalem of the World to Come? May it be soon Abba, even in our days! Those who would try to interfere with the miraculous plan of God are playing with the unstoppable spiritual and natural forces that created the heavens and the earth. May they beware! Romans 11:16
If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump. After Elijah is through with the contest of the prophets at Mt Carmel (1 Kings 18), he realizes that Jezebel who had been persecuting the prophets of Adonai does not appreciate getting some of her own 'medicine'. Discouraged and feeling that in spite of these glorious events, he was unsuccessful in bringing Israel back to her God, Elijah retreats in the desert and complains to God, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers." God denies Elijah the desired death but instead sends an angel to strengthen him. (Aren't we thankful for unanswered prayers sometimes?) The weary prophet then decides to return where it all started Mt Sinai. There he has conversation with the 'Word of the Lord'' who came to this prophet of doom and gloom in the 'still small voice'. The 'Word' then opens Elijah's eyes to see a 7,000 faithful man remnant for whose sake God will not destroy Israel (1 Kings 19: 1-18). This remnant principle is a very important one in the redemption program. Abraham understood it and even used it when pleading for the life of his nephew Lot. There Adonai who would destroy Sodom said, "For the sake of ten (righteous people) I will not destroy it." In his thesis on the subject of God not rejecting Israel in spite of unbelief, at the time when the Roman noose gets tighter and tighter around Israel, Paul comforts himself and others reminding us all of this remnant principle. At that time in Paul's mind the remnant is the Jewish growing community of believer. For their sake he says God had not rejected Israel (Romans 11:1-4). This represents a very different theology than the usual one claiming that God rejected His people to replace them with another. Even so in these ends of time Israel at large along with the world is sanctified before God by the 144,000 remnant of believers from all the tribes of Israel. They are called the 'firstfruit ' for the Lamb who is himself a 'firstfruit of those who have fallen asleep' (Corinthians 15:20; 15:23; Revelations 7:4; 14:4) Yes, If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches (Romans 11:16). From the beginning it was, is, and shall always be: redemption by representation. Another reality is that like 'Yeshua the Firstfruit', the firstfruit is also the one who takes the brunt of the punishment for the nation. Even though it did nothing to deserve such a fate, as the firstborn, it is consecrated to God and sometimes offered as an offering for the sanctification of the rest. May we when the time comes be willing offerings after the sample of the Master (Romans 12:1). Hebrews 10:19-23
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Yeshua, … let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, …Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering … I want to take you into one of the biggest ‘dirty secrets’ of the Apostolic Scriptures. Unbeknownst to them, the reformer writers of the English text of the Bible continued in the Catholic tradition of antinomianism (opposed to God’s Laws (not Moses’ Law)) and Replacement Theology. In the King James Bibles certain words are in italics. These were added by the editor to aid the flow of the English translation. Hebrew does not use the verb ‘to be’ in the present tense, so ‘is’ would added in italics in the English text. In doing so, our editors of the KJV have infiltrated their theology into the text. One of the main editions is found in a Midrash (a comparative analogy) in the Book of Hebrews. In ‘For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second (Hebrews 8:7 KJV)’, the word ‘covenant’ is italicized. It is an edition from the KJV writers. With edition Hebrews 8 and 9 therefore become the proof-text for an antinomian theology which declares God’s Law from Sinai obsolete. If we delete the additions of the word ‘covenant’, we realize that the text of Hebrews 8 and 9 has nothing to do with covenant relevancy, or a ‘faulty’ covenant, but is actually an eschatological analogy on God’s great redemptive plan using the two chambers of the Tabernacle. In the Greek text from where Hebrews 8 and 9 originate, not only the word ‘covenant’ does not exist, but the words ‘first’ and ‘second’ are not adjectives but nouns in their own rights, ‘protos/first’, and ‘deuteros/second’ speaking of the first, the ‘Holy’, and second, the ‘Holy of Holies’, chambers of the Tabernacle. We then discover a beautiful truth revealed by the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 9:8-9 even interprets the whole analogy for us telling us that the ‘Protos’ can be understood as symbolizing this present world, and therefore the ‘deuteros’ symbolizes the ‘World to Come’, but that those who already have Messiah already have a share in the that future reality of the complete fulfillment of the Messianic era, albeit only an ‘earnest’ (2 Corinthians 1:22). As you can see, the text speaks nothing of Torah relevancy. May we take these promises concerning the World to Come to heart as we go though the difficult times of life. The letter to the Hebrew believers was written to a persecuted Congregation of Jewish Israeli follower of Messiah. The theme of the Letter was an encouragement to look up from the imperfectness of this present time unto the bright hope of the future of a better and more perfect Tabernacle where Yeshua entered one and for all not with the blood of goats but with His own. May we also lift our eyes above the trials of this life, not in denial of the suffering of the present reality, but in the bright hope that is given to all those who put their trust in the Living God through Him. Romans 11:29
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. The text of rulings started in Exodus twenty can take us back to a time of cultural irrelevancy to the point that we may wonder about their current usefulness. Somehow though, these things about buying and selling children, slavery and polygamy are part of the great Horeb oracle, so to consider them irrelevant can be, and is in my opinion disrespectful. Let’s look for example at the laws of polygamy. It says that, If he (a man) takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her (the first wife) food, her clothing, or her marital rights. And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money (Exodus 21:10-11). Read from our modern western cultural viewpoint, these rulings sound barbaric; but let’s give them a fair try. Polygamy was an accepted M. East lifestyle in the days of Exodus. Marriage was a business transaction and if he could afford it, a man could marry a woman for financial, political or just plain lustful selfish reasons. Once she served her purpose, he got himself another to the neglect of the first one. Apparently God did not approve of this practice so He decreed that if a man re-marries, the food, the clothing and the conjugal rights of the first wife are not in any way to be diminished. If the husband doesn’t hold to that, she has automatic legal grounds to leave him and even remarry. In a certain way, that makes polygamy impossible unless you are King Solomon, and even he probably couldn’t live up to it. We now are a far cry from these days of healthy ‘woman’s rights’. Today a man can take a woman, and if he has affairs on the side (in Bible views, a man is joined to a woman through sexual intimacy) that cause him to neglect the first wife (which is inevitable), she has to go through the cruel humiliations of divorce proceedings. This ruling teaches about the heart of the Father against such cruelty as rejecting a wife. A common teaching today is replacement theology: the ideology that because of sin God rejected His first wife Israel in favor of Christianity. For many, this explains our on-going exile, the inquisitions and the Holocaust. People easily understand replacement theology scenario because this is the way they live and we generally understand God through the lenses of our own perverted viewpoint. First, God hates divorce (Exodus 20:14; Matthew 10:2-9), and about Israel Paul explains that, “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29)”. If God practices the irrevocable putting away of wives because of sin, Christians then are also in danger. Second, even if He did, our relationship with Him was not to be diminished. My point here is that this commandment reveals the true nature and character of the Father. He may chastise us for awhile to help us know and trust Him more, but never in an attempt to drive us away from Him, and He doesn’t go from ‘bride’ to ‘bride’ as mankind seems to enjoy doing today. We can now see not that this seemingly archaic rule teaches us much about our current value system and even our theology. |
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