|
John 10:16
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. Retelling the life story of Joseph we have played with the very important midrashic messianic analogy equating Joseph to Messiah. This has led us to observe that Benjamin represented the Jewish people who did not reject Messiah/Joseph. We are now at the part where Jacob meets his two grand-children conceived through Joseph by an Egyptian mother, the daughter of a priest of Egypt. At first, he does not know who these Egyptian looking kids are. When he finds out, he adopts them as his own. The idea of redemption through adoption is a main theme throughout the whole Tanach. Starting with Abraham, each of us is an adopted son (Romans 9:4-5). In adopting Joseph’s son as his own, Jacob accomplished a very tricky maneuver. His showing favor to Joseph had already caused him much trouble so this time, instead of openly conferring to Joseph the right of first-born, Jacob adopts Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of the son of his true chosen bride and love of his life, Rachel. This not only has the effect of these sons and nephews becoming brothers to their father and uncles, but for Joseph to receive the double-inheritance which is conferred to firstborns. Ephraim and Manasseh could be compared to the offspring of Messiah while in Diaspora exile. Jacob actually says of Ephraim that he will become ‘the multitude of the nations’ (The Hebrew text uses the definite article ‘the’); in Hebrew, this is the same expression used in Romans 11:25, ‘a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the ‘fullness of the Gentiles’ (in Hebrew: the multitude of the nations) has come in.’ Judaism teaches that when Israel was evicted from its land by the Romans, Messiah went to exile with them. Just like Joseph, while in exile Messiah has been busy raising Himself an offspring among the Gentiles, an offspring to be adopted alongside the Jewish people (Ephesians 1-2). Today Judaism and Christianity are seen as two different religions. The truth is that Christianity outside of Judaism did not exist for the first three hundred years after Yeshua and the apostles. Today if a Jew wants His Messiah, Christians tell him that he has to ‘convert’. Convert from what to what? It is the pagans who needed to convert from idolatrous paganism to the God of Israel. It is strange because originally the question was not weather a Jew could be part of the Church but weather a non-Jew could be part of Israel. In Acts 15, the Jewish disciples accepted the Gentile converts, but today, does the Church accept a Jew? In the adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh, we see that in actuality, in Messiah non-Jews are grafted in the 'olive tree' of Jacob/Israel, not Israel in the Gentile Roman ‘Christmas tree’ (Romans 11). Joel rightly prophecied that at the end of time God will pour His Spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:28), not just on Israel. In that day, there will truly be one shepherd and one flock. May it happen soon Abba, even in our days!
0 Comments
Revelations 5:13
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea ... And Judah and Israel lived in safety … every man under his vine and under his fig tree, all the days of Solomon (1Kings 4:20-21, 25). King Solomon prefigures the Messianic Age, the time when God’s Messiah will reign on the earth as King, Priest, and Judge. This will be a time when Judah and Israel will finally live as one independent sovereign nation in peace and prosperity; a time when the nations will come to Jerusalem to learn God’s Word and offer tribute (Micah 4). It is said that at that time the Messiah will judge the earth with righteous judgments (Isaiah 11:1-5). The wisdom of Solomon was heard worldwide and made famous by the unorthodox way he revealed the truth during a difficult case, a difficult case because there were no witnesses, a must for any biblical court case (Numbers 35:30). Here is the case: two prostitutes lived in the same house and gave birth to a child. One night one of the babies dies and its mother exchanges it for the live baby. Now both mothers claim the living child (1 Kings 3:16-22). Solomon found the truth. "Bring me a sword …"Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other." Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, "Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death." But the other said, "He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him." Then the king answered and said, "Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother (1 Kings 3:23-27). Today the question rages between two proclaimed ‘mothers’ of the movement of the followers of the Nazarene, two mothers also guilty of harlotry. Was Yeshua born of a Jewish or a Christian mother? Was He an Israeli Jew or a Greco-Roman Christian? Christians say that God has rejected His people in favor of them, that Jews need to ‘convert’ to Christianity to have the Messiah. On the other hand, Jewish believers stand on the everlasting promises of God’s merciful restoration of Israel, knowing that in the end, the world comes to Jerusalem to finally enter peace in Messiah (Micah 4). In other words, that it is the world that is grafted into Israel’s 'olive tree' (Romans 11), not Israel grafted into the world’s 'Christmas tree'! When Yeshua was brought to the Temple for the dedication of the firstborn ceremony, old Simeon told Miriam, "Behold, this child is appointed … so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed (Luke 2:34-35)." The sword of Messiah is His discerning and revealing Word of wisdom (Hebrews 4:12-13). Solomon used this sword of judgment in order to reveal who is the true mother. When the Messiah comes, not only like Solomon will He rebuild the Temple, but trough the Sword that comes out of His mouth, He will also reveal and re-establish the rightful origins of the Nazarene movement (Revelations 19:15). |
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