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Matthew 3:11
I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me … He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. The fire of the altar was to be kept burning continuously (Leviticus 6:12). It was to never be put out. Even when travelling the fire of the altar was to be kept low under a brass cover with coal still seething in order to use them to light a new fire at the time of the next offering. The whole idea was to preserve the original fire with which God lit the original first offering (Leviticus 9:23-24). That first fire was not of human origin. It came from the altar above, from Hashem himself, and became the medium by which everything burnt by and on it transcended back to the heavenly realm. Without this fire, the altar is no more than a glorified barbecue pit and nothing burnt on it goes any higher than our atmosphere, much less transcends to the heavenly sphere. It is the meaning behind Yeshua’s mystic saying, "No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven" (John 3:13). This is also why the sons of Aaron were punished for bringing to the altar strange fire, a fire which did not originate from the altar above. Homiletically speaking, this fire teaches us much. It teaches us that faith in Messiah cannot be something originated from earthly personal emotions or charismatic style gatherings; it must be something kindled by the spiritual reality of Hashem, from the spiritual fire that is from above. This is the whole difference between living faith and dead religion. Our obedience to commandments may be all good and well but without being enflamed by redemptive messianic faith, it is nothing more than meaningless rote rituals; a self-evident truth as of before Yeshua’s manifestation on earth (Rev. 3:14; Rom. 3:2). We can see it in the patriarchs that we know of such as Abraham whose faith was based on belief in the resurrection (Heb. 11: 19), of David who in the Psalms incessantly speaks of Messiah, of Job (Job 19:25), and of a host of others. In essence spirituality not enflamed by a consuming faith in Messiah's redemptive power is similar to an offering on a cold altar. Godly actions, even in obedience to Torah, consumed by any other elements than this consuming faith in Messiah's work actually becomes idolatry. Maybe this is the idea behind Yeshua’s rejection of many who will come to him in the end all proclaiming their good works for him while lacking faith in his power to redeem them.(Luke 13:26-27; Matt. 7:21-23); they offered strange fire (Lev. 10:1-2). May our faith be more than an earthly emotional high originating from the mechanics of sounds and lights over-used in today’s pulpits. May our faith come from an all-consuming fire (yet safe and controlled like Moses’ burning bush) to challenge the powers that be, to deliver us from the Pharaoh outside of us and the one inside as well, and lead us, even by night, through to the Promised Land!
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Luke 24:31-33
And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. … "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" … that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. On the third day after the crucifixion, on the first day of the week, women came to Yeshua’s tomb with spices they had prepared to embalm the body. To their great surprise the Master’s body had ‘disappeared’. Though incredulous, upon hearing the women’s accounts Peter and John ran to the tomb only to be faced with the same conclusions. Yeshua soon comforted the disciple’s worries appearing to them on several occasions. . While all this transpired in Jerusalem, two disciples who had come to Judea for the pilgrimage festival of Passover started on their way back to Galilee, deciding to make a stopover at the village of Emmaus (Luke 24). As Cleopas and his travelling companion still grieved at the execution of their Master, a ‘stranger’ joined them on their journey. As their new co-journeyer wondered at the disciples’ conversation, they asked, ‘Don’t you know what happened three days ago in Jerusalem? We thought that the famous Galilean prophet, Yeshua of Nazareth, was the Messiah. We thought He would be the one gathering back the Children of Israel from the four corners of the earth and re-establish us as a sovereign country but alas, the religious authorities did not approve of Him; they turned Him in to the Romans to be crucified as traitor and a criminal. To top it all, some our friends went to the tomb this morning and found it empty. We are still shocked at the whole thing, and also confused.” Upon hearing this account, starting with Moses and the prophets, the ‘stranger’ demonstrated to the disciples that all had happened according to Scripture and that they should not worry. Hearing the Scriptures in their Messianic perspective filled the discouraged disciples with hope again. As they arrived in Emmaus, they invited the ‘stranger to dine with them. As they sat at the table, the ‘stranger’ opened the meal with a blessing and it is at that time that He opened their eyes. They then realized that their travelling companion was the resurrected Master. Right away they decided to return to Jerusalem. This story is everyone’s story. In confusion and discouragement, we often leave ‘Jerusalem’ to return to the same old ways. As with the other disciples, no empty tomb or amount of convincing preaching could have changed these Jewish disciples mind. They needed to see the resurrected Master and He needed to open their eyes. It will be the way that Israel as a nation will eventually see and recognize it’s Messiah: when He comes in the cloud in the end of time (Zechariah12:10; Acts 1:11). When they recognized their beloved Master, they repented and returned to Jerusalem. That’s what meeting the Master should create in us, a spirit of repentance that brings us back to the origins of our faith, to the place where we belong, to Jerusalem. After three days of being absent, the disciples were already straying from the faith, but Yeshua made sure to run after them; He met them at the tomb, in their house where He spoke with Thomas (John 20:27), even all the way on the road to Emmaus, just in order to bring them back to ‘Jerusalem’ where they were to remain until the next pilgrimage festival: Shavuot/Pentecost (Acts 1:4). They would have surely missed something being in the wrong place at the wrong time (Acts 2)! In these days of preparation for the awesome day of Yom Kippur, may our meditations grant us the presence of the Master in a way that causes us to repent and return, repent from our straying and back to the ‘Jerusalem’ where we belong. May we be found doing His will on the Day of His coming. |
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