|
1 Corinthians 15:46
But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. We are told about the person who sprinkles the red heifer water for purification, And it shall be a statute forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening(Numbers 19:21). In other words, the one who purifies others defiles himself in doing so. Blood is ritually unclean and the red heifer water is blood based. Therefore he that even touches that water is made impure by it but yet, while it is unclean, it purifies others, and while he who touches it defiles himself, he purifies others. How can an impure element purify? It may seem like a contradiction but is it really? To what can it be compared? When I clean my house I usually get dirty and I have to wash myself afterword; even the washing agents that I use are dangerous to me. When I do dishes (the old fashioned way) I put my hands in dirty dishwater to scrub plates and silverware then rinse the dishes clean onto a dish drainer. I dirty my hands to clean a dish. While this seems to be a contradiction, it is very consistent with the principles of God’s Kingdom. It is impossible for one to ascend unless he first was down, or descended from above. Before being first, we must hold the inferior position. Also in the same manner, serving precedes leading; lowliness comes before exaltation and poverty before wealth. The carnal is before before the spiritual, the corruptible before the eternal. Adam was the first, Yeshua the last, but in the end, the first becomes last and the last becomes first! Please Abba, may He who was first and made Himself last to take us back as firsts with Him return soon to establish a first-class kingdom on earth in these last days.
0 Comments
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Holiness: God ordained separation. Righteousness: right standing with God through obedience. The two concepts are closely related but different. Caiphas who was a holy man by virtue of his office lacked in righteousness in that his heart was corrupt and full of malicious disobedience. Another person to look at is Samson. Samson was to be set-apart (holy) as a Nazarite from the womb like John the Immerser (John 13:7). This meant that he was not to have contact with carcasses, drink wine or cut his hair. Samson inherited this status of holiness/separation by virtue of the word of God before he was born, but he did not inherit the spirit of obedience without tribulations and suffering (Acts 14:22;Hebrews 5:8). Some of the records of Samson’s life tell us of him drinking wine with the Philistines, handling the jaw-bone of a dead animal as a weapon, eating honey out of the carcass of a lion and finally allowing his hair to be cut. These things would have been alright for any other individual but because of his status of Nazarite they were wrong for Samson and were imputed to him as sins for which he had to repent before regaining his right standing with the Father. While in disobedience, all his effort proved futile and even caused trouble, but when subject to the boundaries of holiness that God had blessed him with, Samson succeeded to deliver his people. It seems that Yeshua Himself was very careful to observe these principles (John 5:19, 30). In Judaism the Messiah is referred to as: the Righteous One. Once we enter the sheepfold of Messiah, we also become holy/set-apart and this holiness/’set-apartness’ is defined by certain rules of behavior. It is like if you were to rent my downstairs’ apartment. You would be set-apart and allowed to live there by virtue of my acceptance, but you would also have to obey the rules of the contract. In the case of a believer, the rules are also clearly defined and they range from the ritual to the ethical. Some of these rules are to revere parents; to keep the Sabbaths; to shun idolatry in all its forms; to respect temple procedures (non-applicable at this time); to tithe; to be honest in business, compassionate of the weak and not pervert judgment (using right weights and measures); to not indulge in gossip and slander; to assist a person in danger; not yield to hatred; to exhort a brother or sister, to not harbor vengeance, to not cross breed, commit adultery or indulge in gluttony; to not practice the occult or prostitution, to rise before the elderly and to love the stranger in the land (Leviticus 19). Some of these seem to be tall order for many of us, but I believe that ‘grace’ refers to the power Abba has given in striving to obey and live by virtue and not by instinct (Romans 1:5). May we avail ourselves of that grace always that as Messiah was to us the image of the Father, we may also show Messiah to this straying world. 1 Peter 1:14-16
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." The idea of mankind reaching holiness can be quite a daunting conundrum. First we are told that we are in a constant unalterable sinless state (Jeremiah 17:9), but then we are required to be holy (Leviticus 11:44). Could it be that holiness is not about being sinless? What could or should a man do to attain holiness? Let’s use the Sabbath for example. Why is it holy; why is it sanctified? Does it possess any properties than differs it from the other days of the week? Does the Sabbath day have two suns or two moons? Does creation stops its work on that? Is there some sort of ‘magic’ that fills the air on the Sabbath day? No! The Sabbath day is a day like any other day; it is holy/sanctified on the sole authority of the Word of God who made it holy by His commandment to be holy. The words ‘holy’, ‘hallowed’, or from the Latin root ‘sanctified’ all come from the Hebrew ‘kadosh/kodesh’ which present the idea of being ‘set-apart’ or ‘separated’. The Sabbath day is separated from all the other days of the week solely because of a command that proceeded out of the mouth of the Almighty. It is holy simply because God said so. In the same manner therefore we are separated by the commandments of God. The injunction to be holy is mentioned as the conclusion of the dietary laws in Leviticus eleven. No other reason, health or otherwise is given to us in the Torah for following these food rules but to be holy. I am not saying that holiness is solely in following the dietary laws, but on a general level someone’s culture and even of fellowship boundaries are largely defined by what they eat and how they eat. In the same manner our dietary laws often separate (sanctify) us from society at large who is not always biblically particular about they eat. The solution the holiness conundrum could then be found in the most common of Jewish Hebrew blessings which refers to the Almighty as the One, ‘asher kideshanu bemitsvotav’ meaning: ‘Who has sanctified/separated us by His commandments’. Then, all that makes us holy is not some form of ascetic lifestyle, an ability to extreme self-denial or the performance of miracles, but simply obedience the commandments uttered by the mouth of God., and His commandments are given to us because of His grace and mercy, not because of our works or worth. Simplifying the equation further, we are holy solely because of His mercy and grace. |
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