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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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Matthew 26:41
“The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." It is so easy for us to look at the Children of Israel making a Golden Calf in the desert with criticism. “How could they”, we say. “After all God did for them; after witnessing the power of His Great Mighty Hand, how could they so easily transfer their loyalties?” What we have to realize is that in their minds, they were probably not transferring their loyalties. They were just reacting to what they knew, to the culture around them, to their training. Yes, these people were Hebrews, but they were Hebrews who had lived a long time in Egypt, among idol-worshippers. The whole world around them was an idol-worshipping world. On top of it, they were joined by a ‘mixed multitude’, a large amount of non-Hebrews who having seen the power of the God of Israel in Egypt and decided to throw their lot with Him (Exodus 12;38). We are creatures of habit you and I. We do not realize how much we respond to life by habit just following a natural reaction course. Don’t we often as we drive take the habitual road and miss where we are going? That is why the Master said, ‘The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”. The Spirit and the mind may understand something, but the flesh automatically reverts to the ‘old ways’. It does so because it provides the security of familiar surroundings. A person my change religion, but in ways unknowns even to her will continue to relate to God in the ways she has always been taught. The physical elements, the names, the days, the building, the clothing, even the language may be different, but the spirit in that person, the way they relate to God, to worship and their relationship with Him may remain unchanged. We can blame the Children of Israel for their sin, but following the Master’s teaching of trying to remove the log in our eyes before trying to remove the speck in someone else’s, we must take a hard look at ourselves (Matthew 7:3). How many people from the world come to God and bring with them worldly concepts of business, politics, and lifestyles? How many also, as they grow to a fuller a understanding of the Jewish Messiah bring with them much baggage from their former misunderstanding? Very often we criticize our former leaders and teachers only to turn around and recreate the same thing they did, only around ourselves.. We may change the outside look, but the spirit, or the inside remains the same. We generally can’t see it ourselves, but we need the ‘mirror’ of someone else uninvolved and outside of the picture to reveal it to us. It is like someone involved in a non-violent, oppressive, abusive relationship; they don’t realize it until they come out and have a taste of freedom. It is a breath of fresh air from the outside that helps us realize that the place we live in stinks. May we, as we daily walk with the Master, discover all the ‘Golden Calf’ areas of our lives. May we learn to shed from us the former culture of the world and put on the ‘New man’ He has for us. 1 Corinthians 3:13
Each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. In the text of Deuteronomy the Children of Israel promise to, walk in God’s ways, to keep His statutes and his commandments and His rules, and to obey His voice (Deuteronomy 26:17). On many levels, this is a generic statement. Many people, each living different lifestyles, claim to live in keeping with God’s commandments and statutes. To walk in someone’s way is a Hebrew idiom for imitating them. Discipleship in the Sacred Texts is not to learn someone’s knowledge, but to imitate them. So to walk in God’s ways means to imitate Him. How then do we imitate God? An ancient Hebrew text puts it in very simple terms. It says that just as God clothed the naked (Genesis 3:31), we should also clothe the naked; that as God visited the sick when He came to Abraham in the plains of Mamre when he was recovering from his circumcision, so we should also visit the sick (Genesis 18:1). The text also mentions that as God appeared to Isaac after the death of his father Abraham, in the same manner we should comfort the mourning. Finally, we learn from this text that as God buried Moses in the plains of Moab, we should also give proper attention to the dead (b.Sotah 14a). Another ancient text mentions, ‘Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, is called Merciful, so shouldst thou be merciful. Just as He is called Gracious, so shouldst thou be gracious. Just as He is called Righteous, so shouldst thou be righteous. Just as He is called Devout, so shouldst thou be called devout (sifre on Deuteronomy 10:12). The Master followed this imitation principle of discipleship. He said, I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him." (John 8:28-29). According to the model of the ancient Jewish sages, Yeshua also encouraged us to, feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit those in prison (Matthew 25:35-36). In fact, this is the type of righteousness He will look for in us as we meet Him at the End of Days. James also taught the early Hebrew congregations that, Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27). To sum it all up, acts of compassion and mercy seem to have much more to do with the Biblical way of walking after God’s commands than head stuffing of doctrines and accurate statements of faith. As we walk through life, may we always remember that when all is said and done at that the End of Days, our life’s work will tested by fire (1 Corinthians 3:13). At that time all the wood, hay and straw of pride, self-righteousness, selfishness and vanity will burn. At that time, only the gold, the silver, and the precious stones of the positive treatment of those made in the image of the Father will count in our Master’ eyes. |
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