|
Matthew 24:31
And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Behold the Great Day has come We have fasted for it over the centuries and until this day afflict our souls in prayers of repentance. Now has Hashem heard our voices; the blood of His many martyrs reaches to His nostrils and now He inclines His ears to our cries. May He who brings Israel back to Him be blessed for truly, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock (Jeremiah 30:10).' On this day, see the reward of our work over the centuries. See Him who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save." Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress? "I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come (Isaiah 63:1-4). The galloping of His white horse echoes Moses' song. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelations 19:11-6; Deuteronomy 32:34-43). As Moses and all the prophets sang of the deliverance of Israel, of its return to his land and his God, let us foresee and rejoice of His mighty works for truly Adonai has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of Hashem, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow (Jeremiah 31:11-13).
0 Comments
Revelations 3:19
Be zealous and repent. When Israel sinned in joining itself to Baal Pe’or, a man stood against this iniquity as a court of one. When Pinchas saw one of the princes of Israel bring a Moabite priestess into his tent, without due process of law, he rose as witness, judge and executioner, took a spear in his hand, and pierced both of them through her belly. As a result, the plague on the people of Israel was stopped (Numbers 25:7-8), andHashem blessed Pinchas for his zeal with a ‘covenant of peace’ (Numbers 25:12).This story has serious ramifications as it promotes violent religious fundamentalism, something which our present world is plagued with coming from most major religions. Reading this story could justify the actions of violent terrorist extremists. If we try to justify our actions by saying ‘so-and-so did it in the Bible and God blessed him’, we stand the risk to rationalize many other anti-social behaviors such as murder, incest, and polygamy. This is not the way we are supposed to process the narratives we read in the Sacred Scriptures. In the case of Pinchas, God rewarded him for his zealousness for Him. In Hebrew the word ‘zealous’ is ‘kana’ee’ meaning ‘zealot’ and is a synonym to ‘jealous’; not jealous in the sense of obsessive protection of ownership and rights as the word is used today, but rather jealous as a parent willing to do anything to protect his family. Pinchas was jealous for God and it hurt him greatly to see these people flagrantly defying Moses and God with their vile actions. The worship of Ba’al Peor includes some very shameful practices. There is a right and a wrong type of zealousness. In the case of Paul, we find a mislead type of zeal when he persecutes the believers (Philippians 3:6), a misplaced zeal still found in some ultra Orthodox communities of Israel who still persecutes the Jewish believers in the Jewish Messiah. In the case of Yeshua, ‘zeal’ for God’s House was noted when He cleaned the temple from the mercantilism (John 2:14-17). The apostolic Scriptures also tell us that the early Jerusalem believers had great zeal for the Torah (Acts 21:20). In any case, we must also be careful lest our zeal is misplaced. We should always strive to be zealous for the standards of the kingdom, and this means to ruthlessly root out of our lives those things which could provoke us to sin. We are safer to let God take care of others as vengeance is His (Deuteronomy 32:35), not ours. Paul taught the Galatians congregation that it is good to be zealously affected in a good thing (Galatians 4:18 KJV) and reminded Titus that Messiah gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works (Good works in Hebrew: mitzvoth – obedience to Torah commandments). Peter also reminded us that ‘who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good (1 Peter 3:13)? |
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