Zion's Voice

Brit Hadashah Reflections       31     

Torah portion                   Numbers 4 : 21  – 7 : 89

Haftarah portion           Judges  13 : 2 – 25

Brit Hadashah                 John 1 : 1  - 51

 Hebraic understanding of the Gospel of Yeshua

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The gospel of John is different to those which precede it in our Bibles. His focus is significantly on the deity of Yeshua, whereas the other gospels report on His humanity.

“In the beginning” he starts off. Right back to the mighty act of creation. The Word which became flesh and dwelt among us was there. Grasp the enormous implication of that. Our well recognized Messiah Yeshua who climbed the hill at Calvary to die on that Roman cross is the same One who spoke light into being. The same One who made the firmament and divided the waters. The same One who spoke blessing and promise to Abram. The same One who spoke to Moses on the mountain. The same One who brought fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice of Elijah on Mount Carmel. And the same One who appeared to Rabbi Sha’ul on the road to Damascus.

Now if that does not stir your heart, it should! The continuity of the whole of Scripture is vested in the person of Yeshua. He is both the author and the purpose and fulfilment of Scripture. Without Him, the Scriptures are just an interesting documentary of the history of one people group. But He is the purpose, and John knew it full well.

It is Yeshua Himself who commanded Moses to tell the people how to live righteously before each other and before Almighty God. Is it any wonder that He said (as recorded in Matthew 5:19) “I did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets” How could He since He was the author?

The Apostle John takes time to acquaint us with the prophetic references to the Messiah. First, John the Baptizer. He was Yeshua’s cousin in the flesh. They would have grown up knowing a lot about each other. John the Apostle tells us that John the Baptizer came to this earth with a special mission, that being to herald and bring attention to Yeshua. But John the Baptizer must have been extremely impressive too, because the Scribes and Pharisees were able to discern something quite different about him. They couldn’t quite work him out. “Who are you?” was the question. Then they had a few guesses. All wrong. But John clearly testified as to the true identity of Yeshua. He had absolutely no doubt. He said “I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God” and the very next day as he watched Yeshua walk by “Behold the Lamb of God”. What an insight.

However, those close to John the Baptizer were looking for the coming Messiah and began to follow Yeshau upon John’s confirmation of His identity. “We have found the Messiah” was their triumphant testimony. Soon Yeshua had attracted close followers whom He chose to be His disciples. Friends and family members of each other mostly.

Is there a lesson for us here?

We are blessed to have the Scriptures. John has made it clear that Yeshua is the author, and the substance, the purpose, and the fulfilment of those Scriptures. And we KNOW Him. We have met Him. We trust Him. It challenges me to ask myself what I am doing to introduce my friends and family to Him.

Ah! But you do not know what my friends and family are like! True. But He does. The overwhelming bulk of persons who trust in the saving grace and sacrificial death and resurrection of Yeshua were told about Him by someone else. But generally, that ‘someone else’ was a person who had a life ordered by God. A disciple of Yeshua in fact. And it showed. It is often true that we talk to others more by what we are than by what we say.

So here’s the challenge. When I was a VERY young man I heard a visiting evangelist (to our town in Wales) say “Get on fire for the Lord and the world will come to watch you burn”.

There are many good lessons to be learned from our study of the gospel of John in the coming weeks. For this week, there are two stand-out lessons for me. The first is the recognition of the Creator of the Universe, taking human form, living as we live, but in perfect obedience to the will of the Father. The second is to observe the way in which Yeshua attracted those early disciples to Himself. It was a word of mouth recommendation of those who knew Him.

God will bless you as you talk about your Saviour. He is worthy of our praise and our commendation.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Reflections       M3    

Torah portions               Exodus 19:1 to 20:23  and Numbers 28 :26 - 31

Haftarah portion          Ezekiel 1 : 1-28 and 3 : 12

Listen to the Prophets

Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 16 have the commandments about annual observances of the “mo’edim”. (The Hebrew word for “appointed times”, which in turn is usually translated into English as “feasts”). These are times when God specified He would meet with His chosen ones.

Today, they are most often referred to as “Jewish Feasts”. That correctly describes the fact that they are observances remembered by Jews. But it is an incorrect understanding of the Scriptures.

When God gave these instructions to Moses, He carefully worded these ‘appointed times’ (mo’edim) as MY ‘mo’edim’. They may be characterized as times when God says, in effect, “I will be there to meet with you on these specific occasions”. Those who choose not to attend miss an opportunity of blessing through meeting with Him at His invitation.

This ‘appointed time’ is fixed in relation to Pesach. Seven Sabbaths plus one day later.( In the Christian reckoning, it is called “Whitsun” and is seven weeks after Palm Sunday, but it bears no relationship at all to the ‘mo’ed’ of the Lord specified in Leviticus 23.) Some pretty exciting things happened at Shavuot, and the festival (also known as the Feast of Weeks) figures most significantly in the prophetic calendar as it relates to Yeshua.

Firstly, by Jewish calculation, and there is good evidence for it, this was the time when Moses was on the mountain communing with the Lord and receiving the instructions for righteous living, which we know as Torah. (see Exodus 19:1)  That, in my view is cause enough to celebrate. The very Word of God, which is ‘sharper than any two-edged sword’, came to us at this time of the year. An immeasurable blessing. My Bible tells me that Moses spoke “all that the Lord had told him” and wrote it in a book.(Exodus 24: 3 and 7). More importantly, that was the exact time that the first covenant was sealed, when the people voluntarily agreed as they said “all that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient”.

Secondly, according to Acts 1, Yeshau returned to His Father 40 days after his resurrection from the grave. But He told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem. Just 10 days later was the festival of Shavuot. Jerusalem was overflowing with people, there for the festival from all over the known world (as it is today for the three pilgrimage festivals). Then came a sound ‘like a mighty rushing wind’. The Comforter, the Holy Spirit of God, the One who points to Messiah, was sent to minister His blessing to those who would receive it.

The disciples, already emboldened at meeting the resurrected Lord Yeshua, were imbued with power from on high. No longer the ‘shrinking violets’ who were shattered by the death of Yeshua on that cruel Roman cross. They spoke boldly to the throngs of people in the Temple courtyard, and miracle of miracles, the foreigners present all heard these fishermen from Galilee speaking in their own several languages. It is almost impossible to imagine. But by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, over three thousand were added to the company of believers that very day. Now that surely is another reason to celebrate.

But there’s more!!   Both events related above did not stop.

Today, we have the precious Holy Scriptures, written in so many of the world’s languages. The faithful Jews who were entrusted with those Scriptures have carefully preserved them for our blessing and instruction down through the ages. In the early days, meticulously copying by hand every ‘jot and tittle’. Every yod and vav.

The Holy Spirit of God is alive and well in the earth today. His role on earth is to point us to Messiah Yeshua, by any and all means possible. He brings strength to the ‘weary’, comfort to the ‘afflicted’, guidance to those who seek, and blessing to all who ask.

So if any still wonder why we should celebrate Shavuot, I trust that this ‘reflection’ will provide some answers. But there is a much greater and compelling reason. God commanded it. His promise, is included in the introductory remarks of this ‘reflection’. He will be there to meet all who come. It is a special time. It has never been revoked.

You will be blessed as you meet together and thank Him for His unspeakable gift.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Brit Hadashah Reflections      30  

Torah portion                     Numbers 1 : 1  – 4 : 20

Haftarah portion             Hosea  2 : 1 – 22

Brit Hadashah                   Luke 23 : 1  - 24 : 53

Hebraic understanding of the Gospel of Yeshua

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For most Christians, our reading this week is the most familiar in all the Scriptures. At the conclusion of the reading last week, Yeshua declared that He is indeed the Son of Almighty God. To the Pharisees, a statement of blasphemy which was ‘the last straw’.  Unceremoniously, Yeshua was taken to the Roman Governor, with false accusations about His ‘treasonous’ acts of subverting the nation and forbidding the people to pay taxes to Rome. Pontius Pilate questioned Him at length and declared that he was unable discover any fault worthy of the death penalty. In fact, no fault at all!! But Pilate discovered that Yeshua was from Galilee. That was under the jurisdiction of Herod, so Yeshua was paraded before Herod, who happened to be in Jerusalem (presumably for the festival of Pesach) and who was pleased to meet Yeshua because of His reputation. But all Herod’s questioning was met with only silence from Yeshua. So He was taken back to Pilate, humiliated but without accusation.

Now this is an important part of the story because it verifies two things. Firstly, that Yeshua was found ‘without fault’ by TWO investigations by the Roman authorities. In addition the Pharisees could only muster ‘false accusations’, so that made three investigations that Yeshua was ‘without blemish’. So the second verification was that Yeshua fulfilled a principal requirement of the condition necessary for the chosen Passover Lamb that was to be slain. Without blemish.

The atrocity, which His crucifixion was, is too horrific to understand. But it happened. By mid-afternoon, Jerusalem experienced a devastating earthquake. Yeshua was dead. The sun was obscured so it became dark. The huge veil which separated the Holy place from the Most Holy place in the Temple was torn from top to bottom. The magnitude of this cruel episode was not lost on the captain of the Roman guard. “Certainly, this was a righteous Man!” he declared. The crowd who had looked on were terrified at the thought of what they had been party to. They could not imagine what might happen next. But that was because they did not understand that this was not the ordinary punishment of a deserving criminal. What they had witnessed was the voluntary act of the Son of God, presenting Himself as the final Passover Lamb ‘without blemish’, paying the penalty of man’s unrighteousness in order that any who trusted in that selfless act (metaphorically painting that shed blood on the doorposts and lintels of their heart) would know peace with God, forgiveness of sin, and be ready to appear righteous and forgiven before Him. “Passed over” when final judgment is declared. What a picture!

Yeshua was placed into the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Jerusalem council who dissented from the council decision to seek Yeshua’s crucifixion. It was late in the day, just before the Feast of Unleavened Bread began. A Sabbath. (A lack of understanding of the Hebraic nature of this event has caused the church to confuse this Sabbath with the weekly Sabbath which came two days later) . The celebration of this event at Easter can never satisfy the clear teaching of Yeshua that He would be in the grave for three nights and three days!! The resurrection of Yeshua would have taken place immediately at the conclusion of the weekly Sabbath, but was not discovered by the ladies until they visited the tomb very early the next morning.

That same day, the first day of the new week, Yeshua met Cleopas and his friend as they journeyed to Emmaus. They were the first of over 500 people who had an encounter with the risen Messiah. As He walked with the two friends, He spoke with them, beginning with Moses, then through the Prophets and Psalms, expounding to them all things concerning Himself. They would later say “Did not our heart burn within us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

That same experience is available to us today! Ask the Holy Spirit of God to show you, as you read the Scriptures, both the Hebrew and the Apostolic Scriptures, the revelation of the wonder and perfection of God’s plan for mankind. Get excited about the Scriptures and your heart will burn within you as you hunger to know more.

Yeshua then met with the rest of His close disciples. He spoke with them. He ate with them. He encouraged them by opening their understanding of the Scriptures. They became eye witnesses of the resurrected Messiah. That emboldened them to testify to the resurrection of Yeshua, against threat of persecution, nothing could stop them because they had that personal encounter with Him. He had conquered death and hell.  Then He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father to await the time for His return as King of kings and Lord of lords. Hallelujah!

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Brit Hadashah Reflections        29     

Torah portion                    Leviticus 25 : 1 – 27 : 34

Haftarah portion            Jeremiah  16 : 19 – 17 : 14

Brit Hadashah                  Luke 21 : 1 - 22 : 71

Hebraic understanding of the Gospel of Yeshua

The Temple in Jerusalem, in the days when Yeshua walked this earth, was a magnificent, dominant, seemingly impregnable feature of the city. It was the very centre of religious life. And like some of our mega-churches today, had also become a centre of commerce, which had drawn the ire of Yeshua as He drove the merchants out of the Temple courts. He had described what was to be “a House of prayer” (Isaiah 56) as “a den of thieves” (Jeremiah 7). Harsh words eh?

Imagine the shock when, as some of them were discussing among themselves the beauty of the place, Yeshua announced to His disciples that a day was coming when “not one stone will be left on another”. Destroyed. Finished. No longer useable. Unthinkable statement. So they asked Him when this would happen. His answer was prophetic then of the physical destruction of the Temple by Titus in 70 C.E. (less than 40 years ahead) and it is prophetic today, because His answer embraces a time when certain events would take place, which many people readily identify as events which are occurring before our very eyes in our day. Days which herald the coming return of Yeshua as King of kings to rule and reign from Jerusalem. “Look at the fig tree” He said. “When that is budding, you know that summer is near.” So it will be when Yeshau returns. You will see the signs, then “watch and pray”. The signs are all around us aren’t they?

The season of Passover was upon them. Yeshua knew that in a few short hours He would be condemned to die on a Roman cross. The Scribes and the Pharisees wanted Him out of the way for sure, and to that extent they were complicit in His death. They brought false accusations against Him, and of course, because they were false, they did not stand up to rigorous scrutiny by the Roman authorities, who openly declared that they could find no fault in Him.

But Yeshua had a few more things to teach His disciples before that appalling crime was committed. As He reclined with His close friends around the table of the Passover Seder He told them that this would be the last time He would share Passover with them in this life. Understanding the form and substance of the Hebraic Passover Seder gives us a clear insight into the sequence of events around that table. And it is vastly different to that which has been taught in our modern churches for centuries.

Passover is an annual remembrance, throughout their generations (i.e. as long as there are Jews on this earth!). The Seder (a Hebrew word which simply means “order” or “arrangement”) has been developed as a ritual remembrance which is used in Jewish families to teach the children (and anyone else present) about the miraculous salvation of the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt about 3,500 years ago. In Leviticus 23, it is described as the first of seven annual “mo’edim” (appointed times) of the Lord. This is what Yeshua and His disciples were about in our readings today. Tradition has it that there are FIVE cups of wine at a Seder meal. Four are drunk, and the fifth (Elijah’s cup) remains untouched until he comes to herald the coming of the Messiah.

The ‘third cup’, often referred to as the ‘cup of redemption’, taken after the meal, is the cup which is recognized by Christians in celebration of ‘communion’. (Note:- From a Hebraic understanding of the Scriptures I conclude that this was always intended by Yeshua to be an ANNUAL remembrance at the Passover Seder. Unleavened  bread representative of His sinless body, and His blood the guarantee of the New Covenant which is to be made with the House of Israel and the House of Judah). Regrettably, the lack of understanding of this Hebraic connection results in loss to the church, because the Lords ‘appointed time’ of Passover has been replaced by the Christianised pagan celebration of Easter.

After that Passover Seder with His disciples, He spoke to them about the betrayal which would shortly take place. He spoke about the testing which they would endure for ‘His name’s sake’. Then He went to a quiet place to pray. It is the place where He suffered great agony as He contemplated the magnitude of that which He was to bear. I do not think that agony was in regard to the physical deprivation He knew was to take place. It was the agony of the knowledge of the ‘chata’ (the sin) that He was to bear in His sinless body. The sin which would separate Him from His Father in Heaven. My sin. Your sin.        Selah!                           

If this ‘reflection’ means nothing else, it is worthy of your contemplation of the agony borne by our Saviour Yeshua on our behalf.      

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Brit Hadashah Reflections      28

Torah portion                     Leviticus 21 : 1  – 24 : 23

Haftarah portion              Ezekiel  44 : 15 – 31

Brit Hadashah                    Luke 18 : 1  - 20 : 47

Hebraic understanding of the Gospel of Yeshua

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It never ceases to amaze me how God speaks directly into ones situation through His word. Our reading this week opens with an encouragement to ‘pray and not lose heart”. We know that God is not deaf! He hears our prayer, and yet we are encouraged to ‘pray, and keep on praying’. The unjust judge in the parable dealt with the widow’s plea so that she would not keep bothering him. God is different. He loves our communication with Him as we pray, and has no difficulty with us who ‘pray and keep on praying’ about the same matter over and over again. The most important point is to recognize that God, unlike us, sees the whole picture. He sees the end from the beginning, and has our best interests at His heart ….  even when we do not understand the process.

The parables flow as Yeshua continues to teach the people the essence of Torah living. Caring for one another in love. Being child-like in our faith, trusting the words and actions of a loving Father. The blind man on the road to Jericho had heard of the miraculous healings which had been witnessed as Yeshua travelled around the country. Suddenly a large crowd of people came along the road. What was happening? Yeshua of Nazareth was passing through Jericho. The blind man cried out, not once, but many times, louder and louder making himself heard above the noise of the vast crowd. “Yeshua, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He would not be silenced. He asked, and kept on asking. Then those wonderful words coming from the very heart of God. “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight, and followed Yeshua, glorifying God.

The story of Zacchaeus is a bit different. Everyone who has ever attended Sunday School knows the story. He was a ‘chief tax collector; and he was rich” my Bible tells me. We need to understand the Hebraic context of this encounter to fully appreciate the enormity of the hateful feelings of the ‘man in the street’ for a person such as Zacchaeus. He was a servant of the Roman authorities. He collected taxes on their behalf, and added plenty for himself in the process. He would have been considered a traitor. Because of his short stature he climbed a tree to get a good look at Yeshua as He passed by. Then ‘shock, horror!’, Yeshua, addressing him by name, invited Himself to Zacchaeus’ home. It changed Zacchaeus’ life. He remembered the obligations of Torah on those who believe! Exodus 22 speaks about restoration of property stolen from others, and Zacchaeus had done plenty of that. So he made the correct restitution, and for that Yeshua declared “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham;” What does that mean? Abraham’s faith was counted as righteousness. He did the right thing! Then forever more, those who become ‘sons of Abraham’ through their faith, have righteousness credited to them. They receive salvation. But take careful note here. That faith was exhibited in their actions. It is infinitely more than verbal assent to something we believe. It is faith which results in righteous action. What we do, not what we say.

The story of Zacchaeus is immediately followed by the parable about stewardship. This emphasizes the role expected of those entrusted with “Sonship”. The slothful servant lost what he had been given because he had not ‘borne fruit’ for the kingdom. There is clearly the expectation that as His earthly stewards, the believers should be doing works which bring reward and harvest. It is not doing works in order to be saved. It is doing works because we have already received His salvation.

Yeshua then entered Jerusalem, riding on the colt of a donkey. The last week of His earthly sojourn. The Pharisees were enraged as His disciples shouted and cheered “Blessed is the King who comes in the Name of the Lord!”  But Yeshua wept over the city. Such hypocrisy and disregard for the ‘instructions for righteous living’ which was given by Moses. Speaking words which sound religious, but acting, that is DOING that which showed that they were far from the heart of God.

Dear friend reading this ‘reflection’. What would Yeshua say if He were to visit our church services today. Would He be delighted to see how much money is collected in the offering bag? And what happens to that money? Would He be pleased to see the way we care for the poor and needy in our community? Would He look us in the eye and say “Well done good and faithful servant?” Our reading today has provided us with a glimpse into the very ‘heart of God’. His intent in sending Yeshua was to ‘seek and to save that which was lost’. To find those who are counted as “sons of Abraham”. Be blessed as you seek the Lord, asking Him to reveal truth from His word, which He has promised ‘will not return to Him void but will accomplish that for which it was sent’.

Shabbat Shalom

RS