July 2018

27-July-2018

Va’etchanan

Brit Hadashah Reflections 40

Torah portion Deuteronomy 3 : 23 – 7 : 11

Hebraic understanding of the Gospel of Yeshua

“On the first day of the week …. while it was still dark.” In our understanding of days and dates that was very early on Sunday morning. The grave was empty (except for the two angels who spoke to Mary Magdalene). My personal belief is that Yeshua vacated that grave immediately after Shabbat, some hours earlier, but still at the very commencement of “the first day of the week”. That is consistent with His being in the grave for “three nights and three days” (which precludes a Good Friday crucifixion date!) as was the sign of the Prophet Jonah which He had told the Pharisees in Matthew 16:4.

To understand the significance of verses 9 and 10, we should understand that this Gospel account by John was written several years after the event. So he uses the phrase “For as yet”. We know that Psalm 16:10, for example, makes reference to Messiah not seeing corruption in Sheol (a resurrection promise) but evidently the disciples were not familiar with that being such. It would not be long before they understood everything.

Within a very short space of time, the same day in fact, Yeshua began to make Himself known to the other disciples. They were still in a state of shock, closed in a room, fearing for their lives, trying to make sense of everything, when suddenly Yeshau appeared before them. Must have been pretty scary eh? Over the course of the next 40 days, Yeshua appeared to over 500 people, some more than once. Thus He ensured that there were plenty of eyewitnesses to the fact that the recently dead Yeshua, was again very much alive. He still is!!

The third occasion that Yeshua met with His disciples after His resurrection was in their home territory of the Galilee. They had returned to their “day job”. Fishing. They were returning to their base, empty-handed, after a long night on the Lake. Yeshua, standing on the shore called out enquiring about their catch. “Absolutely nothing” they replied. “Put your net on the other side of the boat and you will catch some fish” Yeshua said. The net was suddenly filled with 153 fish. Amazing. Immediately Peter recognized the sign. It was the Lord. We have an account in Luke 5 of an earlier occasion when Yeshua began to call these fishermen to follow Him. It was an amazing catch of fish, after a night when they had caught nothing, that got their first attention. There is an interesting note regarding the exact number of fish that were caught that morning. It verifies the fact that John was an eyewitness to this event. In addition, the fact that they ate some fish for breakfast verifies that Yeshua was there in bodily form. This was not a mirage. The disciples were given absolute verification of the bodily resurrection of Yeshua, a matter for which they would ultimately risk, and even lose, their own lives in the telling.

Then, after breakfast, we have the account of Yeshua’s questioning of Peter. If you are inquisitive, like me, you will be wondering why Yeshua persisted three times to ask Peter the same question! Well, our English translations do not do this encounter justice, because there are two different words used in the Greek for the English word “love”. In the first two questions, Yeshua used the word “agapeo” (unconditional love). This is the same love which Yeshua Himself exhibited when He voluntarily submitted Himself to that painful degrading death at Calvary. On each of these first two occasions Peter responded with the word “phileo” (love as between friends). On the third question, both Yeshua and Peter use “phileo”. It seemed that Yeshua was seeking the response which Peter had exhibited at the time before Yeshua was arrested. The time when Yeshua told him that before the ‘cock crowed’ Peter would have denied Yeshua three times. And he did. Verse 18 indicates the type of death which Peter would eventually suffer for his discipleship.

Then finally, Yeshua again, as on the first time they had met, said “Follow Me”. The Apostle John immediately followed Yeshua. Seeing this, Peter, following the disclosure in verse 18, was curious to know what was to become of John. Yeshua’s answer is one of which we should all take note. “What is that to you?” In other words, “You do as I tell you, it is not your concern what I tell others!” Nothing has changed has it?

We are called to discipleship as individuals. Each one of us is required to make a personal choice as to whether we “Follow Him” or not. That decision cannot be made by proxy. So the message given to Peter applies equally to us when we hear that call. Just be obedient to your own calling. Do that which God reveals to you. Be diligent in searching out God’s will for your life. The rest will fall into place.

Shabbat Shalom

20-July-2018

Devarim

Brit Hadashah Reflections 39

Torah portion Deuteronomy 1 : 1 – 3 : 22

Haftarah portion Isaiah 1 : 1 – 27

Brit Hadashah John 18 : 1 - 19 : 42

Hebraic understanding of the Gospel of Yeshua

So we enter the last day of Yeshua’s earthly mission, the restoration of “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” to be a light to the nations. So the final chapter began to unfold. He went, with His disciples, to the Garden of Gethsemane in the Kidron Valley between the Temple and the Mount of Olives. Every Christian who has ever visited modern day Israel will have spent time there, pondering, praying and remembering.

It was dark, the very early hours of the morning, lanterns and torches, with weapons drawn, a detachment of soldiers, led by Judas Iscariot, came to the place where Yeshua was. Following them were officers from the office of the Chief Priest and the Pharisees, Quite a crowd. But they were expected. So Yeshua stepped forward. “Whom are you seeking?” They said they were looking for Yeshua of Nazareth. He declared “I am He”. Thus establishing His identity as the Son of God, consistent with His earlier statements about Himself, (see John 14:6 and other places) and probably for the Pharisees benefit. They were astonished, even fearful, as they retreated and fell to the ground. Then He asked again, “Whom are you seeking?” The main reason for this second question was to clearly establish that they were looking ONLY for Him, and that His disciples were not in trouble and would not be taken. This was consistent with His prayer in John 17:12, that none of those the Father had given to Him would be lost.

The impetuous Peter, seeking to defend His Master, cut off the ear of Malchus, one of the servants of the high priest, which, Luke tells us, Yeshua immediately restored. Then Yeshua, again emphasizing the voluntary nature of His death on a Roman cross which would shortly follow, reminded His disciples that there were legions available for His defence if that were considered necessary. So Yeshua was arrested, bound, and eventually taken to the high priest, the instigator of the false charges of which He was accused.

What followed His arrest, was a series of “trials”. Examinations of sorts, designed to establish His guilt. It was during these “trials” that Peter denied His association with Yeshua. I often wonder how I might have behaved in Peter’s position, faced, as he was, with the real prospect of losing his own life because of that association!! How about you? It is worth pondering the thought. One which could even be a real faith strengthener. We should all consider the possibility that we might have to face that very situation one day. Many Christians today (like the Coptic Christians in Egypt) are called upon to make such a declaration. It is not hypothetical, it is very real.

The ‘examinations’, before Annas, Caiaphas and eventually Pilate, who pronounced that he could find NO fault in Him. Without blemish. Just like the Passover Lamb was to be! And which He voluntarily became for our sakes.

John chapter 19, contains the harrowing account of Yeshua’s last hours. It is horrible. I have a friend who was asked to read this chapter one Friday morning in the church of which I was then a member. He was unable to read beyond verse 3, breaking down in uncontrollable sobbing. That such wanton cruelty and injustice could be perpetrated on an innocent man was too much to contemplate. And to think that it was voluntarily accepted by Him for my sake! .. and yours!!

But when we get to John 19:30, we read those triumphant words of Yeshua. “It is finished”. We could paraphrase that into modern idiom. “Mission accomplished”. The blood of the sacrifice, acceptable to the Father, had been shed. The debt of sinful man fully paid. But still there were chapters to be written. Remember Yeshua’s prayer in John 17:20. That sacrifice was valid ONLY for those who believe. Think about that. It is available to ALL, but few there be who accept it. Tragic.

My final ‘reflection’ relates to the extremely “Hebraic” nature of this event. It was the restoration of the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” which was finished on that Roman Cross. God had promised Abram in Genesis 12 : 3 that through him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed”. ALL the early believers were Jewish. They were the ones who became the evangelists. They were the ones who kept “the Word” and preserved it in written form. They were the ones through whom we, centuries later, are privileged to have knowledge of Him who died. God entrusted His written word to the Jews. His own “special treasure”.

The Apostle Paul has an admonition for we who are Gentiles in Romans 15. Read it. And take special note of verse 27.

Shabbat Shalom

13-July-2018

Matot / Massei

Brit Hadashah Reflections 38

Torah portion Numbers 30 : 2 – 36 : 13

Haftarah portion Jeremiah 2 : 4 – 28 and 3 : 4

Brit Hadashah John 17 : 1 - 26

Hebraic understanding of the Gospel of Yeshua

The Lord’s Prayer.

In Luke 11 we have an account of the disciples of Yeshua asking Him to teach them how to pray. What followed is the most memorised passage of Scripture in the whole Bible. It used to be compulsory learning in schools and churches in every Christian country. It is referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer”, but is in fact the prayer the Lord taught others to pray.

Our Scripture reading today contains the most intimate conversation of Yeshua with His Father. It is the prayer that He prayed in the hours before His crucifixion. “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You.” How personal is that? Yeshua had been teaching His disciples about loving one another, staying close, supporting and caring for each other. In this opening greeting, so personal and so unifying, He clearly illustrates the love and ‘Oneness’ of His relationship with His Father. The relationship He desires that we too have with the Father, through Him.

“I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” That speaks of a contentment that the task had been accomplished. It speaks of the willing and voluntary nature of the sacrificial death He was about to face. The Jews have been charged as “Christ killers” for centuries. But that charge cannot be supported in the light of the prayer we see in our passage today. God uses means to accomplish His purposes which often baffle us, and His purposes may be hindered, but are never thwarted, by man.

“For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them … and they have believed that You sent Me”

John 1:1 tells us about ‘the beginning’. Yeshua was in ‘the beginning’. The Hebrew Scriptures record “the words” given from ‘the beginning’. At the time of this prayer there were NO other words of Scripture were there? Everything written in the Apostolic Scriptures came later, many years later. So Yeshua is confirming to His Father in heaven, that He has faithfully taught those whom the Father had given Him, the words from ‘the beginning’. (It is worth noting that Yeshua said on two occasions, recorded in Matthew 10 and 15 that His mission on earth was ‘to the lost sheep of the house of Israel’) So what I see here is that Yeshua is confirming to His Father that He had brought the pure truth of Torah, by His sinless life on earth, and His teaching, in place of the burdensome yoke of Pharasaic Judaism (the traditions of men He called them) which had blinded the people (causing them to become lost) to the truth of God’s incredible love for the people He has chosen as His special treasure! Salvation is not by works of conformity, but by the merciful grace of Almighty God in sending His only Son, as the teacher, which culminated in His selfless death on a Roman cross, to redeem sinful men.

“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours”. Then later, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who WILL believe in Me through their word”. Isn’t that about the most amazing thing you could imagine? Before Yeshua was crucified on that Roman cross, He prayed for YOU and ME. He has brought our names before the Creator of the Universe, every last one of us who are believers in Him! But what was it that He prayed? That we ALL, believers in Him, should be ONE, so that “the world may believe that You sent Me.”

Dear friends, what a challenge that should be to us today. Through our unity in Yeshua, the world would recognize Him as the Son of God. When the Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea in 324 C.E. it had a goal of officially cutting off the gentile believers in Yeshua from their Hebrew roots. Or at least from Judaism, where those roots lie. The result has been a fragmentation of purpose and unity within the “church”. Firstly through errant teaching within the Roman Catholic Church, then subsequent to the days of Martin Luther in 1517, a proliferation of gentile denominational allegiances which are probably more divisive than unifying.

The prayer of Yeshua, the Lord’s Prayer, was that we be ONE, as He and the Father are One. It behoves us all to get on our knees in prayer, asking Almighty God to forgive us for our waywardness. To show us again the way of unity in Him. To discover again “the words” which Yeshua came to illuminate from ‘the beginning’. And to order our lives in accord with His commandments, which have never changed!

Shabbat Shalom

06-July-2018

Pinchas

Brit Hadashah Reflections 37

Torah portion Numbers 25 : 10 – 30 : 1

Haftarah portion Jeremiah 1 : 1 – 2 : 3

Brit Hadashah John 15 : 1 - 17 : 26

Hebraic understanding of the Gospel of Yeshua

One of the best known analogies in the Scriptures. “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.” (we are the branches of course) Here a knowledge of the Hebraic meaning of this phrase sheds a very different light than that which most Bibles actually say! That it is an agricultural analogy is obvious. It is in the next verse that the Hebraic understanding sheds new light.

Earlier, in John 6:37 we are given Yeshua’s promise that “the one who comes to Me I will in no wise cast out”. Unequivocal. Solid. Precious. But the translators use of “takes away” in relation to branches that do not bear fruit is the issue. The Greek word here is “airo”. It has a different meaning. Strongs Greek lexicon offers “raise, take up, lift” as the correct meaning of the word. Note here that this Scripture is referring to “branches in ME”. (Ones we have been assured will in no wise be cast out!) Now, the audience, His disciples, Jewish men, clearly understood the analogy. A vine branch which creeps along the ground does not bear fruit. The vinedresser, in those days, would carefully place stones under those trailing vine branches to “raise, take up, lift” them so that they would bear fruit. It is the gentle care of the vinedresser to “raise, take up, lift” them which assured the fruit bearing.

Now here is the lesson for us. We are told here that “the branch cannot bear fruit of itself”. So rather than struggle in an attempt to bear fruit in fear of being ‘taken away’, we should “abide in the vine”, allow ourselves to be ‘raised, taken up, lifted’ by the vinedresser so that we may bear the fruit which He desires in us. Then, as we progress in our ‘fruit bearing’ He prunes us so that we may bear more fruit, even much fruit. The question then arises “How do we abide in the vine?” By reading His word, paying close attention to His word, by His counsel in our times of prayer, by His encouragement through wise words of trusted disciples. By seeking Him.

The crunch comes in verse 6 of this reading. “If anyone does NOT abide in Me. He is cast out as a branch and is withered” The Apostle Paul made reference to this in Romans 11. In his analogy of the Olive Tree he referred to branches ‘broken off’ because of unbelief. Make no mistake here. Salvation is the free gift of a loving merciful God, but it is not a ticket to live as you please. It is a call to bear fruit. And those who truly put their trust in Him are not broken off because He “raises, takes up, lifts” them to bear fruit.

The teaching continues. “If you keep My commandments, you WILL abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love”. Why did Yeshua tell them this? “that your joy may be full”. And still many of us are taught today that “Jesus kept all the commandments, so we do not have to!!!” Yeshua did not teach that!

He taught about living fruitful lives to His glory. And Yeshua told His disciples just what was required of them after He leaves them. It is His word. I did not write it, I just ‘reflect’ upon it here. It is clear, but many of us still find very inventive ways to avoid ‘keeping His commandments’ in exactly the same way that the Israelites did and became ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’. Finding them was the very reason for Yeshua’s mission on earth.(Matthew 10 and 15)

This passage of Scripture is worthy of our close attention. Speaking to His disciples Yeshua said “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit”. But then He spent time telling them that it was not going to be easy. They were carefully chosen, as you have been. Being chosen by God comes with responsibilities. Remember what the Apostle Paul told the church at Corinth. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not our own? For you were bought at a price; therefor glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s”. And isn’t that a word for today? An age when the very foundations of our faith are being constantly challenged by those in our government and in our schools. But we are not left alone. Yeshua promised them, and we have seen that promise fulfilled, that when He left them, upon His return to be with His Father, He would send “a Helper”. One whom we identify as the Holy Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth. But that Helper is not an enforcer. He is a Comforter. A Guide. One who points the way to Yeshua, our Saviour. Be blessed as you ponder what He is saying to us through this most valuable Scripture passage as we allow ourselves to be ‘raised, taken up, and lifted’ so that we may become abundant fruit bearers in His name.

Shabbat Shalom