Life Updates And Just Random Stuff

So, earlier today I reshared a post I had made a couple years ago and I started thinking about stuff. First of all, I wanted to apologize to anyone who’s reading this, who was following what I’d written when I was posting stuff pretty regularly. I hate when people recommit to making posts and then never really turn it around so all that I’m going to say is that my life went through some pretty big, and exciting changes and my writing was apparently one of the first things to go. I’m hoping to try to post more regularly but I’m not going to make any promises because I’ve done this before and I don’t want to be a liar.

Some of you who are reading this know me personally so this won’t be a shock but, if you don’t know me on the day-to-day, then I’ll let you know that the biggest thing that changed is that I got married. The wife and I have been growing together and adjusting to all of the new living patterns. Sometimes the adjustments are pretty seamless and sometimes the adjustments are full of seams. Lots and lots seams. We’re still growing and every day we find new opportunities to learn a little bit more about each other. That being said, I don’t want to blame my wife for not posting anymore so I’ll blame myself by saying that in an effort to find more time to focus on spending time together I had to make choices about where to find the time, and some of that time came from this blog. And I don’t want to offend any of you but I’m not at all sorry that I found the time to let my marriage grow.

So, there, that’s the story about why I haven’t been telling my story.

Secondly (I think this is only ‘secondly’), I started thinking about Sukkot when I reshared that previous post about it and I just wanted to say that I really love Sukkot. This is a little selfish since the reason I love this Biblical festival isn’t necessarily because of anything in the Bible. I mean, yeah, I love digging into the Biblical significance of the Feast of Tabernacles (along with all of the other festivals) but I really just love the fellowship you get to have with other believers in Messiah. And I love the weather that generally goes along with being outside during the fall. And, yes, I love the idea of getting out into the outside world and doing a little camping. One of the traditional ways to refer this festival is “The Season of Our Joy”, and I totally, completely identify with this. I’m geeked right now just thinking about it. This year’s gonna have to go a little different, though, than the past couple years and I’m trying to figure out ways to make it just as exciting. Unfortunately, the wife and I have to take our vacation a couple weeks after Sukkot instead of during so we’re just going to have to do our best to find new/different ways to take advantage of this most joyous time. I’m not really too disappointed about the change in vacation time this year, because it’s for a super-awesome reason (potentially, more to come on this soon) but it does mean that we’ll be doing things differently.

There’s really no reason for this post other than to give you a bit of an update and to tell you how much I really love the Biblical Feasts and especially this Feast of Tabernacles. I hope that you’re able to find your way to celebrate our Messiah over the coming week.

Grace and Peace to all of you!

This is the Most Amazing Grace

Relevant Scripture: Jeremiah 5, Genesis 18, Exodus 14, Jeremiah 16, Luke 9

So as I was reading through the Bible today a strange thought hit me. I was reading in Jeremiah 5 and right up front in verse one you read, “Wander through the streets of Jerusalem. Look and investigate; search through her squares and see whether you find anyone—even one person there—doing justice and seeking truth. Then I'll forgive them.” The thing that struck me as weird was that these people, had Solomon’s Temple sitting in the city. The very seat of God on earth was a constant reminder that the one true God was living in their midst. They had all of this going for them, and yet…

see whether you find anyone—even one person there—doing justice and seeking truth….

If even one person was able to be found, then God was forgive the people of the city. His people. This invokes thoughts of Sodom & Gomorrah’s destruction, but the saving number for Jerusalem was even greater than it was for those cities. Abraham had haggled God all the way down to 10 righteous people (Genesis 18). Here, in the city where God Himself had set His throne, all He wanted was one righteous person. If Sodom were given that bargain then it would’ve been saved, based solely on Lot’s actions when the angels came into the city.

I couldn’t fathom how, in the midst of all of the reminders of who the LORD is, they could’ve fallen so far that not even one person could be found to stand in the gap for Jerusalem.

I thought of Israel, coming out of Egypt and committing the debauchery at the foot of Mount Sinai, right after they had seen the mighty hand of God separate the waters of the Red Sea. I’ve marveled in the past at how they could’ve fallen so far, so fast after seeing what they’d seen.

But I always come back to this: how much more amazing is the miracle that has been done in my life…

If we turn a few pages in the book of Jeremiah and we get to chapter 16 then we’ll read about an event so powerful that the exodus out of Egypt will be overshadowed.

"Therefore, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be said, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought up the Israelis from the land of Egypt.' Rather it will be said, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelis up from the land of the north and from all the lands to which the LORD had banished them.' I'll bring them back to their land, which I gave to their ancestors. (Jeremiah 16:14-15)

There’s another verse in the Bible which, I think, will inform us of what this Greater Exodus which the prophet Jeremiah was speaking of really was. In Luke 9:28-36 we see an account of what is commonly referred to as the Mount of Transfiguration, where Jesus is speaking with Moses and Elijah. In verse 31 we read, “Appearing in glory, they were speaking of Yeshua’s departure, which was about to take place in Jerusalem.” The word which is translated as ‘departure’ is the Greek word ‘exodos’. Do you wanna guess what word we get from that word? That’s right, exodus.

Since the time of Yeshua, is there anything in the world which has been proclaimed more than the death and resurrection of the Messiah? Has there ever been anything which has been pronounced more than that exodus from the captivity of sin and death that the Messiah has led His people on?

So, the Israelites coming out of Egypt may have messed up something fierce at the foot of Mount Sinai…



…but how much more severe is our mistake when we put other things in front of our worship of our Lord and Savior?

And, to bring this all back to where we started here today, we can look at Jeremiah 5 in wonder at how there could’ve been none righteous in Jerusalem when the Temple of the LORD was sitting in their midst, but how do we parse that in light of 1 Corinthians 6:19, where we read that the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit? It’s possible to argue over exactly what the meaning of this verse really was, but what we generally don't argue over is that the Holy Spirit is living in us. The whole point of the Temple in Jerusalem is that it was God’s home on earth. The Temple is the place that God chooses to call His home on earth. In light of this, if you are one of the redeemed of Messiah then you are a temple of God. And If I want to be amazed that the people of Jerusalem could’ve fallen so far when they had the throne of the LORD right down the street, how much more amazed should I be that we can have a throne inside of us and we don’t act like it ALL THE TIME?

I’m not saying this to try to condemn anyone out there, because I’m looking at myself more than anyone else right now. I’m amazed at how filthy I am, and how much growth I have to do. I’m amazed that, being the Temple of the Holy Spirit, God hasn’t burned me to the ground. 

This is the most amazing grace, and it’s up to me to remember it!

Who Is My Neighbor?

When I first started writing this I figured it was just going to be a short, little post. Maybe 500-750 words. The more I wrote the more I could see needed to be written. In the end it had over 2,700 words and there were even 500 words that I had edited out of it. Hopefully you'll find the following to be a blessing. I've included a few books at the end for suggested reading. These are materials that I called back to when writing different parts of this post. While I don't think you need to have read any of them to understand what I've written, if you have read them you will probably at least understand why I've written what I've written a little better. If nothing else, they are all good reference materials! 

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was (Mark 12:29-31) He quoted the Shema out of the Hebrew Scriptures.

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."  (Mark 12:29-31)

With our more western eyes we as Christians (or maybe I’m just talking about my personal experience growing up?) are so far removed from the Hebrew culture that our first century Scriptures were written in that we don’t understand that the Shema is recited every day (twice per day, actually) in the traditional Jewish home. So, when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, this was pretty much a no-brainer.

I’ve already written on what it means to love the LORD a couple years ago so why don’t I just link to that here and move onto the second part of this statement… but I’ll just say this real quick: We show our love to God by showing our obedience to Him. But, again, that’s in that older post. Let’s get to the second part of this greatest commandment…

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Initially we had looked at the book of Mark, but let’s look at this same account in the book of Matthew.

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."  (Matthew 22:36-40)

In this account we get a further explanation at the end. Everything that is meant to be learned in all of the Torah, and everything meant to be learned in all of the rest of the Old Testament is right there in those 2 commandments. Love God and love your neighbor. Every other commandment that we find in all of the Old Testament (and the New Testament, too, for that matter) is based on these two instructions.

Love God and love your neighbor.

The rest of the book is all about discovering how to do those things. And, yes, sometimes it gets complicated.

Love God and love your neighbor.

We’ve seen that you show love to God by expressing your allegiance to Him through your obedience to His instructions, but how do you show that you love your neighbor? Well, for starters, you can look at the second half of the 10 Commandments. The first four are all about loving God, and then the next six are instructions on how to love your neighbor. When Jesus said that all of the Law and the Prophets depend on those two commandments He wasn’t just messing around. Those two commandments are the meat behind all of the 10 Commandments. In fact, traditionally it is typically understood that there are 613 total commandments in the Torah (and there are over 1,000 given by Jesus in the New Testament), and each one of those commandments can be summed up as love God or love your neighbor.

We’ve seen Jesus talk about loving God and your neighbor from two different books in the Bible, why don’t we look at a third…

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."  (Luke 10:25-28)

But then the ‘lawyer’ followed this up by asking another question which puts the whole thing in context, and make it a lot more difficult, too. This lawyer asked the Messiah, “who is my neighbor?” It’s a perfect question, really. If I’m supposed to love my neighbor as much as I love myself, who in the world is my neighbor? The answer that Jesus gives is a game changer. In true Jesus-fashion, He answered with a story (he who has ears to hear let him hear…)

Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise."  (Luke 10:30-37)

Let’s take a minute to look more closely at the example Jesus provided us with. What I want to look at is who could’ve helped the man, and then who actually did. First of all, the examples given go in descending order of how highly an Israelite would’ve thought of the person, largely based on how close that person was allowed to the Holy of Holies. I guess I should clarify something real quick: all Priests were Levites but not all Levites were Priests. Just like all New Yorkers are Americans but not all Americans are New Yorkers (I believe the first person I heard say this was Rico Cortes, but it was more about Puerto Ricans than New Yorkers, or something like that…).

So the Priests, out of this group of people, were the people who were allowed to go to the place on the Temple that had the highest level of kedusha (holiness). Important to the subject matter would be that according to Levitical Law, you could become ritually unclean and unable to approach the Temple. We often think of ‘unclean’ as being synonymous with ‘sin’, but this really isn’t the case. To be ritually unclean wasn’t something to be desired but it really didn’t change the day-to-day life of most people in the Kingdom. However, if you had to work at the Temple for your vocation, being ritually unclean would’ve meant that you weren’t able to do your job. Not coincidentally, coming in contact with a dead body would make you ritually unclean. In fact, the Pharisees believed that if even your shadow passed over a dead body then you become unclean. So, with that minimal understanding, let’s look at the actions of the priest in question.

First of all, it’s important to notice that the priest came down the same road as the man who had been robbed and was laying there half dead. The important part of this is that the priest was actually traveling away from the Jerusalem and the Temple. Jerusalem is at a higher elevation than Jericho and you would go down to Jericho and up to Jerusalem. So the priest was traveling away from Jerusalem, and away from the Temple where his level of sanctification would be most important. He’s moving away from the place where his having touched a dead body would mean that he couldn’t perform his duties. So regardless of whether your shadow touching a dead body actually made you unclean, this priest’s being unclean wouldn’t have mattered as far as performing his priestly duties; he easily could’ve helped the man in distress. In fact, his true priestly duty (being the representative of God to the people) would’ve been to go out of his way to help out this robbed and beaten man. In N.T. Wright’s book The Day the Revolution Began he explains the vocation of image-bearers and priests as follows,

Humans were made to be “image-bearers,” to reflect the praises of creation back to the Creator and to reflect the Creators wise and loving stewardship into the world. Israel was called to be the royal priesthood to worship God and reflect his rescuing wisdom into the world. (p.99)

Israel had for-the-most-part declined their priestly duty when they told Moses that they wanted a mediator between God and themselves, but this didn’t change their calling. If priests were supposed to reflect God’s rescuing wisdom into the world, I don’t think we need to look much further than Jesus to see how that look. I doubt there’s anyone out there who would come away from reading these verses and say that Jesus was saying that the man should’ve just been left there.

The Levite in this story would have similar restrictions placed on them regarding cleanliness, only it would be less strict than those placed on Priests. But still, the Levite would not naturally want to risk coming in contact with a dead body. I don’t really want to spend too much time on the Levite, since a good understanding of his station in life would’ve just been gone over when we talked about the priests. You know, but a little less than a priest…

Before we get to the Samaritan I want to point out that these first two examples that Jesus gives us would have been considered to be in the highest echelon of Jewish society. The LORD was smart enough to not the king be allowed to also be the High Priest so the King would’ve been seen as standing on the top rung of the social ladder, but the High Priest would’ve been right below the king. And the rest of the priests would’ve been right beneath him. And then the Levites would find their place right after the priests. In fact, as far as the Temple (the actual home on earth of the King of the Universe), the High Priest would’ve been held in higher standing than the king. The High Priest was the only one who was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies (and, even then, only one day each year…). In 2 Chronicles 26 there’s even the telling of King Uzziah being stricken with leprosy by the LORD because he was so prideful as to think that he could burn incense at the altar of incense inside of the Temple. Looking into what leprosy would’ve been in Biblical times and how that is different than today is a totally different study, but it’s worth looking into.

So now we have a Samaritan. Anyone who’s been around the block once or twice in Christian circles has probably heard that the Jews hated the Samaritans. The reason behind this is a bit long but I think it should suffice to say that the Samaritans were living in the land of the former Northern Kingdom, and even claimed to worship the LORD, but they claimed that God’s holy mountain was not in Jerusalem (along with quite a few other things, but this should at least let you know why most Jews would view the Samaritans as heretics who shouldn’t be dealt with). And yet, there’s a Samaritan man who sees this same man who has been left for dead, and apparently even looks like he may already be dead, and he not only lets his shadow touch the man but he takes care of him. He attempts to disinfect the man’s wounds by pouring oil and wine onto them (hey, I guess any alcohol is better than no alcohol when you’re trying to disinfect…). Then he does something even more outrageous: The Samaritan placed the man on his own animal and led him to an inn. In our culture the part the comes next probably seems like the greatest thing but, in the Ancient Near East placing a foreigner on your own animal and leading it around would’ve made it look like you the servant and the man on the animal were the master. In an honor and shame society this would’ve been the same as when Jesus washed the feet of all of His disciples!

Is there any question as to who acted the most ‘neighborly’?

Now it’s time for some reflection and an admission: I’ve lived in the same place for 4 years, right next door to the same neighbor for that whole time, and I’ve talked to him like 2 or 3 times. How neighborly am I being? How much of an ambassador am I being for my King when I don’t even remember my literal next-door neighbor’s name?

Really quickly here I would like to circle back to the quote earlier from N.T. Wright. We talked about how Israel was called to be a kingdom of priests (Ex 19:6) but we didn’t mention how that means us, too. We, though we may have been born gentiles, have been grafted into the olive tree that is Israel (Romans 11:17-24). Another way to say this is that we have been adopted into the family. So if Israel’s vocation was that of being a royal priesthood, should we expect that we also are a royal priesthood? Let’s look at 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Peter was obviously calling back to the words written in Exodus but he’s saying them to believers in Jesus. The book of 1 Peter was written to churches in Asia Minor (think Turkey), and we know that there were a decent amount of Jewish believers in those communities but we also know that there were quite a few believers who were once gentiles. The entire book of Galatians (which was a city in Asia Minor) was written so that the believing congregation would not give credence to those Jews coming up from Jerusalem saying that the non-Jewish believers needed to convert to the teachings of Judaism (for lack of a better term) before becoming believers in Messiah, or even before they were allowed to share a meal with them. For better understanding of this whole ordeal I would suggest the book King, Kingdom, Citizen by Tyler Dawn Rosenquist.

So what’s the takeaway?

If I had to sum it all up real quick I would probably quote Jesus when He said the following:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:43-45)

So who’s your neighbor? Everyone, including your enemy.

Let that one marinate for a little while…

Suggested Reading:
The Bible

Exodus 19, 23; Leviticus 19; Deuteronomy 6; 2 Chronicles 26; Matthew 5, 22; Mark 12; Luke 10; 1 Peter

Discovering the Locations of the Temple Complex – Joseph Good & Nolan Armstrong
The Day the Revolution Began – N.T. Wright
King, Kingdom, Citizen – Tyler Dawn Rosenquist

The Psalms 15: Who Shall Dwell On Your Holy Hill

I had been ruminating on this psalm for quite some time (even though it's only 5 verses long) and just when I was about ready to collect my thoughts and put them out there Tyler over at The Ancient Bridge went and posted something that expressed most of what I wanted to say and made me question if my post was even going to be necessary. Quite honestly, if this was going to be on something longer than 5 verses then I probably wouldn't have. But, I figured in the name of keeping things going, I may as well get my thoughts out there for you as well. I hope that you took the opportunity to read what Tyler wrote. If you haven't then I'm going to link it RIGHT HERE so that you can check that one out, too. She's a great writer and I think you'll appreciate what she has to say.

With that said, here's what I came away with...

A Psalm of David.
1 O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

This one starts out with a lofty goal. When speaking of the LORD’s tent, we need to remember that, before there was a temple in Jerusalem, there was a tabernacle. The NKJV translates this verse as, “LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?” The word translated as ‘tent’ is ‘ohel’ (H168 – אהל). This is the word that was used when speaking of the Tent of Meeting (Ohel Moed – אהל מועד) in Exodus 33, and not the normal word used for tent (sukkah – סכּה). This is the place that Moses would go to meet with the LORD, in person. And the ‘holy hill’? You mean the mountain of the one true God? Yeah, who, indeed!?

That’s why the upcoming verses are so impactful.

2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart;

There are a few people in the Bible who are said to be blameless. This is an extremely tall order. While the term doesn’t demand that you never sin, it does demand that when you do sin you notice it and you repent (turn away with no intention of turning back). All of that being said, the Hebrew word that is translated as “blameless” is the same word that is used to describe the sacrificial animal offerings who are without blemish (tâmı̂ym – תּמים). It is also the same word that’s used when describing Noah as ‘perfect’ in his generations. So, all things considered, this is still a pretty tall order. The takeaway, though, is that this lofty goal is actually attainable. No matter how hard it may seem at first glance, this is a thing that can be accomplished. You may not be able to do this overnight (though, I’m perfectly willing to admit that with God all things are possible) but it’s something to shoot for. When a person first starts exercising they’re not able to run a 4 minute mile, or deadlift 500 lbs (at least this is what I’ve heard – I’m sure those who choose to exercise would be willing to give you more detail if you care to search out one of those types of people…); you have to bring you body into submission and train it to be able to perform at those levels. Likewise, we have to do the same thing to exercise ourselves in spiritual matters. Paul speaks to this in 1 Cor 9:27 when he says, “No, I keep on disciplining my body, making it serve me so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified.” We have to push on to the goal (Phil 3:14), but that goal is not out of reach (Deut 30:12, Rom 10:6)!

3 who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend;

I’m actually working on an article right now that dives more deeply into who are neighbor is so I don’t want to dig too deeply into that right here, but the easy answer is that it’s everyone. So if the goal is to be able to enter into the tabernacle of the LORD, this should be convicting to pretty much all of us. It’s so easy, especially in today’s social media culture, to let the tongue slip and ‘slander’ someone. The dictionary definition of slander is to make a false or damaging statement about someone. Did you notice the that I highlighted the word ‘or’? That means that, even if it’s true, speaking a damaging thing about someone is slander. Man, I’ve messed that one up quite a bit, and I owe a lot of apologies. Choose your words wisely because we have a standard that we should be trying to live up to. We read in the book of James the following:

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?  (James 4:11-12)

I know that my Judge is a just God, and that He is all-knowing and can see every side of every situation. Why would I think that I know any point of view aside from my own? Instead, shouldn’t I be supportive to my neighbors? Shouldn’t even my rebukes be dipped in honey instead of dripping with sarcasm and stuffiness? I know that I often fail at this one, but I want to get better, and I hope act more like my Messiah when given the opportunity.

4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

If someone fears the LORD, even if I disagree with their specific twist on a pet doctrine, why would I give them anything but honor when I’m dealing with them or referring to them? This is so convicting. Am I wise enough to discern if a person truly fears the LORD?

I always try to make it a point in my life to never charge interest if I lend money to someone. Honestly, if I do lend money out I usually give it with the expectation that it won’t be returned. More often than not, I tell the people that it’s a gift and that I don’t want repaid. I’m not saying this so that I can sound like a better person than anyone. Truth be told, the reason I do it that way is because I’m worse. If I don’t make it known that it’s a gift then I’ll obsess over being repaid and that can lead to bitterness and offense. I know my limitations and I don’t ever want to have bitterness and offense toward one of my brothers or sisters. So I guess that moral of that story is to know yourself, and know what you’re capable of (good or bad).

I hope that this has been a blessing, and I hope that you are spurred onward to living the life that the Father wants you to live.

May our allegiance to our King make us the ambassadors that He needs us to be to this lost and hurting world!

The Psalms 13: How Long O LORD

Sometimes blessings don’t always feel like blessings, do they? Sometimes the weight of it all can make us see our blessings as a curse. The trick is to not fall into that negativity. The trick is to allow yourself to see the blessing in it all, even when it can feel overwhelming.

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

Is anyone instantly transported to a different verse when you read, “How long O LORD?”

“How long, O Lord, holy and true until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev 6:10)

Should we see a correlation here? Is the similarity more than just coincidental? I know that there are other places in the Bible that the same thing is said. Is it possible that when we read this we’re supposed to remember the ones that have happened before? If we pay attention to the context in this verse it certainly echoes the same sentiment found in the verse in Revelation. In Revelation it’s the souls who have been slaughtered because of their testimony in the Word of the Lord. I don’t have an answer for this, but it’s certainly something that I’m intrigued by and have been giving a decent amount of study over the past year, or so. Just what do the souls beneath the altar have to do with spilt blood and altars? There’s something there.

2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Again with the “how long…”. David’s exasperation is palpable. There’s something important to point out here: while David is “a man after God’s own heart”, he is overcome with emotion about God forgetting about him. We know that God hasn’t forgotten him as that’s not an attribute of God, but David is still calling God out for it. While we should always seek to walk in the footsteps mapped out by God, we shouldn’t beat ourselves up too much should we fall into a zealous temper tantrum. The key is to move on after and learn from it. Don’t just accept it as a part of life, learn from it.

3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,

We should remember that David is potentially writing this as he’s running for his life, probably from Saul. He’s in a situation where if he stops to lay his head down to rest, that could be the moment that Saul catches up to him and David really does sleep the sleep of death. Very few of us have actually been in a situation like this, but I think that most of us can relate to lesser version where we feel that if we don’t keep moving then we’ll be overwhelmed by all of the responsibilities we have.

How do we best deal with this? Is it to keep running? Maybe sometimes… Very often we’re guilted into feeling like we’re not “giving it all to God” (and maybe this is actually the case some of the time) but we see here that David was following God’s calling for his life and yet he still had to keep moving if he wanted to stay alive. In this instance (like many of the instances in our own lives) God’s blessing was only provided because David did keep moving. It was all part of the plan. The hard part is being able to discern God’s voice while we’re keeping moving. David was apparently able to do this, and maybe this is one of the reasons why we hear him called, “a man after God’s own heart.”

4 lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed over him," lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

So the thing about this verse is that it has an underlying sentiment that is buried under the actual statement. If the enemy in question here is actually King Saul, then what he would actually be saying would be, “I have prevailed over God,” since it was God who had said that David would be King.

5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

Just a quick reminder here that the name “Jesus” comes from the Hebrew word “Yeshua”, which has a meaning of Yahweh’s Salvation. So, hidden in this verse (and don’t worry, I’m not saying that this was the sole intent of the verse) is the statement that he will rejoice in Jesus.

6 I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
(Psa 13:1-6 ESV)

Look at this statement right here. We’ve just chronicled how David is running for his life, and here he says that the LORD has dealt bountifully with him. Let’s go back to what I said after verse 3. When we have to just keep moving because we’re overwhelmed because of all of the responsibilities that we have, how often do we look at all of our responsibilities and thank God for all that He has given us? This is easy to overlook. It’s so easy to turn our bounty into our headache, but when we have responsibility it’s because we’ve been found worthy of being trusted with it. Are there times that we wish we weren’t given some of these things? Sure, but don’t let yourself get caught up in that. Remind yourself that you are a child of the King and that your King thinks so much of you that He knows that you can handle it.

This may be “easier said than done” right now, but if we keep acknowledging it then we’ll eventually be able to see life through those God-colored lenses!

Have a great day, and Shalom!

The Psalms 12: The Faithful Have Vanished

Psalm 12 is a psalm of Lamentation, but it is also a psalm of hope in the end. It’s helpful to see that even when there’s reason to lament, there’s also reason to hope for the future. Too often we get caught up in just focusing on the lamentation, and we fail to see the other side of it. I know that I fall prey to that, just as much as anyone else. So I’m thankful for this opportunity to remember that there’s another side to lamentation.

Let’s get into the psalm!

To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
1 Save, O Yahweh, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.

The word which starts this whole thing off is the Hebrew word ‘hoshiah’ (הוֹשִׁ֣יעָה) which comes from the root word ‘yasha’ (ישׁע), and that is where the word Yeshua/Jesus comes from. So here we see the psalmist (David) calling out for salvation. It’s not readily apparent when we read it in the English but if we were reading it in the Hebrew we would be able to read this verse and make a connection to Jesus. While this isn’t what David would’ve been specifically going for while writing this psalm (so let’s not make too much of it), it’s helpful for us to be able to look at the Hebrew expectation of salvation, and how Jesus came to bring salvation.

We read that the godly have ceased to exist. The word here translated as ‘godly’ is the word ‘chesid’ (חסיד) which is most often translated as ‘saints’, or ‘godly’ but it is also very often translated as ‘merciful’. In fact, it comes from the root word of ‘chesed’ (חסד), which has the primary meaning of ‘mercy’. So, in effect, David is calling out to Yahweh for mercy because there is no one left on the earth who is being merciful.

Very often we view Jesus only in the light of His death, burial and resurrection but when we do this and we don’t see the mercy He came to proclaim we’re missing out on the actual gospel which Jesus Himself proclaimed while He was walking in Israel in the first century. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t at all want to downplay the death, burial and resurrection; on the contrary, I want to build it up by pointing out another part of the gospel which is often overlooked. Out of reverence for the great work that Jesus did by dying on the cross and then being resurrected three days later, we tend to gloss over His teachings as a part of His gospel. In fact, because of this we very often view the gospel as a thing which wasn’t known until after Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. We read 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 and think that’s all that there is to the gospel. We don’t allow that when Paul was writing to the Corinthians, maybe this is something they needed to be reminded of because they had heard teachers which were denying this part of the gospel.

The truth is, if we limit the gospel to the death, burial and resurrection of Messiah then we’re discounting that the writer of Hebrews said that the same gospel was preached to Israelites after they had left Egypt and were at the base of Mount Sinai. And we’re also discounting that Jesus, Himself, was said to have preached the gospel throughout His earthly ministry (Matt 4:23, Matt 24:14, Mark 1:14, Luke 4:17-18, Luke 8:1, Luke 20:1, etc.). Are we to believe that Jesus taught of His death, burial and resurrection for the entirety of His ministry and yet everyone was surprised when it went down the way that it did? Or, is it possible that the gospel is something bigger, and that part of that is, in part, an answer to verse in question? Is it possible that Jesus was preaching that Yahweh had finally brought Salvation from all of the godless? I’ll leave it to you to ponder over that one.

2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

When we read this verse it’s important to remember what it is that we are supposed to doing. It’s easy to just read this and go, “well yeah, lying is bad.” But it’s always important to back that up. It’s really easy to rest in our knowledge when we feel like we have a decent understanding of something. At least, that’s how it happens to me…

In Ephesians 4:25 we read something important in reference to this verse, “Therefore, putting away lying, "LET EACH ONE OF YOU SPEAK TRUTH WITH HIS NEIGHBOR," for we are members of one another.”

3 May Yahweh cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, 4 those who say, "With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?"

The first part of these verses is enough to make you wince. We’ve all been a part of trying to flatter someone. Thankfully, it appears that it’s more than just flattering someone that leads to David asking to have your lips cut off by Yahweh. I think, though, the more important part here is probably the end of verse four. There we see that those with flattering lips and a boasting tongue say that they will shake off their masters by deceit. “Who is master over us?” While I wouldn’t build a doctrine around this, there appears to be a similarity between this statement and what we read in Revelation 13:4 which reads, “who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with Him?” The Revelation 13:4 reference is, itself, sits in opposition to Exodus 15:11 where the questions that is asked is, “Who is like You, O Yahweh, among the gods?”. The fact is that, in ancient times, this was a common way of referring to deity. So I think that it’s possible that when we read in verse four that those with flattering lips and a tongue that boast are asking, “who is master over us?” we’re seeing them try to set themselves up above God, and this is why David is asking for their lips and tongues to be cut off.

5 "Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise," says Yahweh; "I will place him in the safety for which he longs."

This is one of those verses that we could all take heart in. If you find yourself facing hard times, Yahweh is just about to stand up and place you in safety. Stay close to His heart.

6 The words of Yahweh are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.

Seven is the number of completion in the Hebrew mindset. Being purified seven times is being purified until the purification is complete. Silver was, at the time, rarely purified more than 2 or 3 time so saying this silver is purified 7 times is an extreme amount of purity. That’s how pure God and His words are!

7 You, O Yahweh, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever. 8 On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man.

While at the end of this psalm we see David pointing out that ‘evil’ is everywhere, we have him starting out by proclaiming that God will keep His Word forever. And He will guard His people forever. So, when you look around and you see the wicked and the vile thriving in this world, remember that your King is about to arise and He’s got His hand overtop of you, holding back even more that you don’t see. Not only is our Creator watching over us but we are also being strengthened by the same refining fire that purifies silver.

So, even if you’re facing tribulation (and we will have tribulation in this world) this is working toward an end. And God’s Word is always true!

Be blessed as you go about your day, and rest in the purity of God’s perfect Word.

The Psalms 9: I Will Recount Your Wonderful Deeds

One thing that can be missed when doing a verse by verse look at the Psalms is that the entire thing is a unit. I’m going to try to relay that here, but the psalm is twenty verses long, so it’s easy to slip into just looking at each individual verse, or a group of verses. Scholars and researchers are unsure as to what exactly the inscription means but one of the translations for “Muth-Labben” (מות לבן) is “death of a son”. I’m going to read this as if this is the case and try to draw out the heart of David. I’ll also try to do this in a way that, even if one of the other translations are correct (and there are a few, if you’d like to look them up) then this commentary will still promote a proper look at the characteristics of God. It should be noted that many believe that “death of a son” was actually a pre-existing song which David was instructing the reader to sing this psalm to the tune of.

For the choir director; on Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.
1 I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. 2 I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

Sometimes this is one of the hardest things in the world to do. Sometimes everything is fine and you feel joyous and you want to thank God and praise Him. But sometimes your world is crashing in on you and it’s so difficult to thank God for all you have. Especially when you feel like you don’t really have anything left. The truth is that this is the time when we need to thank Him the most.

3 When my enemies turn back, They stumble and perish before You. 4 For You have maintained my just cause; You have sat on the throne judging righteously.

When we focus on our “enemies”, we have the tendency to dwell on them. We let them take up a place in our brain and we let ourselves see the good things that they have. Why do we give them that much of our headspace? Focus on God, and on what He has done for you. First, make sure that your cause is just. If your seeking righteousness, rest assured that you are an instrument God is using to send out His righteousness and justice into the world. If you’re not sure that your cause is just, seek God. In fact, this brings to mind a verse that we have all heard (probably) but few of us heed its advice. Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Is our first response in every situation to view the predicament through the constitution of the Kingdom? I know that I can admit that I don’t always act this way.

5 You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name forever and ever. 6 The enemy has come to an end in perpetual ruins, And You have uprooted the cities; The very memory of them has perished.

Just remember that while we are worrying about the things around us, God is working from His throne. God has your back, even when it seems like the enemies are closing in around you. Maybe it even seems like the attacks have begun. One thing we know is that, in the end, God is going to destroy the wicked. And even though God doesn’t want anyone to perish, many people choose to come against God and His people, and they are choosing their side. The convicting thing for me is that I don’t pray for my enemies nearly as often as I should. More often than not, I don’t see the abysmal future my enemies are in for and I think only of my own situations. This isn’t the way I should be doing things.

7 But the LORD abides forever; He has established His throne for judgment, 8 And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity.

Does this scare you as much as it should? He’s going to judge the world in righteousness. The righteousness of God is not something easy to get passed. If you want a quick overview of how God feels about unrighteousness then you may want to read the first couple chapters of the book of Romans. This is why we, followers of the Messiah, must cling to the teachings of Jesus and do our best to walk out the same faith that He walked in. We’re not saved by these actions. We’re saved by the grace of God because we place our faith in Him. Roman 3:21-26 spells this out pretty clearly but if you read on to verse 31 we see that our faith doesn’t remove our works. What it really does is emphasize the need for a righteous walk of faith.

9 The LORD also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, A stronghold in times of trouble; 10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.

The deeper you look into the Kingdom of God the more you find that the Kingdom is all about relief from oppression and the eventual freedom from all bondage. When man was first created, he was created to live in the freedom of the Garden and to walk freely with God. But then we took on the yolk of sin and we started down our path into bondage. At every turn God has been taking away bondage from us. From Abraham’s separating from the gods of his fathers to Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt, to Jesus’s releasing us from our bondage to sin, the chains have been breaking since the very beginning. And as we walk out our faith the way Jesus did, it’s our ministry to restore freedom to those who are oppressed.

11 Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion; Declare among the peoples His deeds.

It may, at first, be easy to overlook this verse but, are you? Are you declaring the deeds of your King to the people around you? Do the people you interact with every day know how much you appreciate the blessings you’ve been given by our King? Or do you just accept it and walk out the same steps as those around you who aren’t in covenant with our God and King?

12 For He who requires blood remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

The cries of the afflicted echoed out for thousands of years. For generations upon generations you can imagine a seen like we see in the sixth chapter of Revelation where the souls under the altar cried out, “How long…”. And after those thousands of years there was finally an answer to the cries of the afflicted. Blood was required and our perfect Passover Lamb offered himself up so that we could come close to Him.

13 Be gracious to me, O LORD; See my affliction from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death, 14 That I may tell of all Your praises, That in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation.

There’s something that we should pay attention to here. Do you notice why we should be expected to be lifted up from the gates of death? It’s so that we can tell people about all that God has done for us. When He lifts you out of the muck and mire, do you sing His praises? I ask all of these questions because I know that I’ve been guilty of not following the prescribed pattern. I’ve bene the one who just let it go. Who said, “thank you,” and then moved back into the same formula which got me in the muck and mire to begin with.

15 The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made; In the net which they hid, their own foot has been caught.

This verse is of special concern. So often today we let ourselves be caught up on politics (whether they be on the right or on the left) and we argue with others with the audacity of religious zealots, but always remember that our battles are not against flesh and blood. Our arguments are not with Democrats or the Republicans. Our King has a Kingdom, and our residence is in the Kingdom. Don’t let yourself get caught up in the squabbles of the nations or you may get dragged down with them also.

16 The LORD has made Himself known; He has executed judgment. In the work of his own hands the wicked is snared. Higgaion Selah.

In today’s culture, this is something that is longed for. One might remember the verse in Revelation where the souls are under the alter, crying out, “how long, O Lord, holy and true.” We see God’s work all around us, and surely He’s preparing a snare for the wicked, but how long will it be before the trap is sprung? How long will those following after His Light have to endure? My life, though I sometimes face hardship, is easy compared to those truly facing tribulation. There are countless Christians facing persecution. So, yes, sometimes you wonder how long until the wicked are snared. In the end, the truth is that we know that they will be snared by the work of His hands. And , for now, that will have to be the solace we use. The other thing to remember is that we should also ask for the salvation of our enemies. What greater testimony could there be than our enemies coming to know the salvation of our God, and fighting for His Name.

17 The wicked will return to Sheol, Even all the nations who forget God. 18 For the needy will not always be forgotten, Nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever.

The end will come, in due time. Our greatest duty is to move forward every day, advancing the Kingdom of our Lord. What will you do with what you are given?

19 Arise, O LORD, do not let man prevail; Let the nations be judged before You. 20 Put them in fear, O LORD; Let the nations know that they are but men. Selah.

There is no world in which men are greater than God. Notice that throughout this plea for God’s vindication David is always asking God to move. He’s not moving himself, he’s letting God do His thing. Rest in the Word of the Lord and let Him be the one to take righteous action, because there is no righteous action outside of His will.

I hope that this has been of some insight to you. I hope that you find some degree of peace by reading it. But, the more important thing is the reading of the actual Scripture. Allow yourself to reflect on these psalms. Ask the Holy Spirit to provide the insight that the Father wants you to receive.

Shalom!

The Psalms 8 - How Majestic Is Your Name

Ok, it’s been more than a week since the last blog, but it’s been a little while longer since our last look at the Psalms. Consider that remedied. Today we look at the Eighth Psalm, which is all about the majesty of our Great King!

Let’s get started…

For the music director, on the Gittith. A psalm of David.
1  Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who put your splendor above the heavens.

I don’t always choose a translation which chooses to use one of the transliterations of the tetragrammaton, but it seemed appropriate here since David mentions how majestic His name is in all the earth. In case anyone is wondering, here I used the LEB translation.

2  From the mouth of children and infants you have founded strength on account of your enemies, to silence the enemy and the avenger.

This brings to mind Matthew 11:25 where Jesus says that God has hidden things from the wise but revealed them to the little children. Or, likewise, where Jesus says that we have to have faith like children. It’s when we stop trying to argue with God over what’s possible that we’re truly starting to live in the faith that we’re supposed to walk out our lives. Faith isn’t some nebulous thing that is hard to pin down. Faith isn’t some mental concept that you can only understand in your brain. If a man is faithful to his wife, that doesn’t mean that he only walks out his love in his head; the man is faithful to her by his actions as well as his mental decisions. So let us have the faith of children and infants in our actions with God.

3  When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place— 4  what is a human being that you think of him? and a child of humankind that you care for him?

It really is amazing to think of all the things in creation and how we’re the created thing that God has chosen to interact with. God created everything, and then He closed creation by creating us in His image. And He created us to be his representatives throughout the earth to all of creation. But look at all the stars in the heavens, and look at the beauty of the leaves on the trees turning color in the autumn. And, we’re God’s ambassadors. He has chosen to be intimate with us, above all of creation. This is readily apparent in Psalm 115:16 where we read, “The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but He gave the earth to human beings.”

5  And you made him a little lower than heavenly beings, and with glory and with majesty you crowned him.

This almost sounds like we’re starting to talk about Messiah here. Frankly, when I first read this to start talking about the verse I read this as being about Messiah. In the second chapter of the book of Hebrews we get this description of Jesus, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of the death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” So while this verse is talking here about human kind, it was also taken by the author of Hebrews to be about Jesus. This is probably a good time to mention that God does this more than a few times. Sometimes, you may think you’re reading about one thing, but then you realize you’re reading about something else. Does that mean that it’s no longer about the first thing? Not at all. In my opinion (and that’s all this is…), God does this to show us that things are bigger than just our puny view of things.

6  You make him over the works of your hands; all things you have placed under his feet: 7  sheep and cattle, all of them, and also the wild animals of the field, 8  the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, everything that passes along the paths of seas.

Again, this is still, on the surface level, about mankind and his place in creation, but this is beautiful illustration of how the Messiah is not only the Son of God but is also the Son of Man.

9  Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all of the earth!

It’s a somewhat short verse but it’s huge in its scope. There are many different sides to the argument of how you pronounce “the Name”, but I think the point is that He is BIGGER than this argument. Whether you say “Yahweh”, or “Jehovah”, or “Yehovah”, or “Yahuah”, or “Adonai”, or just “the LORD”… He’s bigger than the argument. He knows who you are and everything about you. Historically, proclaiming the name of someone wasn’t necessarily just saying that person’s name; it was more along the lines of speaking with their authority, and it was declaring their very being. So in saying, “how majestic is your name in all of the earth,” what we’re actually seeing is the declaration that YHVH is the very essence of what majesty is on the earth. Majesty, a term used of kings; and He is our great King. The King of Kings. David wrote this while being the king of Israel, yet he had a great Suzerain King, who he gave his fealty to. So if the king of a nation can give fealty to our great King, how much more should we do the same?

The Forgotten Feasts: Sukkot

The Feast of Tabernacles (or the Feast of Booths) is a glorious time of rejoicing. In fact, traditionally this feast is referred to as “The Season Of Our Joy”. This feast is meant to be a reminder if when our God guided us through the wilderness after Egypt and we lived in temporary dwelling places. The Hebrew name for the feast is “Sukkot”. As part of the feast all members of the Commonwealth of Israel are supposed to build a ‘Sukkah’ (a tent, of sorts) so they can be reminded of the time when their God brought them through the wilderness. Let’s look at the primary Scriptures for this festival.

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the Israelites, saying, 'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, this shall be the Feast of Booths for seven days for Yahweh. On the first day there shall be a holy assembly; you must not do any regular work. For seven days you must present an offering made by fire to Yahweh. On the eighth day it shall be a holy assembly for you, and you shall present an offering made by fire to Yahweh; it is a celebration; you must not do any regular work. "'These are Yahweh's festivals, which you must proclaim, holy assemblies to present an offering made by fire to Yahweh—burnt offering and grain offering, sacrifice and libations, each on its proper day—besides Yahweh's Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides your vows and besides all your freewill offerings that you give to Yahweh. "'Surely on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, at your gathering the land's produce, you shall hold Yahweh's festival for seven days; on the first day there shall be a rest period and on the eighth day a rest period. And on the first day you shall take for yourselves the first fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees and branches of a leafy tree and of a brook's poplar trees, and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God for seven days. And you must hold it as a festival for Yahweh for seven days in the year; it shall be a lasting statute throughout your generations; in the seventh month you must hold it. You must live in the booths for seven days; all the natives in Israel must live in the booths, so that your generations shall know that I made the Israelites live in booths when I brought them from the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your God.'"
(Leviticus 23:33-43 LEB)

This feast can kind of be seen as the second half of the bookend of feasts; closing what was opened during Passover. Passover opened with a High Sabbath where no work was to be done and it also closed with a High Sabbath, too. Likewise, Sukkot opens and closes with High Sabbaths also. One of the differences is that while it is said that, “this shall be a Feast of Booths for seven days,” it is also commanded that on the eighth day shouldn’t do any regular work. So there are seven days to the feast but there are also eight. Biblically, seven is the number of completion and eight is the number of new beginnings. Prophetically, the Feast of Tabernacles would seem to be the time when Jesus would come back for His millennial reign to rule over His people on the earth. We know that the millennial reign of Christ is meant to be the sabbath millennium and a time of rest, but at the end of that thousand years the devil will be let out of Sheol for one final battle against God before he is thrown into the lake of fire. After he has finally been defeated there will commence an eight day, a time of new beginnings. We don’t know much about what will happen after the millennium but this eight day (or, the Great Day, as it’s traditionally referred to) is the day to celebrate God’s final victory over the dragon.

There are more than a few ways we can look at this festival and see spiritual meanings we can apply to our lives. Let’s look through a few of them and then I’ll leave it to you to see if you can come up with any more.

  1.     The Eighth Day – We’ve already mentioned this not too long ago but this is a time where we can celebrate our Father’s victory over the devil. While we know that the LORD’s victory has been assured from the foundation of the earth, this is a time that marks the final victory.

  2.     The Millennium – We’ve kind of already touched on this one, too, so we’ll just hit this real quick. As this is the last of the yearly Feasts, this one is the commencement of the Millennial reign of our Messiah on the earth. If you want to read more about the Millennium then I’d suggest you read the last nine chapters of the book of Ezekiel and chapter 20 of the book of Revelation. There are other places where you can go to gather information on the Millennium, but these are two good starting points.

       All Nations – There is another thing to look at concerning the Feast of Tabernacles when we’re looking at the millennial kingdom of Jesus, and that’s something that comes up in Zecheriah 14 (which is also about the Millennium, if you’re looking for more to read on this topic). We read, starting in verse 16:

And then every survivor from all those nations coming against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the king, Yahweh of hosts, and celebrate the Feast of Booths. And then whoever of the clans of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, Yahweh of hosts, it will not rain on them. And if the clan of Egypt will not go up and come in, on them will be that plague Yahweh inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.

(Zechariah 14:16-19)

From this we can tell that, once we are in the Kingdom, we will be celebrating this Feast. And if we are to follow the words of our Messiah and “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” (Matt 6:33) then we should really be trying to do the things that we’ll be doing in the kingdom. But, if nothing else, this is a good reason for us to treat this feast as a rehearsal for the joy that is to come.

  3.     Bemidbar – Another way that you can look at this Feast is just a straightforward reading of the Scripture. The Hebrew world Bemidbar ( בְּמִדְבַּר – H4057) means “in the wilderness” and, in fact, that’s what the name of the book of Numbers is, in the Hebrew Bible. The book of Numbers is the story of the wilderness wonderings of the people of Israel. Since the LORD wanted Israel to celebrate this feast to remind them of how He brought them through their wilderness, we can do the same. We all have times where we’re in the wilderness. Maybe it’s not the wilderness of Sinai, but there are times where it feels like we’re spiritually wondering through the wilderness. Whether you’re in one of those times right now, or if you have the opportunity to celebrate coming out of the wilderness, this is a good time to reflect on how God can get you through our toughest trials.

  4.     Tabernacled Among Us – In the beginning of the book of John we read about the origins of Jesus, but unlike the other gospels John puts more of a focus on Jesus’s divine origin. In the course of his telling of the origins of Jesus he says the following, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”. At first glance, while this is certainly an important, HUGE concept that is worthy of much study, it doesn’t really appear that this would have much to do with the Feast of Tabernacles. But let’s look a little closer at the Greek word that’s translated as “dwelt”. The Greek word is “skenoo” (σκηνόω) and its primary meaning is “to tent” or “encamp”. In fact, if we look at some other translations we see that other translators have made decisions that look a lot closer to this meaning. The ISV says, “The World became flesh and lived among us,” but the notation provided is “Lit. pitched his tent”. And then when you look at translations which have more of an eye toward the Hebrew nature of the faith you find things like what the Tree of Life translation does, “And the Word became flesh and tabernacle among us…”. Some scholars believe that this inclusion indicates that Jesus was actually born during the Feast of Tablernacles, since this reference is given during John’s description of Jesus’s origin. In any case, this is a great time to remember how our Messiah came to earth and tabernacled among us, so that He could show us how to walk out our lives.

  5.     We Are Tabernacles – This is actually a pretty cool concept that we don’t usually spend enough time exploring. As believers in Messiah, this world is not our home. So these skin suits that we currently reside in are really just our temporary dwelling places. When the end of the age comes we will be given resurrection bodies. In 2 Corinthians 5 we read the following, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 1 Corinthians 15:35-49 goes a little bit more in depth on what our future tabernacles will be made of and verse 44 let’s us know that there are two different bodies (tabernacles) that we’re talking about here when Paul says, “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” 

  6.    River of Living Water – So one of the ceremonies which was performed every day during Sukkot was the water libation ceremony. Throughout the first seven days of the Feast priests got water from the Pool of Siloam and brought it to the temple where they poured it out at the base of the alter. Until, on the last day – the Great Day – when this ceremony was not performed, but there were several passages of scripture read. You can imagine, Jesus standing in the audience as the priests read Isaiah 55, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters…”, they would then read out of Ezekiel and the whole crowd would hear the priests saying, “and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east…” and then they would read Zecheriah 14 where it says, “And in that day it shall be – That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem.” And after all this is said, Jesus bellows out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believers in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Many of us have grown up with this verse but have never really thought of the context that Jesus said it in.

  7.    Ingathering – Finally, we’ll look at what this Feast meant agriculturally. While the first two feasts of the year dealt with different forms of firstfruits (the third part of Passover is the celebration of the first fruits of the barley, and Pentecost deals with the harvest of the wheat), this third Feast was for all of the rest of the harvest. So if you’re a Christian out there looking forward to the final harvest of the saints, this just might be the festival for you.

As is usually the case, there’s so much more to this than we’ve gone over here, but I wanted to give you a quick overview of this joyous festival. We’re in the middle of it right now. Actually, by the time I get this posted it will probably be about done. Right now I’m in the middle of the woods enjoying some camping relaxation and there’s no internet, so this is just gonna have to get posted when I find a signal. Until then, I hope that everyone has been having a great week, and that you’ve found some time to rejoice in the grace of our Father.

Shalom!

The Forgotten Feasts: Rosh HaShanah

Relevant Scripture: Leviticus 23:23-25; Numbers 29:1-6; Psalms 47; Psalms 69:28; Psalms 81; Isaiah 4:3; Daniel 12:1; Matthew 25:31-46; Philippians 2:12; 1 Thes 4:17; 2 Thes 2:6-7; Revelation 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:12, 20:15, 21:27, 22:19

Let’s get right into this one since this Feast actually happened a couple days ago!

Rosh HaShanah – First of all I guess we should say that this Feast isn’t really called Rosh HaShanah in the Bible. The first time we’re told about this Feast (Leviticus 23:23-25) it is referred to as a “memorial of blowing of trumpets”. For this reason it was traditionally referred to as Yom Teruah, or Feast of Trumpets. That word Teruah (H8643 – תּרוּעה) means “alarm, signal, sound of tempest, shout, shout or blast of war or alarm or joy” (from the BDB). It’s usually applied to a trumpet but, as you can see from the definition, it could just be a sound coming from your mouth. Think Jericho.  The reason it’s commonly called Rosh HaShanah (Head of the Year) is because the Israelite civil year starts on this day.

I guess now would be a good time to briefly explain that there are multiple ‘years’ in a Biblical mindset. At first this may seem a little confusing but if we allow ourselves to take a step back when we think it over it’s really not all that out of the ordinary. We have the year that we normally think of (January through December) but many of us work places which have a ‘fiscal year’ which differs from the normal year. We also have a ‘school year’. For most this begins in late August or early September and it doesn’t start again until the next August or September. The Hebrew calendar acts very similarly. The religious year starts in the spring. In the month called Nisan (this is the month that Passover takes place during). The civil year starts on Rosh HaShanah, and this is where they would reason the length of the reigns of kings, and this is also the beginning of the year for agriculture. It is during the fall that the “early rains” fall, and it is during the spring that the “latter rains” fall. You may have read in the Bible about the early rains and the latter rains. When I first read about them, and looked into them, it was weird to me that the latter rains were earlier in the year than the early rains. Understanding that there were different calendars really helped out with my overall understanding of that whole rain thing. I don’t want to take up too much space going over how the year works so I hope that this was helpful in understanding the basics of it.

I should mention that there are some out there who say that the Jews started keeping Rosh HaShanah as the beginning of the new year when they were in captivity in Babylon because that is when the Babylonians held their new year’s festival (Akitu) and they wanted to continue celebrating Akitu when they returned to Jerusalem. While I understand the want to be critical of traditions which aren’t specifically mentioned in the Bible, the Akitu claim doesn’t really hold much water. It turns out that in Babylon Akitu was actually celebrated in the spring. I’m certainly willing to listen to arguments on this one but, at this point, most historical documents would point to a spring Akitu celebration. I'll post a teaching at the bottom which does a good job of going into this (and is just an amazing overall teaching on Rosh Hashanah/Yom Teruah).

Ok, let’s look at the some of the prophetic implications of this Feast. This Feast is historically known as the Feast that no man knows the day or the hour when it will occur. That probably deserves some explaining. Yom Teruah is the one Feast which is on the first day of a month. The Hebrew calendar was a lunar calendar which begin when the first sliver of the moon was sighted. Admittedly, there are those who would argue when the month begins (whether it’s the siting of the first sliver of the moon, or when the moon is in full conjunction and you can’t see it), but Yom Teruah begins when the first sliver of the moon is spotted. When a person would spot that first sliver they would run to the Temple and tell a priest. But this wasn’t good enough. There needed to be Two Witnesses in order for the moon to be officially sighted. So when the second person reported the sighting of the moon, the High Priest would officially declare the Feast was at hand. One of the problems here is that it could be a cloudy night, or the moon could come out from behind the shadow of the earth after it had already set. Because of this, there was no way that anyone could accurately predict which day the moon would be sighted. For this reason it is traditionally known as the Feast that “no man knows the day or the hour”. So when Jesus says of His return in Matthew 24:36, “of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only,” those who he was speaking to would’ve known exactly what He was talking about. Since most of us don’t really pay much attention to the Feasts of the LORD we miss the context of this verse and we build up ‘doctrines’ saying that Jesus could return at any moment. Jesus fulfilled the Spring Feasts, in order during His first coming; what are the chances He’s not going follow this pattern during His second coming for the Fall Feasts? And then, if we have a little bit of understanding about the Feasts, He called out that Feast as the specific time that He would return.

Talk about prophetic implications! Want more evidence? Read 1 Thessalonians 4:16, “For the Lord Himself will descend with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and wit the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” This is one of the most key “rapture passages”. The Hebrew word for ‘shout’ is “teruah” (you know, like ‘Yom Teruah’) and we’re told that shout will be the trumpet of God.

I guess I should make a qualification that I don’t think that we need to start date setting. I just think that, when it does happen, it’s going to be on a Feast of Trumpets. Date setting is ridiculous and dangerous. It not only confuses what prophecy is supposed to be for (a sign for us to be able to look back and see that God is in control) but it also humiliates the Body of Christ at large by making Him look foolish.

Now that I have that out of the way, let’s get back to talking about Yom Teruah!

This Feast is probably given the least amount guidance on what you’re supposed to do to celebrate it. The only things really said is that you’re supposed to hear the blast of the shofar (or trumpet), you’re not supposed to work, and there are some sacrifices listed in the book of Numbers (interesting sidenote: these sacrifices are not for sin and it should be reasoned that not every animal sacrifice was meant to atone for sins). Traditionally in Jewish synagogue services the shofar is sounded 100 times as congregants dress all in white waiting for the last trumpet blast. In the Jewish prayer book (Machzor) for Rosh Hashanah you will sometimes find the following sentence, “May it be Your will that the sounding of the shofar, which we have done, will be embroidered in the veil by the appointed angel, as You accepted it by Elijah, of blessed memory and by Yeshua, the Prince of the Face (Face of Hashem) (Prince of God’s Presence) and the one who sits on God’s throne.” For those of you who don’t know, the name ‘Yeshua’ is the Hebrew name that Jesus would’ve actually been called when He walked the earth. Now, the more recent Machzor’s which are being printed no longer have this sentence in the prayers to the Father, but the older the version that you’re looking at is, the more likely it is to have this reference. Yeshua is considered to be the High Priest in the heavenly temple. I assure you, the Jewish leaders didn’t put that in there just to make the Christians happy.

Another thing that Rosh HaShanah is is a call to repentance. We’ll go into this more in depth for the next Holy Day, but Rosh HaShanah is the first day of what is traditionally considered the Ten Days of Awe. The Days of Awe lead up to our next Feast (Yom Kippur) and the whole time is spent reflecting on our sin and discovering any sin which we may have hidden away. This is the culmination of a bigger time of repentance which starts an entire month earlier. During the month of Elul (the month which comes directly before this seventh month (Tishri)) the tradition is to start the repenting of unconfessed sin. As stated previously, this all culminates in the final ten days leading up to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). In the next post we’ll go more into this but, as Rosh HaShanah is a part of this overall time of repentance, I wanted to at least mention it here. It’s really difficult to separate these two Festivals but to try to not confuse too much I’m doing my best to give the basics here.

So why is Rosh HaShanah (and the 39 days surrounding it) considered a time of repentance? Because the tradition is that this is the time of Judgement. As this is the beginning of the civil year, this is the time that God looks upon His people and judges whether, or not, they should be put into the Book of Life. The Book of Life isn’t a concept which began with Christianity. The book of Revelation has many elusions to the Book of Life but there are quite a few references in the Old Testament as well. Let’s look at just a few.

-          Exodus 32:31-33: Moses acknowledges the grave sin the people have made against God but Moses asks God to forgive their sin or to blot out Moses from His book as well. The LORD responded by saying, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blog him out of My book.” So God definitely has a book that has in it the names of those who are not sinning against Him.

-          Another way that this concept is referenced in the Bible is to mention those who are found among the living. In Isaiah 4:3 we read, “And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy – everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.” If we read the verse before (Isaiah 4:2) we see that “the Branch of the LORD” is in view. This is reference to when the Messiah comes and rules on this earth. If you read Is 4:3 with your eyes toward the New Testament you might notice the similarity in a phrase here to what is considered one of the most clear ‘rapture’ passages (also referenced earlier in conjunction with this Holy Day). We have to remember that Paul was schooled in the Old Testament. In order to learn from the teacher he was learning under he would’ve had to memorize the entire Old Testament. So, when he says in 1 Thes 4:17, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together…” we should be able to see that he was referencing what is written in Isaiah when it says, “he who is left in Zion and remains…”.

-          In Psalm 69:28 we read, “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living.” It should be noted not only that this is a reference to the Book of Life, but that this is something that you can be blotted out of. I’ll leave it to you to decide what this means but I will call back to something Paul wrote in Philippians 2:12 when he encouraged the Philippians to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

-          In Daniel 12:1 we read about the angel Michael, who is the restraining force keeping at bay the evil forces which would come against, standing up and ceasing his restraining (2 Thes 2:6-7). We read that though there will be trouble like there has never been, “Every one who is found written in the book” will be delivered.

There are more references but I think we’ve shown that this isn’t really a New Testament concept, but a concept which the New Testament is calling back to. Rosh HaShanah is the day we celebrate the coronation of our King and Judge and we know that He will judge us righteously based on what we’ve done to the least of those on this earth. In fact, one of the other names Rosh HaShanah is known by is Yom HaDin (the Day of Judgement) because it is on that day that it will be judged whether you should be inscribed on the Book of Life. As Christians we know that the Judge of the Earth is Jesus our Messiah (Matt 25:31-46).

Rosh HaShanah is a very ‘Christian’ festival and I would argue that it should be celebrated by every follow of Jesus. I did my best to keep it holy this year and hopefully, if you didn’t, you’ll consider it next year. It really is all about our Messiah and King!

Next time we’ll be looking at what is considered the most holy day of the year, Yom Kippur. Hopefully I’ll have that one out before the actual day so you’ll have some information before we enter into that day. Remember, over the coming week to reflect each day on what sin might be in your life, and look for ways to turn away from that sin. These are part of the Days of Awe (we’ll go over that next time…) 😉

Shalom! And, blessings to all!

Posted below is a great teaching on all of this that I had referenced earlier: