The Psalms 11: Faith in the LORD's Righteousness

Today we have a relatively short Psalm to go over. You probably noticed this because it only took me a couple days to get this one posted… But, while this particular Psalm may be short, it’s huge in the scope of what we’re dealing with. Righteousness if everything to God. I don’t even think that that’s hyperbole. Let’s get into it!

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 In the LORD I put my trust; How can you say to my soul, "Flee as a bird to your mountain"? 2 For look! The wicked bend their bow, They make ready their arrow on the string, That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart.

There’s no point in running away from ourselves. Sometimes it seems like the easiest choice. Just give up your convictions and don’t stand up to the injustices going on around you. I know what it feels like. We all know how it feels that first time you stand firm in your convictions and you get kicked right in the teeth. It makes you question taking that stand again. Wouldn’t it be easier to just put my head down? But then, eventually, you’re one of the ones causing the injustice. At least I’ve seen that in my own life. The minute you let yourself worry about the hardships that may ensue, that’s the minute that you become someone different.

3 If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?

All that stuff that I said just a minute ago, this is why. Your convictions are your foundation. When you let your foundation get swept away, it’s only a foregone conclusion that the rest of the house will also get swept away without a foundation. And the truth is, righteousness can only come from your foundation. And even then, only if your foundation is laid firmly in the Father.

4 The LORD is in His holy temple, The LORD's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.

When we read this there’s the tendency to see the word temple and think about this big building that we’ve seen in paintings. We think about it like it’s cold and detached from our world, and all of that’s true, but it’s also not. The temple is God’s home. To think about it as cold and detached is like thinking about your own home as cold and detached. So when we think of the LORD being in His holy temple, we have to think about Him sitting in His house. I know this may seem like a small thing to mention but I think that it’s important to keep the temple in its proper context.

5 The LORD tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. 6 Upon the wicked He will rain coals; Fire and brimstone and a burning wind Shall be the portion of their cup.

There’s something here that we may not see at first. It may even seem counterintuitive, but a straightforward reading of this verse makes it seem like the righteous are the ones who go through the refiner’s fire of tribulation. He hates the wicked, but He tests the righteous. When you read this and you see that the two are set in opposition to one another, you can’t help but think that this means that it’s one or the other. Now, I’m not saying this is how it always happens, but there seems to be a reason to believe that the wicked have it easy sometimes because God has given up trying to make them better. Conversely, much like we read about in 2 Cor 1:3-7 and 2 Pet 4:12-19, so long as we’re created anew in Messiah, we should expect trials to test our resolve, and to mold us more closely into the works of art which the Father has in mind for us.

And then, in the end, fire and brimstone will be the reward of the wicked. We shouldn’t confuse trial and tribulation with fire and brimstone, either. Sodom and Gomorrah got fire and brimstone, but not until God was going to wipe them off the face of the earth. The fire and brimstone came, not to mold the people of the cities but to end them. Trial and tribulation are a creative process which the Father uses to make us better, to make us more like Him. Fire and brimstone are the opposite. Fire and brimstone is all about destruction.

7 For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright.

This is the beginning and end, right here. The LORD is righteous. He loves righteousness. But, what is righteousness? When you look it up in the dictionary you’ll probably see something like, “the quality of being morally right or justifiable.” If you look up the Biblical definition of righteousness you’ll get this from Strong’s (H6666), “From H6663; rightness (abstractly), subjectively (rectitude), objectively (justice), morally (virtue) or figuratively (prosperity): - justice, moderately, right (-eous) (act, -ly, -ness).” This all comes from the Hebrew word Tsedeqah (צדקה). But these are all words on the page what does ‘righteousness’ actually mean?

Righteousness and justice are the very foundation of the Throne of God (Ps 89:14). If we look back to verse 3 of this psalm we are asked what will happen if the foundations are destroyed, and what the righteous will do. Well, without the foundation of righteousness, the righteous will be able to do nothing because there will be no righteousness. Righteousness, indeed, is our very calling! If we think back to the instructions which God gave the Israelites, there’s really nobody out there who would say that God didn’t want them to offer up sacrifices, but when you read Proverbs 21:3 we see that God views doing righteousness and justice as more acceptable than sacrifice.

The truth is that obedience to God is so much more important than most of us make it. Too often, we view our faith as a badge that we pin on top of our clothes but the truth is that our faith should be the clothes that we put on. And deeper than that, our faith should be how we walk while wearing those clothes and that badge. Do you have Biblical swagger? Would anyone know you’ve given your allegiance to the King of the Universe by the way you walk? Or do they need to look at the badge you’ve pinned to your chest? 

The Psalms 10: Why Do You Hide Yourself?

It’s probably good to mention that Psalm 10 is really a carryover of Psalm 9. Not only is the theme of very much related, but Psalms 9 and 10 are an acrostic of the alphabet in the Hebrew. This allows us to connect to the two psalms and take a greater understanding from the two, as we have more to go on.

1 Why do You stand afar off, O LORD? Why do You hide in times of trouble? 2 The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.

This psalm starts much like the 9^th Psalm ended. There is an expectation of judgement.

3 For the wicked boasts of his heart's desire; He blesses the greedy and renounces the LORD.

I highlighted the word ‘renounces’ here for a reason. When we see David talking about his enemies we often think of the Philistines, or some other army from another kingdom, but in order to renounce Yahweh you have to first know Him. The wicked that we’re talking about here are people who have been followers of the LORD but have turned away and renounced Him.

To try to relate this to our day and age, and to our salvation through our King Jesus, John 5:23 tells us the following, “that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” When someone renounces the Son they are also renouncing the Father. In Matthew 21:33-46 Jesus tells us relates to us that the vinedressers who kill the son of the owner they will be judged in the same way as if they had done the act to the owner. To some who read this it may seem detached from their way of life (and that is wonderful and I pray that you continue your fervor in your walk with Jesus) but there are many out there right now who are rejecting Yeshua was Messiah. They have let their thirst for knowledge become an idol. And it’s an idol which has no breath inside of it. We need to understand that, according to this verse, they are now regarded as “the wicked” according to God. I don’t want to belabor this point but I also feel that it’s important that this should be pointed out.

4 The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.

Even though they may feel that they’re doing God’s will, the true God of this world is not actually in their thoughts.

5 His ways are always prospering; Your judgments are far above, out of his sight; As for all his enemies, he sneers at them. 6 He has said in his heart, "I shall not be moved; I shall never be in adversity."

When we stand firm in our ‘knowledge’ and not let the Spirit move and speak into a situation, we may be prospering according to the world but we are not advancing the Kingdom of God.

7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression; Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity. 8 He sits in the lurking places of the villages; In the secret places he murders the innocent; His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless.

I mean, let’s be real, does anyone really want to be this guy? He’s starting to sound like a troll that hides under a bridge.

9 He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den; He lies in wait to catch the poor; He catches the poor when he draws him into his net. 10 So he crouches, he lies low, That the helpless may fall by his strength. 11 He has said in his heart, "God has forgotten; He hides His face; He will never see."

Never place yourself in the position, knowingly or unknowingly, that you’re trying to sneak a pitch passed God. At first it doesn’t seem like this is something we would ever do, but I can admit to this. I don’t mean to do it but anytime you do something you know is wrong because you don’t think that anyone is around to see it, you’re trying to sneak a pitch passed God. The only problem is that this isn’t baseball and the rules of that game don’t apply. Thankfully God gives us more than three strikes, but that doesn’t mean we should take advantage of them (Romans 6:1-2).

12 Arise, O LORD! O God, lift up Your hand! Do not forget the humble. 13 Why do the wicked renounce God? He has said in his heart, "You will not require an account." 14 But You have seen, for You observe trouble and grief, To repay it by Your hand. The helpless commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.

We see in the apostolic writings of the first century that Jesus was found will the lowly. Read these last few verses and you may get a better understanding of why.

15 Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man; Seek out his wickedness until You find none.

There will come a time where all wickedness will be erased from the world. In the coming Kingdom, and whatever comes after it, we will eventually come to a place where wickedness is erased. But what can we do about it? There’s a fine line to walk here but our job as ambassadors of the King is to bring the Kingdom to the world. Now, I don’t believe that it’s our job to take dominion of positions of power and root out wickedness in the world. At least not as an official stance. We can do our best to walk out our lives as Jesus would. We can do our best to imitate the way our Messiah would act. If we do this, we can change the world!

16 The LORD is King forever and ever; The nations have perished out of His land. 17 LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear,

And this is one of the key factors that we miss in living out our Christian walk. Because we live in the now, and not in a monarchy, we have no real understanding of what it means to have a King. Our King is the one who grants us everything. A lot of Christians ‘believe’ that God is why we have everything, but I would argue that we very rarely understand what that actually means. Especially in the western world, because of our ‘freedom’, we see everything that’s ours as our possession. In a monarchy, the land you live on is the king’s and he’s granting you the ability to live there. My first reaction to that statement, as a good American, is to think that it’s my right to own my own land and anyone who tries to take that away from me is obviously my enemy. But God says that He wants to be our King, and we’ve accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

18 To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more.

And this is our calling that follows through all the way up until today. In James 1:27 we read, “A religion that is pure and stainless according to God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows who are suffering, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” We are here to be God’s representatives to the world, and if we’re busy letting the Kingdom shine out into the world through us, these are the things that we’ll be a part of. 

Finally, I want to say that even when it feels like the Father is hiding himself from us, he’s still there. It may seem like He’s taken a backseat, but He still sees everything that’s going on and He still has your back. In Isaiah 42:16 we read, “I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, And crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, And not forsake them.” I think that it’s not only important that we take away that God will not forsake us. It’s also important that we see that God will take us down ways that we don’t know in order to get us where we need to be. That’s why we get uncomfortable. We’re always uncomfortable doing things we’re not familiar with, but that doesn’t mean that God’s not right there with us. Just move forward with allegiance to our King and He will make those crooked places straight.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed our walk through the past couple psalms. Post any questions in the comments.

I hope everyone is having a great day!

Shalom!

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 Psalms 7: In You Do I Take Refuge

Last time I posted in this series on the psalms I made the unfortunate statement that I was posting at least once per week. Well, I’m almost a week overdue on this one if this is the case so why don’t we all just forget about that little misstep.

We’ve made it all the way up to the seventh psalm so there’s only 143 to go (you know, if you’re only counting Psalm 119 as one psalm…). This one is a little longer than the first few, coming in at 17 verses long, so I’m

A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.
1 O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, 2 lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.

I guess I should probably, first give a definition of the word ‘Shiggaion’. In some translations this word is translated as ‘meditation’. The concensus seems to be that the word means ‘wandering’. So it’s kind of like a meandering, leisurely walk through the woods. David’s gonna just go wherever his thoughts take him and he’s gonna be just fine with that.

You have to wonder if this is meant to symbolize how he managed to elude the pursuits of King Saul for so long; he wandered through the wilderness, listening to the nudging of the Holy Spirit. Going where the Spirit told him and finding safety in the shiggaion of the Spirit. The first even speaks to his reliance on Yahweh for his deliverance from those who pursue him.

3 O LORD my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, 4 if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, 5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah

How much better would our lives be if we everyone would live their life like this? Or, how much better would my life be if I chose to be this honest with my unrighteousness? Am I willing to let my life hang on every action that I take? No way! But I want to be!

6 Arise, O LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. 7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high. 8 The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.

OK, I need to take a minute and point out how crazy this sounds to me. I mean, I try to always walk out my life in a way which would be pleasing to the Father. I try to do my best to follow in the footsteps my Messiah has taken. But the key part of that last sentence is “try to do my best.” While I’d like to be able to say that I do my best, there are so many times that I slip up. There are so many times that my focus turns back onto myself. There are so many times that my eyes turn away from Jesus and back onto myself. And here we have David pleading with the God of the universe – the very definition of righteousness – to judge him according to his own righteousness. I am way too aware of my filthy unrighteousness to ever make a statement like this. I thank God every day for the grace I have been shown through Jesus that I might be considered justified, even though my steps turn to the side more often than they should. Actually, that’s a lie; I don’t thank God every day for the grace I’ve been shown, even though I should. That’s kind of what I’m talking about. My intent is to be righteous, but I know that I’m not. And David would’ve known the same thing, yet he still wanted to be judged according to his righteousness. And that is probably why David was a man after God’s own heart. And I pray that the Father leads me further down the path that leads to this heart.

It should also be noted that David was willing to subject himself to the same judgement as the judgement he was asking of the LORD for his enemies. How much would we seek retribution if we were willing to be judged by the same righteous standard?

9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous-- you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God!

There is so much righteousness on the mind of David. How much do we think of what it means to be righteous and how ardently do we strive after that righteousness?

10 My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.

Hidden in this is that in order for God to be your shield, you have to be upright in heart. Again David is calling upon God to save him because he’s sure of his uprightness. I don’t know how many times I can express how crazy I think this is. I hope to someday be able to be so sure of myself!

11 God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.

Take this in for a second. Because God is so righteous he sees our righteousness as indignation. We claim to be the Temple of the Holy Spirit but we have such a whimsical view of unrighteousness. We need to question why we don’t detest sin like God does.

12 If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; 13 he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts.

Even in the face of words like these, we’re still complacent with our view on sin. I’m speaking to myself more than anyone else. Speaking candidly, I sometimes feel like I deserve the grace I’m given; like I’ve earned it for having acted in a way that He would appreciate, most of the time. But the truth is that even our righteousness is like filthy rags compared to Yahweh’s righteousness (Is 64:6). And if even my righteousness is filthy rags before Him, why should I think that I deserve God’s grace?

14 Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. 15 He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. 16 His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.

This is the reward of the wicked, that the malice you dole out will be given back to you in the end. In verse 15 there’s imagery of the wicked digging a pit that he himself has dug out. I can’t help but think of the pit that Joseph was thrown into by his brothers. Now, that’s where the similarity ends. Joseph had nothing to do with digging out that pit, but I think of him being thrown in that pit and everything that occurred to him afterward. If all of that is what awaits the wicked, does any of us really want to deal with the pit, let alone the being the servant, or being the prisoner?

17 I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.

Through all of this; through David hanging his future on his own righteousness (which I’m not prepared to do for my own righteousness) and through his being falsely accused by the wicked and unrighteous who are pursuing him, he still holds the righteousness of the LORD as the reason He should be praised.

My prayer is that the Father will give me this attitude. I wholeheartedly want to see the world this way. None of my good deeds are worth the grace and love that I’m given, but that doesn’t mean that I’ll stop doing them. We do these works because we’re not deserving of the grace and love we’re given. We do these good deeds because the Father first loved us. And what better way to show your love for someone than by doing the things they like.

I hope that this has been a blessing to you. We’ll be back again with our next look at the Psalms real soon.

Have a blessed day and Shalom!

The Forgotten Feasts: Yom Kippur Part 2: Shmitahs and Jubilees

Speaking of atonement and deliverance from the bondage of sin and death, Yom Kippur is also the day that Shmitah and Jubilee years are initiated. This has actually been one of my favorite topics as of late so I’m not really sure how long it’s gonna take to get to the other side.

There are two corporate things which are announced on Yom Kippur: Shmitahs and Jubilees. Shmitahs have kind of been in the Christian vernacular as of late because of Jonathan Cahn’s book The Harbinger which proposed that God was judging America in Shmitah cycles. Over that last few years that was then tied in with Blood Moon Tetrads and people started predicting the end of the world.

Let’s look at the verses that go into the details of the Sabbath year, Shmitah…

"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD. For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food. (Lev 25:2-7 ESV)

God instituted a workweek for us (Days 1-6) and then we are to rest on the seventh day, and focus on Him. Likewise, God also instituted a workweek for the land. While the Israelites were in the land they were to only farm the land for six years at a time and then they were supposed to let the land have its rest in the seventh year. Actually, the fact that they didn’t do this is the reason that’s given for them being kicked out of the land and sent to Babylon (2 Chr 36:21). And if you really want to do the math on how long they hadn’t been keeping the land’s Sabbath then you’ll see that it goes the whole way back to the time of David, the man after God’s own heart. It’s possible that once they had an earthly king (because they no longer wanted to be ruled by only their heavenly King) they never actually gave the land its Sabbath rest. I’m still looking into all the dates but it’s pretty harrowing to see how quickly we can go astray, even if this was after the time of King David.

This is an ordinance which God gave the Israelites when they were crossing over the Jordan and coming into the land. It would seem to me that any attempt to dictate that this is a law to anyone outside of the Promised Land of Israel is going outside of the words written in the Bible. That doesn’t mean that people should be opposed to stepping out in faith and keeping the Sabbath for their land, if they feel that God is leading them to do that. Especially since giving a sabbath rest to the land has been proven to make good, sound agricultural sense. But, I don’t think you can make prove that this is something that should be done no matter where you live.

There’s another level to the Shmitah that we should look at as well. And that’s that this is a time that all captives go free. This is a time of release and reset. In Deuteronomy 15 we are told the following:

"At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the LORD's release has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. But there will be no poor among you; for the LORD will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess-- if only you will strictly obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. For the LORD your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you. (Deu 15:1-6 ESV)

Can you imagine how revolutionary it would be if we actually started living like this? Is anyone really prepared to personally release all of the debt that anyone owes us every seven years? Our entire societal structure is, seemingly, made up on the building blocks of never ending debt. And it should also be noted that this was supposed to be carried out without predatory lending practices like giving a higher interest rate as you get closer to the Sabbath year. Loans should be done at the same rate no matter if you were in year one or in year six. Actually, you weren’t even supposed to charge interest to other members of the Commonwealth of Israel (Deut 23:19). Are we honest enough to admit that this seems outrageous to us in today’s culture?

When we look at the Jubiliee year, it’s an even more extreme version of the Shmitah year. It’s a celebration of even greater liberty and deliverance than the normal seven year cycle provides. I guess I’ll first provide the Scriptural reference spelling out what a Jubilee year is:

"You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field. "In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property. (Lev 25:8-13 ESV)

It's fairly evident that this time is all about liberty and deliverance, but should that be surprising? We have to remember that the Israelites were given these Holy Days after just having been delivered and given their liberty from Egypt. The concept of liberty from oppression is foundational to the very core of the nation of Israel. If we keep this in mind when we’re looking at the Shmitah and the Jubilee years then you see that these are not only remembrances of the deliverance which they were given, but they are also celebrations which allow the people who were once delivered to take part in the deliverance. If God is righteous (and He is), and we are supposed seek after His righteousness (and we are), then this is an opportunity which the Father has given his people to practice a part of His righteousness.

But there’s more…

Moses was the instrument God used to deliver His people out of bondage to Egypt, and he’s remembered as such. But the Israelites were told of another prophet who would come who would be like Moses (Deut 18:15), and in Acts 3:22-23 we are told (not that we needed too much arm-twisting) that this prophet was Jesus.

A prophet like Moses. What could that mean?

Throughout Scripture there are many prophets but one of the things which sets Moses apart is that not only did he speak for God, but he also brought deliverance for the entire nation (plus some)! So this prophet like Moses (who we’ve already established to be Jesus) would not only be known for speaking the very Word of God, but He would also be the instrument which would bring the people out of bondage and slavery. In John 8:34 Jesus shows his hand when he says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” Paul doubles down in Romans 6 when he wrote, “you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”

It would appear that the deliverance that this prophet like unto Moses was going to provide was going to be something even greater than the deliverance which came at the time of Moses. In the book of Jeremiah (16:14-15) it is prophesied that there will be an exodus that will be so great that the exodus of Moses’ time would be overshadowed. In the time of Moses the Israelites were delivered out of the land of Egypt but in the time of the prophet who was to come after Moses the people would be delivered out of all lands. And if the locality from which the people came was to be greater, is it out of the question that the type of deliverance would be greater? At the time of Moses, the people were saved out of physical bondage to Egypt but at the time of Jesus the people were saved out of spiritual bondage to sin and death.

To drive the point home I’d like to look at one of the key Jubilee prophecies in the Old Testament. Isaiah 61 was long considered to be a prophecy of the Messiah bringing a restoration of the Kingdom of God to the people of Israel. Let’s look at the first couple verses of this chapter:

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,”

The first thing we should look at is the part where it says, “to proclaim liberty to the captives”. If we go back to where we were first told about the Jubilee year in Leviticus we see that one of the main functions of the Jubilee was to “proclaim liberty throughout the land to all of its inhabitants.” The same words for “proclaim liberty” are used in both instances. You may have already recognized that Jesus, in His first public act recorded in the Gospels, stood in front of the synagogue and read this very passage (minus the very end of the second verse…).

There’s a second thing to look at in that first verse of Isaiah 61. You know that part where it says, “the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor”? What word do you think was translated in order to get the words “good tidings”? Well, the Hebrew word is bâśar (בּשׂר), but that may not ring that many bells. So what word is used in the New Testament when Jesus quotes this passage from Isaiah? The word is euaggelizō (εὐαγγελίζω) which is used many times in the New Testament. And what is it translated as? You’re probably ahead of me on this one but it’s English translation is “gospel”. So we see in this Jubilee Scripture in Isaiah that Messiah was going to be coming to preach the gospel. In modern Christianity we sometimes get this idea that the gospel was something that was never mentioned before Jesus died on the cross, but the fact that He was going to preach the gospel was prophesied seven-hundred years before He was born into this world.

I want to close this post with a piece of Scripture which I believe is extremely relevant to this new exodus that Messiah has led us through.

And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. (Luk 9:30-31 NKJV)

At first glance, this verse doesn’t necessarily look like it has much to do with this predicted new exodus. But what if we look a little deeper at the Greek word for “decease”. The word used is the Greek word “̓́ξοδος”. It may be a little bit difficult to decipher from the Greek characters but the transliteration is “exodos”. You can probably figure out that word! That word is only used two other times in the Bible. In 2 Peter 2:15 it is used in reference to the death of Peter. In Hebrews 11:12 it is used for the in reference to the exodus of the children of Israel leaving Egypt. So, in light of the prophetic expectation of the Messiah leading the Commonwealth of Israel out of their bondage to sin and death, do you think that it’s possible that Jesus, Moses, and Elijah were talking about this new exodus? And how important do you think this new exodus was that Moses and Elijah showed up to talk to Jesus about it?

In summation, I didn’t really even go over that much pertaining to the Shmitahs and Jubilees, and I didn’t really do justice to the parts that I did go over. In fact, now’s a good time to say that I probably got some stuff wrong. I’ve tried my best to present only the truth, but no one should view me as infallible. Search out the Scriptures and do research. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much you’ll enjoy what you find, regardless of whether I made a mistake or not…

Until next time…

Blessings and Shalom!