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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Renewing our taste: Messiah transforms our desires to crave God above all else (Leviticus 11; Genesis 2–3; Acts 10)

The distinction between “clean” and “unclean” animals in Leviticus 11 and Acts 10 echoes the choice between the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad/Evil in Genesis 2–3. By eating from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve sought to determine good and bad for themselves, instead of trusting in God’s provision and boundaries.

In this study of Torah reading שְׁמִינִי Shemini (“eighth,” Leviticus 9–11), we’ll see that learning the underlying lesson of distinguishing clean from unclean teaches the commonwealth of Israel to accept God’s designations rather than relying on their own understanding. Those who “eat” what God deems “unclean” place themselves outside of His blessing and life, just as Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden. But by obeying God’s instructions on diet and ritual purity, Israel can enjoy communion with the holy God and partake continually of His life-giving presence, prefigured by the Tree of Life.

Peter’s vision in Acts 10 teaches this fundamental lesson of how “cleaned” believers in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) are elevated/separated from the “unclean” way of the world.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Heaven needs you in the ‘big tent’ plan to transform the world (Numbers 4–6; Acts 21–22)

While sponsoring four who were finishing their Nazarite vow (Num. 6:1–21, Messiah Yeshua’s shaliach (apostle) Paul connected the importance of the Torah as the guidebook for believers with his mission to take the good news of the focus of that guidebook (Messiah) to the nations who would hear it (Acts 21:15–22:24). The lessons of the Nazarite vow are key to Paul’s lesson.

Two key lessons from the Torah reading נָשֹׂא Nasso (“take up” or “carry,” Num. 4:21–7:89) are that the Holy One of Israel has always been concerned about lifting up the powerless (emphasized in the supernatural burden of proof for a jealous husband) and preparing the people of the world to enter Heaven’s “big tent” plan to accommodate many in the people of God.

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Appointments With God Pentecost/Shavuot

Pentecost: When we’re finally sick of it, Heaven’s Bondage-Breaker leads us home (Exodus 19–20; Acts 1–2)

Shavuot, aka Pentecost, is connected historically and ceremonially to the annual memorials of Pesakh (Passover) and Matzot (Unleavened Bread) by the 50 days in between. 

God’s instructions for Shavuot are connected to a harvest, but we can glean deeper meaning from its thematic linkage to Pesakh, to the giving of the Ten Commandments at Sinai and to the widespread outpouring of the Spirit on the 120 believers of Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ):
* Pesakh: Be freed from bondage. (Justification)
* Matzot: Be purged of the mindset from the former life. (Sanctification)
* Shavuot: Learn what it means to be be adopted into the family of the Bondage-Breaker, live it out and offer the invitation to others. (Sanctification)

The message of freedom from the past, contentment in the present and strength for the future is for the whole world — not just Israel.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Questions

Does Peter’s vision in Acts 10 show that God is done with the dietary laws of Leviticus?

God gave apostle Peter a startling vision in of unclean animals lowered to him on a sheet for him to “kill and eat.” The common interpretation of this elaborate and repetitive vision is it’s now permissible for believers in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Mashiakh (Christ) to eat meats like pork that were not on the Leviticus menu.

Another interpretation is there was a much greater lesson for Peter: God has always wanted a the family of Heaven to include both Jews and Gentiles. We’ll explore both views in this study.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Become clean and holy from the inside out (Leviticus 9-11; Mark 7; Acts 10)

The people of Yisrael had a long history of forgetting what made them Holy. It was God who made them holy. They didn’t make themselves holy. They also lost sight of the fact that being declared tame or unclean doesn’t make one sinful or wicked either.

Yeshua’s frequently argued with the Pharisees over their emphasis on their man-made traditions over the plain word of scripture and how their man-made traditions were doing more to keep people away from God than brining them into God’s embrace.
Even after Yeshua’s death and resurrection, these false ideas about the inherent holiness of the Jewish people and the inherent wickedness of the Gentiles was hindering God’s goal to lift up, bring near, make clean, declare holy believers from the nations in the same way Heaven does for the “native-born.”

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Discussions Torah

Deuteronomy 9-10: Israel must remember her rebellious acts before ridding the Land of its rebellious peoples

God required Israel to fear Him, walk with Him, love Him and serve Him with all their hearts and souls. Notice we have to fear Him first, then walk in His ways, then we love Him and serve Him and others. Many Christians teach that the first thing we need to do to respond to God is to love Him, but that is not what God tells us. Our first response to Him should be fear. Loving God comes later, after we have cultivated an appropriate fear of God and have learned to walk in the ways He calls us to walk.