Tag: Exodus 20

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Torah readings

Torah reading Yitro (יתרו): Exodus 18:1–20:23

Studies in Torah

Scripture likens people truly loyal to the Creator of Heaven and Earth to a bride. And the presentation of the Ten Commandments at Sinai is compared to the signing of a ketubah (wedding contract).

It’s not by coincidence there are a number of parallels between the events at Sinai recorded in this week’s Torah reading — יִתְרוֹ Yitro (Jethro), covering Exodus 18:1–20:23 — and the Jewish wedding ceremony. Marriage is about transparency, devotion and loyalty, and that’s the testimony of the LORD in the Ten Words of Exodus 20.

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Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Discussions Passover Prophets and Writings Torah Unleavened Bread

Messiah is ‘faithful and righteous to forgive’ our leavened ‘malice and wickedness’

There’s ample reasons to stand in awe of Heaven’s love and mercy as we recall what when Heaven showed the Jail-keeper of humanity Who is boss that “Good Friday” and resurrection day two millennia ago. But we shouldn’t forget the enduring lessons about our salvation from the seven days of Unleavened Bread that surrounded ancient Israel’s deliverance in the Exodus and ours today.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

How Heaven leads families from bondage to freedom (Exodus 21; Romans 6; Mark 10)

How Heaven leads families from bondage to freedom (Exodus 21; Romans 6; Mark 10)

One of the key lessons from Torah portion מִּשְׁפָּטִים Mishpatim (Exodus 21–24) and from the Prophets and Gospels is that God and Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) doesn’t separate religious and civil laws. The reasons for that are encapsulated in the Greatest Commandment and the Golden Rule — and in the Torah laws that restricted and ultimately abolished slavery.

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Discussions Torah

New covenant = Sinai + Spirit (Exodus 18:1–20:22)

Mt. Sinai on the left and a dove in flight on the right with the text "New Covenant=Sinai+Spirit" over it

Rather than the Law and the Spirit of God being in opposition to each other and the latter usurping the former, as some teach, we will see in this study of the Torah passage Yitro (“Jethro,” Exodus 18:1–20:22) that we receive the “new birth” in Mashiakh Yeshua (Christ Jesus) via both Sinai and Spirit.

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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 Appointments With God Pentecost/Shavuot Torah

Spirit of God is essential for Torah observance

Torah + Spirit = life
The people of God need the Testimony, the Word made flesh and the Spirit to know the Father.

Shavuot (Pentecost) commemorates the testimony of God coming and the Spirit of God coming to give it power. Yeshua haMoshiakh (Jesus the Christ) is the “word made flesh” (John 1:14) and “exact representation of (God’s) nature” (Hebrews 1:3). We explore the Ten Commandments and the Pentecost after Yeshua’s resurrection to see why the Bible makes so many connections between them.

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Discussions Torah

Leviticus 19: This is what holiness looks like and how the Messiah gets us there

In the Torah reading קדושים Kedoshim (“holiness(es),” Leviticus 19–20), we find “the second greatest commandment”: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This section also includes a reiterating of the 10 commandments.  Holiness is not perfection. Holiness, per the Hebrew word קדש qadash (“to set aside”), means to separate, create a distinction from the world. Leviticus 16 […]