Tag: Gentiles

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Discussions Torah

How you can recognize the Antichrist (Numbers 22–24)

How to recognize the Antichrist (Numbers 22-24)

The prophet Bilam (Balaam), described in the Torah reading בָּלָק Balak (Numbers 22:2–25:9), was a gentile prophet from the ancient country of Aram. We see that even though Bilam was a Gentile, he was a prophet of God.

God did not only send prophets to Israel. God, in His mercy, sent prophets to all the nations of the world.

Unfortunately, we meet with Bilam, not in his early years when God first called him to prophetic office, when his heart was open to God. Instead, we are meeting Bilam at the point when his evil inclination has overtaken the good in him. We follow along with him as his greed, corruption and vanity lead him to his downfall, which was so complete, that his story is given to us a template of how the Antichrist will one day function in the world, deceiving, if possible, the elect.

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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)

Heaven needs you in the 'big tent' plan to transform the world (Numbers 4–6; Acts 21–22). Shown is a computer rendering of the ancient Tabernacle of Israel.

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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Discussions Torah

How the righteous can preserve a wayward nation (Genesis 18–22)

How the righteous can preserve a wayward nation (Genesis 18-22)

Does God judge the nations based on what they don’t know? The Torah reading וירא Vayera (“he appeared,” Genesis 18-22) illustrates through Abraham’s dealings with Sodom-Gomorrah and Philistia that Heaven judges the Gentiles by their conduct, specifically on how they take care of other people, aka the Golden Rule.

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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?

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, Vision of Cornelius the Centurion, 1664.

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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Discussions Torah

Leviticus 25–27: No freedom or redemption without the law

The freedom the world gives is fleeting but the freedom God gives is eternal. (Photo by Freeimages.com/ David Simmonds via Creative Commons License)

There is no freedom in a society without a baseline of laws that help people balance their rights and responsibilities to themselves and to their neighbor. There’s also no freedom in a place where people do not consider each other as brothers and sisters. At Mt. Sinai, God made all those who left Egypt kinsman under the law. At Pentecost, Yeshua made all those who believe in Him heirs of Abraham and the freedom and responsibility that comes with being sons and daughters of God.

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 22:1-25:9: God sent emissaries to the Gentiles too

Cartoon of Balaam and the King of Moab by Jack Foster of MrBibleHead.blogspot.com via Creative Commons License.

The prophet Bilam (Balaam) is not an isolated individual, an anomaly in Scripture. He was not the first or last emissary to the Gentiles. God did not leave them without guidance. Bilam is a foreshadowing of the ministry of Saul of Tarsus, aka the apostle Paul, whose experience on the road to Damascus echoes the account in the Torah reading בָּלָק Balak of Bilam’s experience with a “recalcitrant” she-donkey.

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Appointments With God Discussions Prophets and Writings Tabernacles

Sukkot and the Millennium ingathering

Etrog and lulav symbols of Sukkot
The etrog (citron) and the lulav (bundle of palm, myrtle and willow branches) represent the four species of plants God directed Israel to adorn the sukkah (booth) for the Festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles).

God will put a trial on the nations who do not come to the Great Ingathering, i.e., the Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles). God told Israel to bring in their laborers to Sukkot — even the “stranger,” or foreigner. So this among God’s appointments with mankind is not just for the House of Yehudah (Judah) or the House of Israel. God wants to “harvest” the peoples of the world into a new reality without sin and death.