Author: Jeff

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Discussions Torah

So you say you want a revolution? Better watch where it’s headed (Numbers 19:1–25:9)

It’s apt that the double Torah reading חֻקַּת‎ Chukat and בָּלָק Balak (Numbers 19:1–25:9) this year includes Shabbat on July 4, when we here in the United States celebrate the Declaration of Independence and what it states about the intent for where this nation was going to go.

Ancient Israel was at a spiritual and literal crossroads. Would it embrace its destiny as the people beyond number (Genesis 15 and 22) and as a nation of priests (Exodus 19), taking the nations closer to the Creator?

Similarly, we in the U.S. can ask ourselves if we’re going to follow the God-led legacy of freedom started at Plymouth in 1620 or the greed-led legacy of bondage started in Jamestown in 1619? The Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights point to the Spirit-led legacy of Abraham through Sinai and Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) to Plymouth, rather than flesh-led legacy of Jamestown.

And we’ll see in this study that we can ask ourselves which kind of legacy are we pursuing in how we walk out our lives today and in the days to come.

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Discussions Torah

How we learn to walk by faith into God’s Promised Land (Numbers 13)

How to walk by faith into God's Promised Land (Numbers 13-15)
Torah reading Shelach: How we learn to walk by faith into God's Promised Land (Numbers 13-15)

Was the LORD setting up ancient Israel to fail by bringing the people to the border of the Promised Land, telling them to send in 12 spies then condemning that generation from being too scared of the opposition to go in? The Torah reading שְׁלַח Shelakh (“send,” Numbers 13–15) underscores the teaching of Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) that God’s salvation must be faith-based.

We’ll find out that what was true at the time of the Exodus is true for each of us today when we leave our “house of bondage” and go to God’s kingdom of “rest,” i.e., freedom.

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Discussions Torah

How should we respond to the LORD’s call: ‘Here I am, send me’ or ‘Send someone else’? (Numbers 4–7)

Why should we care about ancient instructions issued to the clans of Levi on how they were to function in a Tabernacle that no longer exists? A vow that can’t be completely fulfilled without the Temple? Judicial processes for jealous husbands that carry no legal weight today?

The Torah reading נָשֹׂא Naso (“carry, take” a census, Num. 4:21-7:89) teaches that part of the “wilderness” believer’s boot camp is to learn to be eager to step up for service.

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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 Torah

Yeshua took our sins away so we can enter God’s presence clean (Leviticus 16–20)

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement in the Bible, is a really good illustration of Heaven’s love for humanity. When we’re cleansed, we leave what it is we’re cleansed of behind. Just as ancient Israel was to leave Egypt and the practices of Egypt behind, we are to leave behind our old “chains” when Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) has cleansed us of behaviors that keep us in bondage.

Learn more through this study of the Bible passage Acharei Mot-Kedoshim (Leviticus 16-20) and its close connection to Hebrews 3-10.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

How to treat God, ourselves and others with respect (Leviticus 9–11; Mark 7)

The concept of ritual impurity is confusing to the gentile mindset. The Torah says that if one is “ritually impure” one can’t participate in the work of worship that happens in God’s house. It seems like God is punishing us for things that are beyond our control.

However, it is not a sin to be ritually impure, and God isn’t out to punish us for things outside our control. Everything God says in the Torah is there to teach us lessons about Himself — and about ourselves in the process.

In the Torah reading שמיני Shemini (“eighth,” Lev. 9:1–11:47), discover the things Heaven says make one fit and unfit to enter God’s Presence. Some of those things are out of our control living in a world under the curse since Eden, so Heaven has to transform us. Focus on what’s in our control.

Heaven is taking each of us and humanity on a journey to a new beginning: from bondage to rest.

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Discussions Torah

What the Tabernacle and high priest’s uniform teach us about Messiah (Exodus 27:2–30:10)

If you look at a map of where the tribes were settled in relation to the Tabernacle, you might ask “Where am I?” Where do you fit into the Kingdom of God?

In the Torah readings תצוה Tetzaveh (“you shall command,” Exodus 27:2–30:10) and תרומה Terumah (“heave offering,” Exodus 25:1–27:19), Moses frequently referred to the “pattern” that God showed him to recreate in the form of the Tabernacle. And Heaven brought this pattern to reality in Yeshua the Mashiakh (Jesus the Christ).