What does it mean to be “in Christ,” and what does it mean to have “Christ in you”? We go into the Creator’s presence by way of the Messiah. The Creator’s presence goes into us by way of the Messiah.
Among the biblical symbols of Sukkot (festival of Tabernacles, or Booths) is the tent, the temporary dwelling. It reminds us of who we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going. The sukkah is also a visual representation of how to have “Messiah in us” and to be “in Messiah” at the same time.
In the final chapter of Deuteronomy, God tells Moses (and Moses tells the children of Israel) that he’s going to die and that shortly thereafter, everything Moses has worked for the last 40 years to accomplish will go right into the rubbish bin. On the surface, it is the most depressing message ever.
It’s quite fitting that the Shabbat when Torah reading וַיֵּלֶךְ Vayelech (“he went,” Deuteronomy 31) often falls on is the “Shabbat of Teshuvah” (Sabbath of Repentance). It’s planted between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, because it’s a calling back, a call to turn around and return to God. It’s also part of the Day of Awe, a calling to be in awe of who our God is. We should be in awe and remember our place in comparison with the God of the universe.
Where is the turnaround? Realizing you’re on the wrong path and owning your sin is merely step 1. You have to get up — and move. Even if your life is going off the rails, there’s a way back. That is what the Days of Awe are about.
Choosing life over death seems like an easy choice, but it can be hard for some people. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak (Matt. 26:41; Mark 14:38).
In Moses’ third address to the second generation of Israel post-Egypt, recorded in Torah reading נִצָּבִים Nitzavim (“standing,” Deut. 29:9–30:20), he tells them (and us) they have a choice between life and death. He implores us to choose life.
We are also told that the Torah isn’t difficult, if it’s in your heart and in your mouth. Men make it difficult, but God doesn’t.
Why does God judge the leadership and “shepherds” of Israel more strictly than the followers, the “sheep.”
Torah reading ואתחנן Va’etchanan (“and I pleaded,” Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11), we discover why community leaders — at any level, from the nation to the assembly of believers — bear a huge responsibility when they get it wrong. The errors of leadership can cause great harm to the community and split it apart, even more so if their pride precludes them from gathering back into the fold those sheep they have scattered.
Death is out of place in the order God created. The biblical offering of the red heifer and the purification water made from its ashes are poured into were designed by God to be a physical cleanser and a spiritual cleanser. In the Torah reading חֻקַּת Chukat (Numbers 19-21), instructions are given for its use to remove any physical remnants of death that clings to a person who helped take care of the final rest for the dead, but it was also a spiritual cleanser used to clear away the spiritual stench of death.
Death cannot inhabit the realm of life. Even thought death is all around us, we don’t have to wallow in it. God gives us a message of life in a culture of death. A life that the Creator is looking to restore. That is the consistent message from Genesis to Revelation.
Go where the Creator sends us. That’s a lesson from the Torah reading שְׁלַח Shelakh (“send,” Numbers 13–15). Our faith forefathers in Yisrael had to learn trust after the LORD freed them from Mitsraim (Egypt) then told them to conquer seemingly unvanquishable foes in the Promised Land.
And that’s the kind of faith Yeshua the Mashiakh’s sent ones (apostles or shelakhim) had to learn during His earthly ministry and after He returned to Heaven.
The annual celebration of שבועות Shavuot, aka Πεντηκοστή Pentecost, is connected historically and lessonwise 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 from its linkage to the giving of the Ten Commandments at Sinai (Exodus 19-20) and to the widespread outpouring of the Spirit (Acts 2) deeper roots in the lessons of salvation in Pesakh and sanctification in Matzot.
The message of freedom from the past, contentment in the present and strength for the future is not just for the whole world, and not just Israel. Learn how Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) is the thread Heaven has woven through all these reminders.