Category: Appointments With God

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Appointments With God Atonement

Yom Kippur: Messiah reveals righteousness above the Torah

Yom Kippur: Messiah reveals righteousness above the Torah

Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is unique among the appointed times of the LORD. It’s the only holy day in which the people do very little, while one man, the high priest, does everything. Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus), our high priest, sacrificed Himself for us and carried our sins away too, as the symbols of Yom Kippur memorialize. All the people are asked to do is humble themselves, do no work and bring an offering to the Tabernacle/Temple.

Without a Temple, what can we bring to God? It’s not about following the Torah to the letter with a physically perfect abstinence from food and water, but as Yeshua taught us, it’s about caring for those around us as we want them to care for us.  The Torah is a covenant of life, not of death.

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Appointments With God Trumpets

Who fears God’s voice? Meaning of trumpets in Revelation, Torah and Prophets

3 angels with trumpets

“Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:38 NASB). The Day of Blowing Trumpets (Yom Teruah, aka Rosh haShanah) is an appointed time that comes every year, but it’s also a prophecy of a future appointed event. Are you ready? These 10 Days of Awe between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) were given to us as a reminder to prepare our hearts to welcome God’s voice and the coming of God’s Anointed, Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ), rather than run from them in fear of judgment.

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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 Jubilee Prophets and Writings Sabbatical Year Torah

Leviticus 25-26: God’s freedom-based economy

The reading בְּהַר Behar (“on mount” [Sinai], Leviticus 25:1-26:2) is the shortest parashah (portion) of the entire Torah cycle, but it gets to the heart of a recurring problem as God has been working to call back mankind from wandering away from the only Source of life. Just as land needs rest from cultivation to produce bounty, how much more do people need to be freed from the burdens weighing on their hearts and minds.

Here’s what true freedom looks like: Yeshua (Jesus) preached it, died in it, rose in it and intercedes for us to make us continue in mercy and grace.

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Apostolic Writings Atonement Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Leviticus 16: Acknowledge the shame, then let Messiah remove it

Life is a terminal condition. The only hope to live forever is to avoid rebellion against the Source of all life, to repent when we do rebel against the God of Israel and to put oneself in the hands of the LORD’s Messiah always. The Torah reading אחרי מות Acharei Mot (“after the death,” Leviticus 16–18) centers on Yom haKippurim, (“Day of Coverings,” or Day of Atonement). We learn from Isaiah 53 and Hebrews 10 that we can’t accept the offering of Yeshua (Jesus) for our sins, transgressions and iniquities and for our salvation without acknowledging that we had a hand in the death of the Christ.

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Appointments With God Passover Unleavened Bread

‘Forgive us our debts’: Lord’s Prayer a window into Passover freedom

What does “the Lord’s prayer” have to do with Moshe’s (Moses) asking God to show him “Your glory”? You might be surprised. And what does Pesakh (Passover) have to do with tithing, remission of debts every seven and 50 years, and pilgrimages to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) for Pesakh, Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Tabernacles)? Here’s the thread through all of these and topics: We are to remember from Whom our sustenance and wealth come and from Whom our freedom comes from the things that hold us captive.

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Discussions Prophets and Writings Purim Torah

Burnt offering, Purim and Passover: Keep the coal of your heart’s fire burning long for the Kingdom of God

No, this isn’t a case of duct-taping Bible passages together into a hodge-podge teaching. There is an important link between instructions to priests about keeping the Tabernacle altar fire burning, the command to destroy the memory of back-stabbing Amalek, the reluctance of later generations to carry that out fit, Queen Esther’s bold intervention for the Yehudim (Jews), the memory of deliverance from slavery at Peskah (Passover) and the freedom brought by Yeshua the Mashiakh (Jesus the Christ). Strap in your brain for a wild ride.