When we look in the Tanak to find examples of the Messiah, we ususally look to the “good” men in the TaNaK (Torah, Prophets and Writings), men such as Moses, David and Solomon. However, there is an “evil” son of King David whose final hours gives us clues about the life, death and resurrection of the Messiah. The clues of the final hours of Absalom were so important that the Apostles allude to them when teaching and writing about the Gospel to their communities.
Category: Appointments With God
The Temple, as envisioned by King Solomon was meant to be a “house of prayer for all nations.” Yeshua was upset at the fact that the priests of His time had lost sight of that mission to the point that they set up sales tables in the courtyard where the Gentiles were supposed to pray. However, the Bible tells us that even in the Messianic age, there will be a temple for God to dwell.
Yom Kippur, also called the Day of Covering or the Day of Atonement, has two meanings to the people of God. When God “reasons” with mankind, it is not a conversation of compromise and obfuscation. God judges the sin of each man, woman and child and no one has a defense against God’s judgement, except the defense provided by Yeshua.
We often reserve some very harsh judgment for our ancestors who left Egypt, presuming that if we were with them, we would have been smarter than them and not made their mistakes. However, this attitude shows our arrogance because we forget that it is God who has been gracious enough to us to give us His word so we would have the blessing of hindsight and insight at their expense. Rather than condemning our ancestors for their ignorance, we need to look at our own faults in the light of His word so that He can bless us with hindsight and insight to keep our own feet from stumbling.
From reading about the history and reliving the teachings through the annual appointed times, a.k.a. “feasts to the LORD” (Leviticus 23), we gain insight on the role of Messiah in the past and the future.
Most people think of Passover or Easter when contemplating Yeshua but the holy day most closely connected with resurrection is Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets. Listen and find out why.
In Exodus 31, we meet the two men (beside Moses) whose work and talent were used to make the Tabernacle which began as the “pattern shown on the Mountain” a living, functional reality. However, he gives them a reminder that they are still supposed to keep the Sabbath, no exceptions. They can’t break the sabbath, even for the sake of building the Tabernacle or they will be “cut off from their people.”
Following in Israel’s footsteps, we have arrived at Sinai. Pretend you are listening to the 10 Commandments for the first time. It’s a challenge to hear them anew. Find a new way to make them a part of your life—to bring yourself even closer to Yeshua than you have ever been before.