Category: Apostolic Writings

These studies cover the writings by the closest shelakhim (apostles) of Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ). Commonly called the “New Testament,” this standard canon includes the four Gospels, the letters and the Apocalypse (Revelation).

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Where everyone knows the Name (Genesis 12)

Where everyone knows the Name: When your legacy depends on moving out on faith (Genesis 12)

In the Torah reading לֶךְ-לְךָ Lech Lecha (Genesis 12–17), we are introduced to Abram (later renamed Abraham) when he is called to leave his hometown to for a new land.

God calls us into community, not only with Him but with His people. This is why He establishes a land, a place of rest where people can focus on fellowship with Him, whether one is in the land or not.

This Promised Land, originally occupied by Abraham, is meant to be a “home” for all of His people. It’s where God put His name, where the Word became flesh, died and rose, and where the King of Kings will return to restore the world to the maker’s specifications.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Why ‘living water’ is better than water that destroys (Isaiah 54; Genesis 6–9; 2Peter 3)

Why 'living water' is better than water that destroys: How to get ready for Heaven's reset for you and the world (Isaiah 54; Genesis 6-9; 2Peter 3)

Do you want to be like one who was “taken” in the Flood, washed away (Isa. 54:9–11)? Or do you want to be “left behind” to experience the “living water” pictured as flowing from God’s throne into all the world on the Day of the LORD (Ezek. 47:9, 11–12; Rev. 22:1–2)? 

We are living the time of the second exile — after the resurrection of Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) and after the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70. The Torah reading נֹחַ Noach (Genesis 6:9–11:32) teaches us to see Heaven’s elephant in our room while we have the time to change.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Got knocked down? You can get up again (Deuteronomy 32–34)

Got knocked down? You can get up again (Deuteronomy 32-34)

The Torah does not end on a high note, but on a solemn one. The final dual reading — הַאֲזִינוּ Ha’azinu (“listen,” Deuteronomy 32) and וְזֹאת הַבְּרָכָה Vezot Haberachah (“and this is the blessing,” Deuteronomy 33–34) — is written so that when the descendants of Israel eventually hit rock bottom, they would see the way back home.

This restoration only is possible by the perfect Atonement offering — the Mashiakh (Christ). This is why we read through the entire Torah over the course of the year and put into practice those things that apply to us.

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Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Discussions Torah Trumpets

Mercy of Heaven on display at Rosh Hashanah

Mercy of Heaven on display at Rosh Hashanah (Yom Teruah, Trumpets)

Just as the trumpet blast during Rosh Hashanah (aka Yom Teruah) and God’s other appointments were calls to awe and joy in Heaven, so too, the resurrection and transformation on the Day of the LORD will be a happy time — for those with their hearts tuned to Heaven’s station.

Amid all the disasters foretold to be coming on the world during this time, there’s the good news that the Messiah will be bringing the misery of a sin-stained world to an end.

https://hallel.info/trumpets-2022/

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Choose life: Live with nothing to hide (Deuteronomy 29–30; John 12)

Choose life: Live with nothing to hide (Deuteronomy 29-30; John 12)

Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) taught that the life choices that are truly profitable long-term aren’t obvious to those with the worldview of the now (John 12:25).

That teaching parallels the main theme of the Torah reading נִצָּבִים Nitzavim (“standing,”Deut. 29:9-30:20): “choose life.” One would think that choosing life over death would be a no-brainer, but we learn that this command is simultaneously easy and extremely difficult.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

No community without boundaries: Another lesson from the Prodigal Son parable (Deuteronomy 26–28; Luke 15)

No community without boundaries: Another lesson from the Prodigal Son parable (Deuteronomy 26–28; Luke 15)

There’s an old saying, “Good fences make good neighbors.” And the Torah reading תבוא Ki Tavo (“when you come in,” Deut. 26:1–29:8) emphasizes that blessings flow from God to people who establish and enforce proper boundaries.

Those include not only fences around property but also fences that clearly establish economic, spiritual and moral boundaries. But there can be no “wealth of nations” without “moral sentiments.”

This is an often overlooked lesson from Messiah Yeshua’s parable of the prodigal son.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Take comfort that Heaven will deliver us from things worse than death (Isaiah 40)

Take comfort that Heaven will deliver us from things worse than death (Isaiah 40): Shabbat Nachamu (Sabbath of Comfort)

When we think about living in a tumultuous time, when things seem to be coming apart at the seams, nationally or personally, take heart in the comfort that God has carried His people through all sorts of challenges and terrible things. That’s the message we can glean from Isaiah 40, a special parallel reading for the Torah reading ואתחנן Va’etchanan (“and I pleaded,” Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11) about mourning what has been lost and hoping in what lies ahead.

No matter what we are facing personally or how bad we think the situation of the country or world, we must remember that there are many who have gone before us who have faced and endures far worse than this. For those who believed in God, they made it through by depending on God, regardless of whether they would make it through or succumb. They learned — and we must too — that there is something worse than death.

Many in the United States and elsewhere have forgotten that there are things worse than death. They have willingly given up basic freedoms — of speech, worship and assembly — for the false hope that they might extend their lives on Earth by doing so.