We can toss around slights such as “moron” and “dim bulb” tastelessly, but we should take great pause when such words take center stage in a major teaching from Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus).
In this third part of a deep dive into the Sermon on the Mount and Sermon on the Plain, we explore His parables of salt and light, digging into the lessons they give for how the Kingdom will operate at the time of the “a new heavens and a new Earth” (Isa. 66:22-23; Rev. 22:1-2) and right now.
As Rosh Hashanah (aka Yom Teruah and Day of Blowing Trumpets) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonment) approach, it’s a good reminder to be more forgiving of the small things that others do to annoy us. And what we do to annoy them.
We need to forgive those as we want to be forgiving. The Messiah forgives a massive amount of trespasses. The LORD covers over those egregious sins, so we can at least let go of the much smaller trespasses others do to us.
We may think we’re far removed from the horror show described in the Torah reading כי תבוא Ki Tavo (“when you come in,” Deut. 26:1-29:8), but each of us encounters stress that pushes off any mask from our true characters.
A key point in this passage is entering and living in the “rest” God gives us, fully realized through the Messiah and the Spirit. Like Israel’s move from Mitsraim (Egypt) to the Land, our entering God’s “rest” (Hebrews 3–4) is all about a change of identity, purpose and character.
This Bible study looks at the parallel reading for Ki Tavo: Isaiah 60, which Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) quoted. The Exile, both literal and spiritual, is a time of darkness and desolation. When the darkness is great, the light is even easier to spot. Unfortunately, we tend to focus on the darkness. Most of our entertainment focuses on the darkness. God has shown us the Light of the world.
Genesis 1 tells us that God did not create the earth and the heavens above for His own comfort, He created it for ours. The primary purpose of creation was for the use of mankind — His Image upon the Earth. God said it was good and He took pleasure in His creation, particularly its culmination in creating mankind with His own hands. God will fulfill His pleasure and it will be complete.
Why is it that God specifically told Moses to write down these places? We may not have a complete picture of it but God did not ask Moses to write this down just for the sake of history. There’s a bigger picture to be found in the names of these places that Moses records and we endeavor to discover God’s picture.
Reading John 1:1-14 and chapters 9-10 shows a connection in Messiah Yeshua between the imagery of light and God dwelling among mankind and the festivals of Tabernacles (Sukkot) and Dedication (Chanukah, a.k.a. Lights).
In Gen. 1:5, God is not only describing what the world was like when He created it but what it will be like when He returns to re-create it. That may be the spiritual picture behind light and darkness, evening and morning in this verse.
Many say that God is all about unity, bringing people together. Yes, He wants to reconcile rebellious mankind to Himself. Yet, why is He continually setting people, behavior and things apart — making them holy?