Tag: shemoneh/shemonah – eight – Strong’s H8083

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

How to treat God, ourselves and others with respect (Leviticus 9–11; Mark 7)

The concept of ritual impurity is confusing to the gentile mindset. The Torah says that if one is “ritually impure” one can’t participate in the work of worship that happens in God’s house. It seems like God is punishing us for things that are beyond our control.

However, it is not a sin to be ritually impure, and God isn’t out to punish us for things outside our control. Everything God says in the Torah is there to teach us lessons about Himself — and about ourselves in the process.

In the Torah reading שמיני Shemini (“eighth,” Lev. 9:1–11:47), discover the things Heaven says make one fit and unfit to enter God’s Presence. Some of those things are out of our control living in a world under the curse since Eden, so Heaven has to transform us. Focus on what’s in our control.

Heaven is taking each of us and humanity on a journey to a new beginning: from bondage to rest.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Become clean and holy from the inside out (Leviticus 9-11; Mark 7; Acts 10)

"Peter's vision" by Julius Schnorr, circa 1909.

The people of Yisrael had a long history of forgetting what made them Holy. It was God who made them holy. They didn’t make themselves holy. They also lost sight of the fact that being declared tame or unclean doesn’t make one sinful or wicked either.

Yeshua’s frequently argued with the Pharisees over their emphasis on their man-made traditions over the plain word of scripture and how their man-made traditions were doing more to keep people away from God than brining them into God’s embrace.
Even after Yeshua’s death and resurrection, these false ideas about the inherent holiness of the Jewish people and the inherent wickedness of the Gentiles was hindering God’s goal to lift up, bring near, make clean, declare holy believers from the nations in the same way Heaven does for the “native-born.”

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Discussions Torah

Leviticus 9–11: Confidently entering God’s presence with reverence

Nadab and Abihu killed in front of God's presence. Painting by James Tissot circa 1896 - 1900. Public domain found at https://www.wikiart.org.

Because of God’s grace, we can enter God’s presence “boldly” because the perfection of Yeshua the Mashiakh (Jesus the Christ) has covered our “uncleanness.” The distinction between “clean” and “unclean” is powerfully presented by the tragic events of Leviticus 9-10 and the parable of allowable foods in Leviticus 11.

The Torah reading שּׁמיני Shemini (“eighth,” Leviticus 9–11) illustrates the pervasive problem of being internally “unclean” and approaching God presumptuously while so. Yeshua warned against that in the parable of the wedding garment and the recorded confrontation over paying Roman taxes (Matt. 22:2–21).

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Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Chanukah Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

It’s all about Yeshua: Multilayered message of God’s Living Temple of hope for humanity

Yeshua/Jesus cleanses the Temple of money changers and merchants. (Photo by LUMO project via Freebibleimages.org.)

It used to be common to ask, “What would Jesus do?” Well, why did Yeshua visit God’s House on an extrabiblical Jewish festival — Chanukah — to make one of the most startling statements about God’s love for humanity? Why did the “disciple whom Iesous loved” record it? Rather than focus on layers upon layers of manmade tradition about a winter celebration of the birth of Yeshua, let’s dig through a number of layered messages that actually are in the Bible about God’s dedicating of a Living Temple — the Messiah — among humanity that could never again by left desolate or destroyed.

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Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Discussions Firstfruits Passover Pentecost/Shavuot Prophets and Writings Tabernacles The Eighth Day Torah Trumpets Unleavened Bread

God’s appointments with humankind gain meaning over time – not obsolescence

A number of theologians have wondered publicly if the festivals of the LORD are relevant for today or are just historical or intellectual curiosities. Many dismiss Sukkot as either a harvest festival only applicable in the Land of Israel or only relevant with a standing temple. Let’s explore what the Bible says about the past, present and future layers of meaning in these annual appointments and how they teach us about the Messiah and ourselves.

We will look at the different layers of the festivals: past, present and future.

In a sense, they are like a wedding anniversary, on which the couple remembers all the experiences layered on top of one another since the cutting of that first wedding cake.