Author: Yosef (ytl)

Law of Christ

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In the book of Matthew, chapter 7 verse 23 (see last post), Jesus is declaring, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”  The problem is that he was address this comment to people who Christianity today would call strong Christians!  So what does “workers of lawlessness” mean?

First, many will try to explain, with hands waving, that the people to whom Jesus is talking weren’t real Christians.  They did not have the “law of Christ” in their hearts.  Or some sort of similar explanation.  Of course, this leaves open the question, “what, then, is the law of Christ?”  To this one will get a more nebulous answer.

Yet the answer is in black and white in the Tanakh (called the “old Testament.”)  God gave us his law (see the book of Exodus, especially chapters 19 and 20).  He gave it to all the people there, which weren’t just Israelites (Exodus chapter 12 verse 38).  It shall be put on our heart (Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 6).  And these words are for all of those who chose to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (See Deuteronomy chapter 29, especially verses 14 and 15).  There are many, many more verses where God makes it clear that his law if for both Israel and the foreigner among them.  He makes it clear that it is meant to be followed, and not hard (Deuteronomy 11:11 to 14) and (Matthew 11:29 to 30).

Freedom is not being without laws.  True freedom is being able to follow the law of God and rejoice in it.  One of the problems that most Christians will run into with this is the view that the law is something negative, and when one doesn’t keep some part of it, one is almost doomed.  Read the next post to see what the Hebrew viewpoint of the law and keeping the commandments is.

Shalom!  -YTL

Known by God

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In the book of Mathew, chapter 7 verses 22 to 23 (in the Apostolic writings, also called the “New Testament”), in a parable about the judgement day, Jesus says, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (English Standard Version).

Note a couple things about this passage.  First, who is he saying he is talking to?  The context makes it clear that he is addressing those who are calling themselves Christians.  To use a colloquial term, “on fire Christians.”  Yet he says “I never knew you.”  Not, “You don’t know me”, but “I never knew you.”

This should make you stop and think.  Are you known by God (as Jesus was speaking in the place of God – as a prophet)?  How does one become known by God?  Apparently doing fantastic things “in his name” doesn’t help at all in becoming known by God.  But the passage makes it clear what brings us to be known by him; well, it makes clear what stood in the way of not being known by him.  That is lawlessness (and you can check the Greek; the word is lawless).

Lawlessness means without law.  What?  Christians are supposed to be under a “law”?  Most will answer at this point that the “law of Christ (Jesus)” is meant.  But what, then, is “the law of Christ?”

God never changes.  Jesus said he only speaks what the Father speaks.  The “law of Christ” is then God’s law, that never changes.  More on this in the next post….

-YTL

 

Priestly Robes

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In the book of Exodus, chapters 28 and 29, there is a description of the robes that the priests were to wear, as well as a description of how to consecrate the priests to service to the LORD.  I’ve seen / read many people trying to give significance to this or that aspect of the clothing or of the ceremony.  I’m not going to do that here.  Rather I’m going to ask how one became a priest.

To be a priest in ancient (and modern) Israel, one had to be born to the clan of Aaron.  To be a Levite (think associate priest, though its a bad comparison), one had to be born to the clan of Levy.  By the way, Aaron was of the clan of Levy, so you can say that all Levites are “associate priests”, but only those that can trace their ancestry to Aaron are actual priests.

So, you had to be born into it.  There was no room for any self agrandizement, as what choice did you have?  You are either born into it or not.

There is a good reason for this.  We, as people, love to make ourselves more important then others.  If we have the choice, we would.  And we’d be proud of it.  But God made it clear that pride had no place in the Levites and priests.

In the book of Matthew, chapter 23 verses 5 through 11 (in the Apostolic writings, also known as the “New Testament”) the prophet Jesus made clear what God thinks of such action when we take it upon ourselves.  “…call no man your father…”, he called out.  In light of what God already said, it makes clear what Jesus was meaning.  Don’t set yourself up as a replacement priest.  Both God and Jesus said this to help us avoid the trap of pride.

Yet in many Christian churches and Jewish synagogues what do we see?  People dressed up in robes as if they are the new  priesthood, claiming that they have been chosen.  Is this right?

-YTL

 

Salvation and the Gospel in Exodus

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Exodus 6:6 to 7 states, “I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgement.  I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”  (ESV Bible)

Salvation and redemption are God’s idea and have been around a long time.  The above verse shows the gospel (good news – God’s idea) in short form.

“I am the LORD.”  He is God, creator of all, and His name is Yehova (some say Yahweh).  If everything in your life and belief is not based on this then you have erred.

“bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” We are made in His image, no longer needing to simply serve this life to live, to feed, clothe, house and reproduce ourselves.  No longer need to serve others.  Now free to serve Him.

“deliver you from slavery”:  no longer need to be slaves to sin.  We can have control over our lives through what He has done.

“will redeem you”: He has chosen and selected His people.  He has done this, not we ourselves.

“I will be your God”: He will guide and keep His people.

To Christians, the above should appear as a short form what is taught in the gospels.   God declared what He will do long ago, and it has been done, first for the Jews, then also for the gentiles.  It is the same salvation, the same offer.

It didn’t stop there.  Immediately after this the “Law” was given.  In other words, after redemption comes obedience.  Did Yeshua (Jesus) say anything different?

Return to Him.

-Yosef

“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

 

Truth! Does it exist anymore?

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After this recent presidential election the news media is buzzing with the idea that we are now in a ‘post truth’ era.  Social media is making the idea of truth nebulous.   According to Stephan Lewandowsky (via BBC Future) of the University of Bristol, “There is a large proportion of the population in the US living in what we would regard as an alternative reality.  They share things with each other that are completely false.  Any attempt to break through these bubbles is fraught with difficulty…”

This attitude started several decades ago in the Christian church, and has spread throughout society.  Christianity, in the western cultures such as in the USA, decided that the Word of God was subject to individual interpretation and truth could be redefined.  Now we not only do not know what truth is, but there is opposition to the idea that there is a truth.

On the flip side, there is a movement within Christianity to return to God’s word, and a movement in society to figure out what is true (fact checking is becoming more known).

It is written that God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Yeshua (called Jesus), is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  His word is as true today as it has ever been, and it does not change.  We need to repent and return to God’s ways.  Turn from all the traditions and interpretations that have been built up around God’s words, obscuring and even nullifying His word.

God has said that we are neither to add to nor subtract from His word (Deuteronomy 4:2).  Judaism loves to add to His word.  Christianity loves to subtract from His word.  Repentance is needed.

-Yosef

 

If It Feels Right, Do It

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“I feel that God is okay with me considering Sunday as the Sabbath.”

I hear this type of comment many times.  The question is, is it true?

It is written that God wrote the 10 commandments in stone.   It is also written that His laws shall be written upon our hearts.  (Deuteronomy 9:10;   Deuteronomy 6:6; and other verses).  Throughout the Tanakh (“Old Testament”) God shows (and says) that we need to do things His way.  (See the story of Aaron’s sons offering unauthorized fire before God, Leviticus 10:1, or the story of Ananias and Sapphira in the Apostolic Writings (“New Testament”), Acts 5:1 to 5).

Is there anywhere in scripture where God says that we can decide whether one of His laws applies or not, and if it does, if we can apply it in our own way.  This is the same error that Adam and Eve made.  God made it very clear that they were not to eat of the fruit of the one tree, but they self justified themselves and changed, be it ever so slightly, what God said.

“Be holy for I am holy,” says the Lord God.  Be set apart.  Follow His ways and not our reinterpretations and traditions that go against Him.

If we hold to our feelings as to whether or not we need to do something His Word states, we are setting ourselves to judge God.  We are saying that we know better then He.  The excuses that I hear when this is done are amazing and varied.  But they come down to saying, “I want to do it my way.  No one should tell me otherwise.”

And the funny part is that one person will say he feels it is okay to do something one way, and another says it is okay another way.  In other words, they have a schizophrenic god!

Quit!  Return to the ways of God.  Lay down our own ways and follow Him.  His ways are not a burden.

-Yosef

 

Sabbath, Creation, Guarding and Observing

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The ten commandments are listed in two places in the Torah (Pentateuch).  They are listed first in Exodus 20, then again in Deuteronomy 5.  The lists are almost identical except when it concerns the commandment regarding the Sabbath.

First, I’m not going into whether or not one should still observe the Sabbath, or whether it is Friday night to Saturday night or Sunday.  That is a discussion for another day.  This discussion is about what God actually said – not how various people interpreted it later.

In one of the places where the Sabbath command is listed, God says we are to observe the Sabbath.  In the other place, He states that we are to guard it.  In one place it is because God created all in six days and rested on the seventh, and the other because He brought us out of slavery (see the earlier posts, “Creation” on Jan. 5th, 2017, and “Sabbath and Slavery” on Feb. 5th, 2017.

To guard and observe (or in some translations, “remember and observe”, or “remember and keep”.

The Sabbath was given not as a burden to us (none of the Torah was meant so), but as a sign of the relationship between God and us, and as a means for us to keep our walk with God straight.  It takes two things to do this.

We need to remember the Sabbath.  Remember both that God created all in six days.  In other words, He is the one who is in control of all things.  Not use.

We need to guard or keep the Sabbath.  We need to actively arrange our lives so that we can do as God commanded on the Sabbath.  Rest.  This takes work, and ritual helps towards this goal for most people.

When we don’t guard the Sabbath, our ‘remembering’ of it will also fall away, and we thereby lose one of the most beautiful aspects and visible elements of God’s love to us.

-Yosef

Sabbath and Slavery

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There are two places in the Torah (Pentateuch) where the 10 commandments are listed.  The listings are nearly identical, but there is an interesting difference between the listing for the Sabbath.  God gives two completely (seemingly) independent reasons for keeping and observing the Sabbath.

In the one listing in Deuteronomy chapter 5 states that the we should remember the Sabbath because we were slaves in Egypt, but God brought us out by a mighty hand.

Why this?  Why the change from remembering the six days of creation as listed in Exodus chapter 20?

We as people tend to judge ourselves rather harshly.  At least I do – it is one of the things I struggle with often.  When I’m in the throws of judging myself, I realize that I’m a slave to the oppressing thoughts.  I’m not alone in this.  We so often get trapped (enslaved) by our thoughts.  This is why God tells us to remember weekly – for a whole day – that He brought us out of slavery.  All types of slavery; even that from thoughts.  We would do well to remember that every Sabbath.

The other idea mentioned in Deuteronomy chapter 5 is that we need to remember that we were brought out of the land of Egypt.  What does Egypt represent?  In sort, all manner of paganism.  Throughout the Torah (law of God), He makes it clear that we are to remove ourselves from all manner of paganism.  For you Christians, the apostle Paul states that you are to avoid even the appearance of evil (I know most of you interpret that to mean some sort of vile sin, but in the context of Paul’s life, paganism is included in his comment).

We, both Jews and Christians, would do well to look at our lives and judge it by the word of God.  Judge it to see just where different forms of worship, forms God does not want, have crept in.   God asked us to do this weekly as it is a continuous battle.

-Yosef

 

Moses and Pharaoh

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This week we read about the first time Moses goes before Pharaoh.  I have often wondered why God let it work out such that the first thing that happens is life becoming much more difficult for the Israelites.  Why didn’t God just start with the process of getting them out of Egypt?

Moses asks God this same question in Exodus chapter 5 verse 21 through chapter 6 verse 1.  God’s only answer is, “now you will see what I do.”  I’m still left wondering why God chose to do it this way.

Could it be because of our character as humans?  The Israelites had cried out to God about the burden of slavery, but the Bible doesn’t actually record what they wanted.  Did they want freedom and the promised inheritance, or did they only want the burdens to be less?

I put forward the possibility that the Israelites only wanted less work.  They didn’t want to leave Egypt as, other then the forced labor, things were good there.  They weren’t concerned about God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  The increased suffering was necessary to get them to even be open to the idea of actually leaving the “comfort” of known surroundings.

Is it not the same with us many times (or always?) ?  We ask God to lessen our burdens and increase our portion in life, but we aren’t concerned with actually furthering His kingdom or accepting His promises.   Often it takes extreme discomfort or pain to kick us out of our comfort zone and force us to move in a direction that is ultimately much better.  And, according to Jewish tradition, this would be a direction that brings the coming of the Messiah closer!

-Yosef

 

Messiah Son of Joseph

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The story of Joseph is well known.  How is hated by his brothers and sold into slavery, and his subsequent rise to leadership in Egypt.  In Jewish tradition, there will be two messiahs.  The first is Messiah son of Joseph who prepares the way for the Messiah son of David.  The Son of Joseph dies in an act of self sacrifice for his people.

It is interesting to note the similarities between the one called “Jesus” and Joseph.  Jesus was Jewish, but was hated by many of his brethren, and his death was really a self sacrifice (read the accounts of his death; He had to give the high priest the grounds for the death pronouncement – see the book of Matthew chapter 26, verses 59 to 66).

Christianity then took him and so made him up to be as a gentile that he is no longer recognizable by his brethren.  To a Jew looking at Jesus, they see a gentile who has little or nothing to do with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Yet the time will come, hopefully soon, when this Jesus will reveal himself to his people.  May it be soon!

This story paints a big picture of our God.  His love extends to all people, and He reveals Himself to all who will look.

-Yosef