romans 1

Read Romans 1 at Bible Gateway.

This is what stood out to me today in Romans 1:

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened." Rom 1:20-21

The invisible attributes of God are clearly seen and understood, even His eternal power and Godhead, just by the things which He has made, since the creation of the world. When we look out our window, and see families in houses, mothers and fathers and children, water running and trees bearing fruit and plants growing, and seasons cycling through the year -- these are the things that can clearly show us the invisible attributes of God. Francis Bacon, the founder of the scientific method, said that "no man ... [can] be too well studied in the Book of God's Word, or in the Book of God's Works." (I.e., science, or the natural world; Advancement of Learning).

Sometimes people are without the Book of God's Word. For many centuries, in the Holy Roman Empire, it was a crime for a private citizen to own a copy of the Book of His Word, and during the Reformation, many valiant men were burned at the stake for translating the Book of His Word into the common language from Latin, and copies of the Book of His Word in the common language, were gathered up and burned in huge bonfires. (So cherish your copy of the Book of His Word; many have died and would die today to own or make available those words more precious than gold.)

And even today, there are many countries in which it is a crime to own or distribute a copy of the Book of His Word. Or, there are nations, in which the Book of His Word is not available in the common tongue, nations that Wycliffe Bible Translators has not yet reached. So, God established two witnesses for Himself (for every fact must be established by two witnesses, Mat 18:16): the Book of His Word, and the Book of His World. Even if a man cannot own a copy of the Book of His Word, he can look out of his window and see with his eyes the Book of His World, which no tyrant can erase or restrain or burn in bonfires.

If a man has children, he can understand the love that Father God has for His children, and the lengths that Father God will go to to save His children from destruction. If a man is married to a wife, he can understand the love the Bridegroom has for His Bride. If a man sees a tree growing, he can understand that fruit is produced in like kind from a seed.

He sees that if he hides an apple seed within the ground, after a time, he will get an apple tree, and after a time that apple tree will produce apples, which contain apple seeds within them. He can look at his children, which are in his image, who were born to him because he hid his seed within his wife's womb, and after a time, she bore him the fruit of his body, who also carry within them seed after their kind.

Because he has read the Book of God's World, now he can understand that when God the Father hides the Seed of Messiah (Gen 3:15) within a human heart, that human becomes a product of that Seed - a child of God, not of the flesh any longer (Joh 1:12-13) - who will grow and bear the fruit of that Seed, of Messiah (Luk 6:44), and that fruit (transformed life, the operation of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness and so on) carries within it the seed to produce more children of God. He has just understood the Gospel, so simply that five year- olds looking out their windows can also understand it (for the kingdom of Heaven is of little children, Mat 19:14).

If a man can discern that he has a body, and also a heart, from which comes his will, his thoughts, and his feelings, and also a spirit, his ethereal essence that lives on after death, then he can understand the triune nature of God: that God exists as one Being, as a Spirit, a Heart (the Father), and a Body (the Son). And many things about God can be discerned from the Book of God's World, which is in agreement with the Book of His Word. God is constantly speaking! His Voice is crying out from day to day and night to night, if we will unstop our ears and listen (Ps 19:1-4)!

In verse 21, Paul states that those who knew God, who did not glorify Him as God (which to me says, bow the knee to One greater than you, to the One who is Sovereign, whose will ought to be obeyed); nor were thankful, then their thoughts became futile and their hearts became foolish and darkened, and lots of other bad things and deceptions and darkness followed from that. You know, people who know God can be deceived and darkened in their hearts, because of willfulness, stubbornness, or unyieldedness, rebelliousness, and ungratefulness!

When I was newly born again (I was 17 years old), I knew a much older lady (in her 40s at the time) who had taken me under her wing in the Lord. One day she told me that the Lord told her to divorce her husband. I knew the Lord hadn't told her that! Because the Lord says, "I hate divorce," (Mal 2:16) She became deceived, because she did not glorify God as God, even though she knew Him. She did not say, "Okay, You are my King and You are my Lord, and You said You hate divorce, therefore I bow my knee to You and I will flee far away from divorce." That would be glorifying God as God.

Here is another example: all of us have gone through trials that were difficult and unpleasant. But looking back, we can see the fruit of that trial, that it brought us closer to God, or taught us something about ourselves or our walk that needed changing or brought into alignment with God's ways, so that things would go better for us from now on. Newsflash: obedience adds nothing to God. God desires our obedience to Him, because it adds benefits to us. Obedience helps us (Deu 28:1-14). (Go back to the Book of God's World. Parents do not give their children rules of the house because it benefits the parents. How can a child who eats his vegetables or who goes to bed at 8 o'clock add anything to his parents? But parents, because they love their children, give them rules of the house because it benefits the children if they submit to them.)

So the person who in the middle of a trial gives thanks to God, is a wise person. He exhibits trust in God, that even though things look bad: "I praise You, Lord God, for You are on Your throne! Your love for me has not ended! You have an answer! And even if things are bad over here, I thank You for Your blessings over there! For giving me a family who loves me! I thank You for a roof over my head! I thank You for a meal yesterday!" Or, "I thank You for my salvation in Jesus Christ, which no man or devil can take away!" There is always something to thank God for!

The children of Israel complained in the wilderness in one instance after another. They did not give thanks to God! But God had just delivered them from slavery in the kingdom of Egypt! They were now free men! They had something to be thankful for! They knew God, but they were not thankful, and they became futile in their understanding, and their hearts were darkened. That generation perished in the wilderness and never entered the Promised Land (Num 14:20-23, but read all Exodus and Numbers). All that is in the Torah is history- prophecy. Those things happened to them to instruct us, not to do as they did (1 Cor 10:11)!

Ever wonder how the Church can look so schizophrenic? With one part of the Church working to pass marriage amendments, and the other part of the Church ordaining and installing clergy with same sex partners? Not everyone who knows God, glorifies Him as God, by bowing their knee to His sovereignty (obedience), or by giving Him thanks in the circumstances in their lives (trust).

Trust and obey, for there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey! Amen!

sacrifices

the living olah, lev 1

the living olah

An olah is the Hebrew word for "whole burnt offering." Some offerings were to be slain, then only the blood and some of the animal was offered on the altar, and the meat was given to the priests to eat, and to the one who brought the offering. But the olah was burned entire on the altar.

According to the Old Covenant, in Lev 1, the olah is a voluntary offering, and it can only be offered by one who is already in right- standing with God (cleansed from sin). The olah is substitutionary for the worshiper. The acceptable olah makes the worshiper acceptable to the Lord. The substitution is accomplished when the worshiper lays his hands on the olah.

So what does all of this have to do with us? Well, did you know that the Messiah was to be our olah, offered wholly to God on our behalf? Jesus completely fulfilled the requirements of the law of the olah! He was in right- standing with God; He is the acceptable sacrifice which made us acceptable; and He became substitutionary for us when the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all!

Now Paul encourages us today to become a living olah ourselves: to present our bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God. Living whole burnt offerings. Whole, because we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; burnt, because Jesus our Olah baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and with fire; and offering, because we are crucified with Christ, and we are no longer living for ourselves, but for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us!

acts 28

Read Acts 28 at Bible Gateway.

Today the viper incident stood out to me. Paul was just going about daily life, not preaching, not teaching, not in prayer or in the Word or in fellowship or in worship. He was doing chores. Jesus said, “These signs will follow those who believe ... they will take up serpents ...” (Mar 16:17-18). Luke records that Paul said or did nothing other than to shake the snake off into the fire. He didn't pray. He didn't say, “In the name of Jesus, I rebuke viper poison!” He just shook the snake off, and went about his business unconcerned.

The Holy Spirit was still doing signs through Paul, because he was one of those who believe, even while he was going about his business doing chores. Because of the sign, again, a platform was given Paul, an open door, to preach the Word, and to lay hands on the sick and heal them. When the same Spirit that raised Messiah from the dead dwells in us (Rom 8:11), and we are one of those who believe, He is not limited just because we are at work or taking care of children or doing chores. He is not limited just because we have daily obligations and daily work. He can work through us at any time, at any place, and in any situation. We just need to have “ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches (Rev 2:7);” the churches, of course, being made up of individual believers, each one having ears to hear in the midst of our daily work and daily chores.

This incident also stood out to me, because it doesn't sound like what we have learned from the televangelists that we are supposed to do in order to prevent something bad from happening after getting bit by a snake.

Jesus said, “These signs will follow those who believe.” If the belief is there in the heart, then what else is necessary? Belief works. Paul knew that he knew that he knew that he believed, and therefore the snake bite had no effect. But for another person, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” (Rom 10:17). Speaking the Word outloud so that our ears can hear it, increases our own faith, so that we can get to the level of belief that we need in the Word of God, the level that Paul already had at the end of his life and ministry.

When Paul arrived in Rome, he met with the Jews first - never deviating from his pattern that he established at the very beginning of his ministry, of going to the Jews first. Then he lived in his own rented house, under house arrest. Someone under house arrest could live in relative freedom and comfort in their own house, but they did not have freedom of movement. They could not leave their house. A Roman soldier was with him there at all times, so that he was available to the emperor when his case finally came up to be heard.

So Paul's friends and the people who cared for him had to come to him. His food and clothing and anything else he required was brought to him by Luke or anyone else who was with him and cared for him. I imagine the church at Rome came to regular meetings at his house.

Paul was tried before Nero at the end of two years. Nero was depraved, who hated the Christians because they had reproved him for his depravity. Paul was condemned. As a Roman citizen, he was beheaded on the Appian Way outside Rome (rather than crucified). The church at Rome took his body, and tradition says that it was buried in the sepulcher of a wealthy woman in the church. The Vatican recently ran tests on the traditional tomb of St Paul, and concluded that the remains inside were indeed those of the apostle.

The time of Paul's death is traditionally placed at 64 AD. His life is an example to us, of the difference one man can make in the world, living a life completely submitted to God, and to unwavering belief in His Word.

day of atonement, part three

(Posted at a little perspective on Sep 2007).

So we learned that the Day of Atonement will be, at some point, the day in which the Bridegroom arrives, and we -- the Bride of Christ -- like the five wise virgins (if we are wise, and if our lamps are filled with new oil), will go in to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and receive our white wedding clothes of righteousness, and at the end of that day, the door to heaven will be shut.

So why, when all this joyous activity is going to occur, does the Lord command His people to afflict and humble their souls on that day?

Well, precisely because, at the end of that day, the door to heaven will be shut. No one else will be able to come in to the wedding feast, through the blood of the Passover Lamb, by the grace of God, after that day. From the end of that day forward, anyone hoping to attain to life eternal must do so on the basis of their own righteousness, not the imputed righteousness of the Lamb of God. And we are painfully aware of the success of that endeavor.

So yes, it will be a day of joy for us, but we all know those, in our families, among our acquaintances or co-workers, who, if they do not avail themselves of the finished work of Jesus on the cross, will be shut out of the wedding feast. On the Day of Atonement above all others, we spend the day in mourning, in prayer, and in fasting for them, that perhaps the Lord might have mercy and draw them to Himself.

For the Lord says the same thing in Isaiah:

"Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it for bowing one's head like a reed
And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD?
"Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every yoke?" Isa 58:5-6

Jesus our Messiah loosened the bonds of wickedness for us; He undid the bands of the yoke, and let us who were oppressed go free. He broke every yoke. Now it is our turn to fast and pray for others, to witness of Him to them, so that others, who do not know Him, can avail themselves of His Atonement on this Day of Atonement!

parashah bazneikhem (listen), deuteronomy 5:1 - 6:3

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath. (Why?)

We must understand the paragraph divisions in Torah, which are inspired by the Spirit and preserved by Moses and the Jewish scribes (but discarded by the English translators), are key to help us understand what God is trying to tell us. He wants to be understood, and has provided these helps to aid us! We must also understand how the Spirit teaches through Torah by common theme.

Today is the 134th Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Bazneikhem /Listen, Deu 5:1 - 6:3. Read Deu 5:1 - 6:3 at Bible Gateway, or Deu 5 and 6 from the Hebrew Bible in English.

Deu 5:1-5 ends with a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division;
Deu 5:6-10 the 1st commandment ends with a stumah;
Deu 5:11 the 2nd commandment ends with a stumah;
Deu 5:12-15 the 3rd commandment ends with a stumah;
Deu 5:16 the 4th commandment ends with a stumah;
Deu 5:17 the 5th commandment ends with a stumah;
Deu 5:18 the 6th commandment ends with a stumah;
Deu 5:19 the 7th commandment ends with a stumah;
Deu 5:20 the 8th commandment ends with a stumah;
Deu 5:21a the 9th commandment, “You shall not covet your neighbor's wife;” ends with a stumah;
Deu 5:21b the 10th commandment, “... or anything that is your neighbor's;” ends with a stumah;
Deu 5:22 - 6:3 ends with a parsha p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division. This means that Deu 5:1-6:3 is teaching a single overarching theme.

The words that keep coming up in these chapters to describe the instruction YHVH is giving His people in how to live, is law, commandment, statute, and judgment. There is no idle word in God's Word! These different words mean something. The Hebrew of these words is insightful and surprising!

There is a chiastic structure in this parsha:

1A Deu 5:1 - hear, pay careful heed, learn, and observe statutes and judgments;
  1B Deu 5:2-3 - YHVH's covenant with Israel;
    1C Deu 5:4-5 - YHVH's voice from the midst of the fire; Moses between YHVH and Israel (stumah);
      --> X Deu 5:6-21 - the Ten Comandments (stumah);
    2C Deu 5:22-27 - YHVH's voice from the midst of the fire; Moses between YHVH and Israel;
  2B Deu 5:28-29 - Israel's heart toward YHVH, to fear Him and keep His commandments;
2A Deu 5:30-6:3 - hear, pay careful heed, learn, and observe the commandment, statutes, and judgments (p'tuchah).

The Ten Commandments came into being, not by the agency of man, as other law codes from the ancient world. But they were voiced in an audible voice which thundered by YHVH, out of the midst of the fire. I couldn't help but notice how many times the phrase “the midst of fire” appeared in this parashah. Over and over and over again. Repetition is a literary device the Spirit employs in Torah to make a point. The picture of fire immediately puts me in mind of the all- consuming baptizing of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus is to baptize the ekklesia (assembly of believers) with (Mat 3:11). So the truth this graphic picture of YHVH's voice speaking His Word, which His commandments are, out of the midst of all- consuming fire leaves me with, is that His Commandments come forth out of the midst of His Spirit.

Keeping the Commandments is central to YHVH's covenant with Israel. Moses out and out says this: “So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone;” (Deu 4:13). In the chaistic structure above, though, the Lord brings out something interesting about what it means to keep the covenant. YHVH's covenant (1B) is paired with Israel's heart toward YHVH (2B). The kind of covenant God made with Israel can only be kept when Israel has the right HEART toward YHVH, a heart of fear, reverence, and devotion toward Him.

In other words, the relationship YHVH has with Israel and Israel with YHVH, is not like the other nations with their gods! They perform a religious duty, but Israel's relationship with YHVH must proceed out of the heart! The sign of the covenant, the circumcision of the flesh, is merely a picture of the circumcision (cutting away of the flesh) of the heart that is the true characteristic of the relationship between Israel and YHVH.

Torah never teaches rote outward obedience to rules, but a heart which is circumcised toward YHVH as the only possible way His covenant could be kept.

In the final layer that surrounds the central axis of this parashah, there are four verbs concerning the Commandments that keep coming up again and again, and we will continue to see them in next few sections of Deuteronomy also. They are:

1) Hear or listen;
2) Pay careful heed;
3) Learn or teach;
4) Observe or keep or do.

Keep your eyes open for these verbs coming up. The Spirit in Torah uses repetition and pattern to teach something important!

day of atonement, part two

(Posted at a little perspective on Sep 2007.)

The fall feasts are three: the Feast of Trumpets, on the 1st day of the 7th month; the Day of Atonement, on the 10th day of the 7th month; and the Feast of Tabernacles, on the 15th day of the 7th month, lasting for a whole week of feasting and celebration. Then there is the 8th day, following the Feast of Tabernacles, which is a sabbath of rest. So what do these feasts mean? Jesus is showing us, by including the parable of the ten virgins in His discourse on His return, that when He returns, it will be as King of kings, yes, but also as the Bridegroom coming for His bride.

Now Hebrew weddings, especially before the great dispersions of 70 ad and 135 ad, were week- long celebrations. It was very common to not know the day or hour in which the wedding would take place, only the season. Hebrew weddings were in two parts. The first part was the betrothal, in which the bridegroom chose his bride, the bride consented, and the marriage contract, or covenant, was drawn up and witnessed. This covenant was as binding as a marriage for the purity of both parties to each other.

Then the bridegroom returned to his father's house, where he worked as hard as he could to build a home for his bride. He also had to save up a full year's worth of provision, for it says in Deu 24:5 that the bridegroom, when he takes a new wife, must not be charged with any business for a full year, for his only obligation his newlywed year is to be free at home and bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken. (Can you imagine how many marriages would be built on a rock- solid foundation if we followed that commandment today?)

So not even the bridegroom knows in advance when these two things will be accomplished: the finishing of the bride's home, and the saving up of the year's provision. Of course the bridegroom is eager to accomplish all things quickly, for his bride remains a virgin in her father's house during this time; but the bridegroom's father must approve his son's preparations before the bridegroom can go to his bride's father and announce that all is ready, the marriage celebration can at last take place! (And if the bridegroom has rushed things in his eagerness for his bride, his father can tell him he must do it over, right this time, before he will approve of his son's preparations.)

Now the parable of the ten virgins makes more sense. Now we know why the bridegroom, the bride, and the ten virgins knew the season the wedding would take place, but not the exact day or hour. The bridegroom was delayed in finishing his preparations and acquiring his father's final approval before going to his bride's father; but once his bride's father gave his consent, the announcement was made, "Behold, the bridegroom is coming!" This announcement corresponds to the Feast of Trumpets, the day the trumpet call goes forth that the Bridegroom is coming! Everyone, wake up from your slumber and make yourselves ready to meet Him!

Then shortly thereafter, the Bridegroom comes, and those who are ready go in with Him to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and the door is shut. We know that when we go in to the wedding, we are given wedding garments to wear; shining white robes of the righteousness of the Lamb. This is the Day of Atonement. Then at the end of the Day of Atonement, the door is shut. For now, we have been betrothed to a husband, but our marriage supper has not yet taken place. Our Bridegroom has gone to prepare a place for us, and will return for us when all is ready. While He is gone, the door of heaven is standing open, but when He returns, the door to the wedding will be shut!

And then the marriage supper of the Lamb will take place, for seven days of feasting and celebration, and this is the Feast of Tabernacles -- God dwelling with man, in Emmanuel, "God with us"! Following the seven- day marriage supper, there is the 8th day, a sabbath of rest. We are told nothing about the 8th day other than this. You know, in 6 days God created the heavens and the earth, and on the 7th day He rested from all His work. For 6000 years, the earth has labored under the burden of sin, but the 7th millennium under the reign of the King of kings and Lord of lords will be a millennium of rest. And the 8th millennium? Eye has not seen, nor ear has heard, all that God has prepared for those who love Him. But the Bridegroom's only duty His newlywed "year" is to bring happiness to the wife whom He has taken.

We have not realized the extent of the joy that is to be ours, Beloved, at His coming!

So why fasting and mourning for us on the Day of Atonement?

Continued in day of atonement, part three

acts 27

Read Acts 27 at Bible Gateway.

In this chapter, what stood out to me was the Fast that was already over, and the fasting that Paul did when the ship was in trouble. Fasting! It is because the Lord is teaching me many things about fasting at this time in my life.

The Fast, capitalized, in verse 9, refers to the Day of Atonement, the only appointed time of YHVH which is a day of fasting (Lev 23:26-32), and not a day of feasting, celebrating, and rejoicing. It is THE Fast in the Hebrew culture. It always falls in the fall of the year, September or October. The Day of Atonement is coming up, actually; today (Sep 26) is the 6th day from the appearing of the new moon which marked the first day of the seventh month; that was Sunday evening (Sep 20). The Day of Atonement begins on the evening of the 9th day (which is the beginning of the 10th day, for in God's calendar, the new days begin at sunset). So we will be observing The Fast beginning the evening of Sep 29 and through Sep 30.

Now, Jesus said that when the Bridegroom is with us, we cannot fast. But when the Bridegroom is taken away, then we will fast (Mar 2:19-20). The Bridegroom is away, and we are awaiting His return, in this season! The Hebrews fasted on Atonement to afflict their souls for their sins, and to receive forgiveness for the year that was past. What do Christians do on Atonement? For our sins have been forgiven!

First of all, is there any hidden thing in our heart, or in our walk, that is displeasing to God? Fasting before Him is a good way to humble ourselves and allow the Lord to speak to us, and to open our eyes to whatever it might be that is displeasing to Him, so that we can repent of it! I doubt a year will ever pass that there will not be something that the Lord would reveal. :)

Secondly, yes, our sins have been forgiven, praise the Lamb that was slain! But there are many who have not received the atonement provided for them by the blood of Jesus. I fast on Atonement for all those I know, whom God has placed in my life, who have not yet received His atonement! I spend the day in prayer and intercession for them, if perhaps the veil will be dropped from the eyes of their hearts, and that they will be able to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ Jesus! (2 Cor 4:3-4).

Then in verse 21, we see Paul, after they had been driven by a storm for a number of days, fasting. Fasting and prayer go together in the Scriptures, especially prayer for deliverance! Instances that come to mind, are Esther's fast before approaching her husband the king of Persia over Hamaan's plot to kill the Jews (Est 4), and Daniel's fast for a restoration of Jerusalem and the people of God from captivity in Babylon (Dan 9).

There is something about fasting, a thing done in the natural world, that breaks power and strongholds in the spiritual world. They can be strongholds of sin, addictions, demonic powers, unbelief, evil strategies being brought to bear - but whatever they are, fasting is a powerful tool, coupled with prayer, that breaks the power of those things.

We have seen with our own eyes someone who had been cursed from birth by their father, who had been someone of authority in the Satanic religion, delivered and set free from deep- seated demonic possession and deception after fasting and prayer for four days!

I recently read the testimony of Lou Engle of The Call. God called him to a fast! It is powerful what followed. God had been speaking to me about fasting with prayer before this, and this was confirmation for me to step out into more than one- day fasts.

Now, in the days leading up to Atonement, let us fast for Israel, for her enemies are gathering around her. Let us fast for Muslims to come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and be delivered from the bondage of Islam! Let us fast for Israel to see her Messiah! Let us fast for a new wave of pure devotion and revival to break forth in the churches! Let us fast for the sleeping giant of the Church to wake up from her slumber!

What I have learned about fasting so far: It is not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord! (Zec 4:6) When I hoped to have enough will power in my flesh to make it, I have failed, but when I relied on the Spirit to be my strength, then I have been successful!

day of atonement, part one

(Posted at a little perspective on Sep 2007.)

Today is the Day of Atonement, according to the Lord's calendar. The new moon, which announced the first day of the seventh month, was seen in Israel on the evening of Thursday, September 13. The feast of Trumpets was therefore from sundown September 13th to sundown September 14th. That would make the tenth day, the Day of Atonement, begin at sundown Saturday September 22nd through sundown this evening.

I have been meditating on the fall feasts and asking the Lord to explain them to me for the past ten days. The spring feasts are much easier to understand, because Jesus has already accomplished them. The fall feasts still remained a bit of mystery to me. But puzzle pieces have been clicking into place for me recently!

On the Feast of Trumpets, the angel blows the loud trumpet blast, the announcement to the ekklesia that the bridegroom is returning. Remember the parable of the ten virgins? Jesus told this parable in the same discourse in which He taught "of that day and hour no one knows," the Hebrew idiom for the appearing of the new moon. The fall feasts, beginning with the new moon -- the announcement of His return, which the trumpet blast will accomplish -- and the parable of the ten virgins are tied together. Here is the parable:

Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept, and at midnight a cry was heard: "Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!" Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." But the wise answered, saying, "No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves." And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, "Lord, Lord, open to us!" But he answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you." Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. Mat 25:1-13

On the Day of Atonement, the Jews fast and afflict their souls; they make right any offenses between themselves and their neighbor, they repent and turn and rededicate themselves to walking in the Lord's ways, and they ask God for forgiveness for their sins of the past year. Is that what the Day of Atonement is about for those who have been washed already in the blood of the Lamb? I couldn't understand, since we have repented, we have turned, and the Lord has already forgiven us because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. But in the Scripture we are commanded to afflict or humble ourselves on this day, so ... ?

But one other thing I learned from the Jews: they believe that on this day above all days the gates of heaven are open to receive the pleas for forgiveness of the Lord's people. At the close of the Day of Atonement, they have a solemn service, and at the close of that service, which coincides with sundown, they believe that the gates of heaven are shut. As I was reading about this, it brought to mind another door which the Lord said would be shut: the door to the wedding in the above passage! Then the parable became clear to me!

Continued in day of atonement, part two

acts 26

Read Acts 26 at Bible Gateway.

Today what stood out to me in this chapter was the way Paul presented the Gospel of salvation in two components. The first component, is forgiveness of sins ... by faith in Jesus Christ (vs. 18). This component is very familiar to us who have been raised in the Christian church. This is the essence of the Gospel as we have been taught it.

But there is information in the section that was excised by the three dots, that was, and is, part and parcel of what it means to be saved. By faith in Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sins was not the only thing that we were to receive with our salvation. We were also to receive "an inheritance among those who are sanctified."

What does this mean? Paul was speaking to King Agrippa, a Jew, who was very familiar with the culture, mindset and worldview of the Jews. Paul did not go into detail, because words like "inheritance" and "sanctified" meant something to Jews of the first century. Those words were defined by their Hebraic culture, and the source of their Hebraic culture was the Word of God - the Old Testament (the New not existing yet).

I looked up the word "inheritance" in a Strong's Concordance, in the Old Testament, and the vast majority of the time, it was referring to the people of Israel inheriting the land of Israel that God had promised Abraham (Gen 12:1-3). There were two parts to the promise God made Abraham: He promised him land, and He promised him descendants from his body. In fact, Abraham reminded God that he remained childless when God renewed His promise to him (Gen 15:1-3). The land and children is the inheritance as defined by the Word of God, which is the way Paul and Agrippa would have understood it.

So what does Paul mean, when he says that the Gentiles would receive along with forgiveness of sins, an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ? We just saw that "inheritance" has to do with the promise of land and children that God made to Abraham.

In the Hebrew mindset, the promise given to Abraham cannot be divorced from the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai. Because God was, at that point in history, fulfilling His part of the promise: He had brought them out of slavery, and He was taking them to the land that He had promised to give Abraham's children as an inheritance:

"So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess." Deu 4:13-14

God's commandments were given to God's people, who were Abraham's children, to live by when they came into their inheritance, the land God was giving them to possess. Those who kept the commandments were the righteous, in the Hebrew mindset, because the commandments defined for man what God considered righteous and unrighteous (or sinful) behavior.

"Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." Eph 2:11-13

Do you see it? Those who were born Gentiles in the flesh, were born with no hope and without God in the world. Why? Because God had only made a covenant of promise with one nation - the nation that came from Abraham through the son of the promise (Isaac) - the commonwealth of Israel. All the other nations were out of luck. They had no access to God, because access to a Holy God only comes by the way of His covenant. And His covenant, He commanded Israel to perform.

Now how did those who were born Gentiles in the flesh, who were once Gentiles (apparently Paul did not consider them Gentiles any longer), get brought near to the covenant of promise by the blood of Jesus Christ?

"And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree," Rom 11:17

There is that word "among" again (as we first saw in Act 26:18). By the blood of Jesus Christ, God has grafted the Gentiles in among the cultivated olive tree which is Israel (read the rest of Romans 11, or we will get to it when we get to Romans). The church does not replace Israel. But through Jesus Christ, we enter in to the covenant of promise God has established with Israel. We too, as Paul said to Agrippa, receive, along with forgiveness of sins, an inheritance among those who are sanctified, or made holy, by faith in Jesus Christ.

So faith in Jesus Christ, as Paul is explaining the Gospel, is our foot in the door. It makes us a partaker of the covenant of promise with Israel. Now we have access to a holy God! The second part to the Gospel as Paul explained it, is found in verse 20: once a person comes to faith in Jesus Christ, through a process the Scriptures term "repentance," then he does works befitting repentance (We saw Peter place this same emphasis on repentance on the day of Pentecost, Act 2:38-39).

This is the pattern throughout Scripture. God makes you His, and delivers you from slavery in Egypt (the kingdom of darkness), and after you have been set free from from your chains and are free to follow Him, then He gives you the rules of the house (Ten Commandments), as any good father does his children. Anyone who carefully reads both the Old and New Testaments, sees right away that we were not set free from the kingdom of darkness to live for ourselves or to indulge the flesh! We were set free from one kingdom to live in another kingdom - the kingdom of heaven. And in the kingdom of heaven, there is a King! And citizens, whether of the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of heaven, bow their knee to the word of their king!

The difference in God's kingdom, is that before the advent of Jesus Christ, God's citizens - Israel - His people, His children - could only obey His Word (do works as Paul says in verse 20) by obeying tablets of stone without the heart. But since the advent of Jesus Christ, now God's children, including the Gentiles too, can obey His Word (do works) by the Spirit who has written His Law upon the heart (Eze 36:25-27). It is our delight to live for Him in a manner that pleases Him!

It is the second part of the Gospel, the part about repenting of the sins of the flesh and now doing works that befits repentance, that sometimes get left out of the Gospel as it is presented in our churches. By God's Spirit He is changing that!

acts 25

Read Acts 25 at Bible Gateway.

Rome's legal system (upon which the American is modeled) allowed for an appeal to be made to a higher court - Caesar - if a lower authority made a ruling which was not in accord with Roman Law. As Paul was a Roman citizen, he had access to these rights. People like Peter or the other apostles, who were not citizens, did not have these rights, and could not appeal anything that was done to them.

Paul invoked his right of appeal, even though no judgment had been rendered, because he saw that Festus was willing to send him back to Jerusalem to be tried in the court of the unbelieving Jews who were against him. Also, he knew from the Spirit that he was supposed to go to Rome to bear witness (Act 23:11).

Now Festus had a problem. Because here was a prisoner, who had been kept imprisoned for over two years, yet there was no cheirographon against him. The cheirographon is so important! If you will recall, in Roman culture, it was the list of charges, or crimes the prisoner was thought to have committed, for which he was in chains. There could be no imprisonment, sentence passed, or carried out without the cheirographon. In Roman Law, a man had to be accused of something against Roman Law in order for the court to proceed further.

We see the Roman commander in Jerusalem take several actions in order to determine Paul's crimes for the cheirographon, in Acts 21:33-34, and Acts 22:24 and 30. In Acts 24, Felix as Roman governor of the province also heard him before his accusers in order to determine what his crimes were for the cheirographon. But since no determination was ever made, Paul remained under guard, in Roman thinking, for his own safety, until something could be discovered, for there had been a plot to kill him -- in opposition to Roman Law, a plot to execute a sentence against a Roman citizen outside of Roman Law.

Now in this chapter, Paul was heard before Festus twice, once before his accusers, and once with King Agrippa. The purpose of these hearings was to determine what would be written on Paul's cheirographon, what his crime against Roman Law was, as we can see from verses 26-27.

King Agrippa, by the way, was the last of the line of the Herodians, who had been kings in Judea before the Romans took over. He was Herod the Great's great- grandson. The Herodians were Hellenized Jews, or Jews by race, who, however, lived like Greeks, according to the Greek culture that Alexander the Great's empire brought to all the lands he conquered.

The Romans often kept the native kings on the throne of the lands they conquered, as long as that king was subject to Rome. In Judea's case, because it was a tinderbox of opposition against Rome, there was a Roman governor also who ruled in Rome's interest and rendered judgment in accord with Roman Law.

Now why is it important for us in our day to understand how important the cheirographon was to the history of Paul in Acts? Because Paul makes a spiritual application of the cheirographon, which affects all of us, in one of his letters:

“And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements (cheirographon in Greek) that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” Col 2:13-14

The cheirographon was the list of a person's transgressions of the Law. It was not the Law itself. It is not the Law - Torah, which is holy, just, and good - which is against us, but our transgressions of it, which are against us. Because it is our transgressions that require a death penalty against us. What Jesus took out of the way, that He nailed to the cross, was the cheirographon - the list of our transgressions of Torah, thus canceling our penalty! He did not take Torah itself out of the way. How could He? Torah is the Word of God, which is eternal (Isa 40:8), which still remains even after heaven and earth pass away (Mat 24:35)! Jesus is the Word (Joh 1:1, 14), and Torah is part of Him. He is not opposed to it, nor is it opposed to us!

The Written Word of God, breathed by the mouth of God, which Jesus, and the apostles and Paul knew as Scripture (for the New Testament had not been written yet), was our Old Testament. It included Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings (the books of history, such as Kings and Chronicles, and the books of Psalms, Proverbs, and other books which were not exclusively the books of Moses -Torah - or the books of the Prophets). The Prophets have not been excised from the Word, the Writings have not been excised from the Word, nor has the Torah been excised from the Word! The Word of the Lord endures forever, and He is upholding all things by the Word of His Power (Heb 1:3)!

acts 24

Read Acts 24 at Bible Gateway.

This chapter allows us to see Roman law and the Roman justice system in action. It is very similar to our own, for our own was modeled on it. Someone who has been charged with a crime, must face his accusers before he can be condemned, before a judge. The accusers tell in all ways how the accused has broken the law, and the accused then has his opportunity to speak in his own defense.

In Paul's defense, he reaffirms with his own mouth, that he has lived his life without offense to God, in all ways which are approved by the Jews; in other words, keeping Torah. Torah obedience did not pass away with the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Another thing which I noticed, is that since the devil is the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10), this is the same pattern he follows when he accuses the brethren (me and you!) before the throne night and day! He accuses us of our transgressions of the Law. It is our transgressions of the Law, the Torah, that is the definition of sin, for the Torah defines what is sin and what is righteousness in God's eyes (1 Joh 3:4). Hallelujah, for this reason the blood of Jesus paid the penalty for all our transgressions of Torah, and no penalty remains for those things which the accuser accuses us of! And we, who love our Abba Daddy, our Heavenly Father, strive to live according to the definition of righteousness found in Torah, not to earn salvation, but just because we want to walk in a manner that pleases Him in all things (Joh 14:15)!

God used the accusations which were brought against Paul, by which the enemy I am sure hoped to have him silenced and his work curtailed one way or another, to give Paul the floor before judges, governors, and kings, to witness to Jesus the Messiah, the resurrection of the dead, and the coming judgment of sin! So we see that God does indeed use all things which the enemy meant for evil, for good, for those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). What was Paul's purpose, or any of our purpose, seeing as how we left here once our salvation in Jesus Christ is assured? To be a WITNESS! It is not to make money to have nice houses and nice things and live in comfort. God is not against those things, as long as we are also fulfilling our purpose of being a WITNESS to Jesus Christ!

Now even though Paul was no longer going on missionary journeys, the Lord still used him. He was witnessing before kings and to his jailers, and his friends were allowed to come to him without restriction, so he continued to teach and build up the church, I am sure, in Caesarea and the surrounding area. And I am sure, any representative of any of the churches that he had previously planted in the Empire could find him there to give him reports and letters and ask for counsel.

Now I wonder if Paul chafed at his lengthy imprisonment without resolution. However, it was during this time that he wrote his letters to the churches, that became the epistles in our New Testament. He couldn't go any longer to the church himself and resolve problems in person, so he had to put pen to paper and send his counsel by letter. What a blessing for us! Could it be that a trial we are going through, a seeming delay in a resolution to prayer, will still be, in God's wisdom, bearing fruit two millennia later? It was for Paul! The wise in heart wait on the Lord in all things!

happy yom teruah (feast of trumpets)

(Posted at a little perspective in Sep 2007.)

Yesterday evening in Jerusalem the new moon was seen, marking the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets, the 1st day of the 7th month and the day which will, one of these years, usher in the return of Jesus the Messiah as King of Kings and Lord of Lords! In Hebrew, the name of this day is Yom Teruah, or Day of Trumpet Blowing. It is interesting, though, that Teruah can also mean "an awakening blast," as in those who have fallen asleep (the dead in Christ) will rise, because the awakening blast blown by the angel of the Lord has woken them up to life! Teruah is also sometimes translated as "shouts of joy" as in Ps 27:5-6:

"For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle;
In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;
He will lift me up on a rock.
And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me,
And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy [teruah];
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD."

Therefore have a day of joyful shouting to the Lord today, as we anticipate the coming of the King of Kings!

you do not know the day or hour (feast of trumpets)

(Posted at a little perspective in Sep 2007.)

The last sliver of the waning moon was seen the evening of September 8th (2007). The dark of the moon has been since the evening of September 9th. The new moon was not sighted in Israel the evening of September 12th, even though the skies were clear and diligent search was made. They will look again the evening of September 13th to see if they can see it ... the 1st day of the 7th month, the Feast of Trumpets, does not begin until the new moon is sighted.

Some may have expected to see the new moon the evening of the 12th, but did not see it. They had to watch, and wait. On the evening of the 13th, they will watch and wait again. Perhaps they will see it. The practice of watching and waiting for the appearing of the new moon sheds some light on a teaching of Jesus concerning His coming, which is tied in to the Feast of Trumpets:

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Mat 24:36-44

I learned that the phrase "no one knows the day or hour" is a Hebrew idiom referring to the appearing of the new moon. When the old moon wanes until nothing is left, the new moon appears anywhere from a day and a half to three and a half days afterwards. Often it appears three days afterwards, because the new moon celebration is a reminder of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah, but the moon is not always "buried" for three days before its "rebirth." So one never knows, you just have to watch and wait for its appearing.

The only annual feast day of the Lord which is celebrated at the new moon is the Feast of Trumpets. And we can see in the above passage, Jesus refers to the appearing of the new moon by the common Hebrew idiom, "no one knows the day or hour." He also refers to His coming in the same context. Was He teaching His disciples that His coming was associated with the Feast of Trumpets? Many believe He was. He fulfilled all the spring feasts at His first coming, and if the pattern holds, He will fulfill all the fall feasts at His second coming.

When we see that in the history of Israel, the trumpet blast was sounded to gather together the ekklesia (the congregation), to announce the coming of the Lord, and the coronation of a new king, we are anticipating this feast day this year with the most acute joy!

feasts of the Lord

the sabbath
why I began celebrating the seventh day sabbath

the new moon
significance of the new moon
celebrating on the new moon

the annual feasts
seven annual feast days bear witness
the spring holy days
why we celebrate passover
when we celebrate passover
how we celebrate passover
"counting the omer"
the forgotten holiday (feast of weeks or pentecost)
feast of trumpets
you do not know the day or hour (feast of trumpets)
happy yom teruah (feast of trumpets)
day of atonement, part one
day of atonement, part two
day of atonement, part three
feast of tabernacles
the harvest festivals (firstfruits, weeks, tabernacles), 1 corinthians 15
8th day of assembly
the bookends of the year

purim and hanukkah
hanukkah
hanukkah, a biblical feast?

celebrating the feasts
the Lord's supper, 1 corinthians 11

parashah tholid (beget), deuteronomy 4:25-49

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath. (Why?)

We must understand the paragraph divisions in Torah, which are inspired by the Spirit and preserved by Moses and the Jewish scribes (but discarded by the English translators). They are key to help us understand what God is trying to tell us. He wants to be understood, and has provided these helps to aid us! We must also understand how the Spirit teaches through Torah by common theme.

Today is the 133rd Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Tholid /Beget, Deu 4:25-49. Read Deu 4:25-49 at Bible Gateway, or Deu 4 from the Hebrew Bible in English.

Deu 4:25-40 ends with a parsha p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division. This means that Deu 4:25-40 is teaching a single overarching theme.
Deu 4:41-49 ends with a p'tuchah. This means that Deu 4:41-49 is teaching a single overarching theme.

The first parsha p'tuchah, Deu 4:25-40, forms a chiastic structure:

1A 4:25-26 - forsake YHVH and do not prolong your days in the land;
  1B 4:27-28 - YHVH will drive you out;
    1C 4:29-31 - YHVH is merciful and will not forget the covenant;
      1D 4:32-34 - has any nation heard the voice of YHVH out of the fire?
        --> X 4:35 - To you it was shown, that you might know that YHVH is God and there is no other;
      2D 4:36 - We heard YHVH's voice out of the fire;
    2C 4:37 - He loved our fathers and chose their descendants;
  2B 4:38 - YHVH will drive out the nations;
2A 4:39-40 - keep to YHVH and prolong your days in the land.

The end of verse 40 is the end of Moses' introductory speech. Next he will begin to explain the Torah of God.

The second parsha p'tuchah seems to be on a completely unrelated topic. Cities of refuge? What is going on?

There is another teaching tool the Torah employs that we must understand. Jesus said that Moses taught about Him, and that if someone believed Moses, they would believe Him, but if someone did not believe Moses, how could they believe His words (Joh 5:46-47)? In other words, the words of Moses (which are really the words of God, Moses was just writing down what he heard) reveals the Messiah. Of course, because the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth (Joh 1:14)! Beloved, it is a lie that the Word of God is bondage, evil, or our enemy! In Him was life! The Word of God is full of grace and truth! Torah too? Yes, Torah too! Torah is full of grace and truth, because Torah too is the Word of God!

Okay, back to cities of refuge. This means, that if Torah teaches about Messiah, we should be looking for Messiah, we should be looking for grace and truth in Torah. So what characterizes Messiah? Self- sacrifice! Substitution! Forgiveness of sins! Mercy! Deliverance from death! Resurrection life! Freedom from bondage! All these things characterize Messiah, and all these things are embedded within Torah - even the commands of God in Torah.

Take, for example, the cities of refuge. The scenario is that a man has killed someone - he has broken Torah (one of the Ten Commandments is Do not murder). He is a manslayer! The penalty for shedding blood, is shedding blood - death for the one who killed. But Torah commands that cities of refuge be set aside (Num 35:9-15), so that if a man kills someone (when he has not plotted for his death beforehand) he can flee there and escape the death penalty. That reveals Messiah - we deserve the penalty of death, but we can flee to Messiah and live!

Now, the section about the cities of refuge is included in a single paragraph with the section that begins, “This is the law, and these are the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments ... (Deu 4:41-45).” In our English Bibles, the translators made the paragraph stop after the cities of refuge and started a new paragraph with “This is the law ...” That is how it makes sense to man - they seem to be saying two different things. But God, in His wisdom, has all of vs. 41-49 as a single paragraph. There is not even a stumah, a weak paragraph division, following the cities of refuge!

Can you see what the Lord is saying by having the picture of the Messiah precede “This is the law” and include them both in a single paragraph? Messiah is full of grace and truth, and Torah is full of grace and truth. The Messiah is Torah in other words. And the Messiah is the Prophets and the Writings - all the Word of God, Torah included, is Messiah, who is the Word of God made flesh! God is not schizophrenic, as some accuse Him of being.

God gave us His instructions, and His teaching, in order to grace us with grace, in other words. He wants blessings to come upon us and overtake us, and His way of living is the way of blessing (Deu 28:1-2)! Do not listen to the lie that says obedience is an enemy of the Gospel of grace; that is a lie whose purpose, if you believe it, is to steal from you, kill you, and destroy you if it can (Joh 10:10).

feast of trumpets

(Posted at a little perspective in September 2007).

The Feast of Trumpets, the first feast day of the fall holiday season, is due this week. In Scripture, we are commanded to celebrate a day of blowing of trumpets on the 1st day of the 7th month. The first day of biblical months is always the day the new moon is sighted in Israel. Tradition sets that day this year on September 13th, although the actual new moon probably won't be sighted until that evening. I have to remind myself that biblical days run from sundown to sundown, so if the new moon is sighted the evening of the 13th, the Feast of Trumpets will be from the evening of the 13th to the evening of the 14th.

This is our first year celebrating Trumpets, and I am learning so many fascinating things about it. It is a sabbath day of rest; although food may be prepared (I am going to try to prepare as much as I can in advance, however, since it is to be a rest day). Ussher believes that the 1st day of Creation, in which God said, "Let there be light!" was the 1st day of the 7th month. An interesting bit of trivia: if this is true, then that explains why God had to command Moses to change the 1st month for Israel to the Passover month in the spring, since they were used to celebrating the1st day of the 1st month (the day on which all time began) in the fall. It is at the Exodus, then, that the 7th month became the 7th month instead of the 1st month.

Trumpets were blown in the history of Israel always as a call to summon the congregation of Israel (into which we have been grafted), the ekklesia, for different purposes:

1) to set out together on a journey;
2) to assemble to worship the Lord on feast days, new moons, and Sabbaths;
3) to assemble to defend against an attack, or to attack an adversary;
4) to announce the coming of the Lord;
5) to announce the coronation of a new king (see also 2 Kings 11:13-14).

These purposes have very interesting applications for the second coming of Jesus the Messiah, this time as King of kings! And it is His coming that our family will be celebrating this Thursday! (Read more about the prophetic significance of the Feast of Trumpets.)

acts 23

Read Acts 23 at Bible Gateway.

The division among the teachers of the Law, between Sadducees and Pharisees, arose sometime after the return from captivity in Babylon. Before the captivity, there was one Torah party - those who adhered to the written Torah. After the captivity, some traditions of the elders were elevated to the same status as written Torah by one party of teachers of the Law. One party maintained the concept of an Oral Law (traditions of the elders) which was not part of the written Torah, but which was, they said, passed down through the generations from Sinai. Eventually the Oral Law was written in a book called the Talmud. The Pharisees were the Torah party that embraced the Oral Law as well as the Torah. They also embraced other concepts which were prevalent in Babylon, such as hierarchies of angels and demons, and the like.

The Sadducees rejected the Oral Law and anything which smacked of Babylonianism or additions to the written Torah. Their objection to the resurrection may be an extreme position based on a rejection of reincarnation, which was a Babylonian concept. The rabbis are in general, the descendants of the Pharisee Torah party, and the Karaite Jews (who reject the Talmud and rabbinical Judaism) are in general, the descendants of the Sadducee Torah party.

Paul was wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove, in garnering support in the council from his fellow Pharisees, by stating that his trial was because of his belief in the resurrection of the dead - the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The reason the plot was made to kill Paul, was because they saw that first of all, the council was unlikely to unite to condemn him before the Roman governor. Secondly, as a Roman citizen, without a condemnation from the Jewish council, they saw no chance at all for getting Rome to agree that he ought to be condemned to death. They believe he deserved death, but I believe that their unreasoning fury against him was spiritually motivated, not rationally motivated. As the enemy stirred up the mob to be irrationally motivated against Jesus, so now he was stirring up whomever he could use to be irrationally motivated against Paul. The Father used this incident to send Paul to Rome to testify before the Roman emperor. But first he had to go through the ranks, so to speak, starting in Jerusalem.

Now the problem the centurion was having, was in writing a cheirographon against Paul. Remember we learned that Jesus had a cheirographon - a written list of his accused crime - nailed above the cross when He was crucified. His cheirographon read "King of the Jews." The cheirographon was an integral piece of Roman justice, and no prisoner could be held or tried or condemned without it. It was the list what he had done that broke Roman law. We have something similar in American law (much of our practice comes from Roman law). If someone is taken to the police station in handcuffs, he has to be accused of a crime or set free. He cannot be held indefinitely and for no reason.

When the centurion sent Paul to Felix, the Roman governor, he was stating essentially in his letter, that did not have a cheirographon to send with the prisoner, because he could not determine from the Jews what his crime was. So it fell to Felix to determine what his crime had been.This is why Paul's accusers were commanded to appear before Felix also.

And all the while, Paul needed to keep his faith and trust in YHVH for his life, his vindicaton, and his deliverance. He knew God could miraculously set His people free from chains - he himself had experienced it. But our life, once we become a believer, is not about our comfort. It is about our witness to the world that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God! We have seen numerous times in Acts where God allowed His people to be discomfited, if it got them where He wanted them - as a witness to Him! So we can trust in Him at all times, and His praise shall continually be in our mouths! He is on His throne no matter in what circumstance we find ourselves!

acts 22

Read Acts 22 at Bible Gateway.

As Paul was giving his defense before the Jews, the thing that stood out to me today, was their response to his testimony of Jesus Christ, that He was sending him far away to the Gentiles. They had such a violent reaction to this statement that they believed he deserved death! Now, why?

Remember the original lie these believing Jews had been told: that Paul was, among the Gentiles, teaching both Jew and Greek to forsake Moses, something that they did not do, nor did the Torah or the Prophets teach Israel to do. Not only are many of the commandments and statutes eternal and permanent - not only was there to be one Torah for Jew and Gentile alike who had come to connect himself to the God of Israel - but the Prophets prophesied of the New Birth, that a characteristic of it would be careful obedience to the commandments and statutes of the Lord from a new heart! (Jer 31:33, Eze 36:25-27).

Traditionally, the Gentiles were the enemies of God and the enemies of the Jews. They had become the enemies of God when they rejected God from being God over them at the Tower of Babel incident (Gen 11:1-9). The seed of Abraham had been called out from among the nations to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Examples of how Israel regarded the Gentiles can be read in 1 Chr 16:8-36 and Ps 106:34-43.

Mingling with Gentiles had come to culturally mean, forsaking the Lord and mingling the worship of YHVH with that of idols - capital punishment offenses according to Torah. So we can understand a little bit where the animosity was coming from.

However, it is also true that in many places, the Prophets prophesied that Messiah would be a light to the Gentiles, and that the Gentiles would come to Zion to give glory to the God of Israel (Isa 11:10, Isa 42:1-7, Isa 49:1-6, Amo 9:11-12, Mal 1:11, and many more).

The problem came with how the Jews expected Messiah to accomplish the bringing of the light to the Gentiles. We saw that they did not perceive that Messiah would come in two comings, an early coming and a late coming, and first coming in humility and a second coming in glory. They were looking for one coming, the expected coming in glory. I think even the believing Jews expected that Messiah would return in glory in the first century, in their lifetimes. In His glorious coming, they believed that Messiah would bring light to the Gentiles by imposing Torah as Law among the Gentile nations (Ps 2). Then finally they would not be walking in unrighteousness and idolatry and rebellion any longer. And I do believe, that when Messiah Yeshua returns, He will rule the nations with a rod of iron from Jerusalem, and every nation will be made to submit to the rule of Torah so that justice and righteousness will reign in the earth.

But they did not realize that the time gap between His first and second coming would be as great as it has been, and that in the mean time, the Gentiles would receive Light because they would receive Messiah by faith and by His Spirit! Even though this incident took place many years after Peter preached to Cornelius in Acts 10 (perhaps 10 or 20 years later), the old ideas died hard. :) And it was Paul who received the revelation of the mystery of the Gospel to the Gentiles, so they were perhaps not as used to the teaching in Jerusalem, as we are from reading Paul's letters.

Creation week in itself is a prophecy of the times of the coming of Messiah. For in six days God worked, and on the 7th day He rested. So for six millennia the curse of sin will be on the world (which is work, Gen 3:16-19), but the 7th millennium will be the millennium of rest under the kingship of the Messiah. After it became clear that Messiah's return would not happen within the lifetime of the apostles, this understanding of the prophetic nature of the Creation week was the common one held by the early Church fathers as can be seen from their writings.

The fact remains that we are very close to the end of the six millennia of the curse and work! Ussher figured the first day of creation at 4004 BC, which would place the end of the 6th millennium at 2004 AD - which is past. However, there are too many years in our BC calendars, because there have been too many years assigned to the Persian kings. We are told that the destruction of the Temple took place in 586 BC -- based on the current number of years accepted for the Persian kings, which are too many -- and 70 years later, the decree went forth to rebuild Jerusalem, so 516 BC. But the angel told Daniel that there would be 69 weeks from the going forth of the decree until the coming of the Anointed One (Dan 9:25), or 483 years. We can rest assured that God knows what year it is. If our BC dating had been accurate, the decree went forth ~ 453 BC - because Yeshua did not become the Anointed One until He was baptized in the Jordan by John at approximately the age of 30 years. So our BC calendars might be off by as much as 60 years, give or take! We just are not sure. So even though we know we are in the ballpark for the end of the 6000 years, no man knoweth the time. It could be this year, next year, ten or twenty years from now - we do not know.

Moral of the story: Stay watching, prepared, and waiting! Keep oil in your lamps! Look up, for your redemption draws near!

acts 21

Read Acts 21 at Bible Gateway.

In this chapter, when Paul returns to Judea and Jerusalem from his third missionary journey, the apostles have him undertake a bit of a test that sparks the whole powder keg that ends up with Paul being arrested and sent to Rome. The passage in question is vs. 17-25.

Now I have heard this passage used to support the concepts, 1) that Gentiles are exempt from obedience to the Law, 2) and that Jews, even saved Jews, are not. We are going back to our old mantra -- if this is the proper understanding of this passage, it will harmonize with the rest of Scripture that also addresses this same topic.

So some background info. It was not only Gentiles who were believing in the Lord Jesus, but myriads of Jews as well. The Greek word “myriad,” singular, is ten thousand; plural, it can mean twice ten thousand, or ten thousand times ten thousand, or, an innumerable amount. Suffice it to say, that the number of Jews who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for justification, and who also obeyed the Law (not for justification) was very large.

The Jews in Jerusalem had been told a report about Paul that was not true -- that he taught the JEWS among the Gentiles, outside of Judea and Samaria, to abandon the Law (“forsake Moses”). Now I don't believe that Paul even taught the GENTILES to forsake Moses. Some examples from his letters to the Gentiles:

“Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.” Rom 3:31

“But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. ” Rom 7:6-12

Bunny trail here: the paragraph headers in your Bible? Yeah, those aren't inspired as the text is. I believe that Paul is saying here in Rom 7, that the Law obeyed from the flesh (the oldness of the letter -- when the Law is only inscribed on tablets of stone outside of the heart) produces the fruit of sin and death. But the Law obeyed from the Spirit, by a heart made new by the Spirit, produces the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). The flesh cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit, nor can the Spirit produce the fruit of the flesh. A foundational principle of the created universe, is that like kind produces like kind (Gen 1:11-12). But here we see Paul, upholding the Law as holy and just and good. When we get into Romans, which is next after Acts, we will go into Paul's terminology and theology in depth, so that we can understand what he is talking about when he says, “delivered from the Law” and other passages.

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Cor 6:9-10

Why will the persons who practice these things not inherit the kingdom of God? These things are all prohibited by the Law.

“Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.” 1 Cor 7:19

“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law;” 1 Cor 9:19-21

Paul says he becomes as one without the Law in order to win those who are without the Law, however, he adds the big qualification, lest anyone should misunderstand him, that he is not without God's Law, but remains under God's Law; i.e. obedient to God's Law.

“Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification ... For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.” 1 The 4:1-8

How we walk in a manner that pleases God, is by obedience to the will of God expressed in His commandments, abstaining from uncleanness, and embracing holiness. What is the definition of unclean and holy? The Torah is the dictionary of the Bible - the New Testament did not exist as yet. Whoever rejects this -- that we ought to walk, pleasing God, by obeying His will, by abstaining from uncleanness and embracing holiness as it is expounded in His commandments -- does not reject Paul, but God.

Okay, so I believe that Paul did not exhort anyone to forsake Moses, either Jews or Gentiles. He is misunderstood, because he contended that salvation could not be had by obedience, and he maintained that true obedience could only come from a new heart by the Spirit. But He did not reject Moses.

Not only this, but the concept that one standard exists for Jews while another standard exists for Gentiles is in itself contrary to Torah. Looking at all of Old Testament history in its big picture, Israel was to be like the firstborn nation, the priesthood nation of the seventy nations who rebelled at the Tower of Babel (Gen 10-11; count the nations in the Table of Nations in Gen 10; there are seventy of them). Israel, the one nation, was to witness to YHVH and teach the other nations who had turned from YHVH at Babel, by the light which was in them, to return to YHVH and to worship Him only. As Gentiles from these nations came to connect themselves to YHVH, they were to have one Torah (Exo 12:49, Lev 24:22, Num 15:16). Two Torahs, one for Jews and one for Gentiles, is anathema to the teaching of Torah; and two salvations, one for Jews and one for Gentiles, is anathema to the Scriptures (Eph 2:11-20, 4:4-6). God is not schizophrenic! He is I AM! He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever! He does not change and His Word does not change!

In order to show that Paul was not teaching the forsaking of Moses, the apostles wanted him to pay for the vows of some of their number. This is referring to the Law of the Nazirite (Num 6). Paul willingly did so. Now we know he was completely capable of digging his heels in when he felt it transgressed the Gospel, so we know that if he willingly went to pay vows that were not even his, that he did not object to the Law.

Now why did James and the elders bring up the four laws that they applied to the Gentiles back in Acts 15 here? I believe they were clarifying that their instruction to the Gentiles was in regard to their salvation, not their continuing lifestyle -- because what Paul was being accused of, was teaching not to circumcise children as a prerequisite for salvation. He was not against circumcision per se, because he took and had Timothy circumcised during one of his trips to Jerusalem (Acts 16:3).

This is admittedly a difficult passage. I believe it can only be understood properly by seeing that what it is claimed to be saying, is disproved by other Scriptures; but it is a difficult to prove what it is saying just from the text itself.