"BETTER THAN I DESERVE!"

Colossians 2:14                                                                              
Canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

 As much as Leviticus tells us of the blessings incurred by those who walk in Hashem’s instruction, it also tells us of the curses that befall those who don’t (Leviticus 26). There is a common teaching out there that claims that in his death and resurrection, Yeshua conquered and annulled the curse that comes through disobedience and that only the blessings remain. In essence, this would mean that the Torah has lost its teeth; there is no more retribution for sin. 

This view of the Torah is due to misinterpretations of Paul's letters, especially the one written to the believers in Galatia, is mostly due to mistranslation. This misinterpretation in turn is partly due to the influence of a translation done under an erroneous theology that discarded the writings of Leviticus assuming that the ancient Hebrew Scriptures are obsolete. The translators obviously were not familiar with the religious, theological, cultural, and social context of Paul's Letter to the Galatians.

One of the statements in question is, “Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us … (Galatians 3:13)” which most people interpret to mean that the Torah itself is a curse. This  would this fly in the face of its life giving purpose (Psalms 19:7) and eternal status (Psalms 19:9), and  go against everything King David said about it (Psalms 119. In addition, it is also recorded in Biblical and historical records of the life of the disciples, that they actually were very religious. Torah observance was in fact part of their testimony. Either Paul's statement is a forgery, Paul was wrong, the translators got it wrong, or there is a misunderstanding of its meaning. I stand for the two last options.

John the Disciple taught much about the nature of sin. He said that sin was the actual transgression, or breaking of Torah commands (1 John 3:4) and that those who say they don't sin deceive themselves (1 John 1:8). The Torah with its definition of sin is supposed to be life-giving to us (Deuteronomy 4:1). When it does not, could it be that it is because we are wrong? I have travelled to many places, and have very often seen people transform the good that is given to them into a curse or something evil. 

I heard a statement on the news the other day. Some law-maker claimed that crime would go down if they decriminalized a certain activity currently considered against the law.: When the law is altered, the criminal is no more a criminal. On the other hand, it doesn't change the behavior or the heart of the law-breaker, and it endorses criminal activity. In a Roman court of law, a record of debts, or law-breaking activities, is brought to the judge by the prosecutor. It is the same in the heavenly court but this time, it is the Accuser of the saints who brings legal charges against us, and he does so demanding the death penalty according to the. The death mentioned here is not the biological death which we all partake of, but the death that separates us from God forever. We must never forget though that the only reason we do not get the punishment of this death is because Mashiach takes it for us in a settlement out of court. The charges against us are not deleted; they are just paid by someone else! The credit found in the virtue of his innocent suffering is enough to pay for our debt. He is the only one whose righteousness successfully defied death and conquered it. In Yeshua, The prosecutor found its match!

We owe him our lives. Our lives belong to him and we should live in a state of eternal gratitude. When asked "How are you?" A famous radio show host always answers,”Better than I deserve”. That should be the sentiments that runs through our being day and night, for we certainly are “better than we deserve”!

 P. Gabriel Lumbroso
www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here

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ARE YOU MORE HOLY THAN YESHUA?

Acts 10:15

What God has made clean, do not call common.

            It seems that in the days of the Master Israel had taken the considerations of Leviticus 11 to such an extreme that it rendered fellowship with common folks and non-Jews impossible. In a way, it may have been the actual idea behind the commandment.

            There is nothing wrong with giving due diligence to the Commandments; Yeshua himself taught extreme measures in order to avoid breaking them (Matthew 5:27—30). In all ussues though, Yeshua was helping the leaders of Israel to apply these commandments in balance with other ones, especially concerning their universal mission to the world, which required fellowship and contact. What he was teaching was the idea of, “These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others" (Matthew 23:23). Yeshua personally spoke to Peter about it in a vision telling him, “What God has tahor-ed, (consider ceremonially fit) do not tamei (consider ceremonially contaminated) (Acts 10:15). This allowed Peter to go to the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius. By obeying the Master's vision, Peter initiated a revolutionary theological break with the Judaism of his day.  He was throwing the newly-born Nazarene movement into its universal mission of teaching Torah to the gentile world, move that Paul followed in Syrian Antioch, later in Turkey, Greece, and finally, Rome.

            Peter was the one chosen to challenge the stiff religious status quo of his day. As great as a disciple as he was, his weakness often surfaced. We saw him denying the Master the night of his arrest, and again in Antioch, to Paul’s horror, withdrawing himself from fellowship with Gentiles (Matthew 26:75; Galatians 2:11—14). In both cases Peter yielded to peer-pressure and fear. He was afraid to stand up because he valued the opinions of men.

            It is easy to blame Peter, but what the Master was teaching here was of utmost importance. Whereas Yeshua retained the Torah ideas of holiness, of being kadosh דושק, set-apart for Hashem, he was teaching it in an application that did not hamper the mission of being a light to our brothers, and to the world. The Master in effect was saying, "Do my will and trust me for your ceremonial sanctity; you can never attain it anyways!”; “These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others" (Matthew 23:23).

            Sad to say, I meet many today who in an undue attention t these things separate themselves from even their relatives. I have seen people even divorce on the same sort of imbalanced religious grounds. If he were there, the Master would be rolling in his grave, but we know that he is not there, praise be Hashem. He actually sadly watches us wondering how come he, he who is the holiest one of Israel, he who was set-apart for Hashem from creation, Hw come he was not afraid to put on the tamei  (ceremonial contamination) of the world in order to reach us but we, we are too holy  do it in order to reach out to our peers?

            Even though Peter denied the Master in front of men (Matthew 10:33), the Master forgave Peter and reinstated him (John 21:15—18). Later Peter also repented from his self-righteous separatism in Antioch and died as a martyr while ministering to the believers in Rome, Jews and Gentiles. May we also like Peter and Paul learn from Yeshua's teachings and properly balance the commandments. A wise man may learn by his experiences, but a wiser man learns by the experiences of others!

P. Gabriel Lumbroso

 For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

REMOVING THE LEAVEN

Before being worthy of eating the Passover Lamb, the Children of Israel were to clean their houses from leaven. Leaven represents sin. Before celebrating the special meal which would initiate the signal to leave Egypt behind and follow God for a new life in a new country, people needed to clean themselves from the sin of Egypt. Have you ever tried to remove all forms of leavens from your house after a year of cooking and baking? It is hard work to go through all the cracks and crannies of your house, and even after you are done, can you say for sure that you did not forget one single grain? No. That is why traditionally we pray: “Any leaven … that is in my possession … which I have not seen … should be annulled … (Siddur). Yeshua annuls that which we cannot remove! The disciples of the Master followed that tradition and the room where they celebrated their early memorial Seder was leaven-free. Even Judas was gone for most of the meal. He was gone to do his dirty work while Yeshua washed the disciples clean. Now they would all be very clean for celebrating the Passover on the very next day, eating the Passover Lamb itself, while the Master had just been crucified. Some may think that because in Yeshua our sins are forgiven, we do not need to seek for leaven anymore. Nothing could be further from the truth. That would be like saying that because I discovered this new powerful cleaning agent, I don’t need to do the hard work of finding dirt and cleaning it. Part of the job of ‘cleaning’ our soul is finding the ‘dirt’ and being ashamed of ourselves. It doesn’t happen without our conscious participation. It is not like an operation under full anesthesia where the surgeon removes the cancer while we are asleep! After eating the memorial Passover meal with the disciples the Master shared the Afikomen saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." He then lifted the third cup of the Passover Seder and said, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:19-20). The Exodus from Egypt was now associated with a Messianic Exodus from this world of sin. Remembering Him each time we drink this memorial Exodus cup prepares us and our children for another meal following another Exodus: the meal that we will all eat with Him after He has come as the final universal ‘Leaven Remover’ (Revelations 19:9). First leaven will be removed from His assembly; at that time, judgment starts with the house of God (1 Peter 4:17; Daniel 12:10; Matthew 24:15-22), then the world gets purified. As we are benefiting from Hs daily cleansing, may we walk worthy of our calling that we may be a good show-case to the world of the greatest cleaning agent on the planet, the only one who has been given the power to truly remove all leaven from our souls.