A NEW PHARAOH IS COMING

Matthew 24:24 For false Messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. As time and again Pharaoh hardened his heart against Hashem, the worried Israelite must have wondered how come he could not see the light, change, and repent. They did not fully realize that through this event, He who created the universe was making His grand entrance on the scene of World History. Until today Hashem is marveled at through the remembrance of these events. The narrative of a king or nation standing against Israel trying to destroy it was going to be repeated several times in History. It is even very possible that today we are getting ready for another Jewish persecution, albeit in another form. Egypt therefore needed to be Hashem's power show-case for His children of all generations to remember and use as a precedent. I am reminded of Herod Antipas who lived a double life. While in Jerusalem he acted as an observant Jew in order to please Israel, but when he was in his palace of Caesarea he would live a totally ungodly Roman lifestyle. Only the believers, the true followers of God from the Nazarene Sect, the disciples of Yeshua were not fooled and could see for the hypocrite he was. So to top it all, Herod Antipas initiated a persecution against the followers of Yeshua. In the end, He is recorded as having been eaten by worms for not giving glory to God (Acts 12). Such is the fate of the hypocrite who pretends to be godly in order to attract people to himself while he is actually a fake and a farce. He is soon revealed as he does not give glory to God but takes it to himself. As the world gets darker and darker many nations, even those who profess to believe in the God Yeshua worshiped, are becoming spiritually darker and darker. These nations will give rise to the one who, while professing and promising messianic expectancy of peace and plenty, will be in direct challenge and opposition to God, changing times and seasons and taking glory to himself (Daniel 7:25; 2 Thessalonians 2:4). In those days only those who know Hashem will know the difference (Daniel 11:32). For this reason, this Pharaoh-like/Herod Antipas-like king will also try to exterminate them. Like Pharaoh who thought he was God and could challenge Him; like Herod Antipas who thought he could deceive the people and who did not give glory to God but took it for himself (Acts 12:23); one will soon rise to deceive the people. Many will be deceived in those days (Matthew 24:5, 11, 24), but not those who know Hashem (Daniel 11:32), not the true followers of God, those from the Nazarene sect, the disciples of Yeshua. As our brothers of old saw through Herod Antipas, we will recognize this anti-Messiah (counterfeit-Messiah) for who he is, as he will not give glory to God but take it to himself. May we in those days remember the mighty victory of the God Hosts against Egypt.

THE NEW MOON AND THE DAY OF MESSIAH

Matthew 25:13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour The Biblical calendar is a lunar calendar adjusted with the sun and the seasons. Because of a Scripture in Colossians, some deduct that we are not to attach importance to certain calendar dates (Colossians 2:16), but we need to remember that the people that Paul chided for calendar observances where pagans. Paul himself observed Sabbaths, Passovers, Jewish festival, and the Yom Kippur fast which all were calendar base dates. God has asked that we ‘sanctify’ the New Moon (Exodus 12:2), meaning to set it apart. Setting apart the New Moon gets us all in sync celebrating festivals all at the same time. The Hebrew word used for Levitical Festival in Leviticus is ‘Mo’ed’: ‘appointed times’, appointment’. At these times we have a ‘date’ with the Creator; would we want to miss it? Because of our undue independent nature, even something as simple as coordinating ourselves together with God has been a major issue over the centuries. A cloudy night could mess up the whole thing up. Also, with Jews living more and more outside of Israel, it became more and more difficult to synchronize everybody. To top it all, in the fourth century C.E., the Roman government desiring to stop the believers from observing Passover officially forbade the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem from convening and determining the New Moon. This had the desired effect of leaving everyone to their own devices creating division and chaos until today. As a result, the method of determining the moon by sighting fell in disuse and Jewish leadership started to do it through astronomical calculation. This is how the Hillel ll calendar was born. Until Yeshua returns and re-organizes the whole thing, it needs to suffice. Days are important. There was a particular day when the door of the ark was shut, a determined day for the Children of Israel to put blood on their doorpost and for them to leave Egypt. In these cases, a calendar fluke would have had disastrous consequences. The Master followed the calendar dates of Passover scrupulously in His death and resurrection. The Sabbath also is a set day with particulars if not, how do intend to fulfill Yeshua’s injunction, “Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath” (Matthew 24:20)? Even now a day is coming, a day which is the culmination of all of our calendar dates, a day which has been foreseen and predicted by all patriarchs and prophet. We are told that the only people who do not know that day are the ones living in the night of ignorance, but that those who live in the light of knowledge should know (1 Thessalonians 5:1-6). That day is a very special day. As the arrival of the day for the children of Israel to leave Egypt was punctuated by signs and plagues, so will the Day be of Yeshua’s return to avenge His people and judge the whole world. These signs will not be esoteric or mystical, they will be real and tangible, so that everyone will be able to recognize them. May we be ever faithful to study and obey the Word which gives us the light to know that Day!

HE WHO JUDGES ISRAEL!

1 Corinthians 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. After God delivered the Children of Israel from Egypt with His Mighty Arm He commanded that any future king of Israel should, not … cause the people to return to Egypt … (Deuteronomy 17:16). Because of this commandment, some in Jewish religious circles conclude that once a Jew returns to Israel, to the Land of his ancestors, it is a sin to leave it again, even temporarily. But was the commandment to be applied solely within a geographical understanding? Eight centuries after the Exodus, the Children of Israel had gone full circle. Subject to a coup within their own royal house they fear the fury of Nebuchadnezzar, so the remnant from the Babylonian deportation decides to seek refuge in Egypt. They seek the advice (or demand the approval) of Jeremiah the prophet who by the Word of Hashem tells them to stay put in Israel. They reject the counsel and go anyways, taking Jeremiah with them as a prisoner (Jeremiah 46). Hashem must have foreseen this event for He warned them of this before they even entered the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 17:16). It is easy to judge and criticize the Children of Israel for this blatant bout of disobedience. Children are known to love to judge their parents, especially teenagers! Yes; we can look at them and say, “Why? Why didn’t they trust God and obey the commandment, especially when Jeremiah told them? Can’t they remember all the bounty and power God showed them in the past …etc …” Yes it is easy to react that way, but the only way to have mercy and compassion on others is to have a good hard and honest look at ourselves. A rule for Jewish judges was that if a judge could not see within himself the fault of the person he was to judge, he would be self-righteous and therefore not fit to judge that person. Seeing the fault of others in ourselves provides us with the Spirit of the Judge of the earth who took on sin upon Himself so He could judge us righteously (Isaiah 11:1-4). He still asks us, Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye (Matthew 7:3)?. We must remember that, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come (1 Corinthians 10:11). A good honest look at ourselves easily reveals the spirit of fear and compromise which stifles our effectiveness for Him as well as eats at our trust in obeying His word of personal revelation to us. It is usually at the end of our lives when we realize how we have missed the boat. We see then how we have allowed fear and personal interest to provoke us to compromise and choose a life of seeming safety instead of launching out like Abraham into a bright future that could not be altered no matter what. May we learn from the Children who tried to find safety in returning to their old lives. May we learn that we are safer in a desert surrounded by enemies if God is with us that in that within a shaded walled garden with supplies yet without Hashem. We need this lesson to help us face the days to come. We need to live it today so we can teach it to our children for their days to come … and that of their children’s! Patrick Gabriel Lumbroso

BETWEEN 'IRAQ' AND A HARD PLACE!

Matthew 6: 24 (KJV)

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

About 3,400 years ago the people of Israel learned that Egypt was an unreliable staff. Not only did they learn that Egypt was no match for God, but that the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic didn’t really cost nothing; it came at the price of servitude to Pharaoh, the god of the land (Exodus 11:5). Ultimately Hashem Himself challenges Pharaoh’s pride, destroys his army, and takes his country down several notches. The only option at freedom for Israel was to throw itself at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will.

About eight centuries later, both Israel and Egypt are found to learn the same lesson. Pharaoh Hophra thinks himself to be god and Israel seeks refuge under his provisions. Judea had been told to submit to Babylon and live (Jeremiah 27:12), but stubbornly refused, which eventually caused its destruction and seventy years captivity. Those left from the captivity see themselves again under Babylonian attacks and seek refuge under Ophra of Egypt, thus absolutely rejecting Jeremiah’s advice to stay put in Israel (Jeremiah 42). In the end, Israel finds itself between the Babylonian army coming as locusts to destroy Pharaoh and Egypt (or ‘between ‘Iraq' and a hard place’’) (Jeremiah 46:23; Exodus 10:4, 12-14). The only option for Israel again will be to throw itself at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will.

Today Israel faces the same dilemma. Having a divine destiny to re-conquer and re-populate the Promised Land, Israel is discovering that the political credit and financial support it receives from the international community may come at the price of heavy compromises including the giving up of Jerusalem. Again, Israel has to make hard choices, and throw itself at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will.

On an homiletical level, this lesson may apply to us all. In the global economy in which we live, when someone sneezes in Asia or the Middle East, our whole economy gets sick with a cold. Suddenly, that far away ‘sneeze’ echoes and sends shivers into our very pocket books and ability to provide for our families here at home. The good news is that as believers and followers of God, we have the admonition from Yeshua to not rely on the shaky uncertainty of an international economy already so sick that it is actually dead, only made to look alive by the life support of political lies and pretences (Matthew 6; 19-34; Philippians 4:19).

Most of the time also, successful business in a capitalistic society comes at the price of aggressive financial maneuvers that go against the principles of Torah and of God’s commandment to not practice usury, but to give in love preferring the welfare of others before that of our own.  We all therefore have hard choices to make!, and ultimately need to throw ourselves at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will!

THE LORD OF THE SHABBAT

Matthew 12:8

“For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath."

In His encounters with the religious body of Israel, the Master often discussed the details of Torah observances and most especially those concerning the Sabbath. It is the common understanding of Christians to assume that Yeshua broke the Sabbath because as they say 'He annulled the Instructions God gave at Sinai'. The problem with that is that not only it flies in the face of His own teaching which says that, “whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments (The Torah) and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19), but it also contradict God’s injunction that  anyone who breaks the Torah not only cannot be the Messiah but is also a false prophet (Deuteronomy 18). Christian Sabbaterians also argue that Yeshua did not break the Sabbath, only the traditions of the scribes and the Pharisees, but that doesn't make sense either since the Master’s justification for His actions came from the same set of mishnaic oral tradition teachings the scribes and the Pharisees used. 

The verse, For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8) sheds some light on the situation. Yeshua often referred to Himself using the expression ‘Son of Man’ (Daniel 7:13). A problem with that is that ‘son of man’, in Hebrew, ‘ben-adam’ also means ‘human being’ in general. In our text Yeshua seems to use the expression in a very general way. As a recognized Rabbi with disciples, it was perfectly legal for Yeshua to establish rulings on Sabbath observance. Even today in Judaism religious leaders differ in their opinions of details of commandment applications and people are free to follow their favorite rabbi. The problem was that a few certain Rabbis (not all, as many honored Yeshua as in the case of Nicodemus) simply did not agree with Yeshua.

The situation was very irritating for Yeshua’s doctrinal opponents, but they could not do anything against Him because even His justifications came from the teachings of the Talmud. What the Master taught was simple. Even though it was already understood that any issues regarding life and death superseded Torah commandments, even the Talmud agrees that it is right to do good on the Sabbath, ‘good’ in the Yeshua's teaching also meant to alleviate human suffering such as hunger and pain provoked by disease.  What we have here is typical religious legal debate.

The Apostolic texts tell us that Yeshua is ‘the brightness of His (Hashem’s) glory, and the express image of His (God’s) person (Hebrews 1:3).). What Yeshua teaches us through these encounters is that the Father in Heaven is full of mercy and compassion for His children (Exodus 34:6-7) and that the form of obedience He requires from us is not hard, rigid, and cold, but leaves room for what the Scriptures call the ‘weightier matters’ (more important) and elements of the Torah which are, ‘justice and mercy’ (Micah 6:6-8; Matthew 23:23).

As Yeshua perfectly emulated the Father so we could know His love, compassion, and mercy, may we also perfectly emulate Yeshua that the world around us may know the Father‘s love, compassion, and mercy.

EXODUS: YESTERDAY AND TODAY

Romans 11:26-27

“The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will banish ungodliness from Jacob and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins."

Moses arrives in Goshen and tells Israel of God’s promises. He tells them that Hashem remembered the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and that intending to make good on them, He now calls on them to be their God and His people. The Israelites understand the message. Israel, who presently belongs to Pharaoh, the God of the world, is now being vied by another lover who says to her, "You are being abused, I will deliver you. You shall be mine now and I will take care of you”. Was Israel ready for the fight between two ‘bucks’ vying for the same female? As far they were concerned, they could be jumping from the frying pan into the fire!

The text then tells us that because of their broken spirit and the harsh slavery, the Children of Israel were not enthused at the message (Exodus 6:6-9). I like how the Hebrew text puts it. It speaks of Israel’s spiritual condition using the term, ‘ketser ruach’. The expression is an idiom for ‘despondency’. The literal meaning is ‘shortness of breath or of spirit’. They were spiritually exhausted. Their cruel bondage stole from them all strength for faith (Genesis 6:9). Hashem was going to have to do all the hard work!

How much like today. As it happened with Moses, who is also called in Judaism the ‘First Redeemer’ (thus making allusion to Messiah the Second Redeemer), we are watching the fulfillment of the promises God made to the patriarchs and the prophets concerning Israel. We have seen Him resurrect the country where Messiah is supposed to make His landing at the time they will all see Him (Zechariah 14). Just as in the times of the Exodus, Hashem today, spiritually and physically redeems Israel His people. Someone once told me, “If I were Jewish, I’d take the first plane out of exile, I’d be exited; why are they not?”

Same problem as with Moses! After 2,000 years of persecution first by the Romans, then the Catholics and the Spanish inquisition, followed by Luther’s Protestants, the Germans, Tsarist and Communist Russia, and now the Muslims who imported anti-Semitism from Europe, the Jewish people again seem spiritually exhausted on the 'Chosen People' idea. They seem to complain with Reb Tevieh (Fiddler on the Roof) “Why, why? I know, I know, because we are the ‘Chosen People … but sometimes couldn’t You chose somebody else?” Nevertheless God again saves His people with a great and mighty hand.

It is funny though. There are some who teach that because of their sins God forsook His people of old and replaced them with another: the Church. First, this doesn't add up with God's mathematics of covenant faithfulness, but also, He says that He only remembers the wickedness of fathers for three or four generations. As far I know, Hashem changes not and his covenantal promises are irrevocable (Malachi 3:6; Romans 11:29). The question is: Is our History of disobedience worse than their? And then, why would He forgive their sins but not ours? He either forgives or He doesn’t. If He forgives yours, He also forgave mine. But if he doesn’t forgive our unbelief, neither will He forgive yours! If He replaced us because of our sins, then he is also apt to replace you because of yours!

The Hebrew word ‘chesed’ translated as 'grace' means ‘covenant-keeping’. Our God is a gracious God. Unlike mankind, He keeps His covenant and His promises in spite of us. He keeps them for me, and He keeps them for you!

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'A Few Good Men'

1 Timothy 3:1

If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

Mankind is of a rebellious nature. We are small, weak, vulnerable and yet as ironic as it may seem, we strive for independence at any cost. Human history teaches us that our thirst for freedom from even God-appointed human leadership has solely been quenched by the spilling of much blood. Mahatma Gandhi is known to have said to British officials then controlling India that, “Every man would prefer to have his own bad government that the good government of others”. Whereas countries do have their own right to self-determination, in theology today this principle translates in that mankind prefers to be led by his own distilled spiritual errors than by the Truth taught him by a God-appointed leadership.

The Father knows that we need leadership that’s He inspired Jethro to advise Moses to establish a council of elders. This council was to be called the ‘Court of Judgment’ or ‘bet-din’ in Hebrew. Authority was granted to individuals to help people find answers interpreting the Torah by the Torah. This council would later become the Sanhedrin.

Just as people today refuse to answer to any human authority, it is not hard to imagine that there were some in the Children of Israel who resented that lower court in favor of wanting to solely refer to the higher court: of Moses (Torah). It is not hard also to imagine that a charismatic council member would draw much attention to himself thus provoking unbalanced loyalties from the people. These problems with human leadership exist today, and they certainly existed then; we see them plenty in the Bible.

This is why these needed to be men known for their integrity men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, men to whom Moses would teach the statutes and the laws of God. Moses had the charge to make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do (Exodus 18:20-21).

The disciples of the Master established leadership in the Messianic congregations according to the same blue-print. We see how at a time of crisis they felt the need to established leaders in order to judge petty matters within the community (Acts 6:1). Again, as in the Horeb blue-print, these men were chosen for their integrity; men of good repute and full of the Spirit and of wisdom (Acts 6:3). Also Paul established leadership over each and every congregation according to the same parameters. Hear his advice to Timothy on how to choose congregational leaders: an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive … dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain … their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things (1 Timothy 3:1-12).

It is also noticeable that it was the people who chose these leaders who were afterward anointed and appointed by Moses or Paul.

A Mass Immersion for a National Rebirth

1 Corinthians 10:2

All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

The Children of Israel could have left Egypt, traveled directly northward and be in Canaan in a few weeks. Instead, God had them make a small detour crossing the Red Sea by the Gulf of Aqaba. Were the reasons given for this route (Exodus 13:17-18) the only real purposes?

The Israelites had just spent several generations in Egypt. They now needed to be cleansed from idolatry and Egyptian culture. They needed to be reborn into God’s people, with a new life and a new culture. This is where the idea of ‘born-again’ came from; from two tractates from Jewish sages that say that total immersion into water (baptism) is like being born again. We go into a water and stop breathing which is like being in a grave where we do not have breath anymore, and we come out resurrected a new person. The sages mention the ‘born-again’ idea mostly in regards to converts to Judaism (Yevamot 47b nd 48b). They immerse in order to emerge a born-again new creature in God. This is what God had in mind in this nation-wide immersion through the Red-Sea (1 Corinthians 10:2).

When Yeshua told Nicodemus that he needed to be reborn, the modern-day ‘born-again’ movement did not exist, so Yeshua was using the term according to its Talmudic meaning, and this is why Nicodemus answered the way he did. What he said in essence was “Why do I need to convert when I am already Jewish?” To which Yeshua basically answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-6); in other words reiterating John the Immerser’s message that biological descent into God’s family was not enough, but repentance into a new for God was also needed (Matthew 3:9).

Yeshua continued by saying, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8). Just like the wind cannot be seen and is only perceived though its effects, so we are. The new life that we now live, its positive influences on others and its reflection of God’s spirit, are the only testimony given to others of our rebirth.

As we claim to have been reborn, as we claim to have been immersed unto Yeshua, let the effects of our rebirth be felt by others. May we live and walk in the newness of life that He has given us to be God’s children, and as the healing reflection of His spirit on our poor world.

'You're Gonna have to serve Somebody'

John 8:36

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Our fathers were slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh ordered their lives. He told them what to work, where to work, and how to work; to serve Pharaoh and no other god. Pharaoh was to be obeyed and worshipped under pain of death. When they cried under the cruel oppression, the Almighty El-Shaddai heard them and by His mighty Right Hand delivered them. He delivered them, brought them to a mountain and bound them to Him and to His Laws. God’s Law then ordered our father’s lives. It told them what to work, where to work, and how to work; to serve Adonai and no-one else. Adonai was to be obeyed and worshipped under pain of death.

For those who have a tendency to think that living under the Torah is a form of bondage, it could be concluded that the Children of Israel went from one bondage to another; from slavery under Pharaoh to slavery under God. Indeed, judging by the way living under the commandments of Torah is viewed by Christianity today, these conclusions are inevitable.

Let me indulge in a mariner’s analogy. A sailor is at sea. He is in charge of an expensive vessel, he is responsible for a crew. He has a mission to accomplish. He is at the helm with a serious look on his face. He does not make a move, he does not take one decision without checking his compass. The compass determines the success or failure of his mission, the safety of his vessel; the life and death of his crew. I heard it said that if a sailor wants to enjoy the high seas, he must become slave to the compass.

My friend, thus it is with life. To accomplish the goal for which we were sent on the high-seas of life, to keep our traveling vessel worthy, to preserve the life of those entrusted unto us, we also must become slave to the ‘compass’, and in this case, the ‘compass’ is the Torah.

A famous American folk singer sang the words, ‘You’re gonna have to serve somebody; whether it may the devil or whether it may be the Lord, you’re gonna have to serve somebody’! We truly always have to serve somebody. We either serve the King of the land or we serve God. And when our lives are not regulated by external forces, we then become slaves to the worse bondage of all: the bondage to our own passions.

Serving God under His Torah is the most wonderful freedom of all. It is the freedom from human slavery, self-imposed or otherwise. It is the wings that free us from even the bondage of gravity to take us to higher ground. It is the very substance that delivers us from the fear of death to bring us to eternal life. If that is bondage, may I live under it all the days of my life.

The Last Exodus

1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Adonai ….

After over two hundred years in Egypt, the people of Jacob who had come in for refuge from the famine were very influenced by Egyptian ways and culture. Through the plagues, in plain sight of the Egyptians and of Israel God took on each one of the main gods of Egypt to show the world His ultimate superiority. This was a shock to Pharaoh, and a reminder to the people of Israel of the story they had heard about the God of their ancestors.

A parallel lesson unfolds for God’s people in the fifth century B.C.E. Israel had already been invaded by Babylonian Emperor Nebuchadnezzar and the poor that were left in the Land were governed by Gedaliah’s provisional government. A plot from Amon caused Gedalliah to be killed so the people feared Babylon’s reprisals. Against Jeremiah’s strong counsel from God, the people decided to flee to Egypt for refuge. Once there, they sought Pharaoh’s protection and prayed to Egyptian gods. Nebuchadnezzar was now coming after them in Egypt, which he was going to also destroy. In the forty-sixth chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, God shows that through Nebuchadnezzar, His mighty was again going to destroy the Egypt in which His children trusted. He takes aim and mocks the futility of the gods of Egypt who are unable to do stand up and protect. He says, 'Stand ready and be prepared, for the sword shall devour around you.' Why are your mighty ones (Egypt’s idols) face down? They do not stand because the LORD thrust them down. He made many stumble, and they fell, and they said one to another, 'Arise, and let us go back to our own people and to the land of our birth, because of the sword of the oppressor.' Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt (and self-proclaimed god), 'Noisy one (he is noisy but is powerless) who lets the hour go by (he is not there in time of need)' (Jeremiah 46:13-17) .

And what shall we learn from these? It seems that the Father is on a constant crusade against the false gods of this world. No matter what He seems to do to show us His great power, we always seem to fall to the lure of the sensual and indulging gods of this world. As it was then, so it is today.

Today again He is calling us to leave ‘Egypt’ and to never return. He is calling us away from the gods of this world, but how can we enter the ‘Land’ with an unregenerate heart?

At a future time, the mighty El-Shaddai will return. This time He will destroy ‘Babylon’ (Revelation 17-18). He will also show His great power not only to His children but to the whole world. He will expose the vanity of mankind and bring His people from all over the world unto Him. May we be ready at that time. Let us take off from our ears the ear buds that fill us with the sounds of this generation. May we then be able to hear the call. May we then be clean from our idols, a bride without blemish consecrated unto Messiah.

"You Shall TeachThem To Your Children"

Luke 17:2

It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.

One of the main prayers in Judaism tells us, You shall teach them (the commandments) diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise (Deuteronomy 6:7). .As the Bible tells us of the Exodus events, several times the text refers to our children asking questions about it in the future. It says, And when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service' (Exodus 12:26)’? God wants us to teach our children. He wants to teach our children in a way that each generation feels as if they are the Children of Israel coming out of Egypt and meeting God at Mt Horeb. It seems in fact that the Father desires greatly that our children be included in all aspects of our religious life and that they be taught early on to have a healthy fear of the authority of God.

If we content ourselves to sit down and study the word but do not make it a requirement in our own lives to teach at least the elementary principles of Torah to our children, we commit spiritual and cultural genocide. The movement stops with us and we become responsible for it before the Father. The whole idea is for the message to be passed on so that the generation that arrives at the end of days can recognize good from evil, the Anti-Messiah against the real One. When we stop teaching our children the Word of Torah, we kill the last generation.

This commandment to teach our children presents us with inferred obligations. Children are great critics; in their simplicity they ‘smell’ hypocrisy. Children are also great mimics; they learn more by watching us than by listening to us. If therefore the life we lead is in contradiction with the sermons we preach, they will see it and will learn that the Words of the Bible are a cultural fairy tale that just like you do, they can chose to keep or dismiss. This commandment to teach our children is made to keep us on our spiritual toes. If by our sloppy sample we negate the importance of the Word in our children’s lives, we will be found guilty of relaxing its authority and as the master says, Whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:19).

Our modern anti-God materialistic society presents many problems when it comes to teaching the principles of the Word to children. But if our teenagers go away from God, is it because of society, or because our sample as parents does not convey a message consistent with our words? These are serious things to think about as whereas in our rationalizing mind we may excuse ourselves, God may not excuse us.

May we take these things to heart and clean up our sample so that we may not be guilty of neglecting the greatest gift and responsibility the Father gave us: our children.

The Eternal Universal Passover

Luke 22:19

“Do this in remembrance of me."

While enslaved in Egypt, our fathers may have felt victim of a gross injustice. They hadn’t done anything wrong, yet they were persecuted. They were persecuted solely because of man’s fear and vanity; because of man’s innate and perverted desire to control the fate of others. As they finally enacted God requirements for freedom, as they killed the lamb and applied its blood to their doorposts, little did they know that they were part of a plan that would bring freedom not just to them, but eventually to the whole world.

Jewish Chassidic sages believed that the suffering of a righteous person accounted as atonement for the sins of the world. Couldn’t it be that when we go through negative experiences that seem totally random, we are actually going through something for the sake of others? It is certainly true that the suffering the Righteous One, of He who is called the ‘only begotten of the Father’ serves as an atonement for our sins.

About height hundreds later, Jeremiah the prophet spoke of the return from the Babylonian captivity in these terms, "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' but 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' (Jeremiah 16:14). The return from dispersion has been a long-held Messianic promise and Cyrus the Persian king did allow all tribes to return to Israel. In the days of the Master, there were representatives of all tribes in the Land, but like today, many remain in the dispersion.

Six hundreds years after Jeremiah, Yeshua was born. God gave the care of Him to another righteous man: Joseph. The last time Yeshua enacted the long-held tradition of the Seder meal which reminded the Jewish nation of the events of Egypt, as a shadow picture He put Himself the element of the Seder (Luke 22:19-20), thus helping the disciples to understand the teaching of the sages who taught them that ‘eating the Passover represents the suffering of the Messiah’ (Tractate Pesachim). In Egypt he who splashed the blood of the Passover lamb on his doorposts (Jew and non-Jew) was freed from Pharaoh to go and serve the God of Israel. In Jerusalem he who follows Yeshua (Jew and non-Jew) is freed from a greater Pharaoh. He is freed from the Prince of the Power of the air (Ephesians 2:2) who like Pharaoh refuses to let us go and worship our God.

The work of redemption has been done from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). All the elements are in place. The only thing needed is our own free will to be freed from the seeming secure shackles of this world to go into the seemingly insecure spiritual wilderness of His service.

It can be a hot, a cold, a lonely windy scary place out there; but none other is more secure when following the footsteps of the Master.

Showdown with Pharaoh

Acts 17:30

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

The show-down between God and Pharaoh in Egypt could be coined ‘The Contest of the Gods for the Souls of Man’.

The Great Almighty creator of the universe, He who only allows the nations to exist as long as they benefit His will gave a direct command to Pharaoh. He said, “Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness”, to which Pharaoh answered, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice …” (Exodus 5:1-2). Boy was Pharaoh about to get an answer to his question. Egypt lost world dominance and never recovered.

Through the plagues, the Lord of Hosts challenged each and every god of Egypt. The God of Heaven showed His children and to the vain Egyptians that the gods of Egypt were nothing; that they didn’t owe their substance to the flow of the Nile nor to their abundant stocks, but ultimately to the God of the Hebrews whom they had enslaved. They had forgotten that it was through God’s blessing upon Joseph, a Hebrew slave, that the country had been saved from destruction through famine over two hundred years before.

For decades the Empire continued to partake of the blessing bestowed upon God’s children. But like Laban, Egypt wanted to keep the blessing prisoner. This reminds me of the story of a king who when he heard the beautiful song of a bird, he captured it and put it in a cage. Expecting to hear the beautiful heavenly music at will, this king was very disappointed when he realized that the bird couldn’t bless the king with his music while in captivity.

Now that Egypt had served its purpose of providing a place for God’s people to grow and multiply, God needed His children to go and establish the place that would eventually become the cradle of Messiah, the birthplace of He who wouldl bring the whole world to repentance.

The message is the same today. He that is in the similitude of the Passover Lamb calls us. He calls us to repent and let go of our sinful leaven, of the gods of pride and rebellion. He invites us to follow Him to a place of solitude far away from the vanity of this world; He desires to teach us His ways of love and humility.. When we hear the call and follow Him, in the same way that angels received and ministered to Jacob upon his return to the Promised Land, as a groom lifts his bride over the threshold of his house, so the Bridegroom Messiah lifts us up to carry us to His Kingdom where we will live with Him forever.

Shabbat Shalom

Matthew 12:12

“So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."

Due to ignorance of Jewish Law in the days of the Master, many have erroneously deprived themselves of one of the most beautiful gifts God gave to mankind: the Sabbath.

Most people, when reading the controversies between Yeshua and the Judean leadership conclude that Yeshua either abrogated not only the Sabbath but the whole Torah, or that He nullified the Jewish interpretation of Sabbath observance in favor of a more ‘mature’ sola-scriptura approach. Deeper readings though quickly prove both these notions wrong. The problem with reading the Bible is that many understand it anachronistically. They put into their reading of these events the whole Jew vs Christian and Law vs Grace conflicts which actually did not exist yet in the days of the Master. If Yeshua abrogated the Torah He couldn’t be the Jewish Messiah, and whereas He had authority to teach the right way to practice it, He did not move the ancient landmark that the fathers had set (Proverbs 22:28). Of the traditional teachings of His days He actually said, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you--but not what they do (Matthew 23:2). Through these words, Yeshua may not have agreed with their practices, but condoned their teachings.

Having been a first-born, as a young man Yeshua studied the traditions and He was well aware of them. He knew that according to Jewish Law, life and death superseded commandment obedience. Moved by the great compassion of the Father (Exodus 34:6-7), Yeshua could also argue that the alleviating of human suffering was acceptable on the Sabbath. Last but not least, having done His homework, Yeshua also understood that in Jewish Law, when a positive commandment (you shall …) and a negative commandment (you shall not ...) conflict, the positive supersedes the negative one. Based on this accepted legal understanding, Yeshua could argue that the positive commandment of showing mercy, in this case by healing, overrides the Sabbatical prohibition to work. In this way, Yeshua neither broke the Sabbath, the Torah, nor brought anarchy in the country by undermining spiritual leadership which is actually an abomination to God (Proverbs 6:16-19). In asking whether or not it was permitted to do good on the Sabbath, Yeshua reminded the Judean leadership of their own teachings.

Sabbath observance is an anticipation of the World to Come, of the age when Messiah will reign on earth. It will be the time when Mercy will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. We can live this anticipation today by following the Master‘s example and do good on the Sabbath.

May we spend God’s day with our children, friends and relatives, but may we also keep our eyes open for the blessing of doing ‘good’ on the Sabbath.

Shabbat shalom!

Messiah and the 'strong man'!

Luke 11:21-22

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.

Pharaoh as a strong man guards his house. Armed with soldiers, chariots, taskmaster, and priests he keeps control over his goods. The ‘strong one’ who possesses the souls of man keeps everyone in line much like we keep control over animals. He controls food supplies so everyone has to go to him for sustenance as well as the media which projects his autocratic worldview. Pharaoh rules … as long as no-one upset the fruit basket.

The world today is not much different. We are taught that away from the world’s authorized medical, educational, financial and religious institutions we are left unhealthy, ignorant, broke and without God. We learn that we have to submit to their social pressures to be accepted members of society. The system rules … as long as no-one upset the fruit basket.

Both Moses and Messiah come to change the dynamics and parameters of their day. They say that there is God in Heaven who is stronger than the system that controls us. They tell us that this God has the authority to free us from the ‘strong man’ (Exodus 5:1; John 8:36); to supply for us ‘bread from Heaven’ (Matthew 15:32-39; John 6:31-32) and real bread to, to heal, and to even free us from death.

Oh how the ‘strong man ‘fights! Like Pharaoh he tries to hold on to his prey. He does not let go easily. Like He did through Moses, God performs signs and wonders through His Messiah but like our fathers in Egypt, we still doubt. As Moses was determined to bring his people to the Father, it is only the Messiah’s determination that brings us, His brothers, back to the father from wherever we are in the world.

May we hear when He calls. May we follow when He goes. May we listen when we are instructed. May the Father grant us in His time to enter the Promised Land of His Kingdom on earth.

The Last Passover!

Luke 22:18

For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.

For two millennia, each year at the Passover Seder we drink the four cups of wine that tell the story of our Exodus from Egypt. It is a meal which uses foods and wine as descriptive elements of the story. It is a great tradition and children usually love it.

The four cups of the meal are: The Cup of Sanctification, the Cup of Deliverance, the Cup of Redemption, and the Cup of Praise. These cups define the four phases of the redemption of the Children of Israel from Egypt found in: “I will bring you out … I will deliver you … I will redeem you … I will take you to be my people, (Exodus 6:6-7). They did not celebrate Passover again until their last year in the desert.

King Solomon teaches us, “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). During His last Seder with His disciples, with a trace of melancholy Yeshua informs His friends that He will not eat again of the Passover Lamb until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God (Luke 22:16). After, He takes the first cup, the Cup of Redemption and says, “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes" (Luke 22:18). This statement teaches us that there is another ‘Passover’ coming up on the schedule, a Passover complete with sanctification through election of the Bride, deliverance from deathly plagues, redemption through marriage to ultimately belong to the Almighty in His household.

Hear now: The Perfect Lamb has been chosen in the Heavenlies. Each day we hear the good news of His redemptive power. He even now stands knocking at the door of every heart (Revelations 3:20). What will it be for us when the plagues descend? Will we be of those protected in Goshen, or like those receiving the recompense of their evil deeds against the people of God? At the time appointed, will we be of those following Him to a desert place for a Marriage banquet, or will we be left behind? When the ‘wood hits the sand’ (Chariot adaptation of the expression: ‘when the rubber hits the road’), we will see. As is told in the story of old, many Israelites stayed in Egypt while many non-Israelites through their lot with God.

To be chosen and leave Egypt is not enough. The old Egyptian culture has to be replaced by God’s new culture. Before entering the Promised Land we must follow Him to the mountain and receive the Ordinances that should direct our new life.. We must spend time in obedience to these in order to be ready.

Just before entering the promised Land of Yeshua’s reign on earth, we will see again a Passover complete with plagues and blood (Revelations 19-20). At that time, we will recline with Messiah at the table where He will again drink wine with us.

See you there?

What's in the Name?

John 17:26

I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

While on Mount Horeb, Moses clearly hears the Voice of the Almighty Creator of the universe telling him to go to His children. Fully aware of the cynical nature of man, Moses. proceeds by asking the Voice, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" (Exodus 3:13). The Voice cryptically answers, "I AM WHO I AM."…"Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"(Exodus 3:14). In those preceding words, the Mighty One reveals the fullness of His nature. Using a superlative conjugation of the Hebrew verb, ‘to be’, He calls Himself the Everlasting Existential One. This same connection with the verb ‘to be’ is also found in the etymological root of the tetragrammaton used in the Hebrew Bible for the Name of God.

Later on in the conversation the Almighty also tells Moses, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD (tetragrammaton in the Hebrew text) I did not make myself known to them (Exodus 6:3)”. This is strange because Abraham, praised the Father using the tetragrammaton (Genesis 22:14). Are those contradictions? To add to the confusion, Yeshua comes and claims to reveal the Name of the Father as if no-one ever knew it before (John 17:26).

No; these are not contradictions. When the Scriptures talk about the Name of the Father, they are not talking about a sound bite attributed to the Almighty to help us refer to Him in conversation. These statements about His Name are speaking of His nature, the character of His revelation which is different in every column of the Scroll. In Abraham, Adonai is the One who provides; in Moses, He is the Avenger; in Yeshua, He is the Savior, the Atonement, the Shield who covers with acceptable blood. How does Yeshua reveal the Name of God?

Like Joshua was to Moses and Elisha to Elijah, Yeshua is a model disciple of the Father. He was in such unity with the Father that He said they were one, meaning that he who saw Yeshua saw the Father. It didn’t mean that if you saw Yeshua in the market place you went home and said, “Hey, I saw God today in the market place today”, it simply meant that Yeshua followed the Father so close that He could be seen through His appearance. When Yeshua says that He came to reveal God’s Name, He simply says that by His lifestyle He revealed the Father’s nature to us.

Yeshua also said that we should be one with Him. That means that when people see us they should be able to see Him, and through Him, the Father (John 17:20-21). It’s a tall order for each one of us, but if we seriously live in the injunctions the Master gave us directly or indirectly through His apostles, we should be able to shine some of the light of the Farther on this poor earth.

Sabbath mercies

Matthew 12:8

“For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath."

In His encounters with the religious body of Israel, the Master often discussed the details of Torah observances and most especially those concerning the Sabbath. It is the common interpretation of Christians to assume that Yeshua broke the Sabbath because He annulled the Instructions God gave at Sinai. The problem with that is that not only it flies in the face of His own teaching which says that, “whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments (The Torah) and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19), but it also contradict God’s injunction that anyone who breaks the Torah not only cannot be the Messiah but is also a false prophet (Deuteronomy 18). Christian Sabbaterians also argue that Yeshua did not break the Sabbath, only the traditions of the scribes and the Pharisees, but even that does not make sense since the Master’s justification for His actions came from the same set of Oral Law teachings the scribes and the Pharisees used.

The verse, For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8) sheds some light on the situation. Yeshua often referred to Himself using the expression ‘Son of Man’ (Daniel 7:13). A problem with that is that ‘son of man’, in Hebrew, ‘ben-adam’ also means ‘human being’ in general. In our text Yeshua seems to use the expression in a very general way. As a recognized Rabbi with disciples, it was perfectly legal for Yeshua to establish rulings on Sabbath observance. Even today in Judaism religious leaders differ in their opinions of details of commandment applications and people follow their favorite rabbi. The problem was that certain Rabbis (not all, as many honored Yeshua as in the case of Nicodemus) did not agree with Yeshua

This was a very serious situation which irritated Yeshua’s doctrinal opponents, but they could not do anything against Him because even His justifications came from the teachings of the Talmud. What the Master taught was that though it was already understood that any issues of life and death superseded Torah commandments, even the Talmud agreed that it is right to do good on the Sabbath, ‘good’ in this case meaning to alleviate human suffering such as hunger and disease provoked pain. What we have here is very common religious legal debate.

The Apostolic texts tell us that Yeshua is ‘the brightness of his (God’s) glory, and the express image of his (God’s) person (Hebrews 1:3).). What Yeshua teaches us through these encounters is that the Father in Heaven is full of mercy and compassion for His children (Exodus 34:6-7) and that the form of obedience He requires from us is not hard, rigid, and cold, but leaves room for what the Scriptures call the ‘weightier matters’ (more important) and elements of the Torah which are, ‘justice and mercy’ (Micah 6:6-8; Matthew 23:23).

As Yeshua perfectly emulated the Father so we could know His love, compassion, and mercy, may we also perfectly emulate Yeshua that the world around us may know the Father‘s love, compassion, and mercy.