Month: June 2021

Our Duty to Truth…

John J Parsons

As followers of the God of Truth (אלוהי האמת), we are responsible to “do truth” (עשה את האמת) and to reject what is false (1 John 4:6). As Yeshua said, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world — to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37). This means that we have a moral and spiritual duty to think clearly and not to abuse our minds (Phil. 4:8; Rom. 12:2). The LORD will help us to do this, as Yeshua said: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you a Helper (παράκλητος, someone “called to one’s side”), to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth (i.e., ruach ha’emet: רוח האמת), whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him” (John 14:16-17). The Spirit of Truth helps us “discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable, and perfect” (Rom. 12:2) and empowers us to take “every thought captive” to the reality of God’s Presence (2 Cor. 10:4-5). Truth is connected to memory – both in our personal histories as well as the history of God’s redemptive actions performed on our behalf.  Truth is described as “a-letheia” (ἀλήθεια), literally meaning “not forgetfulness…”  Hence we are constantly commanded to remember what God has done for us and to “diligently repeat” (ושׁננתם לבניך) the truth to our children (Deut. 6:4-9). Similarly, the Spirit of Truth brings to remembrance the words of Yeshua to our hearts (John 14:26).

Followers of Yeshua are commanded to love the truth (אוהב את האמת) and to think clearly about their faith. The ministry of reconciliation (τὴν διακονίαν τῆς καταλλαγῆς) is defined as “the word of truth, by the power of God, through weapons of righteousness” (2 Cor. 5:18, 6:7). Indeed, the word of truth (τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας) is a synonym for the “gospel of salvation” itself (Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:5; James 1:18). We are saved by Yeshua, who is the “way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). God commands all people to believe this truth (Acts 17:30-31; 1 Tim. 2:4). People perish because “they refuse to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thess. 2:10-12). Therefore we see that the issue of truth is central to salvation itself….

Genuine teshuvah (repentance) implies that we will change our thinking in order to be transformed by God’s truth. The follower of Messiah “cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth” (2 Cor. 13:8). During this Season of Teshuvah, may God help us all to think clearly and to turn our thoughts to Him. May He protect us from the vanity of a darkened mind and from all distractions that attempt to seduce us away from Him. May the LORD give us the purity of heart to know and do His will in the truth. Amen.

 

Hebrew Lesson:

 

The Scarlet Thread (תְּחַטְּאֵנִי בְאֵזוֹב)

John J Parsons

This week we are reviewing the significance of the “Red Heifer” sacrifice. Recall that the Red Heifer was a completely red cow that was entirely burned on the altar – its hide, internal organs, and blood – and its ashes were then mixed with living water to create “waters of separation” that were used to cleanse from contact with death (Num. 19:1-10). In this connection it is noteworthy that three elements used for purification (cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet thread) were used not only for ritual cleansing from contact with death and tza’arat (Lev. 14), but were also used during the ratification of the covenant at Mount Sinai (see Exod. 24:8; Heb. 9:19-20) and indeed during the crucifixion of our Lord Yeshua. Recall that “hyssop” (אֵזוֹב) is first mentioned regarding the application of the blood of the lamb upon the doorposts during the Passover (Exod. 12:22), and that King David later appealed to God for cleansing saying, “purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean” (Psalm 51:7). A hyssop branch was also used to offer vinegar to Messiah during the time of his crucifixion (John 19:29). Likewise the wood from a cedar tree (עֵץ אֶרֶז) is likely the type of wood used for the cross of Messiah. Finally, scarlet (שָׁנִי) thread symbolizes both blood and royalty, and appears in the birth of Judah’s children Zerach and Peretz (Gen. 38:28), in the coverings of the Mishkan (i.e., Tabernacle), as a sign of Rahab’s faith (Josh 2:8,21), and as the color of the robe of Messiah during his crucifixion (Matt. 27:28). There are lots of connections to be found as we study Torah and Ha’Brit Ha’Chadashah, chaverim!

 

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Red Heifer: Paradox and Faith

John J Parsons

Our Torah portion this week (i.e., Chukat) describes the sacrifice of parah adumah (פרה אדומה), or the “Red Heifer” (see Num. 19:1-10). The Red Heifer is considered paradoxical to most Jewish thinkers, since the one who offers this sacrifice becomes ritually impure, while the sprinkling of the ashes from it makes people clean… The ritual is considered chok (חק) within Jewish tradition, meaning that it makes no rational sense. The Talmud states that of all the 613 commandments given in the Torah, even King Solomon with all his wisdom could not fathom this decree. However, the sacrifice of Yeshua the Messiah can be understood as the fulfillment of the symbolism of the Red Heifer: Both were entirely rare and without defect (sin); both were sacrificed “outside the camp”; both made the one who offered the sacrifice unclean but made the one who was sprinkled by it clean; and finally, both sacrifices cleanse people for priestly service.

The Red Heifer had to be a perfect specimen (temimah) that was completely red, “without blemish, in which there is no defect (mum).” The rabbis interpreted “without blemish” as referring to the color, that is, without having so much as a single white or black hair. This is the only sacrifice in the Torah where the color of the animal is explicitly required. Moreover, the Red Heifer was never to have had a yoke upon it, meaning that it must never have been used for any profane purposes.

Unlike all other sacrifices offered at the altar, the red heifer was taken outside the camp and there slaughtered before the priest, who then took some of its blood and sprinkled it seven times before the Mishkan (thereby designating it as a purification offering). [During the Second Temple period, the High Priest performed this ceremony facing the Temple while atop the Mount of Olives.] Then the red heifer would be burned in its entirety: its hide, flesh, blood, and even dung were to be burned (unlike other Levitical korbanot). Do not miss this: unlike all other animal sacrifices, all the blood of the offering was to be burned in the fire.

Hyssop, scarlet yarn, and a cedar stick would then be thrown upon the burning Red Heifer (these same items were used to cleanse from tzara’at, skin disease). In other words, the blood was assimilated into the ashes of the sacrifice, which were then gathered and mixed with water to create the “water of separation” (mei niddah) for the Israelite community. Note that the word “separation” (niddah) refers to menstrual impurity and hearkens to Zech. 13:1: “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and from niddah.”

Anyone (or anything) that came into contact with a corpse (the embodiment of sin and death) was required to be purified from tumah by means of the mei niddah. The purification procedure took seven days, using stalks of hyssop dipped into the water and shaken over the ritually defiled person on the third day and then again on the seventh day. After the second sprinkling, the person undergoing the purification process would be immersed in a mikvah (pool of running water) and then be unclean until the following evening.

According to Jewish tradition, the red heifer sacrifice was to atone for the sin of the Golden Calf, though the Torah itself does not make this association. The LORD Yeshua, our High Priest of the New Covenant, is the perfect fulfillment of the Red Heifer, since he was completely without sin or defect (2 Cor 5:21; John 8:46); he was sacrificed outside the camp (Heb 13:13); he made himself sin for us (2 Cor 5:21); his sprinkling makes us clean (1 Pet 1:2; Heb 12:24; Rev 1:5); and the “water of separation” that his sacrifice created is the means by which we are made clean from the impurity of sin (Eph 5:25-6; Heb 10:22).

As mentioned above, Torah commandments (mitzvot) that defy reason are called “chok” (חק). The Jewish sages tend to focus on the Red Heifer as the “mother of all mystery mitzvas,” but surely we must go back to the Akedah – that is, to the sacrifice of Isaac at the hand of his father Abraham – as the greatest of God’s decrees that defy human reason. The willingness of both Abraham and Isaac to obey – despite their inability to understand – was a direct result of their unwavering faith in God’s love and promises. Likewise the heart of our faith says simply: “Jesus saves.” His sacrifice saves us from sin and death, yet this also is “chok” – a matter of faith… We may seek logical reasons or explanations, but ultimately it is a matter of divine mystery, just as the darkness covered the earth while the Savior suffered for us on the cross at Calvary (Mark 15:22). “Jesus saves” is the mystery of our confession (Rom. 10:9-10). We are cleansed by our contact with sin and death through him, just as he bears our sin and defilement on our behalf. as it is written: “God made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).

 But when Messiah appeared as a High Priest (כּהֵן גָּדוֹל) of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he alone entered once for all into the Holy Places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption (גְּאוּלַּת עוֹלָם). For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer (אֵפֶר הַפָּרָה), sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Messiah (דַּם הַמָּשִׁיחַ), who through the eternal Spirit (בְּרוּחַ עוֹלָם) offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God (אֱלהִים חַיִּים)?” – Heb. 9:11-14

The Torah of the new covenant is inner, deeper, and eternal, whereas the Torah of the older covenant is outer, limited, and subject to obsolescence (Heb. 7:12; 8:13). The older covenant foretold of the coming Substance by means of the “ashes that purify the impure yet make the pure, impure.” Only after we have been “sprinkled with the ashes” are we made clean from death; only when we make contact with the “ashes of Yeshua” offered on our behalf are we cleansed from sin and death (1 Pet. 1:2; Heb. 10:22).

 

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Our Great Need to Forgive…

John J Parsons

In the Gates of Repentance it is written: ‎”I hereby forgive all who have hurt me, all who have wronged me, whether deliberately or inadvertently, whether by word or by deed. May no one be punished on my account. And as I forgive and pardon those who have wronged me, may those whom I have harmed forgive me, whether I acted deliberately or inadvertently, whether by word or by deed.” Amen…

Yeshua taught us to pray “forgive us as we forgive others,” which implies that our forgiveness (of others) is the measure of our own forgiveness. In other words, as we forgive others, so we experience forgiveness ourselves… Forgiveness releases the hurt, the anger, and the disappointment so these feelings do not inwardly consume and exhaust our souls. And yet forgiveness must be self-directed, too, since refusing to forgive yourself denies or negates the forgiveness given from others. Forgiving yourself means admitting that you act just like other people, that you are human, and that you are in need of reconciliation too. We have to move on, past the shame, and to turn back to hope. As a Yiddish proverb puts it, “You are what you are, not what you were…”

It is written, “in many things we offend all,” and therefore we must confess our sins one to another to find healing (James 5:16). However the practice of love overlooks a multitude of sins, and if we do not condemn those who offend us, then we will not need to forgive them for their offenses. Walking in God’s love sets us free from the slavery of negative emotions such as resentment, bitterness, anger, unresolved grief, and so on.

I love this affirmation and prayer attributed to Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 263-339 AD): “May I be the friend of that which is eternal and abides. May I never quarrel with those nearest me; and if I do, may we be reconciled quickly. May I never devise evil against anyone; and if any devise evil against me, may I escape uninjured and without any desire to hurt them. May I love, seek, and attain only that which is good. May I wish for the happiness of all and the misery of none. May I never rejoice in the ill-fortune of one who has wronged me. When I have done or said what is wrong, may I never wait for the rebuke of others, but always rebuke myself until I make amends.”

“May I, to the extent of my ability, give all needful help to my friends and to all who are in want. May I never fail a friend in danger. When visiting those in grief, may I be able by gentle and healing words to soften their pain. May I respect myself. May I always keep tame that which rages within me. May I accustom myself to be gentle, and never be angry with people because of circumstances. May I never discuss who is wicked and what wicked things he has done, but know good men and follow their footsteps.” Amen.

 

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Believing to Understand…

John J Parsons

The commandments of God are usually divided between the rational laws (i.e., mishpatim) and the divine decrees (i.e., chukkim), though this distinction is somewhat artificial, since all of the commandments of Torah (and that includes the Torah of the New Covenant) are grounded in the mystery of God’s will, which is to say that we are to obey them simply because they derive from the Divine Authority itself… When the people gathered before Moses to receive the covenant at Mount Sinai, they said all the LORD has spoken “we will do and we will hear” (na’aseh ve’nishmah: נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע). Note the order: first comes faith in God expressed in the decision to act (na’aseh), and then comes understanding (ve’nishmah). As Yeshua said, “If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will understand” (John 7:17). The heart of faith is willing to do what God asks before hearing (or understanding) what is required. Many people operate the other way round, sitting in judgment of God’s word, demanding to understand why they should obey. You cannot understand apart from faith, however, and that is categorically true of all forms of knowledge, which is usually defined as “justified true belief.” We are to be “doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves” (James 1:22). The Greek verb used in this verse is emphatic: “Be doers!” (γίνεσθε) means “be born!” “Come alive!” “Do, live, and exist before God!” This is a call to creative action, to newness of life…

 

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The Scriptures state that “if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like” (James 1:23-24). If we just hear the truth but do not act upon it, we are comically likened to someone who carefully looks at his face in a mirror but then promptly forgets what he looks like after he steps away… Likewise those who only hear the word but do not “bring it to life” in their deeds forget who they are and why they were created (Eph. 2:10; Titus 2:14; Col. 1:10). When we look into the mirror of truth we see our need for teshuvah and turn to God for the healing miracle he provides (Heb. 4:12). It’s not about doing but being, though being is revealed in doing… If your actions do not align with your values, then back up and recover who you really are in Messiah, understand what your new nature truly is. That is what it means to “take up the yoke” of Messiah, for his yoke is easy (kal) and burden is light, and the task is to repeatedly practice allowing Him to carry your pain, shame, and sin far, far away from your heart.

There is a deeper law, however, a “mirror” that reveals something beyond our passing image. When we look intently into the “perfect law of liberty” (תּוֹרַת הַחֵרוּת וּמַחֲזִיק) – the law of faith, hope, and love for our Savior – we find blessing in our deeds (James 1:25). Note that the verb translated “look into” the law of liberty is the same used when John stooped down to “look inside” the empty tomb of Yeshua (John 20:5). The deeper law reveals the resurrection power of God’s invincible love. The Torah of the New Covenant also has many mitzvot, though these are based on the love God gives to us in Yeshua: “This is my Torah: that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34).

 

Summer 2021 Holiday Schedule

John J Parsons

In the summer there occurs a three week period of mourning that begins with the Fast of Tammuz and ends with Tishah B’Av. The last nine days of this three week period (i.e., from Av 1 until Av 9th) are days of increased mourning. However, after this somber time, the happier holiday of Tu B’Av, the 15th of Av occurs. Summer ends with the 30 days of the month of Elul, a yearly season of teshuvah (repentance) that anticipates Rosh Hashanah and the fall holidays. The 30 days of Elul are combined with the first 10 days of the month of Tishri to create the “Forty Days of Teshuvah” that culminate with Yom Kippur.

Because they occur between the spring and fall holidays, the summer holidays help us prepare for the second coming of the Messiah:

 

 

Note that in accordance with tradition, holiday dates begin at sundown. Moreover, some holidays may be postponed one day if they happen to fall on the weekly Sabbath:

 

For more information see the Hebrew for Christians Holiday Pages…

Two Kinds of Fear…

John J Parsons

King Solomon wrote, “The fear of the LORD adds days [to life], but the years of the wicked will be cut short” (Prov. 10:27). The sages have said that these “added days” of life include the appointed times and seasons (i.e., the moedim) when the veil of “everydayness” is lifted and we can glimpse the sacred. Living in dissonance with God’s will yields days that are shortened – by vanity, by dissipation, and by despair. And what good are length of days when they are filled with emptiness and illusion? As Solomon also concluded in his great scroll of Kohelet, fearing God and keeping his commandments is the “end of the matter” (סוֹף דָּבָר) and the “whole duty” of our lives (Eccl. 12:13).

 

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“The fear (anxiety) of man (חֶרְדַּת אָדָם) sets a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD will be made safe” (Prov. 29:25). The fear that mankind engineers is a trap intended to shorten life, but the fear of the LORD (yirat Adonai) is life-giving and healing. Every day God makes miracles for people of which they are unaware. God didn’t create the universe and then remove Himself from its care: Yeshua sustains all things by the Word of His power and in Him all things “subsist” – τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν (Col. 1:17). Living in the light of God’s Presence reveals the daily bread that comes from Heaven, but those who refuse the truth find no lasting sustenance for the world to come… We all must believe that God is making miracles for us to live and grow in this age; otherwise we are not living in faith.

 

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Suffering and Hope…

John J Parsons

Reflecting on the role of suffering in the heart of faith, Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote: “Here is the decisive difference between Christianity and all religions. Man’s religiosity makes him look in his distress to the power of God in the world: God is the deus ex machina [i.e., “quick fix”]. The Bible [on the other hand] directs man to God’s powerlessness and suffering: only a suffering God can help” (Letters and Papers from Prison). Bonhoeffer’s comment alludes to the difference between an “Elohim” (אֱלהִים) conception of God as the omnipotent power and Judge of reality, and the “YHVH” (יהוה) conception of God as the compassion Source and Breath of life – the Suffering God who empties himself to partake of our condition – to know our pain, to bear our sorrows, to heal us from the sickness of spiritual death, and to touch us in the loneliness of our exile… The Spirit enables us to “groan” in compassion, directing us away from the impulse to “kill the pain” to accept it as part of our lament and need for connection with God.

 

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Unlike cognitive faith (i.e., emunah: אֱמוּנָה) that assents to theological propositions or creeds, trust (i.e., bittachon: בִּטָחוֹן) emotionally commits to God’s presence in the sorrows of our lives and retains hope that we are not finally alone, abandoned, helpless… Trust goes beyond the “idolatries of theology,” that is, various theological conceptions of God as impassive, inexpressive, and distant in his decrees of transcendence, to engage God personally, existentially, and from within the whirlwind of harrowing pain and pain’s great loneliness. Authentic theology is dialectical or “dialogical” — a conversation of the heart with God – seeking, yearning, protesting, lamenting, and struggling with life’s inscrutabilities and unfathomable questions as it appeals to God for the assurance of genuine hope. Trust finds courage to give voice to our sorrow and fears, inviting God into the midst of our brokenness, often yielding to tearful silence in unknowing expectation. As Dorothy Soelle wrote: “Prayer is an all-encompassing act by which people transcend the mute God of an apathetically endured reality and go over to the speaking God of a reality experience with feeling in pain and happiness” (Soelle: Suffering). This is perhaps the deepest meaning of the Shema – to listen for God’s heart in the midst of your struggle; it is learning to encounter God’s compassion in the place of your brokenness and need.

Read more “Suffering and Hope…”

Blessing for Darkness…

John J Parsons

“If I say, surely darkness covers me … the night shines as the day; nothing hides from your radiance” (Psalm 139:11-12). We have to trust that God is in our darkness, in the silence, in the unknown… You come out of the shadows when you admit that you act just like other people, that you are human, in need of reconciliation yourself… Above all you need God. You need help. You need a miracle to help you to truly love. You may find excuses for many things, but you cannot escape the “wretched man that I am” reality that is grounded in your fears. God sees in the darkness and is present there, too. When you feel alone, like an unbridgeable gulf lay between you and all that is good; when you feel like you want to scream but are afraid that even then no one would hear, may the LORD shine His light upon you…

 

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“For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God outshines my darkness” (Psalm 18:28). There is “depression,” and there is the dark night of the soul, and these are different matters, though they may overlap… “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” The dark night of the soul is an experience of trusting God in the darkness yet has a spiritual direction and end.  From strength to strength, chaverim. We walk through this darkness with God and learn from him even there….

Cleansing from Death…

John J Parsons

Contact with the dead causes spiritual impurity (i.e., tumah) because death, as the separation from life, is the ultimate expression and consequence of sin. People routinely deny the meaning of death, explaining it away as the result of some cause from which one might escape (“he worked too hard,” “she got sick,” “it was an accident,” etc.). People rationalize death because they refuse to see it as the effect of sin, the consequence of the original transgression of Adam and Eve that humanity as a whole has “inherited” (Gen. 2:17; 3:19; Rom. 5:12). Therefore the Torah states that the birth of a child results in impurity (Lev. 12:2,7). Full atonement comes from “digging up the root of sin” by being purified from its source, namely, the curse of death itself. The Red Heifer alludes to the sin of the Golden Calf, which finds its source in the original idolatry of Adam and Eve. Even the blood of the sacrifice was burned to ash “outside the camp,” putting a complete end to the “life of death” and its power to corrupt. The Red Heifer is therefore a special sort of “sin offering” (chatat) that cleanses from contact with death itself (Num. 19:9).

 

 

The “fall” of man implies that we have contact with death – both inwardly and outwardly. The sacrifice of Yeshua as our “Red Heifer” cleanses us from all tumah and lovingly makes us clean (tahor) before the Father. The “water and the blood” is part of the “olah sacrifice” of Yeshua for our redemption and purification before God offered at Calvary (John 19:34, 1 John 5:6). The water and blood flowing from His wounds are the means by which we are purified from sin and death… All this comes from the love (chesed) of God given in our Messiah and Savior. Just as the sacrifice of the Red Heifer cleansed from the effects of physical death, so the sacrifice of Yeshua cleanses us from the effects of spiritual death. For more on this subject, see the “Gospel of the Red Cow.”

 

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