Leviticus and the Lamb…

The Book of Leviticus (ספר ויקרא) is the third of the Torah, representing another stage in our spiritual journey. Genesis reveals both our divine origin but also our tragic fallenness, and the book ends with our need for deliverance from bondage to Egypt. Exodus reveals that we are liberated from slavery by trusting in the provision of God demonstrated by the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, and the book ends with the climax of the revelation of Torah given at Sinai, namely, the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) where the the need for blood atonement was enshrined. Indeed blood atonement is the central theme of the central book of Torah, i.e., Leviticus, where we are called to draw near to God through sacrificial rites, the foremost of which was the ongoing offering (i.e., korban tamid: קרבן תמיד) of a defect-free male lamb, together with unleavened bread and wine. The LORD called this “My offering, My bread” (Num. 28:1-8). In other words, the center of the Torah is the altar that constantly prefigured the Lamb of God who would be offered up to secure our eternal redemption (John 1:29; Heb. 9:11-12).

Though God instructed each household to select its own defect-free lamb for the family Passover, the Torah refers to “the” Lamb of God, as if there was only one: “You shall keep it [i.e., the Passover lamb] until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter him (אתוֹ) at twilight (Exod. 12:6). Indeed there is only one great Lamb of God “slain from the foundation of the world,” namely, the One given in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:21), sacrificed in place of Isaac during the Akedah, selected for the Passover from Egypt (and later commemorated as korban tamid (the daily offering) at the Temple (Num. 28:1-8)), later incarnated as our Savior, the great Lamb of God who offered Himself upon the cross for our sins (John 1:29), and who ascended to eternal victory to be seated upon the very Throne of God’s Glory (Rev. 5:12-13; Rev. 22:1). Amen, the Torah centers on the Great Passover Lamb of God….

 

 

The Bread of God…

Our Master said: “For the bread of God (לֶחֶם אֱלהִים) is the One who comes down from heaven to give life to the world” (John 6:33). This is the Bread of Presence, literally, the “Bread of [his] Face” (לֶחֶם פָּנִים) that was prefigured in the manna that fell in the desert and in the rituals of the Tabernacle (Exod. 25:30). It was in the Holy Place, in the light of the Menorah, that the “bread of his face” was to be eaten… At his last Passover Seder with his students, Yeshua said “this is my body” (τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ σῶμά μου), and made analogy between physical and the spiritual. We metaphorically “eat his flesh and drink his blood,” by seeing Him as our altar, our bridge before the Father. Just as the heart is the means by which blood is distributed to the body, so with the love of God expressed in our Lord Yeshua. He is the Divine Center of all of life: the true Tabernacle, the Word made flesh. He is the true Bread of Life (לחֶם הַחַיִּים), and we receive spiritual strength when we abide in his Torah (תּוֹרָה) and his life (John 15:5).

 

Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 18:28 Hebrew reading:

 

Mystery of Knowing God…

I had mentioned the other day that the letter Aleph (א) at the end of the word vayikra (“and he called”) is written smaller than the other letters in the word, which the sages say represents the humility of God – both in his condescension to be known by human beings, but also in his willingness to be “sacrificed” by making room for us within the creation. Just as the Cloud of Glory so overwhelmed the Mishkan (Tabernacle) so that Moses himself was unable to enter (Exod. 40:35), so all of reality is filled with God’s glory, and thankfully God has made a place for you by means of his sacrifice… This idea is sometimes called “tzitzum” in Jewish theology, which means God had to contract or “empty” himself in order to make space for the created universe.

 

 

There is a fundamental ambivalence regarding how we may relate to God. On the one hand, drawing close to God is a dangerous prospect. When Moses first encountered the LORD at the burning bush, for example, he was afraid to look upon God and was told not to draw near because the place was holy (Exod. 3:5).  Moses was afraid because God was transcendent, holy, unapproachable, incomprehensibly powerful and unutterably glorious. This unease or dread is called yirat Adonai (יראת ה), or the “fear of the LORD.” On the other hand, drawing close to God is the heart’s greatest desire (and need), and blessedness is found as we learn to trust in Him and know Him in all our ways. This is called devakut (דבקות), or “cleaving” to the LORD in communion and surrender to his grace (Deut. 10:20). The existential ambivalence arises because the Scriptures teach that we should both fear and love the Lord — contradictory and antithetical passions within the soul (Deut. 10:12; Psalm 2:11; Heb. 10:31).

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Centrality of the Lamb…

The goal of the great Sinai revelation was not to simply impart a set of moral or social laws, but rather to “accommodate” the Divine Presence in the midst of the people. This is not to suggest that the various laws and decrees given to Israel were unimportant, of course, since they reflect the holy character and moral will of God. Nonetheless, the climax of the revelation of the Torah – its goal or purpose or “end” – was the revelation of the altar which prefigured the sacrificial work of the Lamb of God. Indeed, the central sacrifice upon this altar was the daily sacrifice (i.e., korban tamid: קָרְבַּן תָּמִיד) of a defect-free male lamb with unleavened bread and wine. The LORD calls this “My offering, My bread…” (see Num. 28:1-8). In other words, the service and ministry of the Mishkan (i.e., Tabernacle) constantly foreshadowed the coming Lamb of God who would be offered upon the altar “made without hands” to secure our eternal redemption (Heb. 9:11-12). The sacrifice of the lamb is therefore central to the meaning and purpose of the Torah.

The Talmud says “All the world was created for the Messiah” (Sanhedrin 98b). The Apostle Paul had earlier said the same thing: “All things were created by Him (i.e., Yeshua), and for Him” and in Him all things consist (συνεστηκεν, lit. “stick together”) (Col. 1:16-17). Indeed, all of creation is being constantly upheld by the word of the Messiah’s power (Heb. 1:3). Creation begins and ends with the redemptive love of God as manifested in the Person of Yeshua our LORD… The Messiah is the Center of Creation – its beginning and end. As it is written: אָנכִי אָלֶף וְתָו רִאשׁוֹן וְאַחֲרוֹן ראשׁ וָסוֹף / “I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Tav,’ the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Rev. 22:13). “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36). In everything Yeshua has the preeminence (Col. 1:18), and his “work” is of first importance (1 Cor. 2:2, 1 Cor. 15:3-4). Yeshua our Messiah is called מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים / Melech Malchei Hamelachim: The “King of kings of kings.” He is LORD of all possible worlds — from the highest celestial glory to the dust of death upon a cross. Yehi shem Adonai mevorakh: “Let the Name of the LORD be blessed” forever and ever (Psalm 113:2). So while we can agree with the Talmud’s general statement that the world was created for the Messiah, we would insist that the Messiah is none other than Yeshua, God’s Son, and indeed, the Messiah could be no other…

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“Small Aleph” Revelation…

The first verse of the Book of Leviticus is usually translated: “And the LORD called to Moses and spoke to him,” where the subject of the verb vayikra (וַיִּקְרָא), “and he called,” has an implied antecedent, which if expressed would read: “And the LORD called to Moses and the LORD spoke to him…”

 

The Hebrew text of the Torah scroll is written with a small Aleph (א) at the end of the verb vayikra, however, indicating something of textual and grammatical interest. Note that the Hebrew letter Aleph is constructed from two Yods (each that represent a yad, or “hand”) joined by a diagonal Vav (that represents a man). One Yod (י) reaches upward while the other reaches downward, and both extend from the “fallen” Vav (ו), picturing Yeshua, the humble One who was “wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities” as our Mediator between heaven and earth (Isa. 53:5; 1 Tim. 2:5). The implied subject, then, of vayikra can be seen to be the “small Aleph,” the Humble One who calls out from the Tent of Meeting…

 

Aleph is the first letter of the first word of the first commandment of God: anokhi (אָנכִי): “I AM” (Exod. 20:2), which also designates the Name ehyeh (אֶהְיֶה) first revealed to Moses (Exod. 3:14). The numerical value of Aleph is one, indicating its preeminence, and it is a silent letter, alluding to the ineffable mystery of God’s sovereign will (the related word aluph (אַלּוּף) means “Master” or “Champion”).  In the Hebrew script used for writing Torah scrolls (ketav Ashurit), Aleph is constructed from two Yods (that represent “hands”) joined by a diagonal Vav (that represents man).  One Yod (י) reaches upward while the other reaches downward, and both extend from the “fallen” Vav (ו), picturing a “wounded Man” or Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5). In the Hebrew numbering system (i.e., gematria), Yod = 10 and Vav = 6, so adding up the three parts of Aleph yields 26, the same value as the Name of the LORD: YHVH (יהוה). The very first letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, then, pictures the three-in-one LORD who mediates all of life for our salvation.  And just as there are three parts to Aleph, but Aleph is One (echad: אֶחָד), so there are three Persons to the Godhead, yet God is absolutely One.  Indeed, the gematria of the word Aleph (אָלֶף) is 111 (Aleph=1, Lamed=30, and Pey=80).  As Yeshua said, every “jot and tittle” of Scripture is significant…

“And he called” is written anonymously, but once you understand that this is the Word of the LORD speaking, you will turn back to the Creator and then YHVH will speak to you from within the Tent of Meeting…

Sin and Despondency…

“Whoever battles with monsters had better see to it that it does not turn him into a monster” (Nietzsche). A God-fearing man once complained to a sage that he was tormented by evil desire and had become despondent over it. The sage listened intently and then said, “Guard yourself from such despondency above all else, for it is worse than sin. When the yetzer [evil impulse] awakens desire in us, it is not concerned with plunging us into sin, but with plunging us into despair by way of our sinning.”

We recall the words of James the Righteous: “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived…” (James 1:14-16). In other words, sin begins with selfish desire, but the “fruit” or “end” of sin is death, understood as separation from life, healing, love, peace, and so on. Sin “crouches” at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it (Gen. 4:7).

How we choose to think inevitably leads to decisions and actions… In our warfare against the yetzer and the devil, we must be sure to rely upon God’s love and grace, lest we find ourselves fighting “evil with evil,” thereby amusing the powers of darkness… Tzedek tzedek tirdorf (צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִּרְדּף) means that we must pursue righteousness righteously (Deut. 16:20). Some people seem to be so afraid that sin and evil will overtake them that they quite forget to exercise caution that they resist sin and evil in sinful ways… May God help us to see our sin and our battle against evil only in the light of His glorious Presence.

 

Hebrew Lesson:
Psalm 16:8 Reading:

 

 

Soul Searching for Passover…

The search for chametz (חפש חמץ) before Passover may be likened to the soul searching we do before the High Holidays in the fall, when we take an inventory of our spiritual condition (חשבון נפש) and do teshuvah. The Torah instructs us to carefully search and remove sources of inner impurity so that we might experience the truth that we are a “new lump” – that is, a new substance that is purged from the sour and rotting influences of our past lives… And since Yeshua has been sacrificed as your Passover Lamb, you are indeed a new creation (בּריה חדשׁה) made “unleavened” (pure) by the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 5:17). Therefore you are likewise commanded put away the “old nature” (יצר הרע) and purge from your life the old influences that inwardly canker you and make you sick (Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9). Walk without hypocrisy in the truth of the love of God for your soul.

Hebrew Lesson:
Psalm 139:23-24

 

The Very First Passover…

Passover is the archetypal picture of the redemption of God. Its theme goes back to the very beginning, to the orchard of Eden itself, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the forbidden tree. Because of their transgression, our original ancestors incurred the plague of death and were exiled from the Divine Presence, though God graciously promised to heal them through the coming Seed of the woman – the Savior who would crush the head of the serpent and break the fangs of his venomous sting (Gen. 3:15). Soon after making this great promise, God clothed our primordial parents with the skin of a sacrificed lamb (Gen. 3:21), linking their coming deliverance with the “Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world” (1 Pet. 1:18-20). The very first “Passover” was in the garden. The story extends to the world to come, too, where in the redeemed paradise of God we will celebrate the victory of the Lamb who was slain for our redemption (Rev. 5:12-13, Rev. 19:7).

The great story of our redemption is revealed on two levels in Scripture – one that concerns the paradise of Eden (the universal level), and the other that concerns the paradise of Israel (the particular level). Therefore Yeshua is both rightly called the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29) and “the Messiah our Passover Lamb who has been sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). Likewise he is both called the “Seed of the woman,” and “the Son of David”; the “Second Adam,” and the “King of the Jews,” and so on. The story of Israel’s redemption in Egypt therefore serves as an allegory of both the universal salvation promised in Eden (i.e., the lamb slain from the foundation of the world) as well as the revelation of the sacrificial ministry of Yeshua as Israel’s promised Messiah. Yeshua is both the Savior of the world as well as Israel’s true King and Deliverer.

 

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The Power behind Faith…

It is written in the book of Hebrews that faith (understood in context to refer to the superior ministry of Yeshua that brings eternal redemption and that supersedes the earthly ministrations of the Levites) is the “underlying substance” (i.e., ὑπόστασις, or “being”) of our hope that “demonstrates” (ἔλεγχος) the realm of the unseen in the decisions and actions of those who truly believe. Faith is also a subjective conviction of the heart that apprehends the “unseen,” though that passion is a response to the hidden reality of God, and it is the work or practice of faith that makes the unseen seen. Another way to say this is that the believing heart “substantiates” the promise of God – apprehending the future and making it present within the heart (2 Cor. 4:18). “We walk by faith, not by sight.”

Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since God is the Source and Substance of all reality, and God therefore cannot be “reached” by means of untruth: “for the one who comes before God must believe that he exists and that he rewards (blesses) those who earnestly seek Him” (Heb. 11:6; Exod. 3:14). Faith is therefore the instrumentality of connection with God, for by it we are enabled (like Moses) to “see Him who is not visible” (Heb. 11:27). Faith is a special grace imparted from God to believe the promise of future blessedness, for no one can believe God apart from God’s prerogative to be known (Exod. 33:19; Eph. 2:8; John 6:44; John 15:16, Rom. 9:6-16, etc.). We are personally chosen by God to belong to Messiah, and our election gives us confidence to testify of his love before a hostile world (Rom. 8:31). This should not make us boastful, however, since there is nothing we have done to merit the gift of faith: it is the result of God’s love (Deut. 7:7; Eph. 2:8-10; Isa. 26:12; Titus 3:5). Being chosen in this way makes us compassionate people since we understand our own powerlessness to save ourselves (Col. 3:12-13). You take heart because God chose you to know him before the foundation of the world; you belong to him; you are one of his lost sheep who has been found! Faith is a gift, though it is manifest in our lives: We “work out” what God has sovereignly “worked in” to us by means of a living relationship with the truth.

Of course faith seems foolish to the “natural man” who is enslaved to sensuous understanding and is therefore bound to the limitations of phenomenological perception. However it is the carnal mind that is truly foolish, for its own assumptions about what is true are not grounded in reality (Psalm 14:1, Prov. 1:7). The one who comes to God – and the only one who can so come – is the one who believes that the unseen God is real and who therefore believes the promise of blessedness that comes to those who sincerely seek him.

 

Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 25:12 Hebrew reading:

 

 

Dangers of Lawlessness (Podcast)…

Those who know the Lord Yeshua understand that He is none other than the very Lawgiver and King of Israel, and it was He who spoke to Moses at Sinai regarding the moral will of God. His is the Voice of God (קוֹל אֱלהִים) speaking from the midst of the fire (Deut. 4:33). Yes of course (and thank God) that Yeshua is also our Savior who graciously died for us to be pardoned from the verdict of the law, but he did NOT die so that we should continue to sin but rather to be delivered from sin’s power in our lives…. We are never “perfected” in this life, and each of us will struggle with sin, but we should never allow sin to become a regular practice, and we should never live a secret and double life of hypocrisy… If we struggle, fair enough — we need to be honest, confess the truth, and get help, but we should never hide the truth about who we really are, since that leads to sickness of the heart and self-destructive despair. May God have mercy and help us all be on guard from the deceptions of the enemy of our souls.

In the following podcast (see link below) I reflect on Psalm 119:97 and review some of the reasons why the Torah of the LORD is vital for followers of Yeshua the Messiah. I hope you will find it helpful, chaverim.