It is written in our Scriptures: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6). Note that the verb translated “be anxious” here (i.e.,μεριμνάω) comes from a root word (μερίζω) that means to be fragmented or divided into parts and pieces. Being anxious is therefore the uneasy state of being distracted, unfocused and divided within yourself. When we worry we heed voices of fear and begin to feel ‘double-minded,’ (i.e., δίψυχος), unstable, and unable to think clearly; we get restless and find it difficult to deeply breathe. We start to feel out of control, fearful that something bad will happen despite all our efforts or wishes to the contrary; we sense doom; we lose heart; we go dark… The Scripture here admonishes us to pray when we are tempted us to be anxious by focusing on something for which we are grateful. Doing so will instill the “peace of God” (שלום יהוה) that rises above all worldly thinking to keep watch over your heart and your thoughts through Yeshua the Messiah (Phil. 4:7). We gain the “light of life,” that is, inner illumination from God, so that we can remain steadfast and unmovable in our faith, despite the temptation to look for relief from our struggles apart from God.
Hebrew Lesson:
There is a great war going on, but it’s not a war waged with conventional weapons. This is the war for the souls of human beings, and every person alive is currently engaged in it… There is no place of neutrality in this war, and you cannot escape from the conflict. The enemy is now at the gate, the battle lines drawn. Pastors are being arrested around the world for holding church services; civil liberties and freedoms are being striped away from us in the name of state “security” for the “greater good.” Passivity or indifference is not an option, and therefore each of us must choose. We are either going forward or going backward; we are either drawing near or pulling away (Rev. 3:16). The question is now made urgent: מי ליהוה אלי – mi Adonal aylai? “Who is on the Lord’s side?”
The Apostle Paul (רבי פאולוס השליח) taught that we are not to be “conformed” (συσχηματίζω) to the pattern of this fallen world but rather be “transformed” (μεταμορφόω) by renewing our minds, so that by testing we may discern what is the will of God (Rom. 12:2). Note that the word translated “conformed” in this verse means to accept the world’s scheme (σχῆμα) of understanding things, that is, to passively go along with the world’s matrix of lies, wishful thinking, propaganda, etc. The word translated as “transformed,” on the other hand, means to be metamorphosed or radically changed into a different kind of nature with a different source of being itself. Such transformation comes from having our minds “renewed” — the word used in this verse (i.e., ἀνακαινόω) means being “made new on the inside,” and therefore renewal is the gift of teshuvah (turning to God). Understand, then, that the foundation of all transformation of inner character and outward conduct comes from the miracle of having a renewed mind. I use the word “miracle” quite intentionally, since by itself “right thinking” is powerless to help the sinner truly change his ways, and therefore something more – new life and healing power from heaven, is needed.
God’s people are “strangers” in this world; they are literally “e-stranged” and live as “resident aliens” — here, yet not here…. We wander; we are lonely; we yearn for our heavenly home. Life in this world is “olam ha’sheker,” the false world — full of deception, troubles, and struggle. Here there is no lasting hope, no abiding…
The revelation of God in Yeshua means that Ultimate Reality — that is, the transcendental source of all that exists — is intensely personal, intimately knowable, and full of love. “Metaphysics” (i.e., that which is “really real”) is therefore not about an impersonal force known in objective relationship (i.e., a “what”) but a personal agency and creative mind known in subjective relationship (i.e., a “who”). The Scriptures teach that what is ultimately real (אהיה אשׁר אהיה) is the Ultimate Person of the LORD (אני יהוה). In Him we “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
While it is wonderfully true that Yeshua died to free us from our sins, the corollary is that he imparts life for us to walk in the light of his glorious Divine Presence (2 Cor. 5:15). The two go together. You are redeemed by God to serve him. Simply believing (or hoping) that “Jesus died for your sins” doesn’t mean walking through your days without any thought of where you are going. Our teshuvah must make traction with our feet as we go forward by faith. This means we have a responsibility to practice the truth of Messiah, partaking his vision, hashkafah (philosophy) and compassion. Indeed each of us will give account for his or her life before God, as it is written: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah (כסא־דין המשיח), so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord (יראת יהוה), we persuade others” (2 Cor. 5:10-11).
During the holiday of Shavuot (i.e., “Weeks,” “Pentecost”) we remember how the LORD graciously condescended to meet with the Jewish people at Sinai, and how all the people heard the Voice of God (קול האלוהים) speaking from the midst of the fire (Deut. 4:33). This awesome event foreshadowed the great advent of the King and Lawgiver Himself, when the Eternal Word (דבר יהוה) became flesh to dwell with us (Phil. 2:6-7; John 1:1,14), and it further foreshadowed the advent of the Spirit of Truth given to the disciples of Messiah (Acts 2:1-4). Any theology that regards God as entirely transcendent will have a problem with divine immanence, since the highness, holiness, and perfection of God will make him seem distant, outside of us, far away, and even unknown… Incarnational theology, on the other hand, manifests the nearness of God to disclose the divine empathy. Indeed, the LORD became Immanuel (עמנו אל), “one with us,” to share our mortal condition, to know our pain, and to experience what it means to be wounded by sin, to be abandoned, alienated, forsaken. The “Eternal made flesh” bridges the gap between the realm of Ein Sof (אין סוף), the Infinitely transcendent One, and the finite world of people lost within their sinful frailty. Of course we believe Adonai Echad (יהוה אחד) – that the “LORD is One” – both in the sense of being exalted over all things but also in the sense of being compassionately involved in all things (Rom. 11:36). During Shavuot we celebrate the giving of the Torah both at Sinai, at Bethlehem (בית לחם), and within our hearts. We celebrate that God is indeed the King and Ruler over all, but we further affirm that God’s authority and rule extends to all possible worlds – including the realm of finitude and even death itself.
Instead of soberly acknowledging that our days are numbered in this world, many people deny the reality of death, steadfastly ignoring any idea of judgment to come. Yeshua warned us, however, that “nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light” (Mark 4:22). We should tremble before such words. Each of us will give account for what we have done with the time given us (Heb. 9:27; 2 Cor. 5:10; Matt. 12:36). Moses therefore prayed to God: “teach us to number our days,” that is, help us understand how to make our days count for eternity, to have a “weight of glory” (βάρος δόξης) that will shine in the world to come…
There are some who believe that the holiday of Shavuot is linked (eschatologically) with the “rapture” of the church, that is, the doctrine that the followers of Yeshua the Messiah will be “caught up” (ἁρπάζω, harpazo) and suddenly taken away before the time of the Great Tribulation and the Great Day of the LORD (1 Thess. 4:17; John 14:3; 1 Cor. 15:51-52). They reason that since Shavuot marked the day of great and dramatic revelation, with signs of fire and the sounds of a heavenly shofar blast, an appointed time when Moses first ascended to receive revelation from Sinai and later the Holy Spirit descended upon the followers of Messiah from Zion. Shavuot therefore marks the fulfillment of Passover that culminates in the rapturous goal of our redemption… Both Jew and Gentile are “waved” together before the LORD (as symbolized by shtei ha-lechem, the two loaves), representing the “one new man” of kallat Mashiach, the “bride of Messiah,” or the assembly of those called out from every tribe and tongue to be a part of God’s heavenly kingdom.