The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the people of Israel, saying: “May Adonai bless you and keep you from illusions; may Adonai shine divine light upon you; may Adonai reveal his presence to you.’ So shall they put my Name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them” (Num. 6:22-27). The question is asked why the kohanim (priests) were needed to confer God’s blessing, and what is meant by the idea of God “setting his Name” upon the people. The sages reply that the blessing is bestowed by a mediator to show that all things flow from the Holy One, and there is no one who can rightly say, “by my strength and my power alone has this come to pass” (Deut. 8:17). Therefore the blessing is graciously given to those who simply open their hearts to receive it: “May Adonai bless you; may Adonai shine divine light upon you; may Adonai reveal his Presence to you…” Everything that comes to us comes in God’s Name, as it is written: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights (אֲבִי הָאוֹרוֹת) with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). The blessing of God (בִּרְכַּת יָהּ) is to “bear His Name” by being filled with the strength of His Presence, walking in the flow of His power, completely in union with His will… Bearing the Name of the LORD means being surrendered and identified with his heart in all things.

 

Birkat Kohanim:

 

 

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Yeshua taught us to be focused and to refrain from using “vain repetitions” (i.e., βατταλογέω – “babbling words”) in our prayers, since our Father knows what we need before we ask Him (Matt. 6:7-8). What He wants is “us” – all our heart and hunger for life – not some formula or recipe of words to appeal to him. Don’t worry about the verbiage of your prayers, then, but attend to the inner groan of your heart (Rom. 8:26). “When you pray, rather let thy heart be without words than thy words be without heart” (John Bunyan). Ultimately prayer is a kind of teshuvah (תְּשׁוּבָה), a word often translated as “repentance,” though it’s more accurately understood as turning (shuv) to God in response to His call. Sometimes you just come and present yourself in God’s presence, without words, without requests… You just sigh, or let your heart groan in silence. The point, of course, is that you come to the Lord to do real business with Him, not to play games or to offer “lip service.” Are we really “showing up” when we pray?

 

Hebrew Lesson:

 

 

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 wrote about this great war when he said: “For though we walk in the flesh (i.e., as mortal men), we are not waging war according to the flesh (i.e., in human terms). For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to demolish strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the truth of Messiah” (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

Successful spiritual warfare is waged in the spirit realm, not relying on physical means at all, but trusting in the power of God and the weapons he gives to demolish “strongholds” where evil is deeply rooted (the word “stronghold” is better translated as “fortress,” a metaphor for militant prejudice that attempts to justify godlessness). In the profane world, these strongholds are expressed in the reasoning (i.e., λογισμός, “logic”) and “arrogant opinions” (i.e., ὕψωμα, pretenses) of the godless heart that are distilled into a dark vanity called “the wisdom of this world” (1 Cor. 3:19). The phrase “every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God” refers to the various devices of the heart and mind that erect obstacles to the knowledge of the truth revealed in the Messiah. Such obstacles are affirmed daily in the treacherous news of this world that reinforce godless assumptions and ongoing deception. We must use active discernment to identify the fallacies and misleading schemes promulgated by the world system by “taking every thought captive” to the glorious truth of the Messiah.

This is the good fight of faith (1 Tim 6:12). The fight is “good” because it turns on the victory and glory of the Lord who shares his overcoming life with us. The battle belongs to the Lord; the victory has been secured (Psalm 84:11; Rom. 8:37-39). Always remember that we never fight for, but always from, the place of His victory, standing our ground in the sufficiency of God’s power given to us (Luke 10:19). We must be sober and vigilant (1 Pet. 5:8-9); we must stay focused and persevere in the truth (2 Tim. 2:4). God gives us the “armor of light” that blinds the eyes of powers of darkness. We must not be afraid but stand firm in the strength given to us by the Spirit of God (Zech 4:6; Eph. 6:11-18). The Lord will help us in the battle (2 Thess. 3:3; Deut. 3:22). “No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD” (Isa. 54:17).

 

Hebrew Lesson:

 

 

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…

Faith in the LORD constitutes both a type of “protest” against any interpretation of reality that excludes, suppresses, denies, or minimizes the Divine Presence, and constitutes a heavenward cry for the place where we truly belong…. The life of faith therefore calls us to live as toshavim – sojourners – who are at an infinite “distance” from the world of appearances and who seek the Eternal. If you feel crazy in an insane situation, then you are really quite sane… The world will feel oppressive and strange once you have been awakened from its madness and refuse to be moved by the delusions of the crowd… Life in olam hazeh (this world) is a place of passing that leads to the world to come. Our faith affirms that underlying the surface appearance of life is a deeper reality that is ultimately real and abiding. It “sees what is invisible” (2 Cor. 4:18) and understands (i.e., accepts) that the “present form of this world is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31).

 

Hebrew Lesson:

 

 

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).

The LORD who is the Most High, the possessor of heaven and earth (אל עליון קנה שׁמים וארץ) is not just the Creator and Sustainer of all possible worlds, but the Lover and Redeemer of our very souls — the One who empties himself to become “with us” and who overcomes the sickness of death for us… The climactic expression of the character of Ultimate Reality is revealed at Golgotha, the “place of the skull,” where God’s sacrificial life in Yeshua destroyed death by the greater power of divine love (Psalm 85:10). The heart of our Lord as he suffered and died for our sins reveals the great compassion of God; it is “ha’makom,” the place of his atonement for us; his hidden dark cloud, and his resurrection glory reveals our deliverance for death. God loves us despite knowing all of our sins and yet redeems us from its curse…

We “connect” with the truth of God by means of the instrumentality of faith, and the essential question is whether we are in a “trusting relationship” with God or not, for if we do not truly know God as our loving Savior, we remain lost, in darkness, and alienated from the life of God. Faith is self-authenticating as we experience grace in the exercise of our trust in God.

Read more “The Ultimate Reality…”

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).

Amen, we must learn to be conscious of life’s great sanctity its eternal significance… Each of us is “on the road” of life going someplace; each of us has an appointment with the full revelation of the truth…. Therefore, since we only have this hour, understand today to be “the day of salvation” (יום הישועה). “No creature is hidden from His sight, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:13). Therefore the Spirit admonishes those who have ears to hear: “Take care, friends, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God, but exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Today – if you hear His voice – harden not your hearts (Heb. 3:12-13,15).

Friend, everything matters; nothing is trivial; and there is a weight of glory that surrounds our lives… Therefore act as if your choices have eternal significance, because they really do; pray as if your life depends on it, because it really does. Praying in accordance with the will of God – namely, for you to know God, to walk in the light of love, joy, peace; to be filled with wisdom, patience, kindness, and so on, will assuredly move heaven and earth (1 John 5:14). God is forever faithful and always hears those who call out to him with sincerity of heart: “The LORD is near to all who call out to him, to all who will call out to him in truth” (Psalm 145:18).

 

Hebrew Lesson:

 

• Psalm 145:18 Hebrew page

Theologians have made various arguments for the existence of God by arguing that since every effect is the result of a cause, and the existence of the universe is an effect, therefore a cause for the universe must exist. Moreover, since an infinite series of causes cannot be traversed to produce a present effect, there must be a first or beginning cause for the existence of the universe, and that cause is God.

While this may be a sound argument, the Hebrew Scriptures teach that the “first cause” of all that exists is not some sort of mechanistic or abstract power that sets the universe in motion, but on the contrary is a personal God who creates, sustains and providentially guides everything that exists. The Torah begins by revealing God as a “talking Intelligence” that creates all things by the agency of his verbal expression, or by means of his word. The first recorded word of God is yehi ohr, “let there be light” (Gen. 1:3). God speaks; he sees; he imagines, designs, orders, and executes his will in building the “house” (בּ) of the universe…

Torah teaches that God, the infinite and all-powerful Creator of reality, expresses himself as Person with a character that can be known… God is the great “I AM” (i.e., ehyeh: אהיה) who is the Source and origin of all that is real (Exod. 3:14-15). As I mentioned the other day, personhood is the essential feature of reality itself, and indeed, the structure of the “I” that constitutes the person is grounded in the Divine “I” that creates everything yesh me’ayin, “out of nothing.” The LORD (יהוה) is alone the transcendent and unsurpassed Creator of all things, and there are no other so-called gods besides Him (Deut. 32:39; Isa. 45:21-22).

Indeed God created people made in his “image” and his “likeness” for the very purpose that they would personally know Him and understand their special place within creation. The irreducibility of the self, the intuitions of logic, the ability to use language, the sentiments of value and beauty, and the inner witness of conscience, enable human beings to relate to God and understand truth. Therefore by virtue of creation people are endowed with the knowledge of God’s unsurpassing power and glory as well as the duty to act in accordance with his moral will (Psalm 19:1-2; Rom. 1:20). And while God created each of us individually, each individual is given life to be a member of the family of God, and that implies responsibilities to regard the sanctity of life and to respect the sanctity of others.

Read more “The Heart of Reality…”