The Blessings of Obedience

In this post, I am going to try and collect some thoughts that have been swirling around in my brain.  Pardon any randomness that is sure to occur!

Recently, I had a friend ask me about Romans 8:1 and how it works together with Romans 14:22-23.  Upon reading the two passages, which have to do with condemnation and judgment, I asked her what version she was reading.  She was working with the NIV and the Amplified Bible.  I told her to read Romans 8:1 in either the KJV or the NKJV, which come from the textus receptus Greek manuscript (as opposed to the more recently-used critical text).  Here is the difference:

NIV: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

NKJV: There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Well, that is quite a difference.  One version shows an action associated with it, and the other does not.  But in fairness, chapter 8 continues, and both versions highlight the same concept in verse 4: that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Ooo, suddenly we have a bit of context!  The passage is speaking of walking in New Covenant Law, which is governed by the leading of the Holy Spirit and not by the laws of the flesh that are written on stone tablets under Moses.  (New Covenant law boils down to this:  Love God and love people.)

Do you see how important it is to consider context, and the full counsel of scripture, versus taking one verse out of context?  A person could read 8:1 in the NIV (and most other modern translations) and simply concur that because a person believes in Jesus, they are good to go.  Nothing else required. 

Today in the church, there is much focus on the love of God, as it applies to ourselves.  You hear it quite often in our worship music - He is jealous for me.  Oh, how He loves me.  Oh, He chases me down.  Love is love.  Etc.

And it is true.  God is love.  Scripture says so.  But balance is so critical!  Look at 1 John 4:8: He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Did you notice that this verse indicates a lack of action?  How about this one a few verses later? We love Him because He first loved us.  Action is demonstrated.  We can only truly love Him (and others) because of His great love that He showed us first.

How about the famous verse, John 3:16?  By itself, it seems that only belief is required, and nothing else.  But if you keep reading, you find that there is more:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

True belief requires action.

Matthew 5:16 says this:  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

And James drives it home in James 2:20- But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

In other words, don't just stand there, do something!

What we do matters!

Speaking of taking verses out of context, let's visit the book of Jeremiah (which I am currently reading).  There is a verse, beloved by many and claimed as their "life verse."  You know where I am going, right?

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Jeremiah 29:11.

This is a lovely verse and a wonderful promise.  In context, it was made to Israel's southern kingdom as they were getting booted out of the land for disobedience.  God was telling them to go ahead and relocate to Babylon, assuring them that if they obey His command to go, He would take care of them in a foreign land.

But what comes next is God's assurance of what would happen if they do NOT obey Him.  Nobody ever takes Jeremiah 29:17 as their life verse:
thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad. (The passage continues...) And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth—to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they have not heeded My words, says the Lord, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; neither would you heed, says the Lord.

What we do matters.

Let's visit Deuteronomy 28.  The twelve tribes of Israel are standing on the mountains of Gerazim  (blessing) and Ebal, six per mountain, to hear what causes God's blessings and curses.  The first fourteen verses outline what will happen if they live their lives in obedience to YHVH.  It is lovely, full of prosperity and fruit and rain in season and blessed work and dominion over enemies.

BUT, starting with verse 15 and continuing all the way through 68, YHVH outlines the consequences of disobedience.   And it starts out bad and gets progressively worse.  Why is the warning of the curses so long and detailed?  I believe YHVH really wanted them to understand the price they would pay for disobedience.  The detailed list includes confusion, frustration, pestilence, wasting disease, blight, mildew, famine, defeat by enemies, boils, death, oppression, robbery, scattering, expulsion from the land, and captivity.  Oh, and starvation so bad you will eat your children.  

I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing;
therefore choose life   (Deut 30:19)

What we do matters.

This same theme is carried into the New Covenant on the Mountain of Beatitudes in Matthew 5, but with a New Covenant twist.  Interestingly, Yeshua spends most of his time on the blessings and not the curses.  Verses 3-10 tell us, Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the pursuers of righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted.  For theirs is the kingdom of heaven and they will inherit the earth. (note:  the kingdom of God will someday be on earth and the Messiah will be ruling from Jerusalem).

Now for the twist...  verse 19.  It simply blows me away:
Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Did you notice that the commandment breakers are not booted out of the kingdom?  Yeshua's death lifted the terrible curses that we saw in Deuteronomy 28, but there are still consequences to disobediece.  You'll get into the kingdom if you have placed your trust in Yeshua, but you won't have much of a position there.  Compare that to 1 Corinthians 3:9-15...
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

In other words, by the skin of their teeth.

Now compare this to Yeshua's parables of the talents in Matthew 25.  The ones who use the talents given to him by God is rewarded greatly.  The one who basically does nothing with his gift is strongly rebuked and cast into the outer darkness (fringes of the kingdom) where he will gnash his teeth (experience deep regret).

What we do matters. 

1 John 5:2-3 confirm this concept: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

Not burdensome?  More like impossible, at least by our own power!

This is why the appointed time of Shavuot, or Pentecost, is so important.  The Jews have always celebrated the giving of the Torah - the laws of God that were written on stone tablets at Sinai - on this appointed day.  It was no coincidence then, that the Holy Spirit was given to indwell believers on this very same appointed day, when Jerusalem would have been full to overflowing with Jews on their annual Shavuot pilgrimage.

Without the power of the Holy Spirit that was given that day, accompanied by the spiritual gifts that are given to each believer, it is impossible to fulfill New Covenant Law.  

We must discover the gifts that the Spirit has given us, and use them for His kingdom purposes, if we want to hear His beloved voice saying, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

What we do matters.

Jewish Roots Doctrines and the Two Sauls

I recently met with a friend of mine; a Jewish believer in Yeshua who runs a Messianic dance ministry.  She was telling me about the different groups within the Jewish Roots movement, and sadly she reported that they all hate each other.

Hate each other?  How is this possible when one of Yeshua's main commands was that we love one another?

And yet, we are still humans, running around in these human bodies in a world that still is corrupted.  And often we forget to die to self, as the word instructs us to do.

Anyway, my friend said that there are three main groups:  Messianic Jews, Hebraic Christians, and Hebrew Roots people.  (I knew there were differences within the Jewish Roots movement but did not know they were categorized like this).

Here is a website from a Hebraic Christian congregation that explains the difference between the first two groups:

https://www.myshalom.org/hebraic_christianity

The third group, Hebrew Roots people, can be a little harder to explain since there is such a wide range of doctrines within the group. 

One of the entities that falls into this third category is the Ephraimites.  These mostly Gentile Christians claim to be a part of the ten lost tribes of Israel, so therefore they actually ARE Israel.  This doctrine also shows up as British-Israelism, Two-House (or Whole-House) Theology, and Herbert Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God.  The doctrine is heavily based on Ezekiel's vision of the two sticks coming together in Ezekiel 37.

Also within the Hebrew Roots category are people who hold to the teaching that the Messiah's death did not complete the Moses Covenant, but instead renewed it, expanded it, and wrote it on the hearts of His true followers.  For the most part, those involved advocate the need for every believer to walk what they call a "Torah-observant life."  This means that the ordinances of the Mosaic Covenant must be a central focus in the lifestyle of believers today as it was with the Ancient Jews. 

Hmm. About a third of those ordinances are centered around temple sacrifice - an impossibility to keep today since there is no physical temple.  Didn't James say something about breaking one part of the law breaks the whole thing?  But I digress.

There are a couple people I know who adhere to this third group, and their Facebook posts are rather militant.  In fact, it was a post from one of these people that is the reason for today's post.

This person was elaborating on what she called the false teaching of the Apostle Paul.  She went as far as saying his "conversion" was actually from the Antichrist, and that all of his teachings are false and that his writings should be thrown out of the Bible.

The following is a paraphrase of her example:

King Saul (who was from the tribe of Benjamin) persecuted David and his followers.  The Apostle Paul (whose Hebrew name is also Saul, and he was also from the tribe of Benjamin) persecuted the followers of Yeshua.  Since the Hebrew scriptures are a foreshadow of Messiah, therefore because King Saul was influenced by the devil and met a tragic end, therefore Paul too was influenced by the devil and met with a tragic end.

What a dangerous way to look at the Bible!  This person clearly does not understand how biblical foreshadowing works.  Biblical foreshadows are prophetic snapshots of what is to come, not an exact detail-by-detail fulfillment.

Let me use a different account to make my point.

The LORD stopped Abraham from sacrificing his beloved son, Isaac.  However, the LORD did not stop the sacrifice of His beloved son, Yeshua.  Therefore, since the fulfillment was not exactly like the foreshadow, Yeshua could not be the Messiah.

Can you see the logical fallacy?

However, there definitely is a prophetic connection between the two Sauls, but I never saw it until I read that Facebook post.  

Consider this:

If King Saul the Benjamite (and his ultimate demise) is a prophetic picture of the glorious Sinai Covenant, which is written on stone tablets and ends in death, how much more is Rabbi Saul the Benjamite (and his ultimate redemption) a prophetic picture of the New Covenant, written by the Spirit on our hearts?

Rabbi Saul puts it like this in 2 Corinthians 3:

Our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 

But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

A story of two hills.  Which is greater?

Well.  No wonder many Hebrew Roots people take issue with the Apostle Paul.  His focus is on the glorious New Covenant and not on Moses and the Mount Sinai Covenant.

So back to the conversation I was having with my believing Jewish friend.  I asked her which of the three groups she identified with, and she said “None.  I am simply teaching people how to worship Yeshua the Jewish Messiah through dance.”  She went on to tell me that one group actually fired her for associating with those from another group.

Agghhh!

I cannot imagine that this is what the Messiah had in mind when He commanded us to love one another or when He prayed that we would be unified.

I love studying the Jewish Roots of my faith because of the richness of understanding that it brings to my faith.  But I cannot say that I fully identify with any of these Jewish Roots groups.  The congregation I attend is part of a Christian denomination, and although I am a member, I do not profess any allegiance to the denomination.

My allegiance is to the crucified and risen Redeemer – Messiah Yeshua – and to His holy Word and to His Holy Spirit dwelling within me.  

And as far as Torah observance goes, the Hebrew word Torah simply means instruction.  I believe all scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, is our instruction - our Torah, and it must be understood as a whole, complete set of instructions.  So yes, this makes me Torah observant.

Genesis Post 31 - The Animals Consumed (Chapter 15)

In verse 7, the plan of God continues to unfold.  The LORD reminded Abram of His promise to give him the land - another reminder of how intertwined the land is to this covenant.

The LORD's directions that follow seem very odd to our modern ears: Get some animals and cut them in half.  But don't cut the birds in half.

Weird to us, but a very common practice in the ancient Middle East.  When two parties made an agreement, they would slice animals in half as a picture of what would happen to either party if they broke the agreement.  In other words, the agreement was binding.

There is a hint of this practice in a wedding ceremony today, although not quite so bloody.  The bride is a picture of the marriage covenant when she walks down the aisle, in between the bride's people and the groom's people.  Did you ever wonder why you were asked, "Bride's side or groom's side?"

Cutting a covenant

The devil does not like the plan of God, as we see in verse 11.  Vultures came down after the carcasses of the animals, but Abram shooed them away.

I believe those vultures represent those throughout history and today who would come against the Abrahamic Covenant:

• Pharaoh killing the Hebrew baby boys
• Herod murdering the Bethlehem babies
• The Spanish Inquisition
• The Holocaust
• Falsely accusing Israel of apartheid and ethnic cleansing
• Threats to cut Israel off from being a nation
• Blaming Israel for all the woes in the world
• Pressuring Israel into giving up land
• United Nations resolutions against Israel
• Boycotting Israel
• Criticizing Israel at every turn

Are you a shoo-er?  Abram was.  We want to have faith like Abram.  Would God‘s covenant with Abraham stand up if there was no one to defend it? Yes. God is God, and unconditional means unconditional. But we are called to take part. We are called to be biblical scarecrows. We are invited to participate!

So anyway, Abram fully expected to walk through the cut animals.  Three-year-old animals were the prime age, the most expensive ones, for sacrifices.

But God put Abraham into a deep sleep.  A dreadful, horrible sleep, the scriptures say in verse 12.

Why the dark, dreadful sleep? Abraham is told in his dreams that his descendants will become slaves, driven out of their land, and they will be afflicted.  Did Abraham see his descendants being persecuted?

Truly Abraham had a nightmare during his deep sleep, but the nightmare changed in verse 14 to a positive note. They would depart from that nation of affliction with great wealth, and they would possess the land after the sin of the Amorites (a reference to the Canaanite peoples) was complete.

People might think it was unfair of the LORD God to displace the people that were in the Promised Land before the Israelites, but scripture tells us that their wickedness had reached a point where the LORD could no longer tolerate it.

Abram was then promised a long life and peace to the end in verse 15.

In verse 17, the LORD Himself passed through the animal carcasses and consumed them.  This is a one-sided action; Abram did not have to do anything.  The covenant was permanent and unconditional.

Gods divine presence showed up in smoking fire. There’s a picture here of the pillar of fire and smoke that will eventually deliver Abraham's descendants from Egypt in the Exodus.

When God went through the animals, the first thing he mentioned was the land, in verse 18:
To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—  the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites,  the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

It is interesting to note that the land promised here to Abraham's descendants reaches far beyond what it is today.  From the Nile to the Euphrates.  But someday, in the coming kingdom, it will happen.

Just a quick note on Replacement Theology - the disturbingly prevalent doctrine in the church today that says God is done with Israel and all His promises are transferred to the church.  The land promise destroys the doctrine of Replacement Theology.  When did the LORD ever give land or national boundaries to the New Testament church?

The church was never driven out of their land due to sin, because they never had any God-given land. Israel was driven out of the land twice because of sin.

But the prophecies say that God will bring them back to the land and that they will not be driven out again.  In fact, there are 64 places in the scriptures that foretell the return of Israel to the land.  If you would like to study these scriptures for yourself, a friend of mine in Israel has listed them on her ministry website.  Click here to read them.

To the New Testament believers, Romans 11 warns us not to be arrogant or ignorant.  Unfortunately, Replacement Theology does both.

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.  And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”
Romans 11:25-27

The Abrahamic Covenant is still unfolding in our walk through Genesis, but we now come to a chapter that seems out of place but is absolutely strategic.  Click here to continue.

Genesis Post 30 - God Our Shield and Abram's Faith (Chapter 15)

In Genesis chapter 15, we are going to see the continued unfolding of the Abrahamic Covenant, since Abram is now in the land.

Right off the bat, the LORD gave Abram a vision, and said to him:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

The Hebrew word for shield is magen.

I want to pause for a moment and speak of the Israeli flag.  There are many who believe that the emblem on the Israeli flag represents the star of various pagan deities that appear in Amos 5:25-26 and repeated in Acts 7:43, and that this particular six-pointed star is used in witchcraft.  This view is ridiculous and also anti-Semitic.  It is another way that anti-Zionists try and discredit the modern State of Israel.  I have heard the accusation numerous times, and I have even heard it from lovers of Israel!

First of all, the emblem on the Israeli flag is known as the Magen David, which actually means David's Shield and not star of David.  It is actually incorrect to refer to the symbol as the star of David.

Secondly, the six-pointed emblem is actually a representation of the name of David, which in Hebrew is spelled dalet vav dalet.   In ancient Hebrew, the letter dalet was represented by a triangle.  The vav carries the meaning of something that connects; we would call it a conjunction in English.

The Magen David is an ancient dalet pointing up to heaven, and an ancient dalet pointing down to earth, and intertwined - or connected - together.  What a beautiful representation of King David, to whom God gave a beautiful covenant and the messianic promise of a kingdom that would never end through one of his offspring.  Dalet vav dalet.

Thirdly, the "star" most often used in witchcraft is the five-pointed pentagram, and even then it has a circle around it.  The six-pointed star is rarely used in witchcraft, and when it is, it is always with a circle around it.  And it is never interconnected the way the Magen David is.

If you are one of those people who are going to freak out about the six-pointed "star" on the Israeli flag, then I hope you are at least consistent and have extreme misgivings about the 50 five-pointed stars on the United States flag as well.

And anyway, aren't stars technically round?

Anyway, in verse 1, The LORD assured Abram that He was his shield, which carries the meaning of protector.  And the LORD is also the protector, or shield, of Israel.  David's shield on Israel's flag is a perfect fit.

Right away, Abram questioned the LORD because in his old age, he was childless and his heir was his servant Eliezer.  (This was a very common custom in the Middle East, in the event that a man had no heir).

And even though he was questioning God in verse 2, Abram addressed the creator as Adonai Yehovah, and this is the first of many places that this name is used of the LORD.  He is saying "O Master YHVH," a term that demonstrates Abram's absolute faith that YHVH is in charge.  This compound name of God, Adonai YHVH, shows up again and again in the scriptures, always in the context of the everlasting covenant.  It cannot be seen in our English translations, which typically use Lord GOD or sovereign LORD.

In fact, when King David was given his own covenant in 2 Samuel 7, Adonai Yehovah was used 7 times in David's prayer.  The context is the forever throne, which links the messianic Davidic Covenant to the everlasting Abrahamic Covenant.

The LORD then brought Abram outside and had him try and number the stars (which of course Abram could not) and promised him numerous descendants, just like those beautiful stars.

Here it is again.

Abraham said, "I got zero." God said, "You’re going to have millions." Can you say contrast?

And verse 6 tells us one of the very things that Father Abraham is known for: his great faith!
And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

The Hebrew word for righteousness is tzadik.  Remember Melchi-Tzadik from the previous chapter, the King of Righteousness?  Tzadik is also the Hebrew word for saint.  Abram became a saint through his belief in the LORD, just like we do when we put our faith in the Messiah our LORD.

In verse 6, we have the first mention of that word believe.  The Hebrew word is aman, from which we get the words for faith (emunah), truth (emet), and amen (amen!).

Amen!

The words are all intertwined.  In Revelation 3:14 we read,
‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness 

My next post will continue with the unfolding Abrahamic Covenant.  Click here to read it.

Genesis Post 26 - Introduction To Abraham's Covenant (Chapter 12)

We now reach Genesis 12, a key chapter in Genesis.

My absolute favorite artistic depiction of Father Abraham

This new beginning is going to be accompanied by an unconditional covenant. This covenant is still in effect today, as we will soon see.  This is the third covenant that we have seen between God and man since Genesis began.  (The first was with Adam and Eve, and the second was with Noah.  If you are not familiar with the seven covenants, click here for a refresher of this scriptural framework).

Verses 1-3 say,
Now the LORD  had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Most believers have no idea how important these verses are today.  All the last days happenings stem from this covenant.  Everything going on in the Middle East today starts here. And the devil knows it.

The covenant was announced here, but was not initiated here, because Abram was not yet in the Promised Land.

The covenant is absolutely tied to the land. The land is very important.  It cannot be separated from the Abrahamic Covenant.

The covenant has three main parts to it, and they are all connected:

• The Land  (God would take him to a new land)
• The Seed (God would bless him, and make from him a great nation and a great name)
• The Blessing  (All the nations of the earth would be blessed through him)

The covenant starts with the land. Then it turns into a nation.

And then the promise is given that his name would be great... and today, all three monotheistic religions claim Abraham as their father.

When God told Abraham he would make him into a great nation, he was speaking of the separate nation of Israel, who was to be separate from the nations.  As we will soon learn, Ishmael would be given his own covenant, and told he would be a great nation, but the Abrahamic covenant was passed on to Isaac and then to Jacob.  We will see this in upcoming chapters in Genesis.

This section ends with the promise of blessing to all nations of the world.  It extends through the very end of the Bible.

Four times in these verses, the LORD God says I will, and He does.  This covenant contains no ifs.  It is unconditional.  As the covenant unfolds in future chapters, we will continue to see the unconditional and permanent nature of the covenant.

Embedded into the covenant is a warning to the world.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;

Lovers of Israel such as myself know Genesis 12:3 very well.

Historically, nations that curse Israel do not do well. Nations, people, and even congregations that actively bless Israel do favorably.

One of my very favorite things about Donald Trump is that he has actively blessed Israel, unlike any other president in our modern history.

There are numerous books available that outline the parallels of this blessing.  Several that come to mind are these:
The Israel Omen (2 books)
As America Has Done to Israel
Eye to Eye:  Facing the Concequences of Dividing Israel

In a nutshell:
The costliest insurance events, the costliest hurricanes, the largest tornado outbreaks, the " Perfect Storm," the 9/11 terror events, and Hurricane Katrina corresponded to White House pressure on Israel to divide their land.

It is very important to realize that there are two different Hebrew words used for curse.

Arar means to curse, as we understand it.
Qalal, on the other hand, means to make light of, or to trivialize. In other words, to consider something unimportant, or failure to esteem.

A more accurate translation of Genesis 12:3 would be,
I will bless those who bless you, and he who treats you indifferently I will curse.

Why is God so strict on this? To disrespect Israel is to disrespect God himself.  Scripture says that Israel is the apple of his eye, which is an idiom for pupil.  It is like poking God in the eye when you fail to esteem Israel.

Sadly, Israell gets very little respect in the eyes of the world, the United Nations, and even in the church.

Of course, it is a remnant of God’s people who do get it. God seems to do much work through a remnant of people.

Blessing Israel doesn’t make you any better than anyone else, it just makes you blessed. Do you want God blessing in your life? Give it a try. Start actively blessing Israel.

I will repeat what I said in the Isaiah class, a paraphrased quote from Mike Bickle of IHOP: If you haven’t seen what God is doing with Israel, and you’re not excited about what God is doing through Israel, you are not understanding it.

God‘s plan with Israel as a nation has been on hold for the sake of the rest of the nations, since 70 AD. You and I are included in that.  Look at Galatians 3:8...
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”

Israel as a nation, however, will not remain on hold forever.  The overall plan of God for humankind revolves around Israel. The first and second comings of the Messiah revolve around Israel. Israel is key.  When foreigners and strangers attach themselves to Israel, like Ruth did, they share in the blessing, like Ruth did.

How exactly can we bless Israel?  I wrote a post on it once; you can click here to read it.

All this in just the first three verses of Genesis 12!  We'd better move on.  Click here to continue on in Genesis.

Genesis Post 21 - God's Covenant with Noah (Genesis 9)

So here we are at Genesis 9.  The eight people on the ark had stepped into a brand new world.  I think I mentioned this before, but eight is the biblical number signifying new beginnings.

Ten generations after Adam, God had pressed the reset button.  It is interesting to note that the number 10 can represent a time of testing, and it can also mean righteous government.  The ten commandments come to mind here... rules with which to govern righteously.  But I am getting ahead of myself.  At the time of the flood, ten generations had passed, and there was certainly no righteous government on the earth.  We are going to see a similar occurrence soon.

God is the same yesterday today and forever, but sometimes the rules change.  When God gives a new covenant, He also gives new directions.

The first thing God did in chapter 9 was to put the fear of man into the animals.  Why is that?  It is interesting to note that the very next thing said was, "You can now eat them, along with  all the delicious plants that you've eaten since the garden."  Man became an omnivore after the flood.  Did the animals somehow inherently know that they were now subject to the butcher shop?

As one who has raised chickens for meat, I can totally relate to this.  Those birds would see me coming and RUN!

The devil is hard at work trying to equate man and animals.  Many world religions believe that they are equal.  But clearly, the Bible shows us that man is different from the animals.

Verse 4 continues with God reiterating the importance of blood.  It is something sacred.  Do not eat it.  (Even the New Testament reaffirms this in the book of Acts.  So don't go eating blood sausage - ick!)

God then instituted the death penalty in the next verses.  This was an early form of "eye for an eye."  Man was now required to kill murderers.
Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
 “Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed;
For in the image of God
He made man.  (The word for man is Adam.  As I showed in a previous post, every human being has the potential to bear the image of God.  See Genesis post 16 for more information on that).

The rest of chapter 9 outlines the details and promises of God's covenant with Noah.  Is this covenant still valid today?

Verse 11 says, Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.

God then placed His beautiful rainbow into the sky as a reminder of the promise.  God's rainbow still shows up today when the sun shines through the rain.  So yes, this promise is still in effect, and it was a promise made regarding the earth, man, and beast.

God's rainbow is made of 7 colors - who hasn't heard of Roy G Biv?

Of course, the devil had to get involved with the rainbow.  Do I even need to say how?  It is displayed all around us along with a very ungodly message.  But it should come as no surprise if we are actually reading our bibles.  

Matthew 24:37 says, But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

And Luke's gospel goes even further in 17:28-30:
Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

It's mind blowing to me that the Bible connects the last days to both Noah (the rainbow) and Lot (Sodom and Gomorrah).  We. Are. There. Now.  Come soon, Yeshua!

Man's corrupted rainbow is made of 6 colors. 
Hebraically speaking, six is the incomplete number of man.

So even though God will keep His promise not to destroy the world with water again, He most definitely will use fire to accomplish His purposes. 

2 Peter 3:10 says,
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

Believe it or not, neither the destruction of the earth by flood water nor the future destruction of the earth is a bad thing in God's overall plan, which is to cleanse and restore.  As I am sitting here writing this, I am getting a picture of biblical baptism!

When we receive the Messiah as our Redeemer, we are baptized in water.  The immersion into the water is a picture of death and rebirth, just like the flood!

The Bible also speaks of a second baptism, but this time by fire.  It is a powerful cleansing and purifying fire!  The first baptism was a one-time deal, not needing to be repeated - thus the promise by God not to do it again.  The baptism by fire is a further work of God, an awesome display of His power and might! 

This earthly baptism of fire will occur just before Yeshua begins His reign on earth from Jerusalem.  He alluded to this when speaking to His disciples of the coming regeneration in Matthew 19:28:

So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

I don't know about you, but I am looking forward to the earthly regeneration with great joy and anticipation!

Click here for the next post in the series on Genesis.

Torah Torah Torah

A few years ago, I posted two blogs in regard to "keeping the law."  If you haven't read them, you can go back and read them starting here.

I have continued to study the Word of God from a Hebraic viewpoint.  This means that I come across a lot of people who call themselves Torah Observant.  However, I have found that there is a variety of opinions on what Torah obervance looks like.  Let me share more of what I have learned since the previous posts on the subject.

The word Torah means instruction.  It comes from the root word yara, which means direction; as an arrow being aimed and shot toward its target.  In this sense, the whole counsel of scripture from Genesis to Revelation is the Lord's instruction, or Torah, that leads us to the final goal.  The first place that the word Torah shows up in scripture is in Genesis 26:5, where the Lord says that Abraham kept His laws.  At this point, the Sinai covenant had not yet been given to Moses.

Torah

So am I Torah observant?  Yes!  Torah - The Instruction of God, from Genesis to Revelation.

Understanding the covenants is key.  There are seven covenants between God and man.  It is not just a matter of Old Covenant/New Covenant.  If you want more information on them, I have written on the seven covenants here.  Sorry for the rabbit trails today, but it is worth your time.

We must know what covenant we are under and then discover what is required of us under that covenant.

The fourth of the seven, given to Moses on Mount Sinai, was centered on the tabernacle, and later on the temple.  Of the 613 mitzvot (commandments) in the Sinai covenant, only 207 of them can be observed apart from the temple.  This is why there are Orthodox Jews in Israel that yearn for the temple to be rebuilt - so they can properly keep Torah!

What does that mean for us as New Covenant believers, under the blood of Yeshua?  James 2:10 tells us that if we stumble on even one precept of the law (Sinai covenant), we have broken the whole thing.  Do you see how impossible it is?  

Hebrews 7:12, speaking of Yeshua our High Priest, tells us, For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. 

Yeshua fulfilled the entire Sinai Covenant perfectly, for us, putting to death the laws of the flesh once for all.  It is finished, He said as He hung on the tree, taking on the curse for us with His dying breath.  Having fulfilled every precept of the Sinai Covenant, He is now our living Torah.

The Sinai Covenant dealt with the flesh.  The New Covenant deals with the spirit.  The Holy Spirit is our living Torah.

Yeshua gives us a major hint in the gospels.  When He sent out the 12 (a very Jewish number) disciples prior to feeding the 5000, He sent them to a Jewish crowd.  There was no need to give them any dietary warnings - they were kosher.  Then in Luke 10, we see Him sending out 70 (number of completeness) to a very Gentile area, prior to feeding the 4000.  What did He tell them?  Eat such things as are set before you.  There was a good chance that some of these Gentiles were going to give them pork BBQ.  

Yeshua was preparing his disciples to carry the gospel to many cultures - cultures who were never given the Sinai Covenant.  Can you imagine witnessing to someone, and they invite you to dinner, and you have to refuse them because they are serving bacon-wrapped shrimp?  The highest form of fellowship in scripture is to dine with someone.  What an insult that would be, and a stumbling block to the gospel!

Yeshua said that if we loved Him, we would obey His commandments.  What were His new covenant commandments?  Love God, and then love people.  The external precepts (flesh) were completed and the internal precepts (spirit) were magnified.  Romans 8 tells us that love is the fulfillment of the law.  This is our directive in this age of Messiah, until He comes again.

BDS - What Are They Really After?

This post may seem like it is political in nature, but bear with me. I will connect the dots biblically, I promise.

Perhaps you are already familiar with the BDS Movement against Israel.  Or perhaps you have no idea what I am talking about. If not, it is time to unpack this movement so you can understand what is going on today.

BDS stands for Boycott, Divest, and Sanction.  It is merely a continuation of 4000 years of hatred that is inspired by satan himself, who knows his time window for mischief is short.  This time, it is wrapped in "justice for Palestine" packaging, but when it is seen for what it is, you can see that there is nothing new under the sun.

The early boycott movement began before Israel was a nation, when the Arab League voted on December 2, 1945, to boycott Zionist goods in the British Mandate of Palestine.  When Israel became a legal nation in 1948, the Arab League broadened the boycott to include all companies throughout the world that do business with Israel, as well as their business partners. 

The objective was to isolate the Jewish state from the international community, as well as to inflict economic harm.

Drats.  It didn't work, as Israel became one of the most successful and prosperous nations in the world, despite being the size of a postage stamp and being surrounded by hostile enemies.  

In 2001, a new approach was begun by those who wished to destroy Israel as a nation.  Trying to legitimize their boycott, they adopted human rights language and falsely accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" and "apartheid."  

Let's just stop right there and look at several facts.

• Arabs living in Israel with full citizenship:  about 1,500,000.  
• Jews living with full citizenship (or no citizenship) in Jordan (formerly 77% of Palestine): 0. 
• Jews living in Saudi Arabia:  0.  (They are not even allowed in)
• Jews living in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Iraq, Iran, etc:  Maybe a handful.

After Israel became a nation, Jews that were living in these various Middle Eastern countries had to flee due to persecution, many with just the clothes on their backs.  The postage-stamp-sized country of Israel took them in and gave them citizenship.

Who cleansed who?  Who really practices apartheid?   SMH.   (That means Shakes My Head, in case you are like me and didn't know what it meant until I asked my children).

The BDS movement picked up steam in 2005 when a group of Arab Palestinian organizations formed a coalition (ironically, the same year that Israel vacated Gaza, which did NOT lead to peace but to the launching of many rockets into Israel and two wars).

Here are the stated goals and objectives of the BDS movement against Israel:

1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

Well, number 2 has already happened.  See above... remember the 1,500,000?  Some of them are members of the Knesset and one is even a judge on Israel's Supreme Court.

Numbers 1 and 3 have nothing to do with land or justice and everything to do with wiping out the Nation of Israel.  

Regarding number 1:  God gave Israel this land as an everlasting possession (Genesis 17:7).  It is only right that Israel should "occupy" their God-given land.  The wall was erected as a protective measure, after the second Arab Intifada (uprising) in the early 2000s.  It cut down on the suicide bombers by at least 90 percent.  I travel frequently through Tijuana and see a similar wall to the one I saw in Bethlehem.  Nobody accuses Mexico or the United States as being "apartheid."  Also, that little blurb in number 1 about "All Arab lands"?  They don't just mean "the West Bank and Gaza." When you hear them at the rallies chanting "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" they are referring to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean sea.  They mean all of Israel.

Regarding number 3:  The Arabs would have you believe that Resolution 194 is simply a call for the return to Israel by the Palestinian Arab people who fled when the surrounding Arab leadership initiated the war against Israel.  It's not.  Out of the 15 paragraphs of Resolution 194, only one paragraph dealt with the return of refugees.  One of the stipulations of that paragraph stated that the returning refugees be willing to live in peace with their neighbors.  There are numerous things that are very interesting to note about Number 3:

• Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen all voted against Resolution 194. 
• Israel is not mentioned at all by name in resolution 194.
• There is no call for justice for the many Jewish refugees that were forced to flee Middle Eastern countries after 1948. 
• No Arab country will offer citizenship to the Palestinian Arabs that were displaced by the war.
• 50,000 displaced Palestinian Arabs HAVE returned to Israel and gained citizenship.
• When they mean "refugee right of return" they do not mean the original 500,000-700,000 people who fled during the War of Independence.  They mean the 5 million descendants of them as well.  Goodbye Jewish demographic.

Moving on... Do you know about the BDS-sponsored Israeli Apartheid Week in colleges and universities?  In its own words, "Israeli Apartheid Week  (IAW) is an international series of events that seeks to raise awareness about Israel's apartheid policies towards the Palestinians and to build support for the growing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign."

So there you have it.  This campaign takes place annually in Feb/March at colleges and universities across the US, Canada, Britain, South Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.  They bring in speakers and have all sorts of events and rallies that try to delegitimize the nation of Israel.

One of the saddest things about this insidious BDS malarkey is that CHURCHES have believed this nonsense and jumped on board.  Some of the churches that have voted to boycott Israel are Presbyterian USA, Church of Scotland, the worldwide United Methodist Churches, and most recently, the United Church of Christ.  In addition, many para-church organizations have jumped on board as well.

Do they not understand Genesis 12:3?  Isaiah 40:1?  The heart of our Lord in Matthew 23:39 as He WEPT over Jerusalem and His brethren?

So how does this connect to the Bible?  I alluded to it earlier when I said that satan knows his time is short (Revelation 12:12).  He has been trying to destroy the Jewish people since they became a nation thousands of years ago in Egypt. 

Revelation 12:17 gives us a little insight as to satan's order of attack (which incidentally parallels God's order of things... to the Jew first):  

And the dragon was enraged with the woman (Israel), and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.  (That's us).  

Satan hates it that he just can't seem to win against Israel. 

In Revelation 3, the church at Philadelphia, the sixth of the seven churches, was commended for its faithfulness and was promised protection within the sphere of danger.  Maybe this is a stretch, but could that prophetic church example be connected to the sheep in Matthew 25, who blessed "the least of these my brethren?"  Brethren in Greek is adelphos, and literally means close kinsmen.  Philadelphia means loving the brethren.  Could this be why very few churches are actively blessing Israel and most are turning away from them... because it was prophesied in Revelation? One church in seven loving the brethren??

Psalm 83 gives us further insight into the motives of Israel's enemies.  It really isn't about land, or justice, or "apartheid."  It's about hatred.

You can read the Psalm on your own and see for yourselves the long list of Israel's surrounding enemies, but let me highlight two verses. 

Verse 4:  They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,

That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”

Verse 12 (in referring to punishment for Israel's enemies)  Who said, “Let us take for ourselves
The pastures of God for a possession.”

Do you wish to stand firmly with Israel?  We need a BDS alternative!

How about this:  Bless, Defend, and Support!

The Seven Covenants

Have you ever seen someone shrug and say, "well, that's Old Testament" when discussing the Bible?  I know I have heard that many, many times.

The holy scriptures are usually thought of by most Christians as Old Testament and New Testament.  And many people separate them in their minds, considering the "old" to be obsolete.

But did you know that the scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, tell one complete story?  That Yeshua did NOT come to Earth to create a new religion called Christianity?  That He is the fulfillment of all that was foreshadowed about Him in the Hebrew scriptures, from the very first book?

There is a saying that goes like this:  "The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed."

So many people, who have been taught Replacement Theology (which teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God's kingdom) believe that God is done with Israel because they were disobedient, so therefore all the blessings promised to THEM are now given to the church.  And the Word does say that Israel was kicked out of the land (twice) because of their disobedience.  How do we reconcile this?

Easy.  There is more than just "one old covenant, one new covenant" in the scriptures.

The scriptures actually record SEVEN covenants that the Lord YHVH initiates with man.  Like many other things in scripture that are featured in groupings of seven, the seven covenants reveal a complete picture.  The word for seven in Hebrew, sheva, means complete.  (For quite awhile, I could only find five covenants between God and man, but deep down, I was convinced that there were seven.  As I continued to study the Word, YHVH, blessed be He, showed me the other two).

The Hebrew word for covenant is b'rit.  The meaning of the word is to make a treaty, or alliance with someone, carrying with it the idea of cutting.  Blood was usually shed when a covenant was cut.

(As a kid, did you ever make a pact or become someone's blood brother or sister through cuts in your fingers?  Same idea.)

Let's look at the Biblical seven covenants that YHVH instituted with mankind.

1.  Eden
After Adam and Eve's disobedience brought sin into the world, the Lord God promised a redeemer, and that He would be the Seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15  (Notice that God did not say seed of the man.  This is our first clue that the Redeemer would not have an earthly father.  Nor did it say seeds, thus showing that there would only be one Redeemer).  God then provided animal skins as a covering for them, after they had tried to cover themselves with fig leaves - their own works - which were not acceptable.  Blood had to be shed for proper covering.  This covenant would be fulfilled by the Messiah at His first coming.

2.  Noah
Adam and Eve were forced from the garden so that they would not eat from the Tree of Life and live forever in their fallen state.  The world became a wicked, wicked place.  So wicked in fact, that God chose eight people with whom to start over, and then flooded the entire Earth.  Upon disembarking, Noah sacrificed clean animals to the Lord God, and God added meat to man's diet.  He then sent the rainbow as a sign of His covenant never to destroy the Earth with water again.  This is an everlasting promise.  (Someday, however, the earth will be destroyed with fire and regenerated.)

3.  Abraham
Ah, the Abrahamic covenant.  Probably the most misunderstood by many people.  YHVH made a covenant that was permanent and unconditional.  The covenant included the Land (Israel), the Seed (Yeshua), and the Blessing (Salvation to the nations), according to Genesis 12:1-3.


Genesis 15 and 17 give us further insight to the covenant details.   Genesis 17:7 assures us that the covenant is for good:  And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.  (I just want to interject here that if God can revoke His promises to Israel because of disobedience, then we are all toast).  The covenant was repeated to Isaac (Genesis 26) and to Jacob (aka Israel, Genesis 28), clearly demonstrating that the covenant was for Israel.

4.  Moses
YHVH continues His plan with mankind by instituting a covenant with Moses at Sinai.  The purpose of this covenant and its commandments (mitzvot) was to demonstrate man's complete inability to atone for himself, and to point to a future Redeemer who would one day perfectly keep every precept of the covenant.  Jeremiah 31:31-32 tells us about this future new covenant:  “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt (in other words, the Sinai/Moses covenant would be fulfilled by a future covenant.  Nothing is said about the everlasting Abrahamic covenant).

5.  David
This one sort of sneaks up on us, and was one that I was unaware of until recently. But one day as I was reading 2 Samuel 7, I realized that YHVH had just made another covenant, this time with King David.   David wanted to build a permanent home for YHVH, even though YHVH had not commanded David to do it.  So God actually promised DAVID a house in verse 11 - Also the Lord tells you that He will make you a house.  Scripture goes on to say “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.  Of course, this is another promise of the coming Messiah, who would carry on the line of King David forever.

6.  Yeshua
At a Passover Seder with His disciples, Yeshua said this in Matthew 26:28: For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.   Luke 22 records that this was the cup taken right after dinner.  In the traditional Passover Seder (order), there are four cups of wine to drink; two before dinner and two after dinner.  The cup right after dinner, the third cup, is called the Cup of Redemption.  Before Passover ended, Yeshua fulfilled this by shedding His blood and dying (at the very same moment the national symbolic lamb was slaughtered at the temple).  Even though He obeyed every single precept of the Moses covenant perfectly and was therefore not under the death penalty (see Romans 6:23), He willingly gave up His life for us; thus fulfilling the promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31.

7.  Covenant of Peace
For the most part, the nation of Israel rejected the new covenant (even though the early believers were ALL Jewish), so that God in His sovereignty could offer the good news of redemption to the rest of the world.  However, because of the Abrahamic covenant, God HAS to keep His promise to Israel (or else He would be a liar).  In the last days, the nation of Israel will recognize Yeshua as their Messiah according to Romans 11:25, Zechariah 12:10, Isaiah 54:8, and other places.  The seventh covenant occurs when Yeshua returns and Israel once again is restored to YHVH.

Look at these promises He made to Israel, which have yet to be fulfilled:

“I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.   - Ezekiel 34:25

Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. - Ezekiel 37:26

For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”Says the Lord, who has mercy on you. - Isaiah 54:10

New Covenant Giving

The church today teaches that Jesus fulfilled the law given to Moses at Mount Sinai.  Which is a good thing to teach, because this is true.  He became our Law when we put our trust in Him.

I find it interesting, though, that the one aspect of the Sinai covenant still taught by congregations today is tithing; the giving of ten percent of your income to your local church body.  Believers are often surprised to learn that this is not taught anywhere in the New Testament.

Under the Mosaic covenant, the main purpose of tithing was to support the priesthood. Numbers 18:21 said, - “Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting.

The priests and Levites had no inheritance of land for farming.  They needed to be freed up to concentrate on their service at the holy temple.  (Side note: if you add up and estimate all the required tithes and sacrifices that were required under the Moses Covenant for various holy days and special offerings, it was more like 22 percent).

In Genesis 14, Abraham gave a tithe of war spoils to Melchizedek in Genesis 14.  This mysterious priest shows up out of nowhere, with no geneology, as a snapshot of our future High Priest, Yeshua.

 

Melchizedek shows up again in Hebrews 7:11-12, which says, Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron?  For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. 

 

Since Yeshua fulfilled the tenets of the Sinai covenant perfectly, he was qualified to become our new high priest.  And WE are now priests in His kingdom. 1 Peter 2:9 says we are a royal priesthood.  Revelation 1:6 tells us that He has made us kings and priests forever!  There is no longer a Levitical priesthood to support, since we are all the priesthood. 

 

So does the New Covenant get rid of giving altogether?  By no means!

 

The letter of the law was abolished, and we now have the Spirit to lead us.  New Covenant law gets rid of the externals of the law, and magnifies the internals – the matters of the heart.  New Covenant law is MUCH more difficult to keep, which is why we need the power of the Holy Spirit.  Some examples given by Yeshua are:

• Don’t murder, but you are just as guilty if you hate your brother.
• Don’t commit adultery, but you are guilty even if you harbor lust in your heart.

Giving is definitely a matter of the heart.  If other internals were magnified, would giving not also be magnified?  Let's look at some concepts of New Covenant giving taught by Yeshua:

In Matthew 6:19-25  Yeshua tells us, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

The middle part of this passage, referring to good and bad eyes, seems out of place.  But when you understand that it is referring to a Jewish idiom (a good eye means a generous eye, bad eye means a selfish eye), the  passage suddenly makes much more sense.

The account of the rich young ruler is told in Matthew, Mark, and Luke:  He asks Yeshua,  "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?"  He’d kept the letter of the law all his life. Yeshua replied,  “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.  Yeshua knew that this man's heart was given over to his money.

Mark and Luke record the story of the widow's mite:  Jesus says, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”

Both accounts underline what Matthew 5 tells us; that where your heart is, there will your treasure be.

(May I just insert here an exhortation to the wealthy American church?  We are approaching the holiday called Thanksgiving, where we spend the day being thankful for all that we have. Then the next day, we celebrate "Black Friday" and get a whole bunch more stuff.  Just sayin'...  Traditions die hard, but really, aren't we supposed to avoid being conformed to this world?  Can I get an amen here?  Hello?  Anyone?  Cricket, cricket...)

Anyhoo, let's continue our perusal of New Covenant giving.  How did the early believers give, and to whom or what did they give their money?

 

1.  To each other

 

Acts 2:44-46 - Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

 

Acts 4:34-35 - Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.

These accounts are a narrative of what the early believers did, and not a command for us to go live on a socialistic kibbutz (although you can if you want to).  The point is, that these believers had an attitude of generosity among each other, giving wherever there was a need.  They didn't give ten percent, they gave EVERYTHING, knowing that it was all God's money.

 

 

2.  To the Jewish believers in Judea

 

Paul spent close to 10 years soliciting funds for the believers in Jerusalem.  Then and today, life was difficult for Messianic Jewish believers in Israel.  As a tiny minority in Israel today, they are sometimes persecuted and/or have a hard time finding a job.

 

Acts 11:29 - Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea.

 

1 Corinthians 16:1-3  Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. And when I come, whomever you approve by your letters I will send to bear your gift to Jerusalem.

 

Romans 15:25-27  “But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints.  For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.

 Below are listed several Biblical reasons to support Jewish missions:

1.  Genesis 12:3 - I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. It is important to note that two different words are used here for "curse." the second one means to treat as unimportant, or lightly esteem.

2.  Romans 1:16 -  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

3.  Isaiah 40:1-2 - “Comfort, yes, comfort My people! says your God. “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her.  Isaiah is talking to us here.  He isn't telling Israel to comfort herself.

4.  Matthew 25:40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

The word used for brethren here is literally close kinsmen.  How you treat the Jews matters.

 

5.  Romans 11:15 -  For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?  The salvation of the Jews is the culmination of God's many promises to Israel throughout the scriptures, and will be accompanied by a tremendous, worldwide harvest.  It should be high on our priority list indeed!

 

3.  To missionaries

In Matthew 10:9-10, Jesus is sending out the twelve to the house of Israel:  “Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.

In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul speaks further of financially supporting gospel workers.  "If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more?

Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.

But I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me… What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.”

Paul, one of the church-planting apostles, is saying that it is not wrong to support workers for the gospel.  However, he himself will not accept such support – he was a tentmaker.   Each person must allow the Spirit to lead him/her in this matter. 

2 Corinthians 9 really seems to capture the essence of giving:  But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

Put another way, you simply cannot outgive God!