Under His Wings

I love this! Since there is a huge storm predicted, my son decided to clean off the driveway some more from the last storm we had. He hates to have his picture taken. But, I caught him taking a break while listening to a favorite tune on the CD player.

Edit:: After Josh came in and I told him that I took this picture he asked me, "You didn't get one of me using the shovel as a guitar, did you?"  Now that would have been a picture! lol

We interrupt this series to bring you a service announcement. Really I just want to tell you that we are buried in snow. Last weekend we got 18 inches of snow in two days and another 6 on the third day. Between today and Friday we are expected to get another 10-16 inches depending on how 2-3 degrees of temperature goes. That means if the temps are just slightly warmer we could get sleet and freezing rain mixed with snow. They are telling us to get supplies and errands run now and hunker down for the duration. After having almost no snow all winter we are getting smacked here at the end. I guess we will just take it when it comes enjoy our time inside where it is warm.

Living in the 21st Century, so far removed from the time and culture in which Jesus lived, we often forget that Jesus was, and still is, Jewish.  He lived life as an observant Jew.  Let's look at some of the ways in which we see evidence of this in his life.

His parents where devout, Torah observant people.  We see this first in the birth narrative.  In Deut. 16:16 God had commanded, "Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths..."   In Luke chapter 2 we read that Caesar Agustus had made a decree that a census should be taken.  Since people had to travel to their homeland they were probably given a year's time in which to do this.  Joseph, being from Nazareth which is located in the Galilee, would have coordinated his time of travel to Bethlehem with the event of going to Jerusalem for one of the Feasts.  Many times men would take their families with them for the Feasts as they were a time of celebration.  This would make sense as to why Mary was traveling when she was so heavy with child.

Another example of the piety of Joseph and Mary is when they go to dedicate Jesus in the Temple.   In Luke 2:21 it says, "When eight days had passed..."  Did they just wait a random number of days?  No, Jewish boys are circumcised in accordance with the covenant that God made with Abraham on the eighth day after birth.  Verse 22 says, "And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses we completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord....(vs. 24) and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, "A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."  Their offering shows us that they were poor.

While they are in Jerusalem they meet a man named Simeon.  Scripture says of him, "this man was righteous and devout" meaning he did what was right in the sight of God and he was observant of the Torah commandments.  He was also "looking for the consolation of Israel", the Messiah.  The Holy Spirit  was upon him.  Interesting.

Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph brought in the child Jesus, "to carry out the custom of the Torah."  And Simeon blessed God.  "For my eyes have seen Your salvation."  Except what he really said was, "My eyes have seen Your Yeshua."  Yeshua is the Hebrew word for salvation.  It is also the name that the angel told Joseph to call the child.  "You shall call His name Yeshua."

Just a couple of other things I want to highlight in Simeon's blessing to God.  He said that the child would be, "A light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Your people Israel."  WOW!   The Messiah, the glory of Israel had come.  But, He had come in a way that they had not expected.   The light to the Gentiles(nations) which God had also promised, was also here.

Well, this post also went in a way that I had not expected.  So I will write more on Jesus the Jew, Jesus the Rabbi, and Jesus the Messiah in the future.

For His Name's Sake.

"If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk So you shall purge the evil from among you." Deut. 13:1-5

There have been many times throughout my spiritual growth years that people have used this passage to be the litmus test for a false prophet. "How does one tell a false prophet exactly? Well, whether or not his sign or wonder comes true." But, let's look a little more closely.

In the above passage God tells us that He will send false prophets to test His people to find out whether or not they love the Lord wholeheartedly and follow His commandments. The measure of a false prophet is what he does with the Word of God. Does he lead people away from obedience or encourage people toward repentance and obedience to God's commandments?

Now, let's put the Lord Jesus Christ up to this test. He said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished." Matt. 5:17-18 However, the Christian church says that Jesus did away with the Law and we no longer have to obey it. Why would God send Jesus to do away with the Law? Is Jesus a test? Is God schizophrenic? Is God a liar? Is God unfair that He punished all the Jews who were unfaithful to His Law but allows us to go free?

Jesus came to show us how to put the Law/Torah on a sure footing. He showed us how to walk Torah out to bring us life abundantly. People had tried to put God teachings into a yoke that was too heavy to bear. God said in Deut. 30:11, "For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach." God's intention was for His Torah to bring us Life and blessing. It is only man's sin that makes it a curse and a burden.

There is nowhere in Scripture where Jesus broke the Sabbath or the Torah. When he argued with the Pharisees it was on their interpretation of the Scriptures. He told the people to listen to what the Pharisees had to say, but not to practice in the way they were practicing. They were putting too much of a burden on the people and then not loving and helping the people to know God.

We need to look at who Jesus was in His cultural and historical context, which was a 2nd century Jewish context. To be the Messiah of Israel He had to fulfill Scripture. He would not have come and violated what it says in Deuteronomy 13 or any other aspect of Torah.

God is a faithful, covenant keeping God. Jesus is the exact representation of His being. Take a look a Jesus again for the first time with new glasses on. It makes all the difference in the world.

For His Name's Sake.

Since I changed my picture in the header I want to change the font color.  I thought that I did that, but it doesn't seem to be working.  Does someone have a suggestion?

Did Jesus do away with the Old Testament Law?

Did Jesus' death and resurrection nullify the Law so that we no longer have to obey it?

What did Jesus mean when He said these words, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished." Matt. 5:17-18

In my next post I am going to address these questions.