Rabbi’s Reflections -Friday, August 30, 2019
(Early) Shabbat Shalom *|FNAME|*,
Hear the words of Yeshua… John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing.”
We have the High Holidays starting about a month from now. Jewish people call Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, High Holidays. Most Hebrew roots people call them the Fall Feasts. You choose for yourself.
The central piece of liturgy for the High Holidays is the Avinu Malkeynu (our Father, our King). They are hundreds of one line prayers that all begin with the words Avinu Malkeynu, as we address our petitions to our Father, our King.
Avinu Malkeynu Chanenu Va’anenu Ki Ayn Banu Ma’asim…
This is best known of those several hundred prayers is the one that says, “Our Father, our King, have mercy on us and answer us, for there is nothing in us with which we can make anything. (It means we can’t help ourselves.) Why that sounds a lot like the end of our subject verse; which is why I brought it up.
Week 35
Memory Verse: John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. The branch cannot itself produce fruit, unless it abides on the vine. Likewise, you cannot produce fruit unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing.
171 8/26 Monday: John 11; Matthew 21:1-13
172 8/27 Tuesday: John 13
173 8/28 Wednesday:John 14-15
174 8/29 Thursday: John 16
* 175 8/30 Friday: Matthew 24:1-31
Question of the day: What is the “abomination of desolation?”
Answer: Matthew 24:15 “So when you see ‘the abomination of desolation,’ which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the Holy Place (let the reader understand),…”
This is part of Yeshua’s answer to the question, Matthew 24:3b “What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”
The “abomination of desolation” is also called the “abomination that makes desolate” in other translations. An “abomination” is mentioned over 100 times in the Hebrew Scriptures, but only a few times in the New Testament. It is usually mentioned in connection with idol worship. However; it can also be gross sin of any kind.
Did this happen before the Temple was destroyed, or is it yet to happen? It may be that the abomination that causes desolation already stood in the Holy Place, or it may yet happen that the Temple will be rebuilt and the abomination of desolation (Satan) will yet stand there.
Desolation is typically a reference to something being unpopulated. There is an interesting option though. It could be a reference to Jupiter (the name of a false god). There are places in the Hebrew Scriptures where the names of false gods are intentionally distorted so they are not spoken correctly. This may be the case here.
The abomination of desolation is mentioned 3 times in Daniel (9, 11 and 12). The most interesting is the last one which states… Daniel 12:11 “From the time that the daily burnt offering is taken away, and abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.”
Add 360 (the number of days in a biblical year) x 3 plus 180 (half a year) and what do you get? That’s right, 1,260 days in 3 1/2 biblical years. (I went there because Daniel 9 talks about the 70th week and Messiah being cut off in the middle of that week.
However; that doesn’t quite fit (it leaves us 30 days short). That is until you think of these as years instead of days. What happened 1,290 years after Yeshua? How about the beginning of the protestant reformation.
Anyway, all of this discussion to make one simple point. Prepare, the Messiah is coming.