Rabbi’s Reflections – Thursday, June 28, 2018
Shalom!
ANNOUNCEMENT: This Friday night, June 29th we gather for our first monthly Shabbat dinner and service. Gather at 6pm and let the good times roll. All are invited to attend. Dinner is included. No need to bring anything. Just come. Let’s enjoy welcoming the Shabbat together.
SECOND MESSAGE ON DANIEL: In dealing with Daniel 9, we have quickly focused on verse 27 and the deception of the Catholic Church (in particular the Jesuit order). We pick up our discussion today (more like a monologue) in the middle of verse 27.
Daniel 9:27c And on a wing of abominations will come one who destroys…
Early Roman legions had 10,000 men. By Yeshua’s day they were about half that size. Each legion had 10 cohorts and each cohort had a banner standard with a spread winged eagle (with a lightening bolt in its talons). These standards were deified by the Romans.
In 70AD they came to destroy, and destroy they did. In Jerusalem today we can still see the evidence of their desolation. The picture above shows the stones thrown down from the Temple Mount left in situ after being uncovered by archeologists.
Daniel 9:27d until the decreed annihilation is poured out on the one who destroys.
Who decreed the annihilation?
Rabbi Trail: Isn’t “annihilation” a terrible word? It comes from the Latin root “nihil” which means “nothing.” No, because I put “nothing” in quotes, it really is translated as “nothing.” Being annihilated reduces you to nothing.
On a side note… being a nihilist means you believe in nothing. Actually, nihilists believe life is meaningless. I have a problem with this point of view (go figure). The meaning of life comes from God’s perspective. His love for us (revealed by the gift of His Son) is so over-the-top that we are compelled to both love ourselves and each other (value ourselves and value each other). This RT is not intended to be an exhaustive examination of nihilism, just a quick comment on it. End RT.
But in the end, Rome got as bad as it gave. It was decreed by God that Rome would destroy Jerusalem. (Yeshua prophesied this in each of the synoptic Gospels – Matthew 24:2) It would not be until centuries later that Rome would be destroyed (476AD the Germans conquered Rome).
Why did I go off on the Catholic Church yesterday? Don’t forget, every follower of Messiah was Catholic (notwithstanding the Schism of 1054AD) Let’s see what was prophesied to Daniel and how the Holy Roman Catholic Church fits to a tee.
Daniel 7:25 He will speak words against the Most High, and will continually harass the kedoshim of the Most High, and will try to change the appointed times and law. The kedoshim will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.
There are plenty of other examples, but here we find the phrase “try to change the appointed times (Shabbat and Feasts of the Lord) and law. What law did the Catholic Church change? Actually many. We already mentioned the holidays. The other “biggie” is kashrut (kosher laws).
But wait, there’s more. The abstaining from eating meat on Fridays. Priests abstaining from marriage are two more good examples of laws the Church made that God didn’t make.
I point all of this out to show the difficulties caused to Jewish people seeking the truth of the Messiah. There is plenty of Scriptural evidence for truth, but it is obfuscated by the decisions and traditions (called dogma) of the Catholic Church and perpetuated by the Protestant revolution.
Week 26
Memory Verse: Daniel 6:27 I issue a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom people are to tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. “For He is the living God, enduring forever! His kingdom will never be destroyed, His dominion will never end. 28 He delivers and rescues. He performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions!”
126 6/25 Monday: Daniel 5-6
127 6/26 Tuesday: Daniel 9-10,12
128 6/27 Wednesday Ezra 1-2
* 129 6/28 Thursday: Ezra 3-4
130 6/29 Friday: Ezra 5-6
Question of the day: Why does one shout with joy while another cries puddles of tears?
Ezra 3:12 But many of the kohanim, Levites and patriarchal leaders, older men who had seen the former House, wept loudly at the sight of the founding of this House, while many shouted for joy.
Answer: Let’s reflect (this is Rabbi’s Reflections, after all) on the picture presented by this verse. In the same verse we have “wept loudly” and “shouted for joy.” How is this possible?
Isn’t everyone seeing the same thing? They are all observing the laying of the foundation to rebuild the Temple. Significantly, it is the old men who were crying. They knew what they once had. They knew what they had lost. They couldn’t let that go and live in the moment.
Many of us have aged. (Okay, all of us, yet some more than others.) Our Father in heaven made time as a great equalizer. That means we all get the same amount of it every day.
Still, it’s the young men who were shouting for joy. May we all be young at heart. May we all live in the moment. May we all be excited by the opportunities ahead of us. May none of us cry over opportunities lost.
If I don’t stop I’ll begin to sound like Buzz Lightyear. (If Buzz Lightyear’s sayings are not top of mind awareness to you, there is always Google.) I want to stop now. In Yeshua’s name, amen.