Rabbi’s Reflections – Thursday, November 28, 2019
Shalom *|FNAME|*,
Happy Thanksgiving Day. I pray that each of us will remember to be thankful every day. And yet, it is good to have a national day of giving thanks. Psalm 136 starts in Hebrew, “Hodu L’Adonai Ki Tov” meaning “give thanks to the Lord, for His is good.” And then there is the answer to every line of that Psalm “Ki L’Olam Chasdo” meaning “for His mercy (grace) endures forever.”
Yes, Virginia, there is grace in the Hebrew Scriptures. Now I’m really getting mixed up.
Week 48
Memory Verse: Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great Kohen Gadol who has passed through the heavens, Yeshua Ben-Elohim, let us hold firmly to our confessed allegiance. 15 For we do not have a kohen gadol who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all the same ways—yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near to the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help in time of need.
236 11/25 Monday: Philippians 1-2
237 11/26 Tuesday: Philippians 3-4
238 11/27 Wednesday: Hebrews 1-2
* 239 11/28 Thursday: Hebrews 3-4
240 11/29 Friday: Hebrews 5-6
Question of the day: We read in Hebrews 3:6 “But Messiah, as Son, is over God’s house—and we are His house, if we hold firm to our boldness and what we are proud to hope.” Can we make the case that Yeshua is God’s Son?
Answer: How did this get to be the question of the day? Yesterday I got a private lesson from my rabbi, David Chansky, on this very subject. He started by continuing our discussion on the virgin birth. A proper understanding of the virgin birth starts with a proper understanding of seed.
Seed can be dormant for thousands of years and still be able to come to life (under the right conditions). Whose seed was it? God planted His seed in the woman, Mary. Hear what Gabriel says to Mary…
Luke 1:35 And responding, the angel said to her, “The Ruach ha-Kodesh will come upon you, and the power of Elyon will overshadow you. Therefore, the Holy One being born will be called Ben-Elohim.
Actually, receiving Yeshua as God’s Son is not terribly difficult. It is much harder to receive Him as King David’s Son, which He is also. Here are some Scriptures which speak to this…
Paul was preaching in the synagogue at Antioch on Shabbat when he says boldly, Acts 13:22 “After removing him (Saul), He raised up David to be their king. He also testified about him and said, ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do My will.’ 23 “From this man’s seed, in keeping with His promise, God brought to Israel a Savior—Yeshua.
Did you catch that? “From this man’s (David’s) seed.” Here is a second reference verse… Romans 1:3 Concerning His Son, He came into being from the seed of David according to the flesh. 4 He was appointed Ben-Elohim in power according to the Ruach of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. He is Messiah Yeshua our Lord.
Again, “From the seed of David… He was appointed Ben-Elohim.” We don’t know how God preserved David’s seed about 1,000 years, but what is so hard to believe? 1 Corinthians 15:45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven.
Let me offer another question. Could Yeshua have sinned? Was there a possibility for Him to sin? I ask this because it’s the reason I even brought up the subject of the virgin birth. Without David’s seed in Yeshua, there is no possibility for the seed of God alone to sin. Without the possibility to sin, where is the victory?
Without the possibility to sin, is there really any temptation? For Yeshua to fulfill His role as “King of kings and Lord of lords,” He has to have both humanity and divinity. Yeshua explained this as He spoke to Philip… John 14:7 If you have come to know Me, you will know My Father also. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.” 8 Philip said to Him, “Master, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” (Dayenu)
I can’t leave out the next two verses… John 14:9 Yeshua said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and you haven’t come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own; but the Father dwelling in Me does His works.
This is like the top button on the shirt of theology. If we don’t get Who Yeshua is right, nothing else lines up. There is a progression revealed here. The Father is “in” Yeshua, and Yeshua is in you. (The hope of glory according to Colossians 1:27)
Colossians 2:9 For all the fullness of Deity lives bodily in Him.
There will come a day (when every one of us) will trade this mortal body for in immortal (glorious) one. What happens when we die? 1 Corinthians 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead: Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption! 43 Sown in dishonor, raised in glory! Sown in weakness, raised in power! 44 Sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body! If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
We give the last word today to Paul, who wrote to the Philippians. Philippians 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves, which also was in Messiah Yeshua, 6 Who, though existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal to God a thing to be grasped. 7 But He emptied Himself— taking on the form of a slave, becoming the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man. 8 He humbled Himself— becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue profess that Yeshua the Messiah is Lord— to the glory of God the Father.