Rabbi’s Reflections – Thursday, December 28, 2023
Shalom,
Love Each Other / Glorify God part 20 – Romans, part 245
Romans 15:25 But now I am going to Jerusalem, bringing aid to the kedoshim. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem.
Yeshua prayed over Jerusalem, speaking prophetically over the Jewish city… Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! And what was the result of Jerusalem’s rejection of the love offered by Yeshua? Matthew 23:38 Look, your house is left to you desolate! But that’s not the end of the story. Yeshua promises to return… Matthew 23:39 For I tell you, you will never see Me again until you say, ‘Baruch ha-ba b’shem Adonai. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
In these few verses, we have in capsulated form the story of the first coming and the second coming. In the first coming, Yeshua was rejected and ultimately crucified… Luke 23:18 But they shouted out all together, saying, “Take this fellow away!… Then a second time… Luke 23:21 but they kept shouting out, saying, “Execute, execute Him!” The Bible records this happened three times. Luke 23:22a And a third time he (Pilate) spoke to them, “Why? What evil has this One done?… 23 But they were insistent, demanding with loud shouts that He be executed. And their voices prevailed.
From shouting “Crucify Him” to shouting “Welcome Him,” (that’s the meaning of “Baruch Haba”) is the difference between the first coming and Yeshua’s anticipated return.
Today there remains much hate in the world directed toward Jerusalem, Israel and the Jewish people. The Lord has commanded His people to pray against it… Isaiah 62:7 And give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. This is the point of Yeshua’s parable of the persistent widow… Luke 18:7 Won’t God do justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He be slow to help them?
This is our condition today. We always say in Hebrew, “B’Ezrat HaShem,” meaning, “with the help of the Lord.” Like Paul, we’re all going to Jerusalem. The “road” we’re all traveling leads to Jerusalem. With the help of God we will reach our destiny. Shalom shalom.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Thu 28-Dec-2023 16th of Tevet, 5784
Ge 49:19-26 2 Sa 3 Ps 72 Lk 4:1-21 (2 Co 13)