Rabbi’s Reflections – Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Shalom *|FNAME|*,
Below, we are in Hebrews 10. Up here, in this top section too. Let me ask you a question. What is the objective of life in Messiah Yeshua? The most common answer is, “To get us to heaven, I guess.” We shouldn’t guess at something as important as that. Simon Senek wrote the business self-help book “Start With Why.” In this context, “Why follow Yeshua?” Let’s start with that.
The answer is found in Hebrews 10:1 The Torah has a shadow of the good things to come—not the form itself of the realities. For this reason it can never, by means of the same sacrifices they offer constantly year after year, make perfect those who draw near.
Did you catch that? Let me put it together for you. “The Torah… can never… make perfect those who draw near.” The “why” of following Yeshua is not to get us to heaven, but to answer the first call that was given to Father Abraham.
Genesis 17:1 When Abram was 99 years old, Adonai appeared to Abram, and He said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Continually walk before Me and you will be blameless.
The Hebrew word for “blameless” is “Tamim,” meaning “perfect, without blemish or defect.” Sounds like the description of a sacrifice. Are we not to lead sacrificial lives before God? What is the meaning of Matthew 16:24 Then Yeshua said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.
As Asher Intrater teaches, “The object is not to get us out of here, but to get Him in here.” That “new creation” in our memory verse below is nothing less than the dwelling place of Yeshua HaMashiach (His Temple).
Colossians 1:27 God chose to make known to them this glorious mystery regarding the Gentiles—which is Messiah in you, the hope of glory!
If our “why” is big enough, all the flack of the enemy will count for nothing. (And you can quote me on that.) Paul understood it.
Acts 20:24 However, I don’t consider my life of any value, except that I might finish my course and the office I received from the Lord Yeshua, to declare the Good News of the grace of God.
Week 49
Memory Verse: 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
241 12/2 Monday: Hebrews 7
242 12/3 Tuesday: Hebrews 8-9
* 243 12/4 Wednesday: Hebrews 10
244 12/5 Thursday: Hebrews 11
245 12/6 Friday: Hebrews 12
Question of the day: What is too good in Hebrews 10?
Answer: How can anything be “too good?” (Very dangerous to answer a question with a question. See the RT below.)
Rabbi Trail: You heard the one about the man who went to see his psychiatrist. The psychiatrist asked him, “Why do you always answer a question with another question?” The man answered, “Do I?” End RT.
This is a little long (quote from Hebrews 10), but it really is the “too good” of Hebrews 10.
Hebrews 10:11 Indeed, every kohen stands day by day serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. 12 But on the other hand, when this One offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God— 13 waiting from then on, until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet. 14For by one offering He has perfected forever those being made holy. 15 The Ruach ha-Kodesh also testifies to us—for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will cut with them: ‘After those days,’ says Adonai, ‘I will put My Torah upon their hearts, and upon their minds I will write it,’” then He says, 17 “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
What is written on our hearts and minds? That’s right, say it, the Torah. Not something else. Receive the forgiveness of sins and embrace the call to righteousness.
Romans 8:4 so that the requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Ruach.
And that is the last word today. Please meditate on it. Thank you for reading. Let’s all spend some time resting in the love of God.