Rabbi’s Reflections – Monday, February 10, 2020
Shalom,
Pillar Five: The Kingdom is Expressed in a Life of Character – part 4
You’ve heard me say it before, and I feel the need to say it again… With God, “It’s a heart thang.” When God has our hearts, our character follows. The sermon on the mount is amazing. Matthew 5 – 7 is the brilliance of Yeshua, being spoken (and then written) for our benefit. It reveals what Yeshua knows to be desirable character traits.
Rabbi Trail: The sermon on the mount destroys the victim mentality so prevalent in our society today. It says everyone with a disadvantage has an advantage with God. So much energy is put into blaming others for our situation. Society has become so litigious. That’s right, “Find a way to make whatever happened to us someone else’s fault and then take them to court over it,” is the new American way.
Warning: Don’t try it with fish bones. The courts have ruled that anyone eating fish should know that fish have bones without a warning on the menu. Eater beware. Every accident does not involve negligence. End RT.
I want to close today with a comment on this verse… Matthew 7:1 “Stop judging, so that you may not be judged.” There is judgment (the verdict) and judgment (the trial, gathering of evidence and testimony). We are being told to avoid condemning others. That belongs to God alone.
We are, however; told to have discernment. Discernment is knowing right from wrong. Yeshua told the accused woman… John 8:11b “Then neither do I condemn you,” Yeshua said. “Go, and sin no more.” Yeshua did not pass judgment, but He still knew right from wrong and told the woman not to do wrong.
To speak the truth in love requires character. Anyone can bulldoze his/her way through life, smashing to pieces everything in his/her path. Let’s take on the Character of Messiah as we rightly discern the highest redemptive outcome in every situation.
Week 7
Memory Verse: John 1:29 The next day, John sees Yeshua coming to him and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
* 31 2/10 Monday: Exodus 8-9
32 2/11 Tuesday: Exodus 10-11
33 2/12 Wednesday: Exodus 12
34 2/13 Thursday: Exodus 13:17-14
35 2/14 Friday: Exodus 16-17
Question of the day: We have in Exodus 8 & 9 the details of six plagues (2 through 7). They are frogs, gnats (lice), flies, cattle disease, boils, and hail. What happened after the third plague (gnats) that changed everything?
Answer: Exodus 8:18 “But on that day (the day of the fourth plague, flies) I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people are dwelling—except no swarm of flies will be there—so that you may know that I, Adonai, am in the midst of the earth. 19 I will make a distinction between My people and your people. By tomorrow this sign will happen.”
That’s right, God makes a distinction between His people and everyone else. Like with all of Scripture and with every question of the day, we have to ask, “What does this mean to me today?” In other words, what is God saying long ago that He wants to apply to us here and now?
I believe the 10 plagues in Egypt were a foreshadowing of the tribulation yet to come. Read the many similarities in the description of the tribulation in Revelation 8:5 we have hail fire (like the 7th plague) and in Revelation 9:3 we have locusts (like the 8th plague). There are many other similarities.
When God makes a separation between Goshen and the rest of Egypt, I see it as evidence that points to what is called a “mid-trib” rapture (separation, when the people of God no longer experience the wrath of God). It’s only a thought. I’m not basing any theology on it, so don’t feel like you have to set me straight.
In fact, let me answer your argument for why I’m wrong even before you make it. “You’re probably right.” I’m not invested in speculations. I’m invested in the Lord and His soon and coming return to earth. And that’s not speculation. How, when, what, you probably know better than I. What I am sure of is that HE IS COMING (I’ve bet my life) and I know where (Mount of Olives in Jerusalem).
Stay thirsty (for Him) my friends. Revelation 22:17 (please read it).