Rabbi’s Reflections – Saturday, February 15, 2020
Shabbat Shalom,
(TGIS) Thank God It’s Shabbat! All striving is set aside on Shabbat. This is a day without works. That makes Shabbat a day of grace. (Now go with me and receive this…) As followers of Yeshua (The Way) every day is a day of grace for us. Our “born again” experience means we have left works, performance and striving behind.
Yota (the character from Star Wars) had it wrong, although admittedly close. He wisely said, “Do, or do not, there is no try.” He was almost right. “Be, or be not, there is no try.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_tYQRP4QWM
We are not “human doings,” but rather “human beings.” Shabbat is our day to “be,” but every day “in Him” is a day to “be.” We live in grace through faith. In Messiah Yeshua, Shabbat is our weekly reminder of that truth.
Here is something I wrote a while ago based on some teaching I received from my rabbi, David Chansky. David is a faithful RR reader. I am forever grateful for all he has sowed into my life.
What did our people do long ago when they were freed from Egyptian bondage by the power of God? They murmured and complained with division. We should be careful that does not describe us today. Paul wrote to us in Hebrews… Heb 4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. NKJV
Let’s not miss the fullness that God has for us today as we read this part of the Bible. Joseph’s brothers couldn’t stand the favor showed to him, so they threw him in a pit and sold him into slavery. Jacob was told Joseph was dead, but he wasn’t dead. He “appeared a second time” as a prince with blessing. Joseph is a type of Yeshua.
If you know Yeshua today, he will be your increaser. Yes, He will bring us through with triumph. So, Pharaoh cursed Israel and in doing so, heaped a curse upon himself. Does any modern person or people come to mind; Germany, England, so many in Arabia? History has a way of repeating itself.
So the deliverance from Egypt is a type or picture of our salvation. Let’s look at the details of our deliverance more closely.
- Pharaoh is the taskmaster, who puts a heavy burden on the people (a picture of Satan) He wants to devour our inheritance.
- The bricks are the toil and drudgery of life without the Messiah, without a future. What is our purpose? What wages does a slave earn? So we read in the last verse of Romans 6… Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in The Messiah Yeshua our Lord. NKJV That’s all Satan pays, death.
- Moses is the type of the Messiah. The deliverer of God’s people working in signs and wonders.
- Those miracles speak of the wonders that God does to bring us to Himself. Spiritual sight. We come into a relationship with the Holy Spirit and see the fullness of God with spiritual discernment.
- The lamb atones for our sins, but there is no atonement in the death of the first born sons of Egypt. We are saved behind a cross of blood. Col 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. NKJV
Egypt is the picture of the deliverance of God’s people. Then there is the baptism. 1 Cor 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, NKJV
So, we see in Ex 14:19 And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. 20 So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night. NKJV
Notice God made a separation. What was light to one, was darkness to the other. God is preparing His people to see light. What is light to one who is seeking God, is darkness to another who is not seeking God.