Rabbi’s Reflections – Sunday, February 16, 2025
Shavuah Tov,
Psalms
Psalm 25:5 – Part 6
Psalm 25:5 Guide me in Your truth, and teach me, for You are God, my salvation, for You I wait all day.
What? Did you think I just forgot about the second half of this verse? This is too sweet to pass up. “You are God,” and You are mine (we’ll get into that later). What’s better, You have a name, and you want Your people to know and to use it. Your name is Yeshua, mentioned twice in the following prophetic utterance of Isaiah. Isaiah 12:2 “Behold, God is my salvation (Yeshuati)! I will trust and will not be afraid. For the Lord Adonai is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation (Yeshuati).”
Isaiah is speaking of a day when our sins are forgiven. Isaiah 12:1 In that day you will say: “I will give You thanks, Adonai, for though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.” Then in the following verse (3) Yeshua is likened to a well. Isaiah 12:3 “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Yeshua, Himself, proclaims, as He is standing at the well, that He IS that well that will never run dry. John 4:14 “But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty. The water that I give him will become a fountain of water within him, springing up to eternal life!”
Isaiah wrote these prophesies about 700 years before Yeshua came. (That’s twice as long as the United States has been a nation.) Most Jewish people today believe that the Apostles organized a “conspiracy” to make Yeshua fit the Jewish prophesies concerning the Messiah. Now that’s faith that exceeds my own.
Rabbi Trail: When my mother, Shirley Weiner, z”l, (of blessed memory), learned that I became a follower of Yeshua, she was convinced I had been duped by Christians, although she, herself, had never read the Bible. She thought she wasn’t smart enough to understand what the Bible says, preferring instead to have the rabbi explain it to her.
She asked me many questions, to challenge my faith. For instance, “How could all those rabbis of Jewish history be wrong? Do you think you’re smarter than they?” And I would answer, “This decision is too important. You can’t just leave in the hands of a bunch of long deceased rabbis.” Also, I would tell her, “God has no grandchildren, only children. Each of us must decide for ourselves to follow Him.”
Where is my mother today? Many people would be quick to tell me she is in hell along with everyone else who died without professing faith in Yeshua. Let me comment on that. First, I don’t believe in the error of “dual covenant.” (The false idea that Jewish people get a “pass” on Yeshua because they are Jewish.) Nor do I believe in “universalism” (the false idea that everyone is going to heaven). I do believe that God loves my mother more than I ever could, so I’ll leave her I His loving hands. He is the judge, not you or I.
I also believe that there is a real place of torment, we call hell. It is a real place and real people are going there along with Satan and his minions at the end of the millennial reign of Yeshua. Don’t believe me, believe the Bible. Revelation 20:10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are too, and they shall be tortured day and night forever and ever. 2Thessalonians 1:5a This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God,… 9 They will pay the price of eternal ruin, away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power. End RT.
That was a long “Rabbi Trail.” However; I’ve still got much more to say about our subject verse, so let’s pick this up tomorrow. Stay thirsty (for Him) my friends. Shalom shalom.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Sun 16-Feb-2025 18th of Sh’vat, 5785
Ex 21:1-19 2 Ki 4 Ps 124-125 Jn 7:1-24 (1 Ti 2)