Rabbi’s Reflections – Friday, September 11, 2020
(Early) Shabbat Shalom,
God is a genius! (That’s an understatement.) God knew the only way we could ever love Him fully is for God to become one of us. This is the assignment He gave His Son. Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of time came, God sent out His Son, born of a woman and born under law— 5 to free those under law, so we might receive adoption as sons.
His once for all time sacrifice, and the promise within it, of a loving relationship that will last for all eternity, compels us to love Him in return. We give Him praise and we worship Him in love. And what does He for us do in response? He draws us into a new and living way. Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have boldness to enter into the Holies by the blood of Yeshua. 20 He inaugurated a new and living way for us through the curtain—that is, His flesh.
If Yeshua didn’t come in the flesh, we would still be standing on the outside, with no access to the Holy of Holies. We would have no way to relate to the supreme God Who created the universe. Flesh cannot relate to Spirit. Yeshua had to come in the flesh, die in the flesh, and be resurrected, so we could be born again (of the spirit). This is God’s provision for giving us eternal (resurrected) life.
Now we have our identity in Him, the one true and living God. 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.
This is new life… Galatians 2:19 For through law I died to law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Messiah; 20 and it is no longer I who live, but Messiah lives in me. And the life I now live in the body, I live by trusting in Ben-Elohim—who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Week 37
Memory Verse: Matthew 28:18 And Yeshua came up to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach ha-Kodesh, 20 teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And remember! I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
181 9/07 Monday: Mark 16
182 9/08 Tuesday: Luke 24
183 9/09 Wednesday: John 20-21
184 9/10 Thursday: Matthew 28
* 185.9/11 Friday: Acts 1
Question of the Day: Let me set the stage. These things happened on the 40th day following the resurrection. While the Apostles (Emissaries) were watching, Yeshua was taken up into heaven. But the Apostles kept watching, perhaps hoping for His return. Then we read…Acts 1:10 While they were staring into heaven as He went up, suddenly two men stood with them in white clothing. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you keep standing here staring into heaven? That’s the question of the day. “Why do you keep standing here staring into heaven?”
Answer: The angels (appearing as two men in white) had an unspoken message. “If you’re standing here watching for His return, it’s going to be awhile.” There may be another unspoken message, “Don’t just stand here, do something.”
Walking with Yeshua is not a “spectator sport.” The call on our lives is the call of a life of service. Matthew 20:28 “…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Much in the kingdom of God is upside down from the ways of this world. 1 Corinthians 1:27 Yet God chose the foolish things of the world so He might put to shame the wise; and God chose the weak things of the world so He might put to shame the strong; 28 and God chose the lowly and despised things of the world, the things that are as nothing, so He might bring to nothing the things that are— 29 so that no human might boast before God.
This is the message of “eyes on Him and not on our circumstances.” Paul is writing about himself, but we can put ourselves in the picture he paints. 2 Corinthians 12:9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Messiah may dwell in me.
We don’t just stand watching for His return, we invite the power of Yeshua to dwell in us. We actively wait for his return. For we know… Matthew 25:31 “Now when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne…. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father (who know and walk with My Spirit) inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’”