Rabbi’s Reflections – Monday, October 12, 2020
Shalom *|FNAME|*,
Our beloved brother, Eitan Shishkoff, wrote a book many years ago, titled “What About Us?” The book does an excellent job of explaining the role of both Jewish and non-Jewish people in Messianic Judaism. But that’s not what I want to talk about today. I just want to borrow his book title and change it, so the question reads, “What about you?”
What about you in your walk with God? What about you in your spiritual growth? What about you in reaching your destiny in Messiah Yeshua? We all want a happy ending, but there is no guarantee. Even those who walked with Yeshua physically on earth struggled to finish well. John 6:66 (interesting) From this time, many of His disciples left and quit walking with Him.
The Bible says it was a matter of trust for those who walked away. John 6:64a “Yet some of you do not trust.” And what was their struggle with trust? They could not trust the spiritual kingdom of God. John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life!
After many left, Yeshua then turns to the twelve and says to them… John 6:67b “You don’t want to leave also, do you?” Yeshua is asking, “What about you?” Will you love your life in this world more than you will love Yeshua?
We can always count on Peter to be the most vocal zealot. John 6:68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life! 69 We have trusted and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
And what was the subject of John 6? Yeshua was teaching on the purpose and value of communion. John 6:51 “I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” This caused an argument among Yeshua’s Jewish listeners, but Yeshua doubled down. John 6:53 So Yeshua said to them, “Amen, amen I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. And this teaching is what led to many of Yeshua’s disciples walking away. Back to our question, “What about you?”
Revelation 12 is the most difficult chapter in the Bible (IMHO). Yet, in it we find some clarity for our situation in the world today… Revelation 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Anointed One, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters—the one who accuses them before our God day and night—has been thrown out. 11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives even in the face of death.
Our calling is to be overcomers. We put our trust in God and not in ourselves. 2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. Read the context of this verse. The object is to please (and be pleasing to) God. Let’s answer Joshua’s question… Joshua 24:15b …choose for yourselves today whom you will serve…. Choose to serve God and walk in the power of His kingdom.
Week 42
Memory Verse: 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has taken hold of you except what is common to mankind. But God is faithful—He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can handle. But with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so you will be able to endure it.
* 206 10/12 Monday: 1 Corinthians 5-6
207 10/13 Tuesday: 1 Corinthians 7-8
208 10/14 Wednesday: 1 Corinthians 9-10
209 10/15 Thursday: 1 Corinthians 10-12
210 10/16 Friday: 1 Corinthians 13-14
Question of the Day: Now that we are past the fall Feasts of the Lord, what’s next?
Answer: Chanukah of course! But if you meant the next biblical feast (of the annual feasts found in Leviticus 23), then the answer is Passover. “Passover” is “Pesach” in Hebrew. Paul taught the Corinthians that Yeshua brings a new understanding to our celebration of Pesach.
1 Corinthians 5:7 Get rid of the old hametz (leaven), so you may be a new batch, just as you are unleavened—for Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast not with old hametz, the hametz of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread—the matzah of sincerity and truth.
There it is, at the start of verse 8, “Therefore let us celebrate the feast.” Pesach is known in Hebrew by a nickname (all the holidays have more than one name), “Z’man Cherutenu” meaning “the season of our freedom.” Freedom from slavery is worth celebrating, but (as Paul just pointed out) there is a much deeper freedom worth celebrating.
In Messiah Yeshua, we celebrate our freedom from slavery to sin. John 8:34 Yeshua answered them, “Amen, amen I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. But God has not left us in that sad and sinful state. 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
The grave could not contain Yeshua. He is risen! And we also shall be raised up… Romans 6:5 For if we have become joined together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also will be joined together in His resurrection— 6 knowing our old man was crucified with Him so that the sinful body might be done away with, so we no longer serve sin. 7 For he who has died is set free from sin.
That is a Feast to anticipate with great expectation. Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine, for your light has come! The glory of Adonai has risen on you. 2 For behold, darkness covers the earth, and deep darkness the peoples. But Adonai will arise upon you, and His glory will appear over you.
Have a blessed week. R. Michael.