Rabbi’s Reflections – Monday, March 15, 2021
Shalom,
I read an email yesterday from Stephen Leykauf that caught my attention. He wrote on an age-old issue. Is the church going to influence society or is society going to influence the church. Of course, all the evidence points to the latter. If you would like to read the email, just let me know and I’ll forward it to you.
There was one quote that I’m going to attach here. It is very profound and relevant to our situation in the world today. ““Tolerance is the last virtue of a depraved society. When an immoral society has blatantly and proudly violated all the commandments, it insists upon one last virtue, tolerance for its immorality. It will not tolerate condemnation of its perversions. It creates a whole new world in which only the intolerant critic of intolerable evil is evil.” — Hutton Gibson (father of actor Mel Gibson)
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Mon 15 Mar-2021 2nd of Nisan, 5781
Le 1:14-2:6 Isa 24 Pr 17 Ac 16 (Rev 10)
The Torah reading today starts with how to make a sacrifice of birds. Leviticus 1:14 “If his sacrifice to Adonai is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or young pigeons.” There are 4 types of sacrifices in the first 2 chapters of Leviticus. They are the bull, the birds, the flour and the lamb. They each represent a type of believer (follower of Yeshua), and of course, we all must be sacrificed to the Lord (whatever type of believer we are).
The bull represents the believer who wants to assert his own will. You know, be bullheaded. Jacob 1:19 Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger— 20 for human anger doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.
The flour is offered without blood and blood is necessary for atonement. Hebrews 9:22 And nearly everything is purified in blood according to the Torah, and apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
The lamb is the perfect sacrifice. Every believer is (in a way) a lamb of God, and we all must die to self. Galatians 2:20 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.
This leaves the pigeons. How are they like some believers? Well, pigeons are flighty. They are very nervous. At the first sign of a person coming close, they fly away. Does this sound like any persons you know? Some people appear unable to stand firm, press in, engage others, and relate to others as family. They prefer to fly away as soon as someone gets close.
As followers of Yeshua, we should be established in a community where relationships are established and allowed to grow. The “pigeon” in us must die, so that we can be established in the community of God. This is part of God’s will for our lives in Him.
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the unwavering confession of hope, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds. 25 And do not neglect our own meetings, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another—and all the more so as you see the Day approaching.
Week 12
Memory Verse: Psalm 1:1 Happy is the one who has not walked in the advice of the wicked, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of scoffers. 2 But his delight is in the Torah of Adonai, and on His Torah he meditates day and night.
56 3/18 Monday: Deuteronomy 8-9
57 3/19 Tuesday: Deuteronomy 30-31
58 3/20 Wednesday: Deuteronomy 32:48-52;34
59. 3/21 Thursday: Joshua 1,2
60 3/22 Friday: Joshua 3,4
Question of the day: Moses (speaking on behalf of Adonai) asks the question of the day… Deuteronomy 9:1b “Who can stand before the sons of Anak?”
Answer: What kind of a question is that? We don’t even have “sons of Anak” today (much less the need to stand before them)… or do we? The Anakim were giants. Numbers 13:33 We also saw there the Nephilim . (The sons of Anak are from the Nephilim.) We seemed like grasshoppers in our eyes as well as theirs!”
Rabbi Trail: Moreover; these giants were viewed as a type of god. Genesis 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, whenever the sons of God came to the daughters of men, and gave birth to them. Those were the mighty men of old, men of renown.
Don’t miss the point here. All it requires is an evil response to an evil report for us to fear the giants we face. Remember, “FEAR” stands for “False Evidence Appearing Real.” End RT.
Do we have “giants” in the world today? There are always those whose power and might seem insurmountable. If you read the email referenced above, you learned about the forces of evil at work in the world today. If you didn’t read the email, just pick up any newspaper on any day and read about the advancement of the “woke” agenda. And make no mistake about this, the woke agenda has a side to it that is against God. It loses credibility with me on the issue of abortion alone.
Rather than continue digging a hole for myself, let me bring this to a conclusion. The answer is in the next verse, Deuteronomy 9:3 But you will know today that Adonai your God is the One who is crossing over before you as a devouring fire. He will destroy them, and He will bring them down before you, so that you may drive them out and make them perish quickly, as Adonai has promised you. The song should not be “we shall overcome” but “He HAS overcome.”
Now the last word. After God has overcome every enemy, don’t start thinking what a great job we did. Deuteronomy 9:4 “After Adonai your God has driven them out from before you, do not say in your heart, ‘It is because of my righteousness that Adonai has brought me in to possess this land.’ It is because of the wickedness of these nations that Adonai is driving them out from before you.
The victory belongs to the Lord; never forget it.