Spiritual Highs!

There are times that I feel the presence of the L-RD greatly. Times that I feel like I could jump out of my skin and fly through the air. Times that I’m filled with joy that overflows into singing. Times that put a smile on my face. Times that excitement is boiling inside of me. I feel alive. I’m on a mountain looking over the valley. Watching the birds fly around in the blue sky. Life is exciting and full of joy.

These times usually come when there is great connections with friends, family, and fellow believers. Mission trips, vacations, and ministry/worship are when these times come. Times full of fellowship, eating together, laughing together, worshipping together, praying together, and doing everything together.

I’ve noticed in these times everyone seems to think less of themselves. Everyone is eager to help each other, have more patience, more grace, and a common goal to make the best of situations, most of the time. Times that we travel together, sleep in close proximity. Times of praying for others. Times of trying to make sure everyone else gets to do something that they really want to do. Times when the focus is on our L-RD Yeshua. Times when we strive to love G-D and others more than ourselves.

Times we are in close community that drives deeper conversations. Times of less judgmental criticisms and with no entanglements of the normal standards of worrying about living up to the social standards. Times without the busyness of life engulfing us.

Admittedly, these times have their dull and trying moments but over all, when they are over, I seem to go into somewhat of a depression. When, I’m sitting at a stop light, headed back to the mundane daily tasks of normal life and work. When I wake up in an empty house by myself again. When all I have to think about is what I’m going to do.

I believe the spiritual highs are glimpses of what life will be like in Heaven. Times when we will know Jesus more fully. We will know each other more fully. We will know how to love better. We will walk in deeper community.

For now though, I will have to remind myself of my identity in Yeshua Messiah when I come off these highs. I will need to preach to myself and remind myself of the gospel and to walk in this gospel each day. My rest is in Him. My hope is in Him. My faith is in Him. My love is in Him.

He gives me purpose. He gives me life. He gives me joy abundantly. He is my light. He is my L-RD. He is my G-D. He came to save me. He didn’t leave me to wallow in my vomit. He died that I may live.

 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death ; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet ; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:8-14

Theses highs and lows of the Christian journey of life remind me of John Bunyan’s book “Pilgrims Progress”, where he tells of the journey of Christian. I highly recommend it. John Owen, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Owen_(theologian), interestingly helped him get out of jail once. Apparently, Owen admired Bunyan’s preaching. Rabbit trail but very interesting to me:)

May we live for Christ. May we walk in the Spirit. Through the ups and downs of life. Through the mundane and exciting days. On the mountain tops and in the valleys. On the narrow path, turning neither to the right nor to the left. 

Grace and peace be with you,

In Yeshua Messiah,

Coley

  ”To live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21

“My Faith Dissected: the Journey” Messianic Pt 4 (Old Testament/New Testament Continuance)

Is there a different G-D of the Old Testament than the New? Does G-D change? Is the Father always angry? Is the Old Testament only law and the New Testament all Grace? How does the Old Testament connect to the New Testament?

I started to do a book review of Walter Kaiser Jr’s book “Recovering the Unity of the Bible: One Continuous Story, Plan, and Purpose” in a few of previous blogs http://smoothcookies.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/notes-on-recovering-the-unity-of-the-bible-by-walter-c-kaiser-jr/,  http://smoothcookies.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/notes-on-introduction-of-kaisers-recovering-the-unity-of-the-bible/, and http://smoothcookies.wordpress.com/2011/04/30/notes-on-introduction-continued-of-kaiser%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9crecovering-the-unity-of-the-bible%e2%80%9d/. Unfortunately, I never was able to finish through the process. Kaiser Jr’s book I believe heads in the direction of more unity between the Old Testament and New Testament that I would take, however, he probably would not come to all the same conclusions.

As I had mentioned in previous blogs, the Old Testament, if studied at all, is given a negative connotation. I believe this is the case because so few actually read it in the first place but if they do it is through the lenses of replacement theology. It is seen to be done away with. Jesus has come and fulfilled all. Therefore none of it stands. The struggle I have here is that Yeshua uses the Old Testament to fight off the devil’s temptations in Matthew 4:1-11, to tell people how they should live in Mark 10, and even the greatest commandments in Mark 12:33 pulling from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.

Furthermore, Paul is constantly quoting from the Old Testament to proof his points and show how a Christian ought to live, along with the other writers of the New Testament. In fact Paul even tells Timothy, in 2 Timothy 3:16, 17, that “16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness ; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. ” Notice that Paul says “ALL”, not just the New Testament.

Moreover, in this particular scripture, a strong case could be made that 2 Timothy 3:16 is actually only referring to the Old Testament http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible. When Yeshua and the Apostles walked the roads of Jerusalem, there was no New Testament writings at this time. Most scholars would put the first writing of the New Testament around 49 to 51 C.E., with the books of Galatians or First Thessalonians http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament. Nonetheless, I do believe the New Testament to be inspired by G-D just the same from further research. The point I was trying to make, however, was that the Old Testament would have been the Scriptures the early believers used.

I recently started reading Derek Leman’s book “A New Look at the Old Testament”. I believe gives a great list of what is often thought of the Old Testament on page 3.

1. It is not as relevant to our modern situation because it was before the cross.

2. It is boring and too difficult to understand.

3. God is usually mad in the Old Testament and not very pleasant compared to God in the New Testament.

4. The commandments in the Old Testament are burdensome because God designed them to show Israel they could not keep the law.

5. It was written mostly to prepare the way for the New Testament and the Messiah, so it has for the most part been replaced by the better testament.

6. It is the Word of God because it shows the history of G0d’s dealings with man, but for the most part its rules are outdated.

Leman goes on to show some reasons why we should read the Old Testament on page 4, with “some surprising truths about the Old Testament that should get any follower of Jesus excited about reading it:”

1. Almost every truth of the New Testament was already present in the Old Testament. Very little is new in the New Testament.

2. The Old Testament has information about God’s attributes in much greater detail than the New Testament.

3. The Old Testament was the book of Jesus and the apostles. They spoke about it constantly and memorized large portions of it. When they spoke of the necessity of knowing the Bible, they were referring to the Old Testament.

4. The Old Testament is filled with statements about God’s favor for the undeserving (grace) and upholds love as the highest standard.

5. The Old Testament has more to say about prayer and worship than the New Testament.

6. The New Testament writers assume a thorough knowledge of the Old Testament. Lack of Old Testament knowledge is the greatest reason people fail to understand the New Testament properly.

As you can see, there is much to learn from the Old Testament. Another book that started my shift in thinking that all the Old Testament was not outdated was Daniel Thomas Lancaster’s book “Restoration: Returning the Torah of GOD to the Disciples of Jesus”. He brings the difficult commandments of G-D into a new light. However, I will forewarn that it may seem that he is making the case that all gentiles should obey the law the same as Jews in the book, however, he has come to believe in what FFOZ’s ministry calls the ”Divine Invitation”. They do not believe the Sign Commandments of the Old Testament are mandatory for Gentiles but are for the Jews. Although, FFOZ would say that gentiles have an invitation to keep as many of the sign commandments as they feel comfortable doing. They have a series of blogs more defining their position at http://ffoz.org/cgi-bin/MT4/mt-search.cgi.

Another item that I started to learn from Lancaster’s book “Restoration” is about the Oral Torah/Laws of the Jewish people. I think this is an important item to get when reading the New Testament. Too many times when Christians read anything in the New Testament speaking about law/commandments/man’s traditions; they automatically think that this is referring to the Old Testament commandments of Moses. This always behooved me because if you read the Old Testament, it is always the L-RD telling Moses what to instruct the people. The commandments are not ultimately from Moses nor man.

So,  if you are saying Jesus did away with anything His Father commanded in the Old Testament, you are pitting the Son against the Father, in what I can see. This is one of the reasons that Messianic Judaism brings continuity to the Old Testament because they’re able to look at the passages of Acts 15 and 21, and see that there is a continuance of these things in the Jewish life. As Yeshua says in Matthew 5:17-18:

 17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Lawor the Prophets ; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

Yeshua did fulfill many promises of the Old Testament as the Messiah and to cover our sins, which John defines sin not as the Law but the breaking of the law, in 1 John 3:4-6:

 4 Everyone who practicessinalsopracticeslawlessness ; and sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that He appeared in order to takeawaysins ; and in Him there is nosin. 6 No*one who abides in Him sins ; no*one who sins has seen Him orknows Him.

Furthermore, please take notice that Yeshua fulfilled the law and there is no sin in Him. He lived a perfect life and died for the sins of many! Hebrews 9:27-28 states, “27 And inasmuch *as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”

This is not saying that we now live in anarchy and have no guide whatsoever of how we should live but that Yeshua was the perfect sacrifice without blemish to bear the penalty for our sins once and for all. No animal sacrifice ever could take away the sins of man nor any works could justify anyone ever. However, by faith by grace, we were created to walk in good works!

Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, 10 since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation. 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation ; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God ? Hebrews 9:9-14

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God ; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10

You see…. in realizing the distinction of the Church and Israel, how the law applies to both, who Jesus is, who Paul is, and our roles, it brings clarity to how G-D is diverse but ONE, we are diverse but ONE new man, we have many roles to edify and complement the ONE body, and there are many stories and testaments but ONE Bible!!! ONE Story!!! ONE Purpose!!!

Before I kind of went on a rabbit trail, I was making the point that it helps the Christian to realize that the Jewish people, that the scriptures came through, had traditions other than the Writing Word of G-D in the Old Testament. Lancaster writes on page 133 of “Restoration”:

In addition, it is helpful to look at Jewish tradition around a commandment. The Jewish community has more than 3,000 years of experience in handling the Torah and applying its laws. Oftentimes the rabbis see far deeper into the text than our cursory readings allow. They bring a wealth of oral tradition and family history to help clarify difficult passages.

Lancaster goes on to say on page 135 of “Restoration”, “Thus traditional Judaism has two Torahs: the written Torah and the oral Torah.” Furthermore, he starts to define the Oral Torah/Law on page 135:

The oral Torah is a collection of laws, explanations and legal minutia. Allegedly, the Jewish people orally passed these laws on from the days of Moses until the second century CE when they were finally committed to writing. The written code of this vast body of traditional law is called the Mishnah.

Lancaster goes on in Chapter 13 to speak about the Mishnah, the Talmud, and passages in the New Testament that may refer to these traditions that are not in the Old Testament like Mark 7. The oral Torah is similar to modern-day Bible Commentaries by Christian theologians. We take what they say to get further clarification and study of the written Scriptures but by no means are they the same as the Written, Inspired authority of the Word of G-D. However, we still need to be aware of it because these first century Jewish authors of the New Testament certainly would have assumed their audiences knew of these oral traditions, as well.

As for the false belief that the Old Testament is all “Law” and the New Testament is all “Grace”, Herman Bavinick’s ”Reformed Dogmatics: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation Volume Four” broke down my misconception of this thinking. This was one of the books required when taking the Doctrine of Church in seminary.  Like always I don’t come all his conclusions, however, he made me think of this dichotomy. For example on page 452 Bavinick writes of Paul:

he acknowledges that the law-centered dispensation by no means snuffed out the promise already made to Abraham (Gal. 3:17, 21), that the gospel was also preached in the days of the old covenant (Gal. 3:8), and that in those days, too, righteousness was obtained from and by faith (Rom. 4:11-12; 11:32; Gal. 3:6-7).

Furthermore, Bavinick writes on page 454, “ The gospel always presupposes the law and also needs it in its administration.” This is the promises that G-D gave to Abraham preceded the law given to the people of Israel through Moses. The promises to Abraham were to the physical heirs through Isaac but also all of the Nations, which would further be clarified that believe in Yeshua as their L-RD and Savior. However, the covenant given to Israel through Moses were given directly to the nation of Israel. Derek Leman writes, “The covenant which gentiles are included in is the “covenant of promise” (vs. 12) and not the “covenant of law” — Abrahamic, not Sinai.” (http://www.derekleman.com/musings/2012/01/06/answering-peter/#more-4875)

All these studies started to help me see the connection of G-D’s Word and People. Messianic Judaism’s distinction between Israel and the Church is one of the keys to seeing this unity. Furthermore, to see this distinction, it is paramount to understand the ministry of Paul and Peter/James/John. Dispensationalists are close but are not the same on the view of the Law, Paul, and how it is applied as Messianic Judaism. A good view of a Progressive Dispensationalists on this is Tom Pennington’s three sermons on “The Church in God’s Eternal Plan” under his Systematic Theology series at http://www.countrysidebible.org/CBC.php?t=23&series=9&seriesT=Systematic+Theology.

I pray that we do not fall back into the heresy of Marcion way back in 140 CE. He rejected the Old Testament entirely, the book of Matthew, Mark, Acts, and Hebrews because he believed these writings “favored Jewish readers”. (page 62, 63, “Church History in Plain Language” by Bruce L. Shelley.  Church History really helps in seeing how things are shaped in thought and practice in the people of G-D. Tommy Nelson, a Dispensationalists, has a great series on Church History at http://dbcmedia.org/sermons/church-history-the-footprints-of-god-volume-1-of-2/?st=shopp&s=chruch%20history2. Of course, he puts some of his theological distinctives into the sermons but you can still gain a lot of knowledge on church history through them. Plus, he is a pretty entertaining speaker to listen to. 

When the books of the Old Testament got dubbed “Old”, I do not know. However, I do not believe Yeshua or the Apostles would have made this dichotomy of G-D’s Word between the Old and New Testament. The Old Testament is the Hebrew Bible. It is the TaNaK. “The Torah (“Teaching”, also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi’im (“Prophets”) and Ketuvim (“Writings”)—hence TaNaKh.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanakh)

Furthermore, a better name for the New Testament may be the Apostolic Scriptures. A continuance of the Hebrew testament and story of G-D, the Messiah, and His people. To continue on with the theme of this Messianic series of a diverse unity. One Bible with many authors and books. One Story with many chapters, characters, and parts played.

In my next post in this series, it is my hope to cover the Biblical Holidays and Eschatology (a study of the end times).

Grace and peace be with you,

In Yeshua Messiah,

Coley

“My Faith Dissected: the Journey” Messianic Pt 3 (the Church and Israel)

Israel

27 So he said to him, “What is your name ?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel ; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name ?” And he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob named *the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”  Genesis 32:27-30

G-D named the patriarch Jacob the name of Israel in the passage above. He went on to have twelve sons that each became a tribe and one daughter. G-D promised Jacob that a nation and a company of nations would come from him in Genesis 35:9-13:

9 Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob ; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.” Thus He called him Israel. 11 God also said to him, “I am God Almighty ; Be fruitful and multiply ; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you. 12 “The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.

Eventually, Judah, one of Jacob’s sons, would become a nation and encompass the people of his other son Benjamin. Jacob’s other 10 sons would be called Ephraim and encompass another nation to the north of Judah. The Messiah Yeshua would eventually come through the tribe of Judah. Furthermore, he would come from the lineage of King David. (Matthew 1)

In Genesis 28, G-D revealed to Jacob that He would bless all the nations of the earth through his seed, which He had previously told Jacob’s father Isaac and grandfather Abraham. Addtionally, G-D told Jacob that He would bless Him with land. G-D keeps His promises and sent His Son, Yeshua, to live a sinless life and die for the sins of many to fulfill part of this promise to bless the nations. (Romans 4 & 5)

Gentiles

The identity of the Church is not clearly present in the Old Testament. However, it must be said there were people of G-D like Noah before the Abrahamic covenant that were passed down through Isaac and Jacob (Israel). But even before this, Noah and his son Shem are in the lineage that Abraham would come through. Maybe, the Dispensationalists are onto something in how they deal with this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispensationalism.

Even after all of this though, G-D made a specific covenant with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai, under Moses’ leadership. G-D chose to work through Israel. Up to the point of Yeshua, Israel is identified as the people of G-D. However, after the Resurrection of Yeshua, the Gentiles are brought into the Commonwealth of Israel. This did not do away with or replace Israel but added the Gentiles under their umbrella or tent. Ephesians 2:11-13 states:

 11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “ Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands – 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Derek Leman has a nice, little overview of Ephesians 2:11-22 at  http://www.derekleman.com/musings/2012/01/06/answering-peter/. He recommends Markus Barth’s commentary on Ephesians 1-3 in the Anchor-Yale series for further study of Ephesians 2, which I hope to get to soon.

This makes me wonder if the Gentiles being brought into the Commonwealth of Israel by the blood of Yeshua, is the beginning of the fulfillment of the prophecy of Noah in Genesis 9:26-27:

26 He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem ; And let Canaan be his servant. 27 “May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem ; And let Canaan be his servant.”

As Romans 11:25-29:

25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery -so *that you will not be wise in your own estimation -that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved ; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” 27 “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” 28 From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers ; 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Brothers made into many nations being brought together in One Tent. The Gentiles/Nations ( from Japheth) being brought into the Tent of their older brother Israel ( from Shem) by the blood of Yeshua bringing them together to be One Body under G-D!!!

Gentiles are defined as the nations or anyone that is not of the nation of Israel. The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon defines “gentiles” as any of the following:

• a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together
  1. a company, troop, swarm
• a multitude of individuals of the same nature or genus
  1. the human family
• a tribe, nation, people group
• in the OT, foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles
• Paul uses the term for Gentile Christians

Furthermore, per Acts 10 through 15, the inclusion of the gentiles was a new or at least unexpected thing to the Apostles. Acts 11:17,18 states:

17 “Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way ?” 18 When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

By the blood of Yeshua, the gentiles have been brought into the commonwealth of Israel, as I posted above in Ephesians 2. Many Christian circles believe the church has replaced Israel. Some call this Replacement Theology or Supersessionism. Wikipedia has a break down of several beliefs on this topic at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersessionism. Derek Leman has a small breakdown of supersessionism at http://www.derekleman.com/musings/supersessionism/, based off R. Kendall Soulen’s book ”The God of Israel and Christian Theology”.  

The Church

But what is the church? Up until Yeshua’s ascension into Heaven (Acts 1) there is no mention of this way of describing a follower of G-D unless you allergorize that “Israel” really is the “Church”. When was the first time the “Church” was used in Scripture? It is actually used for the first time in our English translations in Matthew 16:18.

15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am ?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church ; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; and whatever *you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever *you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:15-19

Per the New Testament Greek Lexicon, the transliterated word  for “church” from the Greek text is  Ekklesia, and gives the definitions below:

Definition

a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly an assembly of the people convened at the public place of the council for the purpose of deliberating the assembly of the Israelites any gathering or throng of men assembled by chance, tumultuously in a Christian sense an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting a company of Christian, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own religious meetings, and manage their own affairs, according to regulations prescribed for the body for order’s sake those who anywhere, in a city, village, constitute such a company and are united into one body the whole body of Christians scattered throughout the earth the assembly of faithful Christians already dead and received into heaven

 As you can see, this Greek word used for “church” can have several applications. The same Greek word is translated “synagogue” occasionally. A great teaching on the back drop of how the word “church” makes its way into the Apostolic (New Testament) scriptures is a teaching by Tom Pennington from Countryside Bible Church at http://www.countrysidebible.org/CBC.php?t=23&series=9&seriesT=Systematic+Theology. The teaching is called “Defining the Church” and was taught on 7/23/2006, in the Systematic Theology section. Tom served underneath John MacArthur for quite a while http://www.countrysidebible.org/staff.php?staff=1. Although, like always, I probably would not degree with all their teachings this is a great breakdown of the word “church” and “ekklesia”.

Simply put, in my opinion, I would say the Church are the ingathering of the gentiles or the nations by our L-RD Yeshua. As Yeshua says in Matthew 8:11 , “11 “I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” Notice that Yeshua did not say the many from east and west would become Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but would recline at the table with them.

This said, I believe that Israel and the Church are distinct entities with different calls and roles. They are both people of G-D. I do not believe there is salvation outside of Yeshua, neither. At this point, you may bring up Galatians 3:28, “28 There is neither *Jew nor Greek, there is neither *slave nor free man, there is neither *male nor female ; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” However, this line also mentions “male nor female”. Does this mean that all females are male now? Or are all males female now? Or have we somehow become asexual? Is there no distinction or roles between male and females now? Well, I covered this in an earlier blog http://smoothcookies.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/my-faith-dissected-the-journey-complementarianism/.

I do not believe that this means that there is no difference in these at all. Instead, I believe Galatians is speaking in regards to salvation and/or conversion to Judaism, particularly the aspect of justification in Yeshua. It can relate to the body having different spiritual gifts but one body in 1 Corinthians 12. You may ask about Romans 9-11. Dr. Michael Brown has a great chapter on this in his book “Our Hands are Stained with Blood”. In Chapter 13, Brown works through these chapters pointing out there are “Natural Children and God’s Children”. He makes a great point in regards to Romans 9:6-8:

But-this is of vital importance-pious Buddhists or Muslims are not the true Church. Of course not! The true Church consists of believers within the Church, not religious people outside the Church. It is only those within the Church (i.e., those who profess the Christian faith) who can possibly be the true Church. In the same way, Paul never said that Gentile believers were “true” or “spiritual” Israel. It was the believing remnant within Israel that was “true” or “spiritual” Israel. (Actually, the terms “true Israel” or “spiritual Israel” never occur in the Bible, and it might be helpful to completely avoid them.) (page 129, “Our Hands are Stained with Blood” by Michael Brown

But there is a warning here as well.

If some of the [natural Israelite] branches have been broken off, and you[Gentiles], though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others [the Israelites who believed] and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root [Israel], do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you (Rom. 11:17-18). (page 138, “Our Hands are Stained with Blood” by Michael Brown)

May it be understood clearly and never forgotten: Gentile believers have been grafted into Israel’s tree and they are nourished by the ancient Jewish root. (In this context, the root is not Jesus, although in other Scriptures Jesus is called the root of Jesse [see Isaiah 11:1], and the Vine from which we branch out [see John 15:1-9]. But when Paul speaks of the “root” in Romans 11:18, he seems to be referring to the patriarchs, the fathers of Israel.) It is true that the natural branches “were broken off because of unbelief, and you [Gentile believers] stand by faith.” But that is no reason for pride. On the contrary, “Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either” (Rom. 11:20-21) (page 139, “Our Hands are Stained with Blood” by Michael Brown)

Here is where the Church, which has been primarily Gentile since the second century, has made a big mistake. She has been guilty of boasting over the natural branches, forgetting her root and misinterpreting Israel’s hardening. (page 139, “Our Hands are Stained with Blood” by Michael Brown)

Roles of Israel and the Church

Dan Juster’s book “The Irrevocable Calling: Israel’s Roles as a Light to the Nations” outlines the past, present, and future roles of Israel. For sake of brevity, I would just like to share a few paragraphs from page 44 below:

Israel and the Church are interdependent and fulfill different but complementary priestly roles. Without the Messianic Jews, who are part of both, neither can be fulfilled in their destiny. The Jews are dependent on God’s work through the Jews. This follows from the conclusion of Romans 11 where Paul has described the priestly call of the Gentiles to the Jews and the priestly call of the Jews to the Gentiles: “For God has shut up all mankind together  in disobedience, in order that he might show mercy to all.” (Rom. 11:32).

I believe that this suggests another picture. Before we enter into the everlasting ages, the Jewish believer will say to the Gentile in Messiah, “I honor you because without your prayers and faithfulness, I would never have been saved.” The Gentile will respond, “Without your faithfulness in preserving the Scriptures, Jewish life, and taking the Good News into the world, I would not have been saved.” They will revere one another with a humility that truly honors God and affirms that our faith is founded on interdependence.

Ultimately, the end of this age and the last wars described by the prophets, both spiritual and physical, will not occur until the Jewish believers and the rest of the Church are right with each another. An adequate witness must be given to all the nations and equally given to Jewish people by the Church and Messianic Jews. Only then will Israel, with an anguished heart, call upon Yeshua for salvation. The thrilling account is found in Joel 3, Zechariah 12 and 14 and Revelation 19. Israel will say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of ADONAI.” (Matt 23:39). “Every knee will bow… and every tongue will acknowledge that Yeshua the Messiah is ADONAI…” (Phil. 2:10, 11).

Toward Jerusalem Council II

Don Finto mentions in his book “Your People Shall Be My People: How Israel, the Jews and the Christian Church will come together in the Last Days”, on page 189, 190, about the “Toward Jerusalem Council II”:

Toward Jerusalem Council II is an initiative of repentance and reconciliation between the Jewish and Gentile segments of the Church. The vision is that one day there will be a second Council of Jerusalem that will be, in an important aspect, the inverse of the first council described in Acts 15. Whereas the first council was made up of Jewish believers in Yeshua (Jesus), who decided not to impose on the Gentiles the requirements of the Jewish law, so the second council would be made up of Gentile Church leaders, who would recognize and welcome the Jewish believers in Yeshua without requiring them to abandon their Jewish identity and practice.

More can be found out about this initiative at the Toward Jerusalem Council II’s website http://www.tjcii.org/toward-jerusalem-council-ii-vision-statement.htm.

May we recognize our Jewish Roots and our Jewish brothers in Yeshua the Messiah. I reiterate that being one and equal does not equal sameness. This concept is one of the things that frightened me when studying Buddhism and Hinduism, that is losing the distinction of your person. I believe the Bible teaches of a G-D that is one G-D with Three distinct persons. A G-D that creates man and female to be joined into marriage as one body but different roles and distinctions. A G-D that creates individuals with a diverse set of giftings and talents to contribute to one body in Messiah. A G-D that appoints the times and ages that an individual is born into and the nation that He develops him in. I believe G-D creates nations diverse with different cultures to join as one body, as well. How can we be who we are, if we try to be someone else or try to force others to be us? We complement each other! May we rejoice in our roles and live in them to the glory of G-D!

May we not commit what Derek Leman calls “Reverse Galatianism” at http://www.derekleman.com/musings/2012/01/02/classic-repost-reverse-galatianism-2/, that is attempting to force or guilt Jews to become as Non-Jews. May we, the Church, recognize the Messianic Jews and not rebuild walls like Ephesians 2 or become proud like Romans 11 mentions. Or even more sad, act as if they do not even exist and be apathetic to any relationship, ministry, or mission to the Jew.

Instead, may we build up the body of Messiah, the Church and Israel, and call together for the Messiah, our King, our L-RD to come! My friend puts it nicely in his blog http://messiahconnection.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/bring-back-the-king/, of how the Messianic Jews may have arisen in these last days to fulfill the words of Yeshua to His Jewish brothers in Matthew 23:39, “For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

In my next post, it is my goal to speak about the continuance of the Old and New Testaments.

Grace and peace be with you,

In Yeshua Messiah,

Coley

For further study, there are plenty of books on this topic:

“Grafted In: Israel, Gentiles, and the Mystery of the Gospel” by D. Thomas Lancaster

“The Holy Epistle to the Galatians, Book” by D. Thomas Lancaster

“Your People Shall Be My People” by Don Finto

“The Irrevocable Calling” by Daniel C. Juster, Th.D.

“Our Hands our Stained with Blood” by Michael L. Brown

“Post-Missionary Messianic Judaism” by Mark Kinzer

“The God of Israel and Christian Theology”  by R. Kendall Soulen

“Future Israel” by Barry Horner

Ruwts Homou- To Run Together

In trying to come up with a cool name for a running club, I started to do a word search in the Bible for “run” or “running” and came up with an interesting thought. A combination of a Hebrew word and a Greek word together. I know not politically correct A word from the Old Testament and a word from the New Testament. Then, I thought of the two passages put together that I pulled the words.

Habakkuk 2:2-4 reads:

 2 Then the LORDanswered me and said, “Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it may run. 3 “For the vision is yet for the appointed time ; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainlycome, it will not delay. 4 “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.

John 20:2-9

3 SoPeter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. 4 The two were runningtogether ; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tombfirst ; 5 and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. 6 And so Simon Peter alsocame, following him, and entered the tomb ; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the face-clothwhich had been on His head, not lying with the linenwrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 So the otherdisciple who had firstcome to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. 9 For as yetthey did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.

The transliterated Hebrew word for “run” in Habakkuk 2:2 is  ”Ruwts” with a phonetic reading of “roots”. It means “to run”, per the NAS Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon. The Greek transliterated word for “together” is “homou” with a phonetic reading of “hom-oo”. 

Roots Hom-00- To Run Together

Habakkuk 2:2-4 speaks of running but waiting. It’s active but passive. An oxymoron of sorts. It speaks of an envisioned time that has not come yet for the Hebrews but a time that certainly would come. He exhorted them to live by “FAITH”!

Fast forward…hmmm….. around 638 years and of the vision at an appointed time for the Messiah to die and rise again in John 20:2-9.  We see the Apostle Peter and John racing to the Messiah’s tomb only to realize that He has Risen!!!

Now we say once again with Habakkuk that we must run but wait. The in between stage that the Messiah Yeshua has already come and now we run and wait for His second return. In our present we strive to live out the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:23-27:

23 I doallthings for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellowpartaker of it. 24 Do you not know that those who run in a raceallrun, but only onereceivesthe prize ? Run in such a way that you may win. 25 Everyone who competes in the gamesexercisesself-control in allthings. They then do it to receive a perishablewreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not withoutaim ; I box in such a way, as not beating the air ; 27 but I disciplinemy body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

O’ how I ever fail over and over again at this self controlled running thing called life. I know I’m not perfect but I press onward to the goal of the upward call of Christ Jesus as Paul says in Philippians 3:12-14;

12 Not that I have alreadyobtained it or have alreadybecome perfect, but I press on so that I may layhold of that for which also I was laidhold of by ChristJesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regardmyself as having laidhold of it yet ; but onething I do: forgetting what lies behind and reachingforward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upwardcall of God in ChristJesus.

Looking forward to that day that we toss our running shoes and take flight into the air to meet our King, Savior, Messiah, and L-RD Yeshua in the clouds as 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, aboutthose who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who havenohope. 14 For if we believe that Jesusdied and roseagain, evensoGod will bring with Him those who have fallenasleepin Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are aliveand remainuntilthe coming of the Lord, will not precedethose who have fallenasleep. 16 For the LordHimselfwill descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will risefirst. 17 Thenwe who are aliveand remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall alwaysbe with the Lord. 18 Thereforecomfortoneanother with thesewords.

Every eye will see and every knee will bow! 

7 BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and everyeye will see Him, even those whopierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mournover Him. So it is to be. Amen. Revelation 1:7

9 For thisreasonalso, Godhighlyexalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is aboveeveryname, 10 so that at the name of JesusEVERYKNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that everytongue will confess that JesusChrist is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11

May we run together toward the upward call of our L-RD Yeshua. May we all say with the Apostle John in Revelation 22:20-21,

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.