My Torah studies brought me to Deuteronomy 7: 8 this morning and the passage reads accordingly:
But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deu 7:8 KJV)
cf.
Jer 31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Deu 10:15 Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.
I recall a few years ago having a conversation with my boss about the dichotomy in character of the Godhead. Before I go too much further, let me be transparent and say that I do not believe that the Father or God is made up of 3 or 2 persons as much of churchianity* believes and teaches. Nor do I believe that Yeshua was pre-existent and the God and creator of the Old Testament as many myopic Messianic Believers do, based upon their read and understanding of John 1 and other isolated passages of the Renewed Testament. This subject is a huge and controversial topic that I wholly plan to get in to the early part of next year. But for now, this is not the forum to discuss this matter. But I wanted to point out that from that conversation with my boss about the dichotomy in character of the Godhead, she put forth her obviously taught and indoctrinated position that the God of the Old Testament was harsh, uncaring, unforgiving, brutal, impatient, angry and without love towards His creation. Conversely, Jesus in the New Testament is forgiving, compassionate, benevolent, nice, patient and filled with love. Now I actually used to believe all that, especially after reading throughout the Tanakh about the harsh exploits of the Almighty. He seemed to always be on Israel’s case for something they had done or would do. Typically Israel’s plight was seemingly always on the cusp of devastation or destruction. And certainly if one were to simply read the various passages of the Tanakh outside of context and treat this half of the Bible as a separate entity that is distinct from the Renewed Covenant, then most certainly one could naturally develop an erroneous conception about the character of Yehovah.
I guess this myopic and uninformed perception about the Father is partly the reason why churchianity is so “Jesus-centric” and focused on the person of the Son, with very little alluding to God the Father, apart from the occasional utterance of the title during a reciting of the trinity during Baptisms and other liturgical exercises. I believe that this mindset is one of the most injurious issues facing Christianity over the last one and three-quarters of a millennia. With a complete rejection of Yehovah (a brilliant tactic and ploy of the enemy) as a result of postulating such an erroneous mindset about the character of the Father, churchianity has to her pending doom, pinned most of her faith on the grossly misunderstood, twisted and manipulated doctrine of grace. More than even the teachings and example of the Master Yeshua Himself, grace is the central over-riding theme of Christianity. Grace has all but eliminated any thought on the part of believers to be obedient to the Word of the Almighty. Additionally, this entire mindset has covered over the simple beauty of this pivotal verse where Moshe is rehearsing for Israel the Father’s steadfast love for them and His faithfulness in keeping His end of covenants when men would so easily default on their end of covenant with the Almighty. With the undeniable love of the Master as a clear and prominent backdrop in the Renewed Covenant, the love of the Father for Israel–and also for the Gentile–is the overarching theme of the whole of the Bible! In other words, without the steadfast and faithful love of the Father for His creation, there could never have been a Yeshua, much less a nation of Israel to this day. It is the Father’s declared love for Israel that has translated into the mission and work of Yeshua HaMaschiach and we must not forget that.
Oh how it must hurt the Father when He sees His beloved in adulterous abandon pursue after a Hellenistic Savior that has been created to replace Him. Hasatan is so conniving and all encompassing in his efforts to separate man from His Creator. It must be our mission to keep this thing in its proper perspective. Living Torah is the absolute best way in which to maintain this proper balance. It is also our mission to somehow teach our wayward cousins who are emeshed in the muck and mire of religion (i.e., Christianity) the truth about the love of Yehovah and how that love has translated into the mission and work of His adopted Son.
Happy beginning of the 10th Biblical Month (as the renewed moon was sighted over Israel yesterday) and a blessed remainder of Hanukkah. Shalom.
*Churchianity–a term that some Hebrew Roots folks use to describe denominational Christianity and the overarching concept of being “Churched” (my perceptions of the term which is not an official terms by the way).