What Did Paul Mean by Being Under the Law–Part 1

by | Nov 6, 2020 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

Goal of this Post 

“For Yah shows no partiality (that is, Yah shows no favoritism). For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.” 

In this installment of the Messianic Torah Observer we continue with our survey and discussion on some of the Apostle Paul’s (aka Shaul’s) difficult and hard to interpret writings. Today, we are going to delve into the Pauline phrase “under the law”, which is not just found in our focus passage of Romans 2:11-13, but also in some other half-dozen  Pauline passages. 

You don’t want to miss this discussion as it is foundational Truth that will solidify in your mind, heart and soul the role Torah is supposed to play in your life.

 Attention

We are going to discuss what Shaul meant by one being “under the Law/Torah,” which he uses at least a half-dozen times throughout the course of his writings. This is evergreen and foundational information that you want to take to heart. 

Now, because Shaul mentions being under the Law/Torah several times throughout his writings, I’m going to break this discussion into at least two, maybe three posts. There’s simply too much content to present to you within the allotted time we have for today. So for today, we’re going to focus on Romans 2:11-13 as it relates to being under the Law/Torah and then in succeeding posts we’ll break those other mentions of being under the Law/Torah down as well.

Need 

This is: “What Did Paul Mean by Being Under the Law? Part 1.” This is part 26 of our Paul and Hebrew Roots Series. If you’re new to this podcast, I would encourage you to go on over to the Messianic Torah Observer website and check out the previous 25 post in this series so that you can lay a foundation in understanding some of the apostle’s more difficult and challenging writings. 

Folks, this is one of the most important Yeshua-focused Torah living posts we’ve done since beginning our Paul and Hebrew Roots series back in 2018. 

Each of us must accurately understand what Shaul meant by someone being “under Torah.” 

You may be asking why this is so important that I elected to do an entire post on what it means for one to be “under the Law/Torah. It’s not just important my friends; it’s crucially important that each of us understands exactly what Shaul means by the phrase “under the Law/Torah.” There are at least two reasons why it’s important for us to understand what the phrase means:

 

  1. Many fundamentalists erroneously point to the various Pauline passages where the apostle uses the phrase “under the Law/Torah as scriptural proof that Torah has been done away with. Now, these same fundamentalists will also use these same passages to promote their perverted grace doctrines (that being, all you need to do is say the sinners’ prayer, give your heart to Jesus and viola you’re saved…no if ands or bugs…you don’t have to do anything beyond these administrative items: no turning away from your previous sin filled life; no obedience to Yah’s Way of life and His commandments and instructions; simply do what you feel like doing because you are saved by grace). And what we will find as we go through this study is that their understanding of “grace” (grace being the term “karis” in the Greek and which is often described as Yah’s unmerited favor) is exactly that: their understanding of God’s grace is perverted. Which circles back to their dangerous misunderstanding that Yah’s commandments which are contained in His Torah are no longer relevant and applicable to believers in Yeshua Messiah. Misinterpretations of scripture often lead to the creation of false doctrines that in turn lead the many who choose to accept and follow those doctrines down a path towards destruction. We’re here to try and prevent that as much as we possibly can.

 

  1. Misunderstanding of what Shaul meant by one being “under the Law/Torah” further perpetuates the sharp division that exists between Jews and non-Jews. Look, I’m not talking about the sharp doctrinal divisions that exists between us and our cousins in Judaism. I’m talking about the antisemitism that flows from such a misunderstanding of the phrase; I’m talking about the erroneous replacement theology that so many Christians adhere to so tightly; I’m talking about erroneously perpetuating an identity spirituality that says to the world that their simple profession of their Christian faith makes them immune to the wrath of God that is prophesied to be coming for those who reject Yah’s Ways and His Word.

 

  1. It is important for each of us to understand what Shaul meant by one being “under the Law/Torah” because when Christians challenge our keeping of Torah as believers in Yahoshua Messiah using Shaul’s passages where this phrase is used, we must be ready to defend why we believe what we believe and do what we do (1 Peter 3:15; Colossians 4:6). Our testimony to a deceived and disobedient world means everything: it means everything to us because by our testifying to the Truth of the Gospel and Yah’s eternal Word, we image Him on the earth (that is we magnify His Name on the earth: Romans 9:17; Philippians 2:10; Luke 11:2). And more so, we put to shame their lies and misunderstanding and hopefully lay the seeds for their eventual repentance and turning to Yah and His Way of Life for mankind.

 

And lastly, 4., each of us must fully understand the actual role Torah is supposed to play in every disciple of Yeshua’s life. I hate to break it to you my friends, but Torah should not be the focus of our Faith. Our keeping of Torah is not going to get us into the Kingdom. And each of us must fully understand this because so many of us in Hebrew Roots and the Messianic Faith Communities place all of our focus on Torah-keeping. And as much as Torah-keeping is important, we must recognize that Torah is secondary in the life of Yah’s elect. (You heard me, Torah is actually secondary…Torah keeping, as we will see, ain’t going to save anyone.)

 

Understanding What Shaul Meant by Being Under the Law is Withing our Grasp

 

When it comes to understanding some of Shaul’s more difficult and challenging passages, such as the passages where the apostle uses the phrase “under the Law/Torah,” we must resist the urge to rely on the accuracy of the English wording in our bibles. Furthermore, we must push to the side the teachings of the Christian Church on this crucial topic. For both of these concerns will invariably lead one to misinterpret and or misunderstand what the apostle means by the phrase “under the Law/Torah.”

Folks, I’ve repeated myself throughout the many installments of the Messianic Torah Observer I’ve done over the years, in particular the posts in our Paul and Hebrew Roots Series, that in order to accurately interpret Paul’s challenging and hard to understand passages, it is vitally important that we study those passages within their proper context (that is within the chapter, book, testament and whole of bible that they are found in). And that contextual study must include things like history, culture, language, the Holy Spirit’s (I.e., the Ruach HaKodesh’s) guidance and revelation.

Now, as it relates to our arriving at a proper or accurate understanding or interpretation of what being “under the Law/Torah” means, we really need to employ not just biblical context, but also culture/ethnicity, a little bit of history and language (in particular and in this case, ancient Greek). All these play a part in our final understanding of what this phrase means. Because I’ll tell you now, Shaul’s use of the phrase “under the Law/Torah” does not mean the same thing in every verse and passage it’s used. In other words, depending on the context and our understanding of the Greek manuscripts and the history and ANE culture, the meaning of the phrase “under the Law/Torah” in one passage differs from that in another  passage. 

The reason I’m discussing the phrase “under the Law/Torah” with you today is because this happens to be the next challenging or hard to understand Pauline passage in our survey of the Book of Romans. And the first mention of anyone being “under the law/Torah is found in our focus passage of Romans 2:12 which reads: “For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law” (ESV). 

So what we’re going to do now is look at each mention of the phrase “under the Law/Torah” using context, language, history and culture as our principle guides, while allowing the Ruach HaKodesh to put it all together for us.

 

Competing Biblical Renderings on “Under the Law”

 

Now, in all fairness, the KJV doesn’t render the phrase as one having sinned “under the law,” but instead, as one having sinned “in the law.” The interesting thing is that while most other English translations (ESV, ASV, CSB, NAB, NAS, NET, NRS and the RSV) all go with the phrase “under the law,” the KJV’s translation of one sinning “in the law” is actually the most accurate rendering of the phrase (believe it or not). The CJB and the NKJV come very close to the KJV’s rendering of being “in the law.” The CJB renders the phrase as “have sinned within the framework of Torah,” which happens to be contextually the best and most accurate interpretation of the phrase “under the Law/Torah.” Let’s look at this thing a little closer. But let’s first step back one verse to verse 11 and then on over one to verse 13 so as to gain a fuller picture of what Shaul is talking about in this passage.

 

Necessary Background to Have Regarding the Roman Church of Shaul’s Day

 

You need to remember that Shaul is writing to Roman Messianics in an assembly that consisted of converted Jews and converted non-Jews. And we also must keep in mind the history that surrounds this passage. The Roman Messianic Assembly was likely founded by Jews who returned from that Great Day of Pentecost 10-days after Yeshua ascended to His Father in heaven from the Mount of Olives. It was on that day that the Ruach HaKodesh fell upon the 120 disciples on the Temple Mount, leading to the conversion of 3,000 Jews from all over the Roman Empire (Acts 2). It seems reasonable to conclude that some of those 3,000 converted Jews were from Rome, and upon their return back to Rome, introduced the True Faith (Yeshua focused Torah living) to their families and fellow Jews and no doubt the synagogue(s) that provided those orthodox Roman Jews their center(s) for worship and study became Messianic Assemblies. Of course in time, non-Jewish Romans came to the knowledge of Yahoshua Messiah and affiliated themselves with their converted Roman Jewish counterparts, meeting, worshiping and learning together in Rome’s Jewish synagogues. Remember, at the earliest history of the True Faith once delivered, there were no Christian Churches or assemblies, at least not in Rome. Converts—believers—fellowshipped, worshiped and learned in Jewish synagogues.

 

Converted Roman Jews and Proselytizing the Converted Roman Gentiles

 

If you recall at the outset of this study of Paul and the Book of Romans, we discussed the fact that Shaul had not founded or establish the Roman Church/Kehila/Assembly. As we just mentioned a moment ago, the so-called Church at Rome was likely founded by those returning Jewish converts. Consequently, it would seem reasonable to conclude, based upon the overall context of the Book of Romans, that many of the converted Jews, despite them being believers in Yahoshua as their Messiah, were still holding on to their ethnicity and heritage as sort of a “badge of honor” and  or pride in the assembly. And many of these converted, yet prideful Jews, believed that in order for one to be a part of the Way Movement (that is, the true Faith once delivered), one had to convert to Judaism. These truly believed that the true Faith once delivered was an exclusive Jewish religion or Faith if you will. So to these converted Jews, if you were a non-Jewish person coming to Faith, you had to first and foremost convert to Judaism (that is, you had to become a proselyte). We won’t go into what the requirements are or were to become a proselyte in this installment, but suffice to say, these converted Jews believed every believer in Yeshua Messiah had to be a Jew above all else. Being Jewish meant you were Yah’s chosen one; that you were guaranteed entry into the Kingdom of Yah; that Yah favored you over the non-Jew, who they saw as being condemned  and destined to destruction. 

Thus, many of these converted Jews sought to proselytize many of the newly converted/incoming non-Jewish converts to the Faith. Needless to say, this created quite a bit of confusion in the assemblies throughout the Roman Empire of Shaul’s day. And Shaul found himself having to put a lid on so-called Jewish proselytizing, especially curbing the influence of those converted Jews who put more faith in their ethnicity and Jewish religion and traditions than faith in Yeshua and His atoning sacrifice. Shaul recognized that these proselytizing Jews were also trying to influence the non-Jewish converts to obey various elements and commandments of Torah (and Torah in context here refers to both Mosaic Torah and the Talmud), while they themselves were personally lawless in their behavior and lifestyles.

So Shaul starts off our focus passage with verse 11 which I believe to be a wake up call to these proselytizing, hypocritical Jews.

 

“For Yah does not show favoritism.”

 

Yah Is No Respecter of Person When It Comes to Judgment

 

“Respect of person,” (as in most English translations), or in the CJB translation, “show favoritism” in the Greek is “prosopolempsia,” which is a compound word made up of the word for “face” and “to receive.” Thus, when we factor the Greek wording back into this verse (verse 11), we get something akin to: “For there is not receiving of face in the presence of Yah.” Or we can look at it from a raw Greek perspective that “Yah does not receive any body’s face.” In other words, we have to look at Yah’s acceptance of people from a legalistic perspective. It’s as if we are in a court setting, let’s say. And we find YHVH acting as the righteous judge He is such that His righteous judgments against every person is based, not upon their individual “intrinsic” merits, but is based on their outward circumstances. Yah does not care which side of the railroad tracks one was born; or whose child you are; whether you’re a Jew or a Gentile, male or female; slave or freeman (Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11; Romans 10:12). Every unconverted human is viewed the same: a sinner. Nothing else matters to Yah. And Yah is going to judge all by what is written in certain unnamed books as well as what is written in the Book of life, all based according to each one’s works while they lived on this earth (Revelation 20:12). There will be absolutely no favoritism; no partiality. Only righteous judgment. 

We find that verse 11 here serves as a transition to what follows in succeeding verses. And what follows is a comparing and contrasting between the Jew and Gentile for purposes of revealing the righteousness of Yah in His ultimate judging of both groups of people. When read in context, one does get a sense that Shaul is acknowledging here the advantage the Jew possesses (that is Shaul’s repeated phrase “the Jew first”). That advantage is simply their possession and knowledge of Torah. That being said, the Jew is ultimately held accountable for any squandering of that advantage in their life. 

Romans 2:12—Sin Within the Framework of Torah Versus Sin Under the Law 

Moving on to verse 12:

 

“For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law” (ESV)

 

Young’s Literal Translation renders verse 12 as follows:

 

“…As many as did sin in law, through law shall be judged.”

 

The Greek here is “anomos” for “lacking the law” or “being outside the law.” “En nomo” here means “in law” (YLT) or “within the law” (Lattimore Kingdom NT). You must understand that most English translations incorrectly render “en nomo” as being “under the law.” “Under the law” accurately in the Greek is rendered by “hupo nomon,” which is found in Romans 6:14-15; 1 Corinthians 9:20 [4X]; Galatians 3:23; 4:4-5, 21; 5:18. (Don’t worry, we’ll look at each of these and arrive at an contextually accurate interpretation of “hupo nomon” for each.) 

Now that we established that “en nomo” does not mean “under the law,” but instead “within the law” or “in law,” let’s now attempt to interpret what Shaul meant by “within the law” or “in law.” 

So we have a couple ways to interpret what Shaul means here, neither interpretation excludes the possibility of the other. The terms “anomos” and “en nomo” are used by Shaul to compare two types or groups of individuals: those who sin “without the law” facing condemnation absent or without the law to those who sin being in or within the law facing condemnation by that same law.

I will say here at this point that despite the Greek term “nomo” (law) not having the definite article attached to it (such that “en nomo” does not have “the” attached to it), we can safely interpret “nomo” here to be “Torah.” I personally often refer to Torah in my discussions without attaching a definite article to it. So it’s not difficult for me to rationalize the fact that Shaul is talking about those who do not possess Torah versus those who are somehow within Torah, whatever that means. We’ll get to that in just a moment. 

Clearly, Shaul is attempting to get his Roman readers to understand that “both Jewish and non-Jewish people are equally accountable before Yah because of the propensity of human sin.” And the proof of this is found in verses 9-11 which reads: Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; but glory, honour, and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: for there is no respect of persons with Yah” (KJV). And he makes the sobering statement that without repentance, no person will escape Yah’s wrath (verses 4-6). 

Because of Yah’s holy and righteous character and nature, YHVH will always deal fairly and justly with each according to his/her deeds. And what we’re seeing laid before us here in verse 12 is a frank discussion on what happens to those individuals (specifically Gentiles/non-Jews) who have not received the Revelation of Torah. And the likely question that the converted Roman Gentiles had for Shaul in this discussion, especially in light of the heavy proselytizing they were going through at the hands of the converted Roman Jews was: Will all Gentile be condemned? 

Now, this hearkens back to the last installment of this program entitled “Paul on the LGBTQ Community.” In that post we discussed that all rational human beings are going to be held accountable for their behavior, regardless whether they possess the Revelation of Torah or not. In that post we learned that Yah’s revelation of Himself to mankind; His Ways and His character extends beyond the framework (to borrow Stern’s keyword in the text) of Torah; for, according to Shaul, Yah is revealed in virtually every aspect of His creation (Romans 1:19) and people intrinsically know Yah exists and they also know right from wrong and so forth (Romans 1:20). That being said, all will have to give an account of their deeds and the life they lived and be judged accordingly. 

Consequently, those who know and have received Torah throughout all of human history (such as were Hebrews, Jews and Christians), but who have rejected Torah’s message on a faith basis (that being a Yeshua-focused Torah lifestyle), will be judged accordingly. Conversely, those who’ve never received Torah will be judged by the revelation which they received through Father’s natural creation and intrinsic (internal, natural) understanding of Yah’s existence and character. Consider as a prime example Matthew 10:15 which reads:

 

”Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town (that town being the one that rejected the Gospel).” 

 

A Discussion About Jews and Gentiles in Light of Torah 

So what Shaul is describing in verse 12 are two distinct groups of individuals: essentially we’re talking about Jews and non-Jews. 

The Jews possessed Yah’s Torah and the historical records of their ancestors’ obedience and disobedience. However, the Gentiles/pagans did not possess Yah’s Torah. Thus, those who possess Torah along with its ancestral history, but reject them will not only be held accountable for their rejection and disobedience, but they will also be held accountable more so than their pagan counterparts who have been given over to their sins because they’ve rejected and ignored their Creator (1:26). 

You should be aware that Jews of Shaul’s day (both orthodox and Messianic) believed that by them being of Jewish ethnicity, they were all but guaranteed a place in Yah’s Kingdom. For to the Jew, all Israelites possess a share in the world to come…” (m. Shanhedrin 10:1; Jacob Neusner, “The Mishnah: A New Translation.” ). Thus, one’s Jewishness, which included possessing (having knowledge of) Torah had become (1) a badge of privilege; (2) a talisman; (3) a sign that Israel or Jews were Yah’s exclusive people; and (4) a get-out-of-jail-free card from Yah’s wrath. 

So Shaul’s position on Jews being exempt from Yah’s wrath on the basis of their ethnicity and possession of Torah would have been absolutely ground-breaking and controversial to any Jewish group at that time, including the converted Roman, proselytizing Jews. Obviously Shaul did not see Torah the same way His kinsmen viewed Torah. In fact, to Shaul, Torah defined sin:

 

Romans 3:20—”For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

 

To Shaul, the nations of this world are “very much accountable to their Creator for violating His law and covenant” because they “do have a conscience and they do have a basic sense of right and wrong impressed upon them” (Isa. 24:5—”The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.” ). 

Shaul, in verses 17-29, challenges the Roman assembly of converted Jews on their relationship with Torah: were they being judgmental and hard on their Gentiles brethren who were not keeping specific Torah (be it either or both written or so-called oral Torah such as circumcision and various purity traditions) commandments while they themselves violated those same Torah commandments? And Shaul had to assert to his readers:

 

Verse 23—”You who boast in the law dishonor Yah by breaking the law.”

 

And the conclusion Shaul arrives at is that Jewish possession of Torah means little if not acted upon in obedience and faith:

 

Verse 17, 28—”But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in Yah…For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.”

 

Scripture is clear: Those who possess Torah, yet do not properly walk it out are to be especially judged on matters of morality such as found in verses 21-24; cf. Isa. 52:5; Eze. 36:20). 

Since “all are sinners and have fallen short of the glory of Yah,” it is foolish for any to boast of their possession of Torah (verse 17). On the contrary, Shaul encourages boasting only in YHVH and the work of His Son (Jer. 9:24; 1 Cor. 1:31; cf. 2 Cor. 10:17). 

“En nomo” today not only involves Jews but also Christians since they possess general knowledge of Torah. Thus, those who sin with an appreciable degree of knowledge of Yah’s Torah will be held righteously accountable by Yah. These will be judged at a higher degree than those who are “anomos”. 

Under Torah Really Means Within the Framework of Torah 

So what is Shaul saying here regarding “en nomo,” those that sin within Torah will be judged by Torah, while those that sin “anomos” or outside Torah will die outside of Torah. 

Stern in his CJB renders this verse best:

 

“All who have sinned outside the framework of Torah will die outside the framework of Torah; and all who have sinned within the framework of Torah will be judged by Torah” (CJB).

 

Shaul here is simply saying that those that have never received the revelation of Torah but who die in their sins will be judged righteously apart from Torah. Their deeds will be judged in light of the natural revelation they’d received of Yah in their lives. Those, on the other hand, who had the advantage of Torah in their lives but transgressed Torah, will be judged within the framework of Torah. This would of course be speaking to those with knowledge of Torah such as Orthodox Jews, Christians, Catholics and even Messianics. Yah expects those that know better to do better in their lives. Thus, those who had any knowledge and or revelation of Torah will face a higher level of judgment than those who will be judged by Yah’s natural revelation. 

I guess the natural question that one would have regarding this verse is this: If all will be judged according to their deeds, be it within the framework of Torah or without the framework of Torah, what good then is Torah? Shaul answers this question by simply stating: “…the function of the Torah was that without it, I would not have known what sin is. For example, I would not have become conscious of what greed is if the Torah had not said, ‘Thou shalt not covet.” (Romans 7:7). 

So Torah serves to enlighten and educate people in the Ways of Yah. It also serves to define what sin is and to describe the penalty for sins. Thus, the one that receives Torah and Yeshua’s sacrifice, along with the help of the Ruach HaKodesh and with a circumcised heart, walk in Torah, they escape the wrath of Yah. In their obedience of Torah, these also please Yah and image Yah here on the earth. 

Father stated:

 

“You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them…” (Leviticus 18:5).

 

Despite all that we have discussed here thus far, most will reject any notion that believers in Yeshua Messiah should keep Torah. Despite all that Shaul has written here, most reject Torah keeping by believers. 

This should not be too hard to understand. Yeshua Himself made it clear that any who would be His disciple would be required to keep Torah:

 

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-20).

 

And from here, Yeshua goes on to expound on the level of Torah His disciples would be required to walk in. That elevated or advanced level of Torah-keeping that Master was teaching His disciples about was not new nor did it originate with Yeshua. In fact, the advanced level of Torah-keeping that Master taught in this chapter of Matthew was the original intention of the Torah that Father passed down to Moshe. The original intent of the Mosaic Torah, when properly walked by Yah’s elect, transcended simple, rote, mechanical obedience to Torah. The proper walking out of Yah’s Torah required the elect having their heart circumcised and their will being entirely given over to the Will of YHVH.

 

The Conclusion of the Matter Regarding Torah Keeping 

In verse 13 Shaul gives us the conclusion of the matter:

 

2:13—”for not the hearers of Torah are just before Yah, but the doers of Torah will be justified.”

 

 What is Shaul truly saying here. Again, he’s comparing and contrasting two groups of people: those “hearing Torah” to those “doing Torah.” And for me, it appears that the apostle is speaking more directly to his Roman Messianic Jewish readers in this passage than to his converted non-Jewish readers. Why? Because he recognized that, like his orthodox rabbinic kinsmen, the Roman Messianic Jews were wearing their Jewishness as a guarantee for salvation and chosen status and they were engaging in proselytizing of their non-Jewish brethren. 

Now, this has to be one of the clearest pro-Torah passages the apostle has ever written. For he clearly certifies the importance of Torah to Yah’s elect: “The Doers of Torah will be justified or rendered righteous before the Holy Creator.” It doesn’t get any clearer than that. 

Contextually speaking, the “hearing” that Shaul is writing about here is not the “shema” hearing that Moshe spoke of in Deuteronomy 6:4, which we know takes on a fuller sense that involves “hearing with the intent to obey” (cf. Gen. 3:17; Exo. 15:26; Deu. 4:30; 6:4; Jos. 1:18; Isa. 1:19; Jer. 11:3; 12:17; Mic. 5:15(14)). The Jews that Shaul is alluding to, as I mentioned previously, placed a great deal of attention on simple receiving of Torah that was being taught to them in their synagogues by their rabbinic leaders each Shabbat. And many Jews at that time, and most certainly many orthodox and Messianic Jews today feel it’s sufficient to simply hear Torah read and taught to them each Shabbat and so forth. 

But we find here Shaul contrasting “hearing Torah” with actual “doing Torah”. The hearing of Torah that Shaul is referencing here has no salvific value, since receipt of Torah by hearing does not result in one’s salvation. 

The “Just before Yah” that the apostle mentions here means to be “in right standing before Yah.” To be in right standing before Yah means one is no longer considered “guilty” in Yah’s “court of Law.” Yah thus declares doers of Torah who are reliant upon Yeshua’s sacrifice as just. 

Now, it must be mentioned that none of what Shaul writes here originated with him. In fact, what he wrote was common knowledge among first century Jewish sages (cf. Avot 1.17, Rabban Simeon, son of Gamaliel). So you’re probably wondering, why then did Jews of Shaul’s day ignore the doing aspect of Torah while putting greater emphasis on hearing Torah? 

The Talmud, which reflects ancient rabbinic Jewish thinking regarding all things Torah related, in order to make Torah more practical for everyday Jews, suggested Jewish adherents at the very least “appear” to be Torah observant; that is, give the impression they are Torah observant. Thus the natural emphasis on hearing emerged from Talmudic influence in everyday Jewish life. This, of course, led to the erroneous belief that hearing results in the Jew being justified before Yah. Thus, it can be safely concluded that the Talmud messed with Torah to the point that Torah became of no effect to the Jew (Mark 7:13).  Yahoshua railed against this very fact and He labeled Talmudic tampering with Torah as “traditions of men” (Mark 7:8).  

Shaul is teaching an obedience that flows from one’s Faith (Romans 1:5; 16:26). That faith-based obedience is the expression of sincere trust in Yah which pleases Yah (Hebrews 11:6). Let’s not get confused here: Salvation comes by faith alone as it is a gift of Yah (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9)). So where does Torah-keeping come in to play in a believer’s life  since one is not saved by their works? Well, it comes in to play in the disciple’s life because of their Faith. Because of our Faith, we intentionally do what Yah requires: Yah’s house rules. And we keep Yah’s house rules willingly and joyfully because it is the right thing to do and because it pleases Abba. 

Thus Shaul declares that the doers of Torah (Greek of “poietes” which means one who obeys and or fulfills Torah) are justified (that is, these are being made righteous in Yah’s sight—CJB).

Compare this to what Master Yeshua taught regarding doers of Torah:

 

“…whosoever obeys them (the commandments of Yah) and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:19).

 

 It should be clear to all that obedience over knowledge of Torah is what matters most to Yah. 

But what about the places in Paul’s writings where he downplays the role of works in one’s salvation such as Ephesians 2:8-9?:

 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of Yah, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (ESV).

 

Folks, I need you to get this, because it is so important that you be able to understand and defend the role Torah-keeping places in lives of Yah’s elect. When 2:13 is studied within its proper context alongside verses 17-28 which reads in abbreviated fashion:

 

“But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God…for as it is written, ‘The Name of Yah is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you’ (ref. Isaiah 52:5), for no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical…”

 

We see Shaul taking the Roman Messianic Jews to task here. For those were willfully disobedient to Torah, and their blatant disobedience was bringing shame upon them as a nation among the pagan nations of the known world at that time. It would appear that what it truly meant to be a Jew had become long forgotten by the Jewish people, the Talmud being one of the chief reasons for this falling away and adherence to traditions instead of adherence to Torah. And what Shaul was saying here in verse 2:13 as it relates to Torah-keeping and justification is that proper Torah obedience must reflect the true “character” of the Jew. Torah-keeping does not save one, but instead it legitimizes; it marks; it shows the Hebrew as being right. The doers of Torah are a reflection of their covenant relationship with the Most High. 

Call to Action and Closing Remarks 

Well, we’ll stop here for today and pick up where we’ve left off in our next discussion on being under the Law/Torah.

Folks, there’s no better time than now to get prayed up, studied up, fasted up. With all the chaos that going on around us these days, we really need to become laser focused in our walking out of this Faith. Things are not going to get better. In fact, I truly believe things are going to get significantly worse as we begin, what I believe to be, the end times. 

We don’t have a lot of time to waste. We must work while it is still day for the night cometh when no man may work.

Friends, we have work to do. And Yah is going to use this time to test His elect; to sift His elect. He’s going to separate out the wheat from the chaff. For years now He’s allowed the chaff to grow with the wheat. Now comes a time of winnowing and purging and only the elect will remain.

We must be ready and proactive in everything we do. Our relationship with the Almighty must be spot on at all times. Sin must be purged from our lives. We must be obedient to Yah’s Word. And we must make disciples for Yahoshua Messiah. All this must be done before things get so bad that we can’t do any of it. And I pray that this program will be instrumental in at least pointing us in the right direction and promoting Yeshua-focused Torah Living.

Until next time my brothers and sisters, may you be most blessed, fellow saints in training.

Shalom. Take Care.

Paul and the LGBTQ Community–A Messianic Perspective

by | Oct 30, 2020 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

The Indictment Against Homosexuality

 

In our ongoing quest to untangle and clarify some of the more difficult and challenging Pauline writings, (of late making our way through the Book of Romans), I want to next tackle Romans 1:26-27.

 

Now, most of us should be somewhat familiar with this Pauline passage, of which I will later show is a clear, Torah-based indictment against those who engage in homosexuality and who are in homosexual relationships. And the apostle’s Torah-based opposition and hostility towards those who engage in such behavior is expressed from the perspective of these individual’s actions being a blatant violation of YHVH’s natural creative order and law. This being the case, homosexuals, along with a great number of other reprehensible sinful souls, the apostle Paul condemns in no uncertain terms to the Creator’s wrathful judgment (Romans 1:28-32).

 

The Brush-Off

 

Now, some who will listen to this post will brush it off thinking there’s nothing to see here beyond simply staking one’s position on the issue (I.e., either agreeing or disagreeing with Paul) and simply moving on with their day.

 

But the truth of the matter is that this issue is bigger than simply being “for” or “against” homosexuality or the LGBTQ community as it relates to one’s faith walk. For we are living in times where that which was once deemed evil is now deemed good; and that which was once deemed good, is now deemed evil (Isaiah 5:20).

 

The Influence and Pervasiveness of the LGBTQ Community

 

Folks, do not be taken unaware regarding the LGBTQ community’s influence and pervasiveness in various faith communities today. I’m here to tell you that the LGBTQ community is formidable. And they have been hard at work over the last three or so decades, systematically overturning and erasing the long-held understanding that homosexuality in all its forms is an abominable sin. The Judeo-Christian-based faith communities are supposed to be the primary source of this understanding for the whole of society. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that any faith community that remains steadfast in their rejection of homosexuality are marked targets by the LGBTQ community.

 

Thus, two primary goals of the LGBTQ community are to take away your freedom of speech (I.e., so that you will not be able to speak out against homosexuality) and your God-given right to worship YHVH, our Elohim (https://bereanresearch.org/homosexual-agenda). Why? Because the LGBTQ community clearly knows that they are spiritually on the wrong side of this issue and they refuse to be denied that which they so desperately desire for themselves and their community. And if it takes destroying you and me for them to achieve total freedom to force their abominable lifestyles upon the world and our innocent children, so be it.

 

Western Society Has Given in to the Lie About the Immorality of Homosexuality

 

In recent years western society has, for the most part, done an-about-face on the immorality of homosexuality. In most cases western society favors the LGBTQ community over the Judeo-Christian communities. Thus, people of Faith are finding themselves between “secular and spiritual rocks and hard places” as it relates to how they and their faith community should view the LGBTQ community.

 

Fear seems to be the driving force behind most faith communities’ backtracking on the immorality and sinfulness of homosexuality. And because of the virulence that generally underscores present day western sentiments regarding the LGBTQ community, many people of Faith do not wish to draw unwarranted attention to themselves. Most people of faith just want to live quiet, peaceful and prosperous lives. Many are fearful of being socially “canceled” or politically and legally “bullied” into accepting the LGBTQ community’s terms and lifestyle. So, in response to fears of reprisal from secular society, faith communities have themselves launched systematic processes of doctrinal and biblical compromise on this issue and have deemed homosexuality much less than immoral. (And we’ll touch more upon this later on in this post.)

 

Forced Interactions

 

And don’t diminish the seriousness of what I’m saying here on this topic. For there’s even more at stake than simply our Faith communities taking the path of least resistance and compromising on their doctrinal and scriptural beliefs. Because of the pervasiveness of sanctioned and encouraged, free and open homosexuality in our modern societies, most of us in one form or another are forced to interact firsthand with the LGBTQ community in either our personal, family, career, community or spiritual lives. And in so doing, many of us are forced into making tough decisions on how to deal with or respond to these forced interactions. 

 

Case-in-Point

 

Last year I received an email from a dear sister of our Faith community asking me if I, based on my understanding of the Hebrew scriptures, thought it was acceptable for her to support and attend her sibling’s same-sex wedding ceremony. And despite what she and I both knew to be the scripturally correct answer to her question, she was still struggling with that inevitable answer. She loved her sibling very much. So she did not want to damage in any way what appeared to be a very loving sibling relationship. Naturally, she found herself in what I would surmise to be a rather tortuous relational situation.

 

Now, whether or not she ended up attending her sibling’s ceremony or not, I’ll probably never know. But what that incident clearly showed me was that we are all potential candidates for a similar situation. And that situation doesn’t have to be limited to weddings mind you. It can easily fall within virtually every area of our personal and professional lives, whereby we find ourselves pressured into attending LGBTQ social events or fulfilling professional mandates that may be tied to a LGBTQ social event. And what if our refusal to participate in such an event adversely impacts, let’s say our careers or livelihoods—such as the baker who refused to create a cake for a gay-couple’s wedding a few years ago, which led to loss of business for him?

 

Don’t be snookered my friends. The LGBTQ community is coming for all of us in some form or another. And it’s going to come down to us making the hard decision whether to stand for Truth, or to compromise on that Truth just as so many fundamental Christian Church organizations have done on this issue in recent years. In fact, don’t be surprised if this issue is not one of the driving forces behind much of the persecution that Scripture warns most of us will have to endure in the End Times. Yes, it’s that serious!

 

So I have for you here today a two-part goal for this post. One, I want to establish exegetically and contextually what Paul is saying about homosexuality in our focus-passage. And two, I want to provide you with information regarding the LGBTQ’s tactics and strategies for making Yah’s people second guess what Father’s position—what the Bible’s position is on this issue.

 

Once again, our focus passage for this post is Romans 1:26-27. It reads:

 

Romans 1:26-27-“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections (NAB/NAU-degrading passions; NLT-shameful desires): for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature NAB–natural relations for unnatural; NET–natural sexual relations for unnatural ones).And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman (…gave up natural relations with women (ESV; NAB; RSV); abandoned natural relations with women (NET); instead of having normal sexual relations with women (NLT)), burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet (receiving in their own persons the penalty appropriate to their perversion (CJB); receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error (ESV; NAB; NAS; NET; NRS; RSV)).

 

With respect to Torah, a companion passages to our focus passage would be the following:

 

Gen 19:5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

 

Leviticus 18:22--Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

 

Leviticus 20:13–If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

 

Deu 23:17 There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

 

Now, the LGBTQ community has been successful in amassing unto themselves an army of Judeo-Christian Truth-deniers who support the lie that nowhere is homosexuality mentioned in any of these passages, nor in the whole of scripture. According to these, homosexuality-homosexuals-gay-lesbian-bisexuals or any associated title or descripters are expressly mentioned in the bible. And in the community’s loose defense, they are correct: neither homosexuality nor any of its offspring titles and descriptors are to be found in the whole of scripture. In fact, the term homosexual (a Greek-Latin hybrid word by the way) was first coined in 1869, found in a German pamphlet by an Austrian-born novelist, arguing against a Prussian anti-sodomy law (Wikipedia).

So this being the case, I guess we all are to simply pick up our marbles and all go home, right?

Well no. This foolishness of rejecting certain biblical truths because certain modern English words are not found in the original ancient Hebrew, Koine Greek book of writings we know as the bible today is a common ploy of the Enemy and his ilk. And unfortunately, because of the rampant and pervasive biblical illiteracy that has taken hold in our western society today, most believers and non-believers are quick to fall for such trickery and underhanded manipulation of the Word of Yah.

Of course none of our modern terms and titles for the LGBTQ community will not be found in our English translations of the bible today because they were all pretty much translated from centuries’ old Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. So the opposition’s arguments against Paul speaking out against homosexuality, and by extension the LGBTQ community is baseless and evil.

 

Can we for sure conclude that the bible in fact prohibits homosexuality as an act; a lifestyle; and a mindset? Of course we can. If we are true to our understanding of the mind of the bible’s primary author, YHVH Elohim.

In other words, the true Child of the Most High will be filled with the Holy Spirit (I.e., the Ruach haKodesh). And that being the case, we are supposed to possess the Mind of Messiah (1 Cor. 2:16; Rom. 11:34; Phi. 2:5; Isa. 40:13). In possessing the mind of Messiah, which is an exact replication of the Mind of the Eternal—the Creator—YHVH our Elohim—then we will naturally recognize Yah’s Ways and much of His established purposes.

And since Paul emphatically stated that he possessed the mind of Messiah, then his stance/position on the issue of homosexuality should not be a mystery, nor should it defy the Creator’s original creative order, design and purpose for men and women.

 

Setting a Plan to Address This Issue

In order to truly understand where Paul is coming from in Romans 1:26-27, let’s first define homosexuality, cover a little of its history, and see how it is being manifested in modern western society. Then we’ll return to our focus passage and apply biblical reasoning to this issue and make a determination as to what Paul has to say about homosexuality.

Defining Homosexuality

 

In grouping this whole LGBTQ issue into the single term or title of homosexuality, we find that the term expresses sexual interest in and attraction to members of one’s own sex. The term “gay” is frequently used as a synonym for homosexual; female homosexuality is often referred to as “lesbianism.”

 

Secular History of Homosexuality

 

Homosexuality was common to ancient Greece and Rome. Shockingly, we’re coming to understand through recent discoveries made by classical anthropologists and archaeologists that certain affluent men in these ancient nations commonly engaged in disgusting relationships with adolescent males.

 

“Prior to the rise of Christianity, certain sexual practices that we today would classify as “homosexual,” had existed among certain groups, with some degree of social acceptance in ancient Rome and Greece (e.g., pederastic relationship of an adult Greek male with a Greek youth, or of a Roman citizen with a slave).”

 

Historic Christian Perspectives on Homosexuality

 

“Christian leaders have written about homosexual male–male sexual activities since the first decades of Christianity. Female–female sexual behavior was almost entirely ignored (John Shelby Spong, 2005; “The Sins of Scripture: Harper Collins).”

 

And so it has been that throughout most of traditional Christian history, the faith’s leaders and scholars and teachers have taught that homosexuality is immoral and sinful. However, it’s primarily been within the 20th century CE that “some prominent theologians and Christian religious groups have espoused a wide variety of beliefs and practices towards homosexuals, including the establishment of some ‘open and accepting’ congregations that actively support LGBT members, which they consider biblical in light of other rebukes in the New Testament that Christians might gloss over…”

The “Patristic Church Fathers” all supported the traditional understanding of Paul’s writing:

 

Tertullian: “When Paul asserts that males and females changed among themselves the natural use of the creature in that which is unnatural, he validates the natural way” (Roberts, A. and Donaldson, J.; 1885-6–“Ante-Nicene Fathers).

 

Ambrosiaster: “…It is clear that, because they changed the truth of God into a lie, they changed the natural use (of sexuality) into that use by which they are dishonored and condemned” (Vogels, Heinrich Joseph and Ambrosaiaster–1966).

 

And similarly John Chrysostom:

 

“In 342 AD, Christian emperors Constantius II and Constans decreed the death penalty for any male who ‘marries [a man] as a woman…[a situation in which] gender has lost its place” (Theodosian Code 9.7.3). In the year AD 390, the Christian emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I and Arcardius denounced males ‘acting the part of a woman,’ condemning those who were guilty of such acts to be publicly burned” (Theodosian Code 9.7.6).

 

Historically, Christian churches regarded homosexual acts as sinful. This is apparently based on the Catholic understanding of the phrase “natural law” (i.e., those things intrinsic to human nature) and traditional interpretations of biblical passages. This remains the conventional position of most Christians, “including the Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, and some Protestant denominations, especially Evangelical churches such as the Southern Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church. Restorationist churches such as the LDS Church also view homosexuality as sinful.”

 

 

Opposing Views on Homosexuality

 

Despite what appears to have been consistent and unified historic Christian opposition to homosexuality, there are minority Christian groups today that interpret obvious anti-homosexual biblical passages such as those enumerated in this writing differently. These groups argue that homosexuality is morally acceptable. Interestingly, their pro-homosexual position has been adopted by the “United Church of Canada; the United Church of Christ; the Moravian Church; the Anglican Episcopal Church; the Anglican Church of Canada; the Liberal Catholic Church; Friends General Conference; the Presbyterian Church; the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada. Many European Christian denominations have also adopted a pro-homosexual stance as well, including: the United, Reformed and Lutheran Churches.

 

Of late, the “metropolitan Community Church, boasting some 40,000 members, came into existence for the purpose of serving the so-called Christian LGBT community. Additionally, in 1989, “The Evangelical Network” –a network of churches, ministries and Christian workers–was formed with LGBT Evangelical Christians (Wikipedia).

 

Modern Judeo-Christian Perceptions on Homosexuality

 

Given all that’s been said here thus far about denominational and religious positions on homosexuality, there still remains the greater aspect of this issue that can’t easily be measured: the varying and often conflicted beliefs and feelings about homosexuality among self-proclaiming peoples of faith. As this Wikipedia article correctly states, “individual Christians maintain a variety of beliefs on this subject that may or may not correspond to their official church doctrines.”

 

Despite the general belief among Christian denominations that homosexuality is a sin that can’t be tolerated within their congregations, there seems to be a growing number of self-professing Christians who lean towards being pro-homosexual; or at the very least, these groups are tolerant of homosexuality within and without their communities. These believe and even teach that the Apostle Paul was simply condemning orgies, male slavery and prostitution in Romans 1:26-27.

 

Seemingly riding on the coat-tails of so-called people of faith who support homosexuality within the paradigm of their Faith, many sectors of modern Judeo-Christian thinking places greater emphasis on the acts of homosexuality over the individuals or the individuals’ inclination or orientation that their religions reject. And of course, a growing number of factions and sects within mainstream Protestantism and Reform Judaism have chosen to advocate the full acceptance of homosexuals and their lifestyles on theology that is completely foreign to orthodoxy and even sound biblical reasoning. Consequently, such departures from sound scriptural authority and teaching has resulted in schisms in and around certain Christian and Jewish denominations and sects (www.gaychurch.org).

 

A Rev. Justin Cannon, author of an article entitled “The Bible, Christianity and Homosexuality” contends homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle for Christians. Mr. Cannon provides his readers with the following defense to his troublesome position and I want you to pay close attention to the points of his defense. Why? Because these are well-established talking points used by some of the more liberal people of faith who tend to advocate for a wholesale acceptance of homosexuality by all Judeo-Christian sects and denominations:

 

  1. The term homosexuality is not found in scripture whatsoever.
  2. The term Sodomite refers only to the citizens of Sodom.
  3. The sins and judgment that befell Sodom was about violence and rape, not homosexuality.
  4. Paul is referring to male prostitutes and slave dealers, not homosexuals in our focus passage.
  5. Furthermore, Paul is condemning orgies, not homosexuality in our focus passage.
  6. The Creation Story in no way excludes or denounces homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle. On the contrary, according to the Reverend Cannon, the Creation Story, contextually-speaking, is really a story about the heterosexuals Adam and Eve as opposed to any would-be homosexual couple. (I guess Rev. Canon is saying that the creation story could have just as much been a story about any homosexual couple as much as it was a story about a heterosexual couple.)
  7. Christ did away with the Levitical Purity Laws (as well as the whole of Torah we can safely imagine). Thus, homosexuality falls under the purity law (as well as it falls under the moral laws) that have been done away. Thus, the homosexual lifestyle is biblically acceptable. Today, the name of the game is “love.”

 

Now, I could do a two-hour post rebutting of each of Mr. Canon’s defense points. But for now, we can simply leave our rebuttal at none of what Mr. Canon writes above is true by any stretch of the imagination.

 

 

Christians React to the Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage: 9-Key Findings–Barna.com–July1, 2015 and January 29, 2019

 

In a study conducted in 2015 by the Barna Group (a traditional/orthodox/fundamental/evangelical Christian Think-tank and research organization), one’s Christian identity is recognized through the practicing of one’s faith as opposed to the traditional self-profession of one’s faith. In other words, those that practice their faith (I.e., read their bibles on a regular basis; pray on a frequent basis; and those who attend church services on a frequent basis; such as those who are observant of the tenets of their faith) differ from those who are so-called “legacy” or “cultural” believers (I.e., those who verbally or who in writing identify themselves as Christian; who because they were raised Christian or who have officially affiliated with some Christian group or organization). All that said, Barna concluded that practicing or observant Christians tend to be far less likely to agree with same-sex unions than their identity, legacy counterparts–28% versus 43%. Furthermore, Evangelicals, more than any other Christian denominational segment, continues to strongly oppose same-sex marriages.

 

Strangely, adds Barna’s David Kinnaman, “many Christians, including evangelicals, are coming to the conclusion that it’s possible to support legal same-sex marriage and also affirm the church’s traditional definition of marriage.”

 

Here’s something else Mr. Kinnaman wrote on this issue that I found to be interesting: “Some have speculated that many young people have left the church because of the church’s traditional stance on LGBTQ issues. And while this study does not confirm such a contention, it certainly shows that inactive Christians are skeptical about a great deal of the Church’s authority on these kinds of matters.”Thus is seems that Mr. Kinnaman is insinuating that those who hold a pro-homosexual position in Christianity tend to be the ones who are either willfully or unwittingly ignorant of the “church’s” authority to lead and rule on this issue.

 

The problem I have with Mr. Kinnaman’s statement is the same problem I have with our cousins in Churchianity: all authority—period—rest with the Almighty and His eternal Word; not the Church. And I would submit the reason issues such as homosexuality being an acceptable Christian-lifestyle even exists is because the so-called church usurped YHVH’s authority over all things faith related. And when man decides to shove the Almighty to the side and take control of things of the faith, every sin known to Yah and man is in one form or another is allowed to manifest. Why? Because those who have stolen the authority Yah has over people and things of the faith refashion the Faith to reflect man’s sinful nature. Abba was clear that man’s ways are not His Ways and our thoughts are not His thoughts (Isa. 55:8).

 

And then, a 2019 Barna survey reported that 37% of Christian pastors feel pressured to speak out against issues related to the LGBT Community; and 32% same-sex marriage/gay rights. The report suggests that these pastors are afraid of offending some of their congregation, but they feel pressured by the mainstreamers in their congregations to speak up on those very same topics. Barna concluded that these pastors are having to deal with the disparities that exist between the popular laws of the land and God’s Laws. The distinction between these two sides seem clear to these affected pastors. Yet, in other areas, the lines of distinction are blurred. Thus Barna counseled that “when spiritual leaders consider which political issues to speak out on, it is important to be certain those issues are a universal good for human flourishing and not a matter of personal discipline, spiritual transformation or church community.”

 

 

The article goes on to say that “the pressure for faith leaders to satisfy everyone on all sides and to avoid offense, is very real today, especially in the digital era.” And clearly social media increases the stakes. Consequently, the very issues these pastors are feeling pressured to address, are those that they feel limited to address. Thus the article further counsels that pastors “must work to cultivate humility, discernment and courage in the midst of a divided culture…and these must be committed for the long haul, educating their people to respond with love and conviction, in word and deed. For this is the essence of discipleship.”

 

Liberal Judaism’s Strange Detour Towards Favoring Homosexuality

 

 

Judaism and Homosexuality: A Brief History–Haaretz–Zen Read ( https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium.MAGAZINE-judaism-and-homosexuality-a-brief-history-1.5390687)

 

Believe it or not, liberal Jews have over the last several decades on various platforms have cast suspicions that King David was gay or at least bisexual. Now, this so-called suspicion that David was gay or bisexual is supposedly based upon two verses in the first and second Samuel that they say speaks to an alleged relationship David had with Jonathan, King Saul’s son. This relationship is depicted as running deeper than the average friendship that two Hebrew males would generally share (1 Sam. 18:1; 2 Sam. 1:26).

 

Conservative commentators in general reject this line of thinking, citing the fact that such behavior was prohibited by Torah. And my response to that is simply this: I certainly don’t need a commentator, be they conservative or liberal, neither matters to me, to tell me that David would not have engaged or participated in any such homosexual relationship or lifestyle; Jonathan not withstanding.

 

Zen Read, author of an article published in Haaretz entitled, “Judaism and Homosexuality: A Brief History, wrote concerning homosexuality as a lifestyle in Judaism: “Various verses in the Book of Kings and elsewhere in the Bible seem to indicate that not only was homosexuality tolerated during the First Temple period, it was typical cultic behavior among the ancient Israelites at the time.”

 

To support this shocking claim, Read cites 1 Kings 14:24, which reads: “And there were also sodomites in the land and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which YHVH cast out before the children of Israel” (KJV). The author contends that the “sodomites” as mentioned in this passage were actually male and female sacred prostitutes: men and women who resided in pagan temples and had sex with patrons as a form of deity worship. Read goes on to establish that pagan prostitution (NOT SACRED prostitution) was practiced in ancient Israel 2,700-years ago. Furthermore, such practices appear to have been ubiquitous in the Canaanite and Mesopotamia cultures of the ANE.

 

Continuing, the author contends that the pagan practice of pagan prostitution was brought to an end when a copy of Torah was discovered in the Temple under King Josiah. The author extrapolates that it was probably an early version of Deuteronomy that was discovered as opposed to the whole of Torah. And the portion of Deuteronomy that addressed the profane practice of pagan prostitution is Deuteronomy 23:17 which reads: “There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.” Interestingly, the author claims that this translation is inaccurate and that the words rendered as “whore” and “sodomite” are the female and male versions of the Hebrew word for sacred prostitute (qedasha and qedosh).And thus, supposedly, it was this verse that led King Josiah to “break down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of YHVH” (2 Kings 23:7). Some suggest, as does this author, that certain men of ancient Judah not only engaged in homosexual acts, but likely practiced these profane acts in the Temple proper. And so the author decides to go full disclosure and contend that such practices would make allegations against David and Jonathan legitimate. (Oh Boy!)

 

And so! The Author now having outed himself emphatically states that the Deutoronomic passage cited above is not a ban on homosexuality, but a ban on pagan (what he calls sacred) prostitution. (Reference Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13) And again we run into someone else making outrageous claims that these prohibitive passages were written not by Moses, but by unnamed individuals during the Babylonian Exile or during the early Second Temple period (between the 6th and 4 centuries BCE).

 

Folks, do you not see what liberal Jews such as Mr. Read are doing to legitimize homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle in all Hebrew connected Faiths? These are launching a multi-front assault on the Peoples of Faith’s: (1) belief that Torah was passed down to Moshe by YHVH; (2) belief that scripture is Truth; and (3) belief and knowledge that homosexuality is condemned by YHVH through His Word. These are desperately trying to create a zest-pool environment of doubt in the minds of People of Faith. And that’s a terrible shame on these such liars and manipulators of Yah’s Word.

 

Concerning folks like Mr. Read, Yochanan the Revelator reported: “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8).

 

These still have time to repent from their wicked ways before that which is prophesied of in Revelation 21:8 takes place. The same Yochanan wrote in his first epistle that if any would “confess their sins, He (Yah) is faithful and just to forgive them of sins, and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness” (1 Joh. 1:9).

Believe it or not, there’s more: Read goes on to state that the Talmud does not condemn homosexuality. In making such a contention, Read provides the following Talmudic references: Jerusalem Talmud, Berachot 13:3; Niddah 13b; Talmud, Yevamot 51b; Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, Binah 1:14. Now, I attempted to verify whether or not Read’s contentions were true by looking up his references. I was not able to find any such support for homosexuality as Read suggests. And even if I were able to find support for homosexuality in the Talmud, it wouldn’t matter one bit. Torah is the only authority on such matters, not the whims and foolish thoughts of a handful of ancient Rabbis on matters of Torah.

 

The one thing that should be common knowledge to all, regardless whichever side one stands on this issue is the fact that Hebrew has no dedicated word for homosexuality; just the words to describe homosexual acts. And the tragedy that we’ve seen played out in our discussion here today is that the pro-homosexuality side of the argument uses the absence of the term homosexual and homosexuality in scripture to support their claims that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle for God’s people. Very disturbing indeed.

 

The Inclusion of Pedophilia Into the Discussion

 

We cannot do just to the subject of homosexuality/LGBTQ in relation to Torah and Paul’s writings without mentioning the abominable, disgusting subject of pedophilia. Recently, abhorrent practice of pedophilia has found a home in the LGBTQ Community. Think I’m lying? Well, just recently California passed what has been labeled as SB (California Senate Bill) 145. SB 145 is a bill that would decriminalize the sexual abuse of children (children under the age of 18-years) and legalize pedophilia in the state. Of course, the authors of this bill vehemently deny this is the case. But the truth of the matter is that this law would make sexual abuse of a minor, in this case ages 14 to 17, by an adult who is within 10-years of age of the minor in question. And the reason this bill was written and introduced in the California Senate in the first place is that members of the LGBTQ community complained that the existing laws that require judges to classify the convicted pedophiles as sex offenders was “more inclusive for the LGBTQ community” (Associated Press; “Bill would not legalize pedophilia in California; 9/10/20). Of course, as you can see in this example, it appears that the mainstream press is supportive of this bill specifically because the LGBTQ Community is in large part behind it.

 

So, if that fact that homosexuality is viewed by the Almighty as abominable sin punishable by death weren’t enough (Lev. 20:13), the LGBTQ Community has of late associated herself with pedophilia. It would appear that there simply are no limits to this community’s depravity. And when the subject of homosexuality being an acceptable lifestyle within and without our Faith Community comes up (and it does come up from time to time), we must be ready to give “every person an answer that asks us why we believe what we believe with meekness and fear; having a good conscience; whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversations in Messiah” (1 Pet. 3:15-16).

 

So now let’s look at the true biblical understanding of homosexuality.

 

 

The Biblical Understanding of Homosexuality

 

Beginning with verse 18 of our focus passage Romans 1:18:

 

 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. (Rom 1:18-25 KJV)

 

 

The Anger/Wrath of Yah:

 

We learn from this passage that the wrath (I.e., the “anger”) of Yah is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. The wrath of God refers to his personal anger against sin. God’s anger is neither selfish or arbitrary. However, Yah’s wrath does in fact represent His holy and loving response to human wickedness. (I know this sounds ludicrous to those who are unfamiliar with the Ways of Yah, but Yah’s wrath is a loving response to human wickedness because He loves His human creation and His human creation’s evil ways provokes Yah to wrath. How so? Yah cannot tolerate sin nor does He tolerate seeing His human creation suffer under the scourge and deleterious effects of sin. Thus, it should be somewhat easy to rationalize that if Yah did nothing to address evil, it would prove that He did not love His human creation. And because He loves His human creation so much, He hates to see anything evil overtaking them. Thus one can say that “love cares” (Amy K. Hall; “God’s Wrath is His Love Reacting to Evil; 2/7/2018). Love cannot be indifferent to evil. And this must be the mind that we, YHVH’s elect and children must have towards sin. We’ve all heard it said that we should love the sinner but hate the sin. And biblically this is a correct position for all of us in the Faith to have. However, the child of Yah must also separate themselves from those who practice sin and petition the Almighty to free their friends and family members from the sins that beset them so that they do not endure Father’s impending wrath.)

 

 

What does scripture tell us about the anger or wrath of the Almighty?

 

  • Averted by Messiah’s blood—Romans 5:9; Joh. 3:14-18; Rom. 5:1.
  • That wrath is averted simply through confession of sin and repentance— 106:43-45; Jer. 3:12,13 18:7,8; Joe. 2:12-14; the parable of the prodigal son: Luk.15:18-20.
  • Yah’s wrath is manifested in terrors—(confusion) 14:24 (earthquakes) Jer. 10:10; (the enemy of the nations kill and destroy) Lam. 2:20-22. Yah’s wrath is manifested in judgments and afflictions—(death angel) Psa. 78:49-51; (by famine) Isa. 9:19; (natural disasters) Jer. 7:20; (life becomes of no value) Eze. 7:19; (wandering in the wilderness) Heb. 3:17.
  • Yah’s wrath is aggravated by continual provocation— 32:14.
  • Yah’s wrath is especially reserved for the Great Tribulation— 1:14-18; Mat. 25:41; Rom. 2:5-9’ 2 The. 1:8; Rev. 6:17; 11:18; 19:15.
  • Yah’s wrath is against:
    • The wicked— 7:11; 21:8,9; Isa. 3:8; 13:9; Nah. 1:2,3; Rom. 1:18; 2:8; Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:6.
    • Those who forsake Him— 8:22; Isa. 1:4.
    • Those who do not have a trusting Faith in Him— 3:36.
    • The impenitent— 2:5.
    • Continued willful sins— 10:26, 27.
    • Idolatry— 29:20, 27, 28; 32:19-22; Jos. 23:16; 2 Kin. 22:17; Psa. 78:58,59; Jer. 44:3. 

 

It should come as no surprise that homosexuality, along with a host of other sins garner the wrath of Yah. Shaul, in teaching the Assembly Members of Colossae about personal sin, wrote:

 

“We are to be dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires, greed/idolatry. Such things are common to the children of disobedience. And because these things are common to the children of disobedience, they will receive the wrath of Yah” (Col. 3:5-6).

 

Immorality, impurity, passions, evil desires, greed and idolatry, according to Shaul, will receive Yah’s Wrath. And because these perversions and sins are common to the “children of disobedience” (disobedience to what? Disobedience to Torah and the teachings of Yeshua our Mashiyach), all punishable by the wrath of YHVH, man has sought to cover-up or suppress Yah’s Truths. In fact, mankind’s natural propensity is to “suppress the Truth” of Yah in order to justify–promote–protect their own godless lifestyles. Haven’t we seen explicit examples of this by those advocating for the acceptance of a homosexual lifestyle within and without Judeo-Christian Communities in our discussion here today? Of course we have.

 

And I of course would be most remiss if I did not point out that each of us is deserving of Yah’s wrath. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of YHVH according to Shaul (Rom. 3:23). The difference is that those of us who profess Yahoshua as our Messiah have repented from our evil ways and we have stopped being children of disobedience. We have instead taken up Yah’s way of life. And because of our Master’s sacrifice and our turning away from sin and turning to Yah and His ways, we are no longer “children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). Instead, we have become children of light (Joh. 12:36).  

 

Many spiritual social justice warriors operating in our world today might argue that we cannot know the Almighty’s ways and position on various social issues. Why? Because according to these, not everything is covered in the Bible, including homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle. And the handful of passages in scripture that we may traditionally think or have been taught as being condemnatory towards homosexuality is really not condemnatory at all, but are in fact mistranslations and misinterpretations. (”The droids you’re looking for are not here.”) And the fact that the bible does not condemn homosexuality verbatim is a clear signal that it is an acceptable lifestyle both within and without our Faith Community. Yeah. Good try.

 

But the Apostle Shaul takes a different perspective on those spiritual social justice warriors’ foolish ideas regarding such sinful lifestyles. In verse 19, Shaul argues that the existence of Yah is evident to His human creation. Furthermore, Yah’s attributes, power and divine nature is clearly seen in His creation. And if that’s not enough, scripture teaches that Yah’s breath inhabits every living human being. Therefore, each person has a natural, automated inner sense of Yah’s Person and character. Yet people purposely suppress that internal witness/Truth about Yah that dwells within them in order that they may live lives on their own evil terms. They will thus justify the evil they’re living in order to cover-up and hide that internal, spiritual testimony that every human being naturally possesses.

 

But this covering-up that the workers of iniquity are accustomed to doing will not save them from Yah’s wrath. For no human has an excuse. Each person inherently knows the Truth. We know that at an early age, children naturally know when they’re doing wrong. Regardless, those who refuse to repent and turn from their wicked ways will experience Yah’s wrath.

 

We learn from verse 22 that those who reject Yah’s natural revelation and internal witness turn themselves over to futile reasonings (1:22) which include:

 

  1. Idolatry (1:23)
  2. Sexual immorality (1:24)
  3. Service to the enemy (1:25).

 

And when a person reaches this level of depravity, they’ve fallen outside the authority of Yah in their lives. And the only way some of them can be delivered from this damnable state is by them experiencing Yah’s love and wrath. Ultimately, faith in Messiah is the only solution to this hopeless situation.

 

 

Those who refuse to be convinced otherwise, Yah gives them over (in the lust of their hearts) to impurity and a reprobate mind so that their bodies are dishonored among them (verses 24 and 28).

 

Unfortunately in our day, we see that those who willfully persist on maintaining such ungodly lives receive reinforcement of their perverse lifestyles (verse 25). The media/entertainment industry shove these perverse ideals down the throats of every human being within earshot and eye-shot of their filthy dribble. And they do this on a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute basis. And we are told by these evil operators that homosexuality and other perverse lifestyles are indeed honorable and respectful lifestyles that we all must openly embrace, or else…you’re a bigot; you’re not a true believer; you’re the evil one. These then, exchanged the Truth of Yah for the lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator.

 

No truer words have been written: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isa. 5:20)!

 

 

According to Messianic Jewish scholar and commentator J.K. McKee, idolatry is an integral element of the sin of fornication. McKee cites Wisdom 14:12 as a support passage for this contention:

 

”For the idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication, and the invention of them was the corruption of life.”

 

We know this to be a true statement. For the enemy has throughout human history enticed men to worship false gods by employing fornication into pagan temple worship rites. We touched briefly on this earlier when we discussed how certain faith-based homosexual advocates falsely claim scripture does not condemn homosexuality, but instead condemns pagan temple prostitution and the practice of abusing male children as was common among the Greeks and Romans. Another way of looking at this thing is that those who engage in such perverseness and lifestyle are making the conscious decision to worship themselves and their bodies over that of worshiping the Creator of the Universe. The human body becomes the idol to be worshiped through perverse acts and lifestyle.  

 

Although homosexuality as a stand alone term is nowhere to be found in scripture, the sinful act is in fact given a title which is, in the Greek, “para phusin,” which simply means “contrary to nature” (ESV) or “unnatural” (RSV/NASU). Thus, homosexuality is a sin against Yah’s natural creative order and the original intent/purpose for Yah’s human creation. It is perversion against the marital, heterosexual union and act of procreation (Gen. 1:28). It is contrary to nature.

 

 

And let me be clear here: fornication and adultery are also capital sins (I.e., sins punishable by death). So those who get on their high horses and condemn those who are caught in the sinful snare of homosexuality, but they themselves are caught in the sinful snare of fornication and adultery; including pornography; womanizing; spouse swapping; and other such sinful behavior are also destined to received Yah’s wrath. Nevertheless, homosexuality falls within that troublesome class of sins that Abba refers to as abominable. 

 

Sexual relationships that are conducted within the confines of marriage honor Yah. For it is consistent with the original intent of marriage. Yet when man or angelic creatures go about distorting and destroying the natural order of Yah on this earth, these bring dishonor to Yah and His sacred institution of marriage. The writer of Hebrews penned: “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers Yah will judge” (Hebrews 13:4).

 

Messianic scholar and commentator Tim Hegg notes that “there are passions which honor God and there are those which do not. Here, then, is an important truth, that when our passions align with God’s creative purpose, they are honorable. But when they do not, they are ‘dishonorable’ or ‘degrading.’ They not only dishonor God, but they also dishonor mankind who were created in His image.”

 

The apostle places a great deal of emphasis upon the maintenance of Yah’s natural creative order. And it is within this natural creative order that we may find our eternal purpose. Creation is simply an expression or revelation of its Creator. That being said, every component of creation has a divine purpose. Therefore, when people or angelic beings set out to disrupt the natural creative order (in whatever way their evil minds and hearts devise, in this case through homosexuality let’s say), they have robbed Yah of His brilliance and glory and design.

 

Bottom line, homosexuality is a sin against both Yah and mankind. Yah designed man and woman in such a way that the institution of marriage provides the married couple the wonderful gift of intimacy. This gift is an expression of Yah’s love for his human creation. And although marriage was originally intended, primarily, to bring the man and woman into a single unit for service and worship of Yah, it also provided the means by which children would be brought into this world and increase the imaging of Yah on this planet. Is it not reasonable to conclude, then, that homosexuality is a direct assault on the Creator’s eternal, holy purpose of reflecting His image on this planet? For when homosexuality is practiced physically and within the degraded hearts and minds of the homosexual, the sanctity of marriage is undermined; the physical purpose of man and women are undermined; the commandments of the Almighty are violently transgressed. Consequently, Yah’s image is systematically erased from creation. Is this not then the baseline plan of the enemy—to undermine the Almighty physically and spiritually through every iteration of Yah’s creation?

 

Consequently, those that practice homosexuality and who engage in willful sin of every sort will not enter the Kingdom of Yah. Of this the Apostle Shaul wrote:

 

 

9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.(1Co 6:9-10 KJV) 

 

 Call to Action

 

How do we treat the LGBTQ Community as Yah’s elect? Well, we must view homosexuality from YHVH’s holy and righteous perspective and Yah’s perspective is captured in His Torah. Yah sees homosexuality as an abomination. But from a Yeshua-focused Torah-living perspective, we must also view homosexuality as a perversion of Yah’s creative order and Yah’s intended way of life for His human creation. Therefore, homosexuality must be dealt with like any other sin. It must be eliminated.

 

The gospel, as with any other sin and perverted lifestyle, offers a solution to the sin which is homosexuality. The solution to homosexuality is the adoption of a lifestyle that Yah has ordained for those whom He chooses as His children. But it requires one turn over their life to YHVH and abandon their former life of sin for a holy and righteous lifestyle that He has created exclusively for those whom He loves (Deu. 5:33; 8:6; 10:12; 11:22; 19:9; 26:17; 30:16; 2 Chr. 7:14). Which means after repenting from the sin of homosexuality, the converted one must stop sinning and obey Yah’s Torah and the teachings of Yeshua, His Mashiyach. This change in lifestyle results in freedom, forgiveness, and healing (Luk. 4:18). The thoughts and heart that are behind the homosexual lifestyle must also be dealt with, just as with all heterosexual sins that are associated with lust (Mat. 5:28). The sinner must be shown the error of their ways and be encouraged to confess their sins to Yah and seek Yah’s forgiveness; seek Yah’s transformative Spirit to change them from the inside out. We must be available to provide the counsel and direction the LGBTQ community members need in order to establish a true and substantive relationship with the Almighty so that they may escape the wrath to come. Of this James, the half-brother of our Master Yahoshua wrote:

 

“…he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death (that’s love my friend); and shall hide a multitude of sins (5:20).

 

But we cannot compromise Torah’s stance on this critical issue. In other words, there’s no covering up this sin by the twisting of scripture in favor of a homosexual lifestyle. There’s no turning a blind eye to this sin (or for that matter any ongoing sins) in our midst. The apostle Shaul counseled that we not associate with the LGBTQ community just like we must not associate with those who live pervasively sinful lifestyles (1 Cor.5:11; 2 Cor. 6:14 Psm. 1:1; 1 Cor. 15:33).

 

As I mentioned earlier in this discussion, at some point in our walk with Mashiyach, we will be faced with an LGBTQ situation: be it within our families; our circle of friends; our community; and our jobs. And we’re going to be forced to take a side. And the side we as the elect of Yah must take on the LGBTQ question is definitely not a popular one in 2020. In fact, the side we are required to take as Yah’s beloved may get us in trouble in one form or another: loss of job; loss of freedom (I.e., incarceration); loss of family and friends; loss of respect in the community; and even loss of our life. But we can take Yah’s side in a way that brings glory and honor to Him and that at least (hopefully so) plants the seed for those involved to come into Truth someday and become a true Child of Yah. We just need to do everything we do in love:

 

“Be holy and without blame before Him in love…” (Eph. 1:4).

 

“Speak the truth in love…” (Eph. 4:15).

 

“Walk in love as Messiah also hath loved us…” (Eph. 5:2).

 

Shalom.

Feast of Tabernacles and the Kingdom of God in You

by | Sep 27, 2020 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

The Feast of Tabernacles and the Kingdom of God (of Yah) in You

 

My goal in delivering this discussion to you here today is to communicate to you another way of looking at and understanding the Kingdom of Yah. Another perspective. Another angle. Another Truth.

 

The “church” sees and teaches the Kingdom of Yah from an “End-Game” perspective: For the Churches of God and the many Messianic and Hebrew Roots groups out there, the Kingdom of God is about the coming millennial reign of Yeshua on this planet, followed by the New Heaven, the New Earth and New Jerusalem where God’s elect people look forward to hanging out in a physical place where they never die; they’re happy and at peace; and the best thing is that Yah will be tabernacling with His people for the rest of eternity.

 

And this scenario/understanding of a coming, physical Kingdom coming to this planet, in the process consuming and destroying all other earthly kingdoms, should be a wonderful, blessed hope and desire for all those who call upon the Name of Yeshua as their Messiah.

 

In fact, this ministry spends most of its teaching and preaching time proclaiming and informing about this coming Kingdom and the importance of getting our lives together so that we may get into this glorious kingdom. Indeed, getting into this coming Kingdom is one of the most important things every disciple of Yeshua must work out in their individual lives, or face the prospects of hearing the Master say to him or her: “I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23); “depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels…(Matthew 25:41).

 

And as certain as we are that our God is real, we can be equally certain that there is coming a Kingdom that Daniel prophesied as described as follows:

 

“And in the days of these kings (I.e., the End Time nations that oppose Yah’s people), the Eloh of Heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall crush in pieces and make an end all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44; HRB).

 

The prophet goes on to describe the occupants of this coming Kingdom:

 

“But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever” (Daniel 7:18; HRB).

 

It stands as a firm and sacred belief that we who “keep the commandments of Yah, and have the testimony of Yeshua Messiah” are the saints that Daniel is referencing in his prophecy. And thus we await this glorious Kingdom that is promised to come sometime in the days-years ahead.

 

Was is the Gospel of the Kingdom Truly About?

 

So I’m here to challenge you today by posing to you the following questions: Was the Gospel that Yeshua, John the Baptist/Immerser and the Apostles preached and taught on about this same Kingdom of Yah that Daniel and John the Revelator prophesied about in their writings; this coming, true to life; physical Kingdom where YHVH will dwell forever with His saints?

 

I need you to repeat this statement with me and I also need you to remember this statement throughout the rest of this discussion:

 

THE KINGDOM OF YAHWEH IS WHEREVER YAHWEH CHOOSES TO DWELL!

 

The bible records that John the Immerser preached a message about repentance and baptism (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:2-3) and about a Kingdom of Heaven that he proclaimed was at hand:

 

“Now in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the deserted places of Judea, and saying, Repent! For the kingdom of Heaven has drawn near” (Matthew 3:1, 2; HRB).

The KJV reads:

 “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Greek=”eggizo”—to bring near, to join one thing to another; to draw or come near to, to approach).

 

And then we find after John’s arrest and imprisonment that John’s biological cousin, our Master Yeshua, picked up where John left off and:

“…came into Galilee proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of YAHWEH, and He said, ‘The time is complete and the Kingdom of YAHWEH has arrived. Repent and believe in the good news’” (Mark 1:14, 15; HRB)

 

The Kingdom of Yah, according to this reliable source, Yeshua Messiah, HAS ARRIVED!

 

What?! When did it arrive? According to Yeshua Himself, the time had been completed and the Kingdom of His Father had arrived.

Imagine that.

Have you seen the Kingdom of Yah? I haven’t. In fact, have we not all been taught from the “Church” that the Kingdom of Yah is this soon to come realm that we described just a moment ago? Yet both John the Immerser and Yeshua our Master declared that it had arrived.

 

And beyond these references, we find strewn throughout the Gospels, record of Yeshua teaching the people about this Kingdom as though it was already there in existence. And strangely enough, Yeshua was teaching the people about this “unseen” Kingdom in code: what the bible refers to as “parables”:

 

 

“And coming near, the disciples said to Him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?’ And answering He said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it has not been given to those.’” (Matthew 13:10-11; HRB; cf. Luke 8:9-18; Mark 4:11).

 

So Yeshua Himself declares that the Kingdom of Yah is “a mystery.” Mystery here in the Greek is ““musterion”, meaning hidden things, secrets.

 

This then leads to my next question: If Yeshua and John the Immerser stated that the Kingdom of Yah (also of Heaven) had arrived, even in their first century-AD time, there in Israel, yet we’ve not to date seen any physical evidence of this Kingdom, and Yeshua describes it as mysterious or hidden or secret, what then are we really talking about regarding this Kingdom of Yah? Is the Kingdom of God one and the same Kingdom that the Church has spent so many years telling us about?

 

Or could it be that the end-game for Yah’s elect—this coming, awesome, grand Kingdom of Yah, the one that Yeshua and John spoke of, is maybe somewhat more than what the Church has been teaching us all these years?

 

We Must Understand What the Kingdom of Yah is All About 

 

Obviously there seems to be somewhat of a disconnect with the Kingdom of Yah that the church teaches and the Kingdom of Yah that Yeshua, John the Immerser and the Apostles taught. And if we’re serious about being citizens and employees of Yah’s coming Kingdom, we need to figure out exactly what the Kingdom of Yah is and how we get plugged into that Kingdom.

 

 Scripture Provides us Clues as to What the Kingdom of Yah is About

 

So for the rest of this discussion I want to see if we can identify exactly what this mysterious Kingdom of Yah really looks like, and what we need to do in order to adjust our perception of the Kingdom to better align with the Kingdom that Yeshua tells us to search out or seek out as He instructed in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:32.

 

And by the end of this discussion, we should all be in better positions to enter this mysterious Kingdom and in the process, bring glory and honor to our heavenly Father. And the great thing we have going for us in working through this finding of the Kingdom of Yah is the promise that Yeshua made to His disciples:

“…To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of YAHWEH. But to these, those outside, all things are being given in parables, that seeing they may see and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand, lest they should be converted, and the sins be forgiven to them” (Mark 4:11-12; HRB; cf. Isaiah 8:6:9-10).

 

 What is the Kingdom of Yah to you?

 

  • The Jewish leaders of Yeshua’s time were all waiting for the Kingdom of Yah to come.
    • Joseph of Arimathaea—sat on the Sanhedrin, waited for the Kingdom of Yah–Mark 15:43; Luke 23:51.
    • Just and devout Simeon who held Yeshua in his arms—waiting for the consolation of Israel–Luke 2:25.
    • Anna, a prophetess, sojourned at the Temple—Luke 2:36-38; 23:51.
    • Paul’s evangelism of Jews involved reasoning with them about the Kingdom—Acts 19:8; 28:23, 31.

 

The People of Israel During Yeshua’s Earthly Ministry Missed the Fact the Kingdom Had Come

 

  • The Kingdom of Yah had come to the ancients and they never realized it—Luke 10:11.

 

  • The ancients had virtually no understanding of the Kingdom of Yah and felt that it’s appearance was imminent because of Yeshua’s ministry:

 

Luke 19:11—”And as they heard those things He added and spake a parable, because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the Kingdom of Yah should immediately appear.”

 

  • Yeshua’s apostles, although taught by Yeshua during His ministry, failed to receive the full understanding of the Kingdom of Yah:

 

 2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: 4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. (Act 1:2-7 KJV)

 

Rabbinic Judaism’s Understanding of the Kingdom of Yah

 

Yah’s kingdom is spoken of in Psalms 22:29 (28), 53:19; 145:11-13; Obidiah 21; Daniel 3:33 (4:3); Tobit 13:1; Sibylines 3:47-48, 767; Pslams of Solomon 27:3; Wisdom 10:10; Enoch 84:2.

 

It speaks to the reign or sovereignty of Yah as contrasted with the kingdom of the worldly powers (Targum; Mishnah; Haggadah).

 

The hope is that Yah will be King over all the earth, when all idolatry will be banished (Exodus 15:18; Zechariah 14:9; Isaiah 24:23, 52:7; Micah 4:7; Psalms 29:10; 93-99).

 

“The Kingdom of God…in order to be established on earth, requires recognition by man; that is, to use the Hasidaean phrase borrowed from Babylonia or Persia, man must “take upon himself the yoke of the Kingdom of Yah.” This the Jew does daily when he/she recites the Shema (Ber. 2:2), and so do the angels when singing their “Thrice Holy” (Hekalot), and in the future “all men shall take upon themselves the yoke of the Kingdom of Yah when casting away their idols.”

 

The concept of the “yoke of the Kingdom of God” is a contrast with servitude to man: being in servitude to God by taking on the burden of Yah’s Torah—His Laws. But throughout the Psalms we are reminded that Torah is a delight and is not burdensome (Psalms 1:2; 40:8; 119:70, 77, 174; Romans 7:22). The burden or yoke is really the traditions and laws that were put in place by the Pharisees—by religion:

 

Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,  2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: 3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. 4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. (Mat 23:1-4 KJV)

 

Our Master, the walking talking Torah, in offered the people His yoke which He brilliantly described as follows:

 

 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Mat 11:29-30 KJV)

 

For the average Jew of Yeshua’s earthly ministry days, it was better to be under the yoke of the Rabbis than under the yoke of Rome.

 

The Midrash says, “when the Kingdom of Rome has ripened enough to be destroyed, the Kingdom of Yah will appear.”

  

The Kingdom of Yah is in You

 

Was the Rabbinic understanding of the Kingdom of Yah consistent with Yeshua’s understanding of Yah?

 

Not at all. And this is part of the overall conflict that Yeshua had with the Pharisees and other religious leaders of His day.

 

Because the religious leaders of Yeshua’s day were blinded to the things and ways of Yah because of this history of being a stiffnecked people (even up to this day), they could not recognize that the Kingdom of Yah had in fact come unto them. And because their hardheadedness prevented them from recognizing that visitation, they along with their followers suffered destruction:

 

“But to you will come the days when your enemies will surround you, and will oppress you from all sides. And will overthrow you, and they will not leave in you a stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:43-44; HRB).

 

How many of us, like the pharisees, caught up in religion and ignorance of who and what we truly are and how we fit into this Kingdom of Yah, are looking for a Kingdom that is not to be found? At least not to be found by us if we don’t figure this thing out. A Kingdom that is right under their noses yet nowhere to be found. Found only in the teachings of the Church that teaches a doctrine of us getting into the Kingdom if we but keep the feast days, the food laws and the weekly Sabbath. In other word, the “Christian” version of the “yoke of the Kingdom of Yah.”

 

While heading to Jerusalem with His disciples, this leading up to His crucifixion, our Master was met by a group of 10-lepers who He healed. And on the heels of that miracle, a group of Pharisees demanded Yeshua tell them when the Kingdom would come. And Master in response made this shocking statement:

 

Luke 17:20, 21—”The Kingdom of YAH cometh not with observation (parateresis): neither shall they say, lo here! Or lo there! For, behold, the Kingdom of Yah is within (entos=within; inside) you.”

 

Many English translations have taken it upon themselves to alter the Greek word “entos” in this passage to mean “in your midst.” But I believe, as do so many others, that “within” is the most accurate, for “entos” does not mean in your midst, and to state that the Kingdom of Yah is in one’s midst limits the point of what the Master teaches about the Kingdom of Yah. Yes, there is coming a physical Kingdom which is the end game for true disciples of Yah. But for this time, it’s that aspect of the Kingdom that cannot be seen or touched that Master is focusing on: this is the aspect of the Kingdom that Yeshua’s Gospel message was based upon.

 

What did Yeshua tell the woman at Jacob’s Well in Samaria:

 

“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. Yah is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth” (John 4:23-24; KJV).

 

Yeshua was not offering us an option here as it related to how we are to interact and relate to YAHWEH. He said that “true worshippers SHALL worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth” and “they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.”

 

So when we look at this question about the Kingdom of Yah being something that is not to be seen or discerned with the naked eye, and the statement that Yah’s people can only worship/interact/relate with Him in Spirit and in Truth, we can only conclude that the Kingdom of Yah is an invisible, spiritual reality that is present within the True Child of the Most High.

 

Well, if this is indeed the case, riddle me this Batman: Why is it that the Churches of God and so many Hebraic Roots and Messianic Congregations reject anything having to do with the Spirit? If the true Child of Yah is required to worship Yah in the Spirit, and the Kingdom of Yah exists as a spiritual reality within the Child of Yah, why isn’t the Church equipping her members on matters related to operating in the Spirit and in the Kingdom within? 

 

What the Church will not tell us is that the Kingdom of Yah has been in existence on this earth in one form or another from the beginning of time till now. It’s one continuous chain of wondrous existence that is referred to as a mystery by Yeshua and Paul. 

And we shouldn’t be too hard on the Church about her failure in equipping and training her members on the things of the Spirit. Truth be told, Yeshua’s disciples didn’t understand that there was a spirit link to the Kingdom either. Remember, up to the very day Master ascended up to Father and instructed His disciples to await the gift of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem, they still hounded Yeshua as to when the Kingdom of Israel would come. 

And it wasn’t until Pentecost 10-days later that they  finally understand what Master had been teaching them during all those days and months he dwelt with them, teaching and modeling for them the Gospel of the Kingdom of Yah. 

And to a greater or lesser extent, we’re no different than Master’s disciples. 

We have a lot of doctrines and beliefs that we have to rid ourselves of before we truly can embrace the spiritual and physical Kingdom of Yah.

 

One of the first things we have to learn is:

 

 

The Kingdom of Yah is Wherever Yah Chooses as His Dwelling Place

 

Wherever in the world a world leader travels, he or she brings with them or they are representative of the whole of their nation.

 

A nation’s embassy represents their home country in whatever nation the embassy stands. In fact, the embassy structure and soil upon which it is built is deemed the sovereign territory of that embassy’s nation. 

 

The same principle applies here regarding the Kingdom of Yah. The Kingdom of Yah is wherever Yah chooses as His dwelling place. For again, we are pointed back to the teachings of Yeshua in which He states that Yahweh is a Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

 

Paul taught the Romans the importance of recognizing the Spiritual nature of our calling:

 

 Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Rom 8:1-14 KJV)

 

So our perceptions of the Kingdom of Yah is something that we must bring into alignment with Yah’s Word so that we do not find ourselves in the same place the Pharisees and other religious leaders of the day found themselves in: looking for a Kingdom that is nothing like that which their religion teaches. Unfortunately, many of us are facing this potential problem because the churches and congregations we attach ourselves to reject pretty much anything and everything associated with the things of the Spirit.

 

Over and over the apostles in their writings put forth teachings that under this New (Renewed) Covenant, Yahweh lives within the Creator’s Elect:

 

 18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Eph 2:18-3:1 KJV)

 

 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1Co 6:19-20 KJV)

 

Again, the Kingdom of Yahweh is wherever Yahweh chooses to dwell. And the question we must be able to answer today is: Are our bodies suitable dwelling places for Yahweh?

 

There is to be no transition between the spiritual kingdom and the coming kingdom. For if we aren’t manifesting the spiritual kingdom here and now in our lives, what makes us think we will be welcomed into the physical coming kingdom. What makes us believe we will be prepared to receive the coming physical Kingdom? We have a lot to overcome before we can receive and enter the coming physical Kingdom of Yahweh. 

 

Requirements for Receiving the Kingdom of Yah 

 

  • One must endure many tribulations in order to enter the Kingdom of Yah—Acts 14:22.

 

  • One must be born again in order to “see” the Kingdom; born of Spirit and of water–Acts 8:12; John 3:3-5; 1 Corinthians 15:50.

 

  • Commandment-keeping is essential to entering the Kingdom—Mark 12:34.
  • Those who look back and desire their former lives are not worthy to receive the Kingdom—Luke 9:62.

 

  • The unrighteous cannot inherit the Kingdom—1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:21: Ephesians 5:5.

 

  • We have to learn to die to self and to our own agendas. The Kingdom of Yah will not compete with our own internal kingdoms. We must give way to His Kingdom within us—Galatians 2:20-21; 5:24; Romans 6:6; 8:10.

 

  • To be wholehearted as Caleb was as Father stipulated that he had “another spirit with him and hath followed me fully”—When we have flipflop constitutions, Father’s Kingdom and Spirit cannot operate as it should within us. We have to be wholehearted in all our Ways and give deference to Yah and His Spirit and His Kingdom.–Numbers 14-1-24 ; Joshua 14:6-15.

 

 

  • Yeshua gives us the keys to the Kingdom in the Beatitudes—the Sermon on the Mount—Matthew 5:1-7:29.

 

 

What The Kingdom of Yah Consist Of

 

  • Healing and preaching go hand-in-hand in bring the Kingdom to our midst—Luke 9:2, 11; 10:9.

 

  • The Kingdom is not coming in a way that you can see—Luke 17:20, 21.

 

  • The Kingdom is about righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit—Roman 14:17.
  • The Kingdom is about power—1 Corinthians 4:20.

 

  • The eternal existence of Yah’s Kingdom—Psalms 45:6.

 

  • Luke 10:9—The Kingdom of Yah is come nigh unto you (healings).
  • John 18:36—The Kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
  • 1 Corinthians 4:20—The Kingdom of Yah is not in word, but in power.

 

 

We Have a Lot to Overcome Regarding the Kingdom of Yah

 

There is a power and authority that we are called to walk in. And that authority we have been called to walk in is directly tied to the Kingdom that is supposed to reside in each of us.

 

Yet again, the Kingdom of Yah is Wherever Yah Chooses as His Dwelling Place.

 

Yah can only dwell in us when we’re holy! He won’t dwell in the midst of filth! Thus Yah will send correction and testing for purposes of sanctifying us so that we may be holy and acceptable unto Him as a dwelling place and from where the Kingdom of Yah may operate in this world.

 

Thus in order that Yah’s Kingdom may dwell in us, we must recognize that we are called to holiness:

 

 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. (1Pe 1:15-16 KJV)

  

The Kingdom is both present and future

 

The Kingdom comes to us in Spirit and power—it comes to dwell within us. Paul wrote:

 

“And may Elohim of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, of r you to abound in hope, in power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13; HRB).

 

This power is that of miracle working power. There is Kingdom work to be done.

 

Paul provided us the example when he wrote:

 

“For I will not dare to speak of anything which Messiah did not work out through me for the obedience of the nations in word and work, in power of miracles and wonders, in power of the Holy Spirit, so as for me to have fulfilled the preaching of the good news of Messiah from Jerusalem and in a circle as far as Illyricum” (Romans 15:18-19; HRB).

 

So in closing, the questions that each of us must be willing to answer today as we close out here in just a moment is:

 

  1. Does Yahweh’s Spirit dwell in us (I.e., are we filled with the Holy Spirit)? If not, why? If not, do we want His Kingdom to even dwell in us?

 

  1. Is Yahweh’s indwelling Spirit and Kingdom in us manifested in powerful workings and signs? Are our prayers effective? Are we able to overcome the evil ones when they come to pay a visit to us? Are healings manifested in our lives? Are we bold in our witness and in our teaching and preaching of Yah’s Word?

 

It comes down to “how we see ourselves.”

 

More importantly, it comes down to how “Yah see us.”

 

And don’t think ladies that this doesn’t apply to you. For centuries the Church has robbed you of your due calling in the work of the Kingdom. Do NOT allow the lie of the Church to stifle the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom that is maybe dormant in you. Step out and allow the Kingdom of Yah to be manifested in your life. Teach-preach-intercede-disciple-exhort-prophesy-lead—whatever the Spirit of Yah is leading you to do in the service of the Kingdom, do it. Follow the leading and call of the Holy Spirit in your life before it’s too late and you miss the visitation.

 

Our calling is indeed precious and holy. When we come to Faith and receive Yah’s Ruach, we also receive the Kingdom of Yah within us. Thus we image the Creator of the Universe and His Kingdom wherever we go throughout the world. However, we are also called to work for the Kingdom while it is still day, for the night comes when no person may work (John 9:4). No kingdom can stand without its subjects working for the furtherance of that kingdom.

 

What an amazing opportunity the Creator of the Universe has given each of us. And all we have to do to receive this opportunity of the Kingdom of Yahweh operating within us is that we allow Yah’s Spirit—His power and authority (die to self) to manifest through us so that He receives the glory and honor He so justly deserves.

Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)–A Messianic Torah Observer Perspective

by | Sep 25, 2020 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

Introducing Yom HaKippurim (aka, Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement)

Instead of trying to figure out what the Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur/Yom HaKippurim is about through hearsay, public discourse or opinion, what do you say we delve into the riches of Torah to get from the Father’s own Words what the day entails?

I would invite you, if you’re new to Faith and you desire to study for yourself what the Day is about in the pages of your Bible, to grab a pen and paper and take notes. Otherwise, you can visit the website at www.themessianictorahobserver.org and reference the transcript of this post.

Yom HaKippurim (aka, Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement) is found in 3 primary passages of Torah: Leviticus 16:20-26; 23:27-32; and Numbers 29:7-11. Yes, there are indeed other scriptural passages that reference the Day of Atonement, but for all intents and purposes, these 3 passages are the go-to-passages for understanding Father’s instructions for Yom Kippur.

What we find when we begin to read the particulars associated with Yom Kippur, especially in these just cited passages, is that this Feast Day is a very unique day in terms of its various elemental parts and the existential relevance to the Hebrew nation (aka, Israel) and ultimately all of humankind.

There are a few moving parts associated with the Day that I will break and group into just two parts for purposes of this discussion: (1) The High Priest making atonement for his, his family’s and the nation’s sins and transgressions; and the purification of the sanctuary and brazen altar; and (2) the Azazel goat (popularly referred to as the “scapegoat”) ceremony. Both of these parts are actually tied into one big worship ceremony, but I elected to tease out the Azazel ceremony from the atonement ceremony because it is rich in symbolism and prophetic relevance and it is somewhat separate from the atoning actions that were performed by the High Priest (i.e., the Cohen Gadol) on this day each year.

So without actually recording or reading out all 3 of these passages for you, I will just summarize the elements of the day contained in them. I would encourage you of course to pull up these passages on your own and study them for yourselves sometime soon.

Timing for Yom HaKippurim/Yom Kippur/Atonement

Father commanded that Yom Kippur take place on the 10th day of the 7th month annually. Many who lean towards Jewish practices and traditions know the 7th month from its Babylonian inspired name of Tishri. If you recall, last week, we celebrated Yom Teruah or the Day of the Blowing of Trumpets. That day the Father commanded be kept on the 1st day of the 7th month (aka, Tishri). Simply put, Yom Kippur will always succeed Trumpets by 10-days. Jewish Tradition titles this 10-day period between Trumpets and Atonement as the 10-Days of Awe.

Now, I won’t get into the 10-Days of Awe simply because it’s not Scriptural, so to speak. Some have made an argument that the 10-days of Awe, a Rabbinic invention, is a prophetic representation of the terrible and harrowing last days that will come upon the modern nation of Israel. Yet, I am hard pressed to conclude from my own studies that this is indeed true. So I’ll just leave the 10-Days of Awe alone for this installment.

Nevertheless, for all intents and purposes, Yom Kippur falls smack in the middle of the Fall Feast Season. Five days after Yom Kippur, the 8-day celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot will commence. So it’s pretty easy to keep track of when each of the Fall Feasts hit if one has a firm understanding of when exactly Yom Teruah or the Day of the Blowing of Trumpets falls.

Yom HaKippurim as a Holy Convocation

Father commanded that a holy convocation be held on Yom Kippur (confirmed by Numbers 29:7). I discussed what a holy convocation is based on Torah in an installment of Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections and if you’re interested in learning more about holy convocations as stipulated in Torah, I invite you to check that episode out.

Without belaboring the issue, a holy convocation is a sacred gathering of the assembly. In that sacred assembly gathering, scriptures are read, prayers are offered and Father is worshiped according to His instructions in Torah. Today, a holy convocation may of course take on many forms that include (but are not limited to):

  • online/virtual assembly gatherings and services;
  • brick and mortar worship service gatherings;
  • and home fellowship gatherings.

Of course, many in our Faith Community are challenged to find such convocational opportunities, not just on the Feast Days, but even on weekly Sabbaths. Nevertheless, we are to do the best we can with the resources and know how that Father has given us. There are many Hebrew Roots assemblies and fellowships that broadcast live gatherings online that you can connect to if you are so led. If you are interested in knowing what some of those online fellowship/convocational options are, reach out to me at perceptionwp@gmail.com and I’ll pass those on to you. (Keep in mind, however, that I am not a member of any of these fellowships or organizations, nor do I necessarily agree with everything they teach. However, I have connected with each of them over the years and find that they adhere to the basic tenets of our Faith and they have the resources to to convene a convocation during these set apart days.)

Thus, the Hebrews were commanded to convene a solemn, holy convocation for worship purposes on Yom Kippur (Lev. 23:37).

The Fast of Yom Kippur

Father commanded that the Hebrews humble (also rendered as afflict) their souls on Yom Kippur (i.e., verified Lev. 16:29; Num. 29:7).

Needless to say, this humbling and afflicting of one’s soul without a direct commandment for the Hebrew to fast on the day, has left behind its wake tremendous controversy and engendered some degree of confusion in the Hebrew Roots/Messianic ranks.

Although the general consensus among most Bible scholars and even Jewish Rabbis is that this humbling or inflicting of one’s soul is indeed that of a complete abstinence from food and drink: commonly referred to as a fast. The controversy and confusion seems to come from those who take issue with the allusion to fasting that the words humbling and inflicting obviously references.

Just to put any doubt in one’s mind to rest right now, I invite you to consider the following: the commandment from Yah for the Hebrews to “afflict/humble their souls” is found in Leviticus 16:29, 31 with additional reference passages located in Leviticus 23:27, 29, 32; Numbers 29:7; and Exodus 30:1-10. The Hebrews were commanded to fast (Hebrew of “tzom”), which is to afflict the soul or INulNeFeSH (cf. Psm. 35:13; Ezr. 8:21; Isa. 58:3, 5, 10). Nefesh also means appetite as seen in Proverbs 23:23; 107:9; 27:7; and Isaiah 56:11. Thus the Hebrew afflicts their appetite, this being the full meaning to fasting. According to the Tanach, to fast means to refrain from eating or drinking throughout the entire period of the fast/day (cf. Esther 4:16).

Offerings Were Made By Levitical Priests at the Tabernacle

Offerings by fire were to be made by the Levitical Priests serving at the Tabernacle. The offerings consisted of a bull, a ram, 7-yearling male lambs without defect, a goat for a sin offering; and a grain offering.

These were offerings that were performed exclusively by the Levitical Priests serving at the sanctuary. Every feast and Shabbat, the priests were instructed to provide such offerings. These offerings were not the responsibility of the average Hebrew citizen.

No Work of Any Kind is to be Performed

No work of any kind was to be performed on Yom HaKippurim. Contrary to other days of the sacred calendar, the prohibition against work here extended beyond vocationary work. The work prohibition here extended to acts that were of a domestic nature such as cooking, cleaning, washing, setting up and taking down. Some would argue, then, that one is prohibited from driving or doing anything at all on Yom Kippur. I would beg to differ, however. It stands to reason that if one is to participate in a holy convocation, for instance, and that convocation is convened elsewhere than one’s home or property, then you have to get to that convocation location somehow. Also, doing good for others falls within the spirit of the day, and in doing so, one may have to travel to make that good happen, wouldn’t you say?

Otherwise, one may be led by the Spirit to remain immobile and quiet during the 24-hours of the Day. If that is the case, then certainly do as you are so led I would say, but somehow the convocation would have to be factored in there sometime during the Day.

It goes without saying that Father looked at the prohibition against any form of work so seriously that any who violated this commandment was subject to death (verified Lev. 16:29; Num. 29:7). This commandment affected every member of the nation, not just Hebrews (Lev. 16:29). The Hebrews were commanded to cut themselves off from any who refused to keep the day.

Yom Kippur Was to be a Perpetually Kept Feast Day

Like every other Feast Day, Yom HaKippurim was to be a Feast kept in perpetuity. Since it was not one of the 3-mandated pilgrimage feasts requiring Hebrews to journey to Jerusalem, it was to be kept by every Hebrew regardless their station and location in life and in the world.

Other Salient Elements of the Day

Father instructed the Hebrews to acknowledge the day with the blowing of shofars (Lev. 25:9).

The High Priest Before the Mercy Seat

 

The Levitical High Priest made atonement for the Israel nation once a year by entering the Holy of Holies and sprinkling the blood of the sin offering on the Mercy Seat.

Aharon was to enter the Holy of Holies (located in the inner sanctum of the sanctuary) and make atonement for himself, his family, and the nation once a year only on Yom HaKippurim (Exo. 30:10). Aharon, and his selected direct descendants after him (i.e., who were selected by Yah to be High Priests), would enter the Holy of Holies on Yom HaKippurim with the blood of the bull and goat for sin offerings and sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat 7-times on this day (Num. 29:7-11). The purpose of this solemn, sacred ceremony was to make atonement on behalf of himself, his family and the nation of Israel (Exo. 30:10; Lev. 16:11-28).

As stated earlier, Father accepted only the blood of specific sacrifices, administered only by His select, Levitical Priests (Lev. 1:4,5; 23:27, 28).

Most folks of Faith focus on the High Priest going in to the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur each year to offer atonement on behalf of the people of Yehovah. Indeed, a lot went into the Day of Atonement in terms of the atonement element of the Day, but there is another aspect of Atonement that is symbolically and prophetically relevant. That has to do with the famously named “Scapegoat” (more accurately named Azazel or Azazyel) ceremony that is summarized in the 16th chapter of Leviticus. Aharon was to take 2 goats before the sanctuary and cast lots to determine which goat would be sacrificed as a sin offering and which would be the scapegoat (although the descriptor or term scapegoat is not 100% biblically accurate). After sprinkling the blood of a sin offering for himself, his family, the sanctuary, the priests and the nation upon the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant and around the horns of the altar outside the sanctuary, he would ceremonially confer the sins of the nation upon the scapegoat by placing his hands on the head of the scapegoat (i.e., Azazel). Then the scapegoat would be led out and abandoned in the wilderness by a strong and trustworthy man.

Symbolically and spiritually (in a sense), the sins of the nation were conferred upon the Azazel goat by the High Priest laying his hands upon its head out in front of the tent of meeting or the temple proper. The thing that must be understood by this undeniably strange, yet fascinating ceremony is that first and foremost the sins of the nation of Israel were to be expiated (i.e., atoned for) by the sprinkling of blood on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant housed within the Holy of Holies by the High Priest (i.e., the Cohen Gadol).

With sin having been expiated by the high priest at the first half of the Day’s ceremony (which we are reminded in Hebrews had to be done every year), the next issue that required attention was the root cause and instigator of sin which still remained and needed to be dealt with (symbolically speaking). So the Azazyel goat symbolically assumes responsibility for the sins of the nation (i.e., the apt name of scapegoat) through the High Priest conferring the responsibility and blame upon the goat. The Azazyel goat obviously represents hasatan and his minions. Azazyel is afterward led and abandoned in the wilderness by a “fit” man, symbolizing a time in the future when hasatan will be bound and sent tucked away in the abyss, ultimately to face eternal torment in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone. This is what the Azazyel ceremony is all about.

The wonderful thing about the prophetic shadow pictures we can now see embedded in this amazing Feast is Yeshua’s sacrifice and resurrection defeated hasatan and his minions and made a public spectacle of them (Col. 2:15). Unfortunately, that defeat and humiliation did not eliminate the intense influence the enemy continues to have on the human race (Eph. 2:1-3; we are also encouraged by Paul to put on the whole armor of Yah in Eph. 6:10-17 to contend with the wiles of the enemy).

Every one of the 7-annual Feasts of Yehovah was meant to represent something of vital importance to the Hebrews. As I’ve mentioned many times on this program, the Feasts of Yehovah are, for us at least, shadows of good things to come (Heb. 10:1). At the time the knowledge of the Feasts was rendered to Israel, the shadow pictures that they embodied could not be known to them. It just wasn’t time for our Hebrew forefathers to understand and know the intricate meaning behind and foretold in each of the 7-moedim of Yehovah. We on the other hand, are blessed to live in and during a time when full understanding of these Feasts have been revealed to any who would avail themselves to the Truth of the Creator.

Regardless, the Feasts did teach our Hebrew forefathers essential lessons that would be etched into the nation’s psyche, at least in part, to this very day. In the case of Yom HaKippurim, the day taught the Hebrews the importance of reconciling with the Creator and the vital necessity in having their sins expiated. The day also reminded the Hebrews each year of the root cause of sin in every person’s life: that being hasatan and his minions. Despite the endless cycle of atonement sacrifices performed each year since the command to do so was given to Israel by Yehovah, the reality was evident that hasatan—the deceiver of the world—was still active in the world and would at some point have to be permanently dealt with if mankind was to have a fighting chance of overcoming their sin nature.

Yom Kippur—The Name Says it All

Thus, Yom Kippur points us to a time in Father’s great Plan of Salvation and Redemption when the originator and instigator of sin will be dealt with. Yes, the atonement plays a vital part in the whole Day of Atonement as demonstrated in the High Priest entering the Holy of Holies and sprinkling blood upon the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant. Father stipulated to the Hebrews that He would accept this process as atonement for their sins when the ceremony was done precisely as He commanded it be done. This ceremony did not eliminate sin from the Hebrew’s life permanently. The process only appeased or expiated or atoned for the Hebrews’ sins for a set period of time. The process had to be repeated each year on Yom Kippur. However, Father had tucked and hidden away in His Great Plan of Redemption and Salvation provision to permanently eliminate sin from every Hebrew’s life. This would be accomplished a millennia and a half later through the work and agency of Yahoshua Messiah (Hebrews 9 and 10). Although more brilliantly portrayed in the Passover observance, we see a tremendous reiteration and bleed over (absolutely no pun intended as this is extremely serious) of this in the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur ceremony and observance. Yeshua’s sacrifice and His shed blood on Calvary’s execution stake would be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat in Heaven by our resurrected Master. This unbelievable act of sacrifice and grace would once and for all atone for the sins of humankind.

Regarding the Holy of Holies in Heaven, Hebrew Roots teacher and overseer of Christian Biblical Church of God Fred Coulter noted: The Holy of Holies is a type of God’s throne in heaven (Heb. 9:24). Access to the Mercy Seat only on Yom Kippur is allowed by the Cohen Gadol once a year at Yom Kippur. The Mercy Seat sat atop the Ark of the Covenant, which held the commandments written on two tablets of stone. The Cohen Gadol sprinkled the blood of a bullock on the Mercy Seat to make atonement for himself, his family and the family of Levitical Priests. The lot cast between the goats represented the embedded provision for Yehovah selecting the goats; their appointed roles in the ceremony being: one goat to be used as the sin offering for the nation; and the other for Azazel—the popularly named scapegoat. (Note: the Azazel goat was not slaughtered nor its blood spilled. There’s a reason why and I’ll mention it shortly.)

Not only was the sprinkled blood of the bull and the lot-selected goat sin offerings foreshadowing of the blood that Master would shed on our behalf at Calvary, the High Priest that administered the atonement was also portrayed in the resurrected and glorified Person of Yahoshua. The writer of Hebrews described our Master as the mediator of a better covenant (Heb. 8:6).

Thus the name of the Day—Yom HaKippurim—is an important aspect of this day that should be understood. The name carries with it powerful meaning that is multifaceted and vitally relevant to every disciple of Yeshua Messiah.

According to well read and researched Hebrew Roots/Messianic scholar David Rogers (overseer of The Miqra in Rock Hill South Carolina), some Jewish sources define kippurim by breaking the term into its two component parts: Ki which means “as” or “like,” and pur, which means “lot.” When one puts these two components together, the meaning becomes “like Purim” or “like lots.” This naturally takes us to the story of Esther where the Jewish festival/holiday of Purim originated. Recall that lots were cast by Haman for purposes of determining the day and month the Jews of Ahasuerus’ kingdom were to be exterminated (Est. 3:7). This meaning is clearly seen in the ceremony involving the two-goats, each selected for a divine purpose through the casting of a lot (i.e., Yehovah selects each goat for their ultimate purpose).

Yet another interpretation can be derived from Kippurim. The component “caphar or kaphar,” which means “to cover” or “conceal” can be seen. The Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant was called “caporet” which is derived from caphar/kaphar. Caporet then means covering or lid to the ark of the covenant. Thus the other aspect of the Day of Atonement is clearly seen, whereby the sins of humankind are covered, or better, pacified (temporarily) by the Creator’s provision, until such time as the Messiah would permanently cleanse and rid us of the scourge of sin.

Still borrowing from my friend David Roger’s teachings on Yom HaKippurim, yet another aspect of Kippur cannot be overlooked. This aspect of the Day is clearly portrayed in the various sin sacrifices that were offered before and at the time of our Master Yeshua’s sacrifice on Calvary’s execution stake. This meaning is derived from the English term “ransom” which is analogous to the act of “offering a substitute for a thing.” Every Israelite was required to give to the service of the sanctuary the “ransom” money of half a shekel (Exo. 30:12). Egypt was given as a “ransom” for the restoration of Israel as stated by Yehovah (Isa. 43:3). Also tied to this ransom paradigm of Torah and the prophets is the concept of redemption or redeeming one’s life. To redeem means to buy back or to free one from captivity through some payment of a ransom. Thus, Father required offerings and sacrifices be made at various times in the Hebrew’s life, especially when it came to sin, whereby their lives would be ransomed by a sacrificed animal that served to purchase his/her life back from the penalty of “physical” and “imminent” death. The animal sin sacrifices were given as substitutes for the offerers’ life. It wasn’t the animal carcase that provided the substitution per se, but the blood of the animal that satisfied the death penalty, because Father taught us that the life of all flesh is in the blood and is to be given to make atonement for one’s soul on the altar; for it was the blood by reason of the life that makes the atonement (Lev. 17:11).

Indeed, this concept greatly embodies the rich spiritual meaning of Yom HaKippurim, as it is evident in Scripture that every human being must pay the penalty of death for their sins. However, Father in His infinite wisdom, grace and providence provided a means by which the ransom could be paid via substitution. We see this illustrated throughout the Torah and most prevalently in the Gospel records.

Yom-HaKippurim: Addressing the Instigator and Originator of Sin Once and For All

The Azazel Goat

 

The Azazel Goat was selected by lot and the sins of the nation was conferred upon it and it was led and abandoned in the wilderness by a fit man.

So just to quickly review before moving on to the selection of the Azazel goat: two-goats would be brought before the High Priest Aharon. A lot would be cast (again, reminiscent of Purim and the story of Esther) to determine which goat would be the sin offering for the nation and which goat would be the Azazyel goat.

We’ve discussed somewhat extensively in this post about the sin offering goat. That goat was killed and its blood was sprinkled upon the Mercy Seat that sat upon the ark of the covenant to atone for the sins of the people.

Now we get into the Azazel goat a little deeper.

In order to better see the significance of the Azazel goat, especially from a historical perspective, I once again refer to the teachings of David Rogers, who’s done extensive study on Yom HaKippurim. About the Azazel goat, David reveals that we actually find Azazel mentioned by name in the Book of Enoch, an Old Testament apocryphal book that Jude acknowledges is relevant to our Faith. We find Azazel mentioned in Enoch 8:1,2 which reads accordingly:

“Moreover Azazyel taught men to make swords, knives, shields, breastplates, the fabrication of mirrors, and the workmanship of bracelets and ornaments, the use of paint, the beautifying of the eyebrows, the use of stones of every valuable and select kind, and all sorts of dyes so that the world became altered. Impiety increased; fornication multiplied, and they transgressed and corrupted all their ways.”

Thus we clearly see, through the writings of the author of Enoch, that this fallen or corrupted messenger—better rendered, watcher, “altered the world due to the vanity of physical beauty, the crafting of jewelry (the overuse and abuse of which the Scripture condemns) and the forging and use of war implements (David Rogers; Bibletruth.cc/dayofatonement.htm).

Thus, all manner of evil germane to the human experience can be traced in great part back to this watcher named Azazyel. David Rogers astutely attributes human knowledge of and experiences related to sin to hasatan, the deceiver of all mankind.

Interestingly, the watcher (the name formerly given to those angels who chose to defy the rules of the Almighty and defile the Father’s creation) Azazyel was judged accordingly for his grievous transgressions against Yehovah and the human race, as recorded in Enoch 10:4-10:

“The Lord said to Raphael (an obedient Messenger of Yehovah), bind Azazyel hand and foot, cast him into darkness; and opening the desert which is in Dudael, cast him in there. Throw upon him hurled and pointed stones, covering him with darkness. There shall he remain forever; cover his face, that he may not see the light. And in the great day of judgment let him be cast into the fire. Restore the earth, which the angels have corrupted; and announce life to it, that I may revive it.”

How amazing is this and how wonderfully this passage ties in with what we see embodied in the Yom HaKippurim ceremony involving the two-goats AND the coming of days when hasatan too will be bound and placed into darkness by a strong angel. Could that angel be the same Raphael? Just asking. Ultimately, both hasatan and Azazyel will be cast into the Lake of Fire and brimstone—assuming they are two-separate entities (Revelation 20:3, 10). These get no chance whatsoever for repentance or atonement or forgiveness. Their sins are beyond the provisions of Yehovah’s salvation and grace.

Commensurate with the promise of salvation for mankind, we see in the same Enochian rendering of the story of Azazyel, a promise that all men would not be destroyed in the coming flood:

“All the sons of men shall not perish in consequence of every secret, by which the Watchers have destroyed, and which they have taught their offspring. All the earth has been corrupted by the effects of the teachings of Azazyel. To him therefore ascribe the whole crime (Enoch 10:11,12).

See the rich parallel that is found in this Enochian passage and the fate facing the Azazel goat in the Levitical ceremony: the “whole crime” is ascribed to Azazel. In other words, all the transgressions of the Hebrew nation would to be conferred upon the Azazel goat, that was ultimately led and abandoned in the wilderness by the “fit man.” Azazel is to bear the blame for the whole issue of sin, despite the other sacrificed goat’s blood that was used to atone for the sins of the people of Israel.

Fred Coulter adds what I believe to be an important point to the Azazel goat discussion in that the Azazel goat was not killed, but instead abandoned in the wilderness by the fit man that led him there. Hasatan and his minions cannot die as humans die. Instead they must be contained or banished as illustrated in the Azazel goat. On the eve of the establishing of the Millennial Kingdom here on earth by Yeshua Messiah, a strong, mighty angel will bind hasatan and remand him to the abyss for 1,000-years (Rev. 20:1-3). Hasatan and his minions will be loosed a short time at the tail end of the Millennium to sway the hearts and minds of humankind against the Kingdom of Yah, yet again. However, Yah will defeat them with fire from above and consume the humans who came against the Kingdom (Rev. 20:7-9). Hasatan and his lot will be gathered up one last time, but this time once and for all they will be cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone where they will endure eternal torment (Jude 12,13; Rev. 20:10).

Clearly, the ultimate fate of hasatan (presumably along with his minions) are foreshadowed in the Azazel element of Yom Kippur.

One may wonder, however, given that our sins have been permanently atoned for by the sacrifice of our Master Yahoshua Messiah, why should we have any need to concern ourselves with the ongoing activities of hasatan. Indeed, some would reference the teachings of the apostles that hasatan’s influence and power over us was broken by Yeshua’s sacrifice. Indeed, that is a true statement.

Nevertheless, hasatan’s presence in the work continues to wreak havoc upon the entire human race. Why?

According to Shaul, the perceived veiling of the Besorah (i.e., the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom) from the minds and hearts of most of the world’s people is because they have been blinded to the Truth (2 Corinthians 4:3, 4). Even the Jews have been blinded to the Truth, whereby the obvious foreshadowing of Messiah in Torah and the Prophets remains veiled and hidden from them, despite Master effectively having removed that veil from many (2 Corinthians 3:14). Yet Father’s grace shines a light upon those whom He has chosen and has revealed the knowledge of His glory through Yeshua Messiah (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Hasatan’s influence upon the minds, hearts and souls of mankind can never be understated. His all encompassing influence over mankind is ever so prevalent. It is hasatan who has completely rewritten the the way by which mankind walks and lives on this planet. Shaul stated to the Ephesian Assembly, that they once walked according to the ways and influences of the “prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). Hasatan has a massive bag of tricks to sway the hearts and minds of men, often masquerading as angels of light (2 Corinthians 11:14, 15). Indeed, there is little wonder that so many atrocities and evils and wrongs have involved people who claim to have operated in accordance to the ways of God and Jesus Christ and whatever gods they serve.

Hasatan’s primary means of influencing the minds and hearts of people is through deception (Eph. 2:2)

As long as hasatan is permitted to operate in this earthly plane, mankind will continue to be influenced and deceived and in many cases be denied the Truth of the Gospel and the chance for eternal life and to be a child of the Most High Elohim. He must be eliminated at some point so as to level the playing field for mankind. Some may suggest that Father could just miraculously drop the scales from every man, woman and child’s eyes and bypass the deception of the enemy. But that’s not the way Father works. We can never forget that Father wants every soul that comes to Him to come to Him freely. Freewill according to Father is never a negotiable commodity that He would take advantage of or override. Once hasatan is removed from the world scene in the Millennial Kingdom, those that are alive will be given the opportunity to accept the Gospel of the Kingdom without the lies and deceptions of the evil one swaying their thoughts and decision making. And then at the end of the 1,000-years when hasatan is loosed, the human race will be tested to ensure that those who committed themselves to Yehovah are truly Yehovah’s. Hasatan will once again be allowed to work his deceptions and publish his lies. Those that were never truly converted will fall for the lies and give themselves over to the enemy’s control. They will come against Yeshua and the Saints residing and headquartered in Jerusalem. However, these rebelling humans will be destroyed by fire from the throne of Yehovah and hasatan will once again be bound, but this time permanently thrown into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone. Thus, the Plan of Redemption and Salvation will have been successfully completed and a New Heaven and New Earth will be installed and we who are Father’s elect will finally face and enjoy a glorious eternity.

The Apostle Paul (i.e., Shaul) wrote to the Assembly of Messianic Disciples in Corinth:

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1Co 2:9-10 KJV)

Nevertheless, in the interim, even we who are Yah’s elect are subject to the wiles of the enemy. Thus, the Apostle Paul (i.e., Shaul) recommended that each of us put on the whole armor of Yah so that we may be able to resist him in the evil day and be more than capable of standing firm against him (Eph. 6:13-18).

Common Jewish Yom Kippur Traditions and Perceptions

Without firm understanding and knowledge, and acceptance of Yeshua HaMashiyach as one’s Master and redeemer, it is impossible for one to understand the significance of Yom HaKippurim. Even for the Jewish mind, the thought of their messiah fulfilling the role that our Master Yeshua fulfilled 2,000-years ago (poetically and prophetically referred to as the suffering Messiah by Isaiah), is for some a foreign concept which most Jews vociferously reject.

The Jewish mind, however, sees Yom Kippur from a less than a biblically-based global perspective. They see the day more from an idealistic point of view, that engenders goodwill, community and future security and prosperity for the Jewish people.

For the Jew, Yom Kippur marks the culmination of the so-called 10-Days of Awe (i.e., the 10-day period of introspection and repentance that falls between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur).

Tradition says Yom Kippur is the day God decides each person’s fate. Jews are encouraged to make amends and seek forgiveness for sins they committed during the past year. A 25-hour fast is observed and special religious services are held. It is considered a High Holy Day or a Sabbath of Sabbaths.

Tradition holds that the incident with the Golden Calf, God’s subsequent forgiveness of the Hebrews for that transgression, and the giving of the Law on the 2nd set of stone tablets took place on or around Yom Kippur.

It is accepted that the only day of the year the High Priest was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies and atone for the sins of the nation fell on Yom Kippur. The actual Yom Kippur ceremony continued until the destruction of the Temple by Roman legions in 70 C.E. The ceremony was made into a service for rabbis and their congregations through the synagogue system.

Judaism in general believe the 10 Days of Awe denotes judgment of all creatures by God, who decides whether each person lives or dies in the coming year. Those who are to live, they are deemed righteous and their names are said to be inscribed in the “Book of Life.” Those deemed wicked are condemned to die. Then those who are on the fence (i.e., it’s up for grabs whether they will live or die) have till Yom Kippur to “teshuvah” or repent.

Thus the Days of Awe are typified by prayer, good deeds, reflecting on past mistakes and mending damaged relationships, done with the intent of getting one’s name inscribed in the Book of Life for the coming year and escaping imminent death.

Synagogal attendance typically soars during this season. The 25-hour fast on Yom Kippur is for cleansing of the body and spirit, not for punishment as some erroneously surmise. Some heed additional restrictions on bathing, washing, cosmetic wearing, leather shoe wearing and sexual intercourse. The purpose is to detract the member from material possessions and superficial comforts. A single long blast of a shofar is sounded at the end of the final service to mark the conclusion of the fast. Families typically have a bountiful feast on the eve of Yom Kippur that concludes before sundown. Then after the final synagogue service of Yom Kippur, members return home to another festive meal. Typically blintzes, noodle pudding and baked goods are the fare for the day. Members typically dress in white to symbolize purity. Members commonly make financial and material donations to the poor and to the synagogue and do volunteer work during this season which they see as part of seeking God’s forgiveness for sins and offenses committed during the year.

As we saw with Yom Teruah (casting sins in the form of bread onto a stream or river and shaking evil from one’s person), Yom Kippur too has a strange ceremony or tradition that involves the transference of sins and bad karma, so to speak, onto either a live chicken or a package of money. Kapparot, according to chabad.org, is a ceremony that involves the swinging of live chickens and coins over members’ heads while reciting prayers.

According to the article I read regarding Kapparot on chabad.org, observing Jews:

“Ask of G‑d that if we were destined to be the recipients of harsh decrees in the new year, may they be transferred to this chicken in the merit of this mitzvah of charity. It is important to keep in mind that the chicken is not an offering. Neither does performance of the ceremony alone atone for one’s sins. However, the ceremony does shake one up a little.”

I should mention that the money or chickens that the members swing over their heads are then, at the conclusion of the ceremony, given discretely to the poor.

Again, adding to Torah? Seems as such.

This all being said, I am a firm believer that one should be cognizant of such traditions and belief systems so as to avoid falling into traps that only serve to draw one away from the Truth that is Torah and the teachings of Yeshua Messiah.

How to Keep Yom HaKippurim

The fullness of the Fall Feasts could not/would not be realized/understood until Yah’s Spirit, at the fullness of time, revealed their meaning (Gal. 4:1, 2). Father sets the time for the revealing. The revealing is not only universally realized, but individually as well. All we can do is obediently deliver Truth to this spiritually blind and deaf world in obedience to Master’s instructions (Matt. 28:19). The blood of the sin offering (Yah’s goat) symbolized the innocent, sacrificed, shed blood of Yeshua on Calvary’s execution stake (Joh. 10:11-15; see also I Pet. 3:18; Heb. 9:26; Tit. 2:14; Rom. 5:6,7). Yeshua is also represented by the Cohen Gadol (i.e., the High Priest) who administered the atonement procedure.

The prophetic summary of the Day of Atonement is contained in Hebrews 9:11, 12, 26; 10:1, 4, 9, 10, 12-14. This is one of a couple reasons Torah Observant Disciples of Yeshua Messiah must keep the Feasts of Yehovah. They remind us—we humans that are naturally forgetful creatures—of Yah’s goodness and provision so that we do not go a-whoring after other elohim (Exo. 34:15).

We are blessed with the knowledge and understanding of the Feasts, even Yom HaKippurim (at least in part). We cannot keep this Day in the fullness of its Torah rendering. The Temple no longer exists and animal sacrifices have been done away with. Fortunately, Yeshua Messiah took care of atoning for our sins once and for all. All that is now required of us is obedience to Yah’s instructions and the teachings of Master Yeshua.

Thus we keep Yom Kippur as we do the other annual Feasts of Yehovah—in Spirit and in Truth. We keep them to the best of our ability, taking into account the necessary elements of each Feast Day in accordance with the provisions written in Torah that we can reasonably meet today.

So how should we, then, keep the Day of Atonement?

The basic elements associated with keeping Yom HaKippurim are as follows:

  • Begin a full fast starting at sundown the 9th day of the 7th month (i.e., Tishri). Sustain that fast till sundown on the 10th day of Tishri.
  • Observe a complete day of rest whereby we do no servile, convocational or laborious work.
  • Treat the day as holy and sacred.
  • Participate in a holy convocation.
  • Pray and sing songs of praise to our Creator.
  • Read passages of Torah, the Prophets and the Brit HaDashaha (i.e., the New Testament).
  • If we have one available to us, blow the shofar at opportune times throughout the day.
  • If we have the opportunity, do good for others; bless others with whatever resources and talents we may have and as the Spirit leads.

Now, if we fulfill these basic requirements of the Day, the rest is up to the leading of the Holy Spirit operating in our lives. We give ourselves to keeping the day with all the zeal and joy and reverence we can muster. Yes, it’s a solemn day, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a glum day; a sad day; a dreadful day.

We’ve already received the victory in Yeshua Messiah. According to the Apostle John (aka, Yochanan) now are we the sons of Yehovah, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1John 3:2 KJV)

Yeshua’s sacrifice has nullified the requirement for animal sacrifices to atone for our sins. The worship of Yehovah, our Elohim, that once embodied and involved those animal sacrifices which are delineated throughout Torah, have been replaced with sacrifices of praise that come from us individually and collectively. The writer of the Book of Hebrews described this as such:

15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. 16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. (Heb 13:15-16 KJV)

A psalmist wrote:

Psa 116:17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Yehovah.

My friends, have a blessed, and meaningful Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement. Celebrate and keep the Day in the power and might of our Father’s precious Holy Spirit.

Until next time, Shalom and blessings fellow saints.

Yom Teruah’s Greatest Truths and Mysteries (Revealed)

by | Sep 17, 2020 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

 

Yom Teruah’s Greatest Truths and Mysteries (Revealed)

 

Today I want to expand our understanding of Yom Teruah (aka The Day of the Blowing of Trumpets or simply the Day of Trumpets) from the day being just another one of the 7-annual Feasts of YHVH; just that of being the beginning of the 7th month and the Fall Feasts of Yah; from that of being a day symbolized by the blowing of Shofars; from that of being the beginning of the Jewish “Rosh Hashanah” or head of the new year—to that which is much greater in its scope and relevance to Messianics today.

Why Study Yom Teruah’s Truths and Mysteries?

And the reason we need to expand our understanding of Yom Teruah or the Day of Trumpets beyond the common, baseline, tradition-laden understanding of the day is because the deep and expansive spiritual and eschatological importance of the day is the thing that will help prepare us to receive and enter the Kingdom of Yah.

Don’t you want to enter Yah’s coming Kingdom? 

 The Confused Conventional Wisdom Surrounding Yom Teruah

 

The conventional wisdom that is commonly attached and observed as it relates to Yom Teruah today is so truncated; so marginalized; so immersed in tradition that the True Child of the Most High is left to observe the day as simply another biblically mandated feast with a smidgen of historic and eschatological significance attached to it. And with all the low-level understanding that is commonly associated with Yom Teruah today, the level of confusion and division that exists in our beloved Faith Community just continues to grow and grow.

Yeshua is indeed coming back for a remnant. And this mo’ed of Yah that we will be observing and keeping this coming weekend highlights our Master’s irresistible return to this earth as the conquering Messiah, where He will gather His elect from the 4-corners of this world unto Himself; set-up His kingdom in Yerusalayim; render judgment upon the nations of this world and restore paradise lost.

 

Dispelling the Confusion About Yom Teruah

 

Little is directly mentioned about Yom Teruah in scripture apart from the Torah instructions regarding the day. But the Bible does indeed provide us with a ton of obvious links to the meaning and importance of Yom Teruah. Additionally, Jewish writings and teachings and dare I say traditions, also lend greatly to our understanding of the relevance of Yom Teruah to Yah’s Elect and to End Times prophecy.

Those with eyes to see and ears to hear are today in priveledged positions to receive the Spirit and Truths about Yom Teruah that the rest of Yah’s human creation seems to not care at all about.

So let us delve into Yom Teruah’s Greatest Depths of Meaning for the Messianic, Yah’s Elect today.

 

The Feasts of Yah and Their Relevance to Yah’s Elect

 

The prophet Isaiah wrote:

 

 9 Remember the former things of old: for I am Yah, and there is none else; I am Elohiym, and there is none like me,  10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: (Isa 46:9-10 KJV)

 

There are a small number of fundamental things that Messianics and Rooters learn quite early when they come to the knowledge of the True Faith once delivered. And one of those things is the importance of Yah’s set-apart days—Yah’s mo’edim-popularly referred to as the Feasts of Yah–to the life of the elect.

 

Yah’s elect do not view these set-apart days or feasts days as the world sees them—as uniquely Jewish festivals or holidays that have no bearing or relevance to Yah’s people. Instead, Yah’s people see these times in their proper biblical context:

 

For the law having a shadow (I.e., skia) of good things to come (Heb 10:1 KJV; cf. Colossians 2:17).

 

Thus, contained within Torah are “skia” or images, a sketch or outline of “good things that are to come into being.”

 

Contrary to fundamentalists’ thinking, Torah is not a laundry list of “does and don’ts” that YHVH gave to “the Jews” in order to keep them in order (which they were never able to keep) and to show the rest of us that we are of such a depraved nature that we are incapable of keeping Yah’s Ways and thus we need Yah’s grace through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ in order to be saved. As true as bits and pieces of fundamentalists’ thoughts may be on this issue, their understanding of Yah’s Torah falls tragically short. For we know that Yah’s Torah constitutes a way of life that Yah requires His chosen ones to live and walk-out.

 

Embedded within Yah’s way of life—His Torah—are certain days—moedim—that Yah has declared as “sacred” or “set-apart days” that His elect are to keep and observe. These set-apart days, otherwise known as Feasts of Yah are Holy Convocations (I.e., miqra; sacred gatherings; rehearsals) that when kept in Spirit and in Truth rehearse good things that Yah has planned out for His human creation from the very beginning of time (Genesis 1:14).

 

These shadows or images were hidden in Yah’s Feasts so that hasatan would be unaware of Yah’s Plans for Salvation, Restoration and Redemption. For if hasatan had known beforehand the truths hidden in these set-apart days, he and his ilk would not have crucified the Master of Glory (1 Corinthians 2:8).

 

You see, the Feasts of Yah all point to the ministries of our Master Yeshua Messiah: His ministry as the “suffering redeemer/suffering Messiah” and His ministry as “the coming conquering King of kings and Master of masters.” In other words: The spring feasts picture the ministry of the “suffering Messiah” (with its intermittent and final fulfillments). Then the Fall Feasts picture the return of Yeshua Messiah, the gathering of the Bride, the establishing of the Messianic Millennial Kingdom here on earth, the judgment of the nations and the restoration of Paradise Lost and the Creator of the Universe dwelling with His people on a new heaven, earth and from a new Jerusalem.

 

And contrary to the erroneous and dangerous teachings and beliefs of the fundamentalists, Yeshua’s ministry here on earth did not bring an end to Torah-keeping by Yah’s people. In fact, Yeshua described the mission that was given to Him by His Father as clarifying and bringing the Law to its fullest potential (Matthew 5:17). And Master made it known that Torah would remain in effect for Yah’s people until Master hands over the Kingdom to His (our) Father (1 Corinthians 15:24) and Yah establishes a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21). Master said:

 

Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.  19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5:18-20 KJV)

 

Somehow the fundamentalists have gotten this whole thing regarding Torah and Feast-keeping completely wrong: The Bride of Messiah will not be those who have chucked Torah to the side and in effect become lawless in their living, but instead are those that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. (Rev 14:12 KJV)

 

Bible belief always requires obedience. And Yah’s instructions (I.e., Yah’s Torah commandments and provisions) are given to all who desire to follow in His ways—to be His elect; to be His children. In fact, contrary to the beliefs and teachings of the fundamentalists (even Orthodox Jews) who vehemently assert that Torah and all its provisions and festivals and requirements are strictly for the Jews, we are led back to when Torah was first given to us at Sinai:

 

15 One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD.  16 One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you. (Num 15:15-16 KJV).

 

Is this clear? One Torah for “native” Israel and for the “sojourner” or “Gentile” if you will. Like the sojourners that attached themselves to Israel in the wilderness when Torah was given to us, we gentiles have been attached to Israel and are thus partakers of the covenants and provisions that have been handed down to Israel by our Heavenly Father. We are thus engrafted and are part and parcel of the commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2:11-13; Romans 11).

 

 

Paul wrote to the assemblies at Colossae that they not be bothered nor discouraged by those who sought to criticize them in their walking out their Faith, especially as it applies to their keeping of the weekly Sabbath, the food laws and Yah’s set-apart days. For according to Paul, these are a shadow of things to come (Colossians 2:16-17).

 

So let the naysayers condemn us for our keeping of Torah and Yah’s set-apart days. For we know the importance of these days and we are well within our rights as engrafted members of the commonwealth of Israel to keep them; within our duty, being saints of the Most High acting in obedience to His Words; and within our steadfast desire to commune with, bless and glorify our Heavenly Father in Spirit and in Truth.

 

 

Biblical Understanding of Yom Teruah

 

Instructions regarding Yom Teruah is found in Leviticus 23:24-25 and it reads:

 

24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. 25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. (Lev 23:24-25 KJV)

 

When we break down the requirements for observing and keeping the day, we find the following five elements:

 

  1. It is to be a sabbath—a complete day of rest. Thus we are to rest on this day from all our labors as we do each weekly Sabbath.
  2. It is to be a memorial of blowing of trumpets and or of joyful shouting. The Hebrew word used for memorial is —zik-rone—a reminder; remembrance. The blowing of trumpets is the Hebrew word “teruah” which can also mean loud sounds made in either a joyous occasion or in victory or in warning. What is being memorialized in the blowing of trumpets? Scripture doesn’t not tell us directly. But we will discuss an interesting applications that may give us a clue as to what is to be memorialized later on in this discussion. Blast of Trumpets=Teruah. Also shouting and joy and praise and alarm (Psa. 47:1; 66:1; 81:1; 100:1). Teruah–Num. 10:5; 23:21; 1 Sam. 4:5; Job 33:26.
  3. We are to convene a holy convocation—a miqra—a reading; calling together; a sacred assembly; a rehearsal on this day.
  4. We are to perform no servile work on this day. Just as we perform no industrious work on the weekly Sabbaths, we are not to perform no such work on this set apart day.
  5. An offering by fire is to be made unto YHVH. 

We find in Leviticus 23 that Yom Teruah is not a pilgrimage feast. We know that the three pilgrimage feasts are: (1) Unleavened Bread (aka Feast of Matzah); (2) Shavuot (aka Pentecost); and (3) Sukkot (aka Feast of Tabernacles among so many other names)(Exodus 23:14, 17; Deuteronomy 16:16). These three pilgrimage feasts required that we actually travel to the place where that Almighty choses (Deuteronomy 16:16). Ultimately that place of pilgrimage became Jerusalem at Solomon’s and Herod’s Temples. However, with the destruction of the Temple by the Roman Army in 68-70 C.E., Yah’s elect for all intents and purposes no longer have such a place to pilgrimage to. Today, our bodies have replaced the once standing and operating Jerusalem Temples and we worship Yah, especially during the Feast, from wherever we are on this planet, in Spirit and in Truth (1 Corinthians 6:19; John 4:23-24). 

 

All sacrifices were rendered exclusively at the place where Yah chose to place His name. They were not to be performed anywhere other than either the Tabernacle or the Temple. Yah commanded:

 

5 But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:  6 And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks: 7 And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee. (Deu 12:5-7 KJV)

 

Consequently, only the priests were to render sacrifices and offerings unto Yah at Yah’s appointed place, which was either the Tabernacle or the Temple. Lay folks were not permitted to render sacrifices and offerings unto Yah. So the commandment given in our focus passage here that an offering of fire be made unto Yah pertained exclusively to the priests of Yah. 

Yom Teruah is the only mo’ed that falls on the first of a new month and on the sighting of a renewed moon (Num. 10:10). 

 

The Rosh Hashanah Lie

 

One Torah teacher espoused in his discussion on Yom Teruah that “Tradition breeds reverence. It doesn’t trump scripture. It’s fun for historical reasons.”

 Jewish traditions play a huge role in Messianic understanding of Yom Teruah. In fact, many modern day Rooters and Messianics take their lead on the day (I.e., how they understand and keep the day) by observing Jewish Traditions related to Yom Teruah.

 

As interesting and enticing as Jewish Traditions may be to us, it behooves the well-meaning, set-apart Messianic to keep in the forefront of their minds the warnings put forth to us by our Rabbi Yeshua about Jewish traditions:

 

Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?…Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. (Mat 15:2-6 KJV)

 

Folks, when delving into Jewish traditions related to any of the Feasts of Yah, we must be uber careful that we discern within those traditions any elements that make Yah’s commandments of none effect. In fact, I did a teaching on various Jewish tradition trappings associated with Yom Teruah a couple years ago that I would encourage you to check out if you are  so led. This teaching will better alert you to things that our Jewish cousins have adopted in their keeping of Yom Teruah that are contrary to Torah.

 Because I am not one who promotes the keeping of Jewish customs and traditions in this ministry and on this program, my viewership and listenership is substantially less than those programs and teachers that promote Jewish traditions. These ministries amass more views and downloads than I ever could because folks are more interested in Jewish practices than they are the actual, unadulterated Word of Yah.

 

Now I’m not one to condemn those who choose to indulge in certain Jewish traditions: that’s a subject between Yah and that individual. I have no heaven or hell to put anyone into.

 

But I will say this: We are well advised to stick to what is written regarding Yom Teruah (Col. 2:8). There is a lot of following Jewish traditions when it comes to Yom Teruah. Yah is the One who deems a thing holy.

 

I get it: traditions feel good in the natural. They serve to bind us to a people. However, when traditions are weighed alongside Torah such that they run contrary to Torah, they serve to nullify or diminish the primacy of Torah. When traditions clash with Torah, they should stir questions in our spirit. 

 

Now, the only Jewish Yom Teruah tradition I will address here today is the tradition that places Yom Teruah as the head of Yah’s sacred calendar year. And this placing of Yom Teruah as the head of the Faith’s calendar year has resulted in this mo’ed (set apart day) being renamed Rosh Hashanah.

 

Rosh Hashanah literally means “Head of the Year,” and is thus treated as New Year’s Day in Judaism.

 

But how can Yom Teruah be Rosh Hashanah (the head of Father’s calendar year) when Father established the head of His biblical calendar year as the Month of Aviv (aka Abib) (Exodus 12:2; 13:4; 23:15; 34:18; Deuteronomy 16:1)? As you may or may not know, Aviv always falls within the Gregorian Calendar months of March and April each calendar year.

 

Well, apparently this tradition of moving Yom Teruah to the beginning of the year, replacing Aviv 1 is a result of pagan influence and misreading Torah.

 

A great many bible scholars who have either unbiased, and to some degree biased feelings and viewpoints about this twisted tradition have pointed the finger of blame at Canaanite and Babylonian influences. It is proposed by these biased and unbiased scholars that Israel possibly added an additional calendar to the calendar handed down to them by YHVH in Torah. That added calendar is based upon Canaanite and Babylonian agricultural festivals and observances that place the head of their calendar year in the fall, during the planting season. You may come across mention in some writings of “Akitu” and other such pagan holiday observances as being the source or reason for the Rosh Hashanah tradition. But truth be told, there is a lot of debate and disagreement over this contention among scholars. Nevertheless, it is certainly not beyond the realm of possibility that pagan influences fueled this change in Israel’s calendar.

 

The other influence is attributed to a misreading and or misinterpretation of Torah, whereby certain rabbis have taken passages such as Exodus 23:16 (I.e., “…and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in  thy labours out of the field) and Deuteronomy 14:23-28 (I.e., speaking about Sukkot, at the end of three years thou shall bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year) as proof that the end of and beginning of Israel’s calendar year is in the same month as Rosh Hashanah or Yom Teruah. (My understanding of the manipulation of Father’s calendar by the rabbis is one of the main reasons I recently abandoned the prescribed Torah Portion system since the assigned Torah Readings are based upon the altered Hebrew calendar.)

The more liberal Jewish rabbis and Messianics will assert that Israel has received two-calendars: (1) Spring New Year=Nisan 1–Tribute/Religious Calendar (Festival Calendar), and (2) Fall New Year=Tishri 1–Civic and Agricultural Calendar.  

 

The other thing that comes to mind as it relates to this idea of possible pagan ties to the altering of the Creator’s original calendar has to do with the months of the sacred calendar year that was given to us by Father in His Word, with the exception of Aviv, having no names assigned to them. At some point in Judah’s history, pagan names were assigned to the months of the altered calendar. And some scholars have surmised that these names (e.g., Tishri, Elul, Nisan, etc.) are of Babylonian and Canaanite origin.

 

We find evidence of this in various ancient Jewish writings such as the Onkelos and Jonathon Targums (I.e., expansive versions of various books of the Tanach). These writings capture the thinking and practices of the ancients in the midst of their adding and taking away of Yah’s Word:

1 Kings 8:2 Targum Jonathon–“In the month which the ancients called the first month, on the festival, and at present it is the seventh month.”

 

As you can see, at the time the Jonathon Targum was written (~2 C.E.) the month of Tishri (what we know to be the 7th month) had become the 1st month of the Jew’s calendar year. 

 

Bottom line my friends, Rosh Hashanah cannot biblically be attached in any way to Yom Teruah. It is a Jewish Tradition that violates Torah teaching that Aviv 1 is the real head of Yah’s sacred calendar year. 

 

Jewish Writings Reveal Deep Spiritual Themes Attached to Yom Teruah

 

Not all Jewish traditions and thoughts are bad or anti-Torah in their making. Some traditions and thoughts are deeply spiritual in their application to and understanding of Torah. And the various titles that Jewish tradition and thinking have applied to Yom Teruah can, when put through the filter of Scripture, expand one’s understanding of what Yom Teruah means to Yah’s people.

 

Here are a few titles that have been applied to Yom Teruah by ancient Jewish writers. And I want you to keep in the forefront of your minds that these themes and concepts were written centuries before the Brit HaDashah was written.

 

  • Yom Teruah—Day of Trumpets Blast ( 29:1; 1 The. 4:13-17; Psm. 47).

 

  • Yom Hazikaron—Day of Remembrance—In Yom Hazikaron, the righteous Jew’s name is said to be inscribed in the Book of Remembrance, while the unrighteous’ names are scrubbed from the Book of Remembrance. 3:16-17; Lev. 23:23-25; Psa. 69:28; Dan. 12:1-2; Rev. 3:5; Luk. 10:18-20; Phil. 4:3; Heb. 12:23. Compare this ancient Jewish concept of Yom Hazikaron with Revelation 3:5: “They that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before His angels.” Revelation 13:8: And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him (I.e., the Beast), whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” And there are other Brit Hadashah references to the Book of Remembrance.

 

  • Yom Hadin—Day of Judgment. Daniel 7:9-10—Yom Teruah foreshadowing a time where the books will be opened and the Ancient of Days sitting in counsel judging those before Him.

 

  • Yom Hakeseh—Day of Concealment—Day of the Throne. 81.1-4 (Yom Teruah is the only Feast Day that falls on a new moon. This Psalms passage declares the blowing of the shofar in the new moon, in the time appointed, or in the full moon, which is “keseh” in Hebrew. “Keseh” means a concealed moon—such that the moon can not be seen by the naked eye just before the sliver of the renewed moon can be seen. The moon at this stage was considered to be concealed or “keseh.” According to Torah teacher Matthew Vander Els, the first century Sanhedrin made use of a calculated calendar (similar to one Judaism uses today) alongside their observational calendar (similar to what the Karaite Jews use today). When someone claims to have sighted the renewed moon, the Sanhedrin would confirm the observers’ claims by comparing and contrasting these two calendars. Keseh also meant throne. Blow your shofar at the new moon, the festival of the throne. The Targum of Psalms, 81:4—”Blow the horn in the month of Tishri, in the month in which the day of our festivals is concealed.” The LXX of Psm. 81:4—”Blow the trumpet at the new moon, in the glorious day of your feast.” The focus was on Yom Teruah. The gates and doors of heaven are said to be open beginning at Yom Teruah, closing at Yom Kippur. This time of the sacred calendar year would constitute 10-Days of Awe, an intimate time with Father. Psm. 24:7-10. The pre-1st century Jew saw these passages as representative of Yom Teruah. Rev. 4:1-4—the doors and gates of the Temple are open and trumpets blown to assemble the divine counsel to meet and to begin a time of judgment upon the unrighteous on the earth. This takes us back to Dan. 7. Psm. 47:1-5—Clap your hands all ye people—This can be seen as an enthronement ceremony. An enthronement ceremony such as that depicted in 2 Kin. 11:12, where the onlookers clapped their hands and declared “God save the king.”

 

  • Hayon Hashem—The Terrible “Day of the Lord.”

 

  • Zichron Teruah=Memorial of the blowing of trumpets—In Leviticus 23:24. The Hebrew word “Zichron” is sometimes translated as “memorial” or “remembrance.”

 

In Leviticus 23:23-25 we are commanded to blow trumpets and shout on this day. It’s to also be a day of remembrance, and as we mentioned earlier, we’re not told what is to be to remembered or memorialized.

 

Ancient Jewish thinking suggests that Yom Teruah is a day we are commanded by Yah to blow shofars and get Abba’s attention? It is a day, specifically, to get Abba to “pay attention” or to “remember His people.” Thus the thinking is that we shout and blow shofars and repent during Yom Teruah because we want YHVH to remember us: Lev. 26:40-42.

 

Shofar blowing is also linked to battle cries and warnings. And we know from scripture that Messiah will return with an “army to slay His enemies” (Revelation 19:11-16). Joel 2:1-17 prophesies of the alarm to be sounded for the coming Day of the Yah. 

 

As we mentioned just a moment ago, trumpet blowing is also linked to the enthronement of a king. We know that when our Master returns He will be coming “as the King of kings and Master of masters” with the shout of an archangel and resounding trumpet blast (1 Thessalonians 4:16). 

 

And Shofar blowing is linked to victory. This brings to mind the conquest of Yericho, where the people were commanded to shout and blow trumpets after the 7th circuit around Yericho on the 7th day of the siege of Yericho, resulting in the collapse of the walls of that city (Joshua 6:4-5).

 

In Temple times, when the renewed moon was sighted and verified in the 7th month in Jerusalem, at that moment the trumpet sounds and the fires are lit signaling the rosh chodesh and the start of the high sabbath, Yom Teruah. All work stops and Yom Teruah begins. The ancients described this annual event as occurring on a day and at an hour that no man knows. Compare and contrast this to Yeshua’s statement recorded in Matthew:

 

32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. 33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. (Mar 13:32-33 KJV)

 

Of special relevance to Messianics, Judaism knows Yom Teruah as the Day of the Resurrection. Compare and contrast that to 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17:

 

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1Th 4:16-17 KJV)

 

Traditionally in Judaism, Yom Teruah begins what is referred to as the “10-Days of Awe” (Yomim Nora’im), which of course leads directly into Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the sacred calendar year. The sounding of the shofar on Yom Teruah serves as a wake-up call to the observant Jew to “teshuvah” (I.e., return) to the commandments of YHVH. Thus these 10-days that are sandwiched in-between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur are supposed to be days of solemn, deep introspection. There is an urgent sense of repentance during this time.

 

Biblical Eschatological Applications to Yom Teruah

 

Many teachers in our Faith have taken a position whereby they will not surmise about eschatological events being tied to the Fall Feasts of Yah. Their position is that we must stick only to what’s written in the Book. Well, as wise as that thinking may be, it seems to me that when individuals who hold such thoughts keep the Feasts of Yah, their Spirit and Truth keeping of the Feasts is severely lacking. Indeed, as long as we resist the tug of making our eschatological links to the Feasts of Yah doctrinal, I believe Yah is quite pleased with us when we search out His Word for the spiritual attachments to His set-apart days that are outlined for us in His Torah.

 

We find in Leviticus 23:1-23 an outline of the Spring Feasts of YHVH. But in verse 24, Yah commands us to not harvest the outskirts of our fields, but to leave those unharvested sections of our fields for the Gentiles to glean. Then in verse 25 Yah goes into an outline of the Fall Feasts of YHVH.

 

Earlier we discussed that the Annual Feasts of Yah are shadows or depictions of good things to come. Another way of looking at this is found in the Hebrew term for “convocation,” which is “miqra.” Miqrah has been interpreted by many as “rehearsals.” When viewed from the perspective of convocations being rehearsals, the Feasts of Yah can be viewed as rehearsals of Yah’s glorious Plan of Redemption, Salvation and Restoration.

 

Thus from an eschatological perspective, is it conceivable that Yah’s commands that we leave portions of our fields unharvested be a foreshadowing of the provisions that Father has made in His Plan of Salvation, Redemption and Restoration for the Gentile? Are we now living under that foreshadowed provision that is depicted in this commandment? Why not? We know that Yah has indeed made provisions, as we discussed earlier, for us to be engrafted into the commonwealth of Israel.

 

So Yom Teruah embodies the gathering of the Gentiles into the commonwealth of Israel. Yom Teruah also embodies the collecting of Yah’s elect from the 4-corners of the world:

 

Mat. 24:30-31—The collecting of Yah’s elect at the sound of the ram’s horn.

 

2 Thes. 2:1-17–The coming of Messiah as the conquering King and the gathering of the bride.

 

Yom Teruah also embodies the resurrection of the “dead in Messiah”:

 

1 Cor. 15:52—in a moment at the last trump, the trump will sound and the dead will raise imperishable and we shall be changed.

 

Yom Teruah is about making noise because of the enthronement of our King:

 

Revelation 19:9—The Marriage Supper of Messiah. (Cf. Revelation 19:16; 21:5—as our Master will be crowned King of kings and Master of masters.)

 

As was part of the mystery of Yom Teruah coming on a day and at an hour no man knows because it is a Day of Concealment, we are reminded the Day of Yah:

 

“…will come as a thief in the night” (2 Peter 3:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:2).

 

Yom Teruah foreshadows Yeshua returning as the conquering King!

 

 29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Mat 24:29-31 KJV)

 

Folks, this is literally the reason for the season.

 

1 The. 4:13-17—We have a hope and expectation.  This is the gathering where the bridegroom receives His bride and takes her to His Kingdom. The elements of this moment is that of a shout and the voice of an archangel and the blast of the shofar. The shaking from the noise that will be made from heaven when Yeshua returns is going to be jarring. Recall the assembling of the people at the foot of Mount Sinai?

 

Yom Teruah is supposed to be a joyous day. It’s the day the bridegroom comes for His bride. This is why we Messianics and Rooters celebrate the way we do. 

We’ve clearly seen depicted in the Apostolic writings where Yom Teruah is linked to the return of Messiah. That return will be marked by great “joy for Yah’s elect.” But for the enemies of Yah and the nations of this world, Yom Teruah is depicted as a time of “judgment” and sorrow and fear. 

 

From the modern Messianic perspective, when we factor in all that we’ve been discussing, we can clearly see that we are commanded by Father on Yom Teruah to make a lot of noise. This noise-making day is in a sense a rehearsal. It is a day where Yah’s elect rehearse the return of Mashiyach (I.e., Messiah) to this earth. And we know from scripture that Master’s return will be accompanied by shouts and shofar/trumpet blasts.

 

Yom Teruah Call to Action

 

So this is what I want you to do this coming Yom Teruah if you are so led and willing:

  1. If you get this message in time, purchase a shofar depending upon your budget and your confidence level in learning to properly (or as near as you can get) blow it. There are (not to be insulting) plastic children shofars that you can purchase that have a “gazzoo” type mechanism built into them that when blown, generate a sound similar to that of a ram’s horn that will suit the occasion just right.

 

  1. Pray, (and if you are so inclined and led) fast and study in the days leading up to Yom Teruah to prepare to receive the day when it arrives.

 

  1. If you’re working, see about getting the day off. If you’re not slated to work, make sure you have the day clear to dedicate the entire 24-hours to Yah.

 

  1. Keep your eye and mind on the calendar so that you are aware when the day arrives.

 

  1. Make a joyful noise unto Yah when the day arrives, throughout the day.

 

  1. Convocate with like-minded brethren on the day if possible. If possible, join a fellowship with like-minded brethren on the day. If you don’t have any opportunity to do so, contact me immediately and I’ll send you a link to an online fellowship Hilary and I will be participating in on Yom Teruah.

 

  1. Read associated scriptural passages throughout the day and meditate on his Word. Meditate on the themes of the Day such as teshuvah, resurrection, remembrance, enthronement, salvation, judgment, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, etc.

 

  1. Feast and celebrate the day with joy and passion, keeping in mind: 11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. (Rom 13:11-14 KJV)

 

Have a blessed, powerful and meaningful Yom Teruah my friends.