of the Foundations of our Faith, a Messianic (Ha Meshean) Movement within the Hebraic in the first century.
My aim is to make this a "practical, hands on, how to" type of teaching. The theoretical is important but I'm concerned with helping people to get started, because if we never start restoring our lost heritage, we can never be, in my estimation, truly what God desires for us to become.
I've also learned that many are resistant to this concept, concerned that by reintroducing the Jewishness of our faith, we somehow violate the spirit of Gods grace. So I have chosen to introduce the subject by extending an invitation - an invitation to explore the riches of Gods grace and the spiritual truths God has painted within the traditions and customs of Biblical Hebraic; an invitation to open the eyes of our understanding that we may better know our Jewish Messiah, and to celebrate our great salvation and redemption, that the Merciful One has so graciously bestowed upon us. Anyone care to join me?
How many of you have seen the movie, "Fiddler On The Roof"? Remember the opening song?
Tradition! Tradition! Anyone who has seen this movie is aware of the importance of tradition in Jewish culture. It has been with the Jewish people for several thousand years -- and the foundation of Jewish life and practice has long been the Hebrew Scriptures.
Every culture has it's own traditions, whether it be Israel, Africa, China or the Western Church. Even those who say they are "non-traditional" have, in reality, established their own new tradition. Before you accuse me of "waxing philosophic" let me clarify by saying I only say this to point out that the issue isn't whether Believers in Y'shua (Jesus) have traditions or not, but what the approach should be to those traditions.
In this study, we're going to look into some traditions and customs that are usually identified as "Jewish". The fact is that they are actually "Biblical" customs. This means that these traditions are not only significant to Jews, but that any Bible-Believer can be blessed by an understanding of Biblical culture. After all, most Christians are aware that Messiah lived as a Jew within the land of Israel. He had a Hebrew name, Y'shua (The Creator's Salvation), and all His earliest disciples were Jewish.
Unfortunately, many Gentile believers have had little, if any, exposure to the Jewish roots of their own faith. It's a great tragedy that the Christian community has not understood, for the most part, the rich heritage on which it's faith is built. The Jewish people also need to take a fresh look at the Biblical/Jewish customs to understand their True meaning and Purpose. Many in the Jewish community are being challenged to see the connection between Jewish culture and the Brit HaDasha - the New Testament.
Today, hundreds of thousands of Jewish people believe that Y'shua is the Messiah and the savior of mankind. They are rediscovering that Y'shua was a Jew. However, Colossians 3: Says, Now there's no Jew, no Greek, no Free, no Slave, but we are all a Part of His Body. (The Body Of Y'shua) In addition, we all should still learn the True Biblical Hebrew ways as Believers in Him.
Looking at Jesus against His Jewish background enables us to recognize and appreciate His great influence on those around Him. He was part and parcel of the world of the Jewish Sages. He was no ignorant peasant and His acquaintance with the Written and Oral Law was considerable. The Biblical customs are key to unlocking the depths of Scripture. What better way to understand the Messiah that to study the context of the New Testament?
I know that we've become afraid of the word "tradition" Why do you think that is?
Now, I want to clarify that I don't think everyone needs to run out and get themselves a yarmulke (the small covering for men's heads), talite (big covering or closet tent for men) & tzittzit (the belt that the men always wore with knots in them) or they're second-class citizens of the Kingdom. This isn't about legalism. In Salvation through Y'shua helps us keep the Law & the Biblical customs & is based on Y'shua's atoning sacrifice and resurrection. Do remember, that Y'shua only came to abolish the sacrifices law. He was the last Sacrifice. There is no more atonement for sin now. He didn't come to abolish all of the laws. But to Re:explain what they Truly meant to the Pharisees. Many Gentiles need them re:explained to them.
This is about gaining an understanding of the Biblical customs and exploring the spiritual Blessings to be gained from that understanding. Historically, the church has had a deficient understanding of its roots in part because of its fear of legalism. What I find ironic is that the Christian world has often rejected the True Biblical/Jewish traditions and substituted non-biblical ones. The danger of legalism is always there, yet incredible spiritual blessing can be found through a Biblically based study. So we'll seek a balanced approach to understanding the importance and the danger of traditions.
Traditions are not the only element of a Jewish Roots study. As we begin to objectively study the New Testament, we find there is no escaping the inherent Jewishness of faith in Y'shua. He was a traditional Jew living in the land of Israel. He called other Jews to follow Him as Mesheack (Messiah) the anointed one from God. His early followers considered themselves to be Jews who had found the promised Messiah, and naturally continued the Jewish expression of their faith.
The acceptance of Y'shua didn't mean they converted to a new religion. The Jewish believers actually saw themselves as having received the fulfillment of what was spoken of in the Tanakh - the Hebrew Scriptures. They understood this to mean they were now Messianic (Hameshean)Jews who would naturally continue in their God-given heritage.
A look at Acts 21:20 confirms this: "You see brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and they are all zealous for the Torah." The early believers continued in the only lifestyle they knew, and their new understanding that Y'shua was Messiah (Mesheack) made them even more zealous for their traditions because their eyes had been opened to the spiritual reasons behind them. I'll illustrate this in a moment, but first I want to point out that Gentile Believers were not excluded. Paul wrote to many of them concerning their new life in Mesheack: "Therefore brothers, stand firm, and hold to the traditions you were taught by us, whether we spoke them or wrote them in a letter" (2 Thess 2:15) These non-Jewish believers understood many of the details of the Hebrew Scriptures and embraced them. An example of this is the cup shared at Mesheack's last Passover Seder. The element is not mandated in the Hebrew Scriptures, yet it became part of the tradition (there's that word again) of Passover. This third cup is called the Cup of Redemption and, although it is a rabbinical tradition, it was blessed by Y'shua Himself.
Now, back to the promised illustration. I'll continue with the Passover traditions and explain the Matzah Tosh (Matzah means, of course, unleavened bread and "tosh" means "pouch"). The Matzah Tosh is a pouch with 3 separate compartments, or pockets.
The matzah itself has to be prepared according to certain specifications: It must be pierced, to avoid any chance of it's rising and giving the appearance of containing leaven - and it must be striped, to show that it has been properly baked. During the Seder, a piece of unleavened bread is placed into each of these pockets and at a certain point the middle piece is taken out and broken in half. Part of the broken piece is placed back into its pocket in the tosh and the other is wrapped in white linen and "buried".
The Seder continues until it is time to eat the meal itself. Afterwards, before the celebration can resume, the children are sent in search of the broken piece, which has become known as the afikomen (a Greek word meaning "that which comes after" or "that which comes again"). The child who finds it returns to the Father and is given a reward. Does anyone see any significance to this tradition?
I plan on teaching about the Passover in more detail at some point, but for now I'll cut to the chase and give the Messianic (Hameshean) interpretation.
The description of the matzah, it's apperance in itself, helps us to understand. When the middle matzah is taken from the tosh, it represents Y'shua being sent to earth and made visable to us. The matzah is then broken into two pieces, one representative of His Spirit, which is returned to the matzah tosh. The other representative of His body, which is wrapped in white linen and buried. The matzah is brought back, just as Y'shua was brought back from death and the grave. The one who finds this is given a great reward, just as we are given when we "find" our Meshea.
It was this piece - the afikomen - that Y'shua held up before His disciples that night and said, "This is my body, given for you." Each year at Passover, Hameshean Believers continue to "do this in remembrance" of Him, to celebrate not only our redemption from slavery to Egypt, but the greater redemption provided to us by Mesheack from our slavery to sin and death.
That was just a brief explanation of one of many "pictures" of Mesheack God has painted in the traditions of one of the Biblical Feasts. It's like a Treasure Hunt, God has placed within the traditions and customs of biblical Judaism hidden blessings that can only be discovered, only be experienced, if we know where to look. It is my desire to help all believers to discover these "buried treasures".
The Christian church should also study it's own Hebraic roots, manifest in the Scriptures we know as the Old and New Testaments. Both of these, however, have their origins in distant lands with a culture and language quite foreign to us today.
The basic message of the Bible is clear. It tells us to "seek out the book of the (Hashem) LORD and read." "This is what the LORD says: Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls."
The way found to be "good" by previous generations tends to be forgotten. The Arabs say that "the road is wiser than the man". Knowing that all who are partakers of the promise share in the heritage of Israel should motivate us to seek a better understanding of just what that heritage is. The fact that we have become increasingly distanced from the Hebraic roots of our faith, gives us good reason to embark on our own spiritual genealogical search.
Scripture makes it abundantly clear that believers in Y'shua have not been planted separately from Israel but have been "grafted in among the others" - the others most definitely being Israel. (See Romans 11 & Ephesians 2) The facts are simply not a matter of debate. All the first disciples of Y'shua were Jewish. The New Testament was entirely written by Jews with the possible exception of Luke, (although, given the depth of understanding of Judaism displayed in his writings, he was, in all likelihood, a Jewish proselyte.) The very concept of a Mesheack is nothing but Jewish.
Christianity, no matter how un-Jewish some of its current forms of expression may be, has its Hebraic roots and in the Jewish people. The Lord's Supper is rooted in the Jewish Passover and Sabbath traditions; baptism is a Jewish practice [mikvah]; and indeed the entire New Testament is built on the Hebrew Bible, with its prophecies and its promise of a New Covenant, so that the New testament without the Old is as impossible as the second floor of a house without the first.
There is an adage, "The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed." I think this weak view of Scripture that has led our generation to lose so much in spiritual maturity. A much better way of expressing the relation between the Hebrew & Greek scriptures is, "The New is in the Old contained, the Old is in the New explained."
I'm going to close with one more illustration of the significance of an understanding of our "Jewish Roots". Much of what is written in the New Testament is incomprehensible and easily misinterpreted and misunderstood apart from sound knowledge. To illustrate, let me ask this question: What is an evil eye?
Someone not knowing the Jewish background might suppose he was talking about casting spells. But in Hebrew, having an "evil eye," means being stingy; while having a "good eye," means being generous. Y'shua is warning against lack of generosity and nothing else. Moreover, this fits the context perfectly: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.... You cannot serve both G-d and money."
This emphasis on "Jewish Roots" has, or should have one glorious goal. That goal is to seek to help the Body of Mesheack to more fully understand and appreciate the Scriptures in depth and to come to know our Lord & Savior better and more intimately. What higher goal can any of us have?
[PART 3 COMING SOON]
Justice Felix Frankfurter -U.S. Supreme Court "The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise their power from behind the scenes."
World War III is being fought NOW. It is being fought with "Information Warfare" using psychological warfare, sophisticated mind control techniques, propaganda, misinformation, intimidation, fear, and manipulation. It is, in fact, a usually quiet war being fought mostly with silent weapons... but it will become very loud and very destructive. "Ordo Ab Chao" dictates that the old order be completely and thoroughly destroyed before the "new order," the Third Wave, or Third Way, can be established.
WILLIAM COOPER IN his WEB-SITE HOUR OF THE TIME 2,001.
ON YOUR WALLS, JERUSALEM, I HAVE SET WATCHMEN. DAY OR NIGHT THEY MUST NEVER BE SILENT --- Isaiah 62:6
(THE JERUSALEM BIBLE )
BO RUACH ELOHIM ----COME SPIRIT OF G*D ! !
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. (2Peter 1:20)
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2Timothy 3:16,17)
PSALM 105:15, EPHSNS 6:12;
1 JOHN 2:26,27;
REVELATION 3:7-13; 14:14;2 THESS. 2:10-12; JAMES 4:4;�REVL. 14:14-16, REVL. 20: 1, 4 & 5, 10; 1 JOHN 2:26,27
TRULY READ HIS WORD IF YOU DARE ! ! ! ! ~
