Torah – Page 9 – Snapshots

Make Thee Fringes

One of the simplest commands in Scripture, and one of the easiest to obey, is to make fringes or tassels in the borders of our outer garments. (De 22:12) It’s God’s way of helping us remember to keep His laws (Nu 15:39-40), sort of like an accountability partner. The only requirement is that they be visible, fringe-like attachments, and that each one contain a strand of blue. (Nu 15:38)

Wearing an external symbol of our obligation to obey all of God’s commands reminds us and those around us that we are set apart for God, to walk in His ways. Those who aren’t pursuing God see this as unusual and unique, perhaps religious, expecting something different of us, something better, everywhere we go. It is, in fact, like making the whole world our accountability partner, one soul at a time, a constant check on and reinforcement against any temptation or ungodly impulse.

One might reason that this can’t be part of the “moral law” since it’s so simple and mechanical, but reminding ourselves to be good, and enabling others to expect this of us, certainly is moral; it’s very helpful and beneficial; there’s nothing amoral or arbitrary about it.

Others might reason that this must be a distinctively Jewish law, and that non-Jews are off the hook. But why would any believer reason like this while God’s in the process of writing all His Laws into their very heart and mind? (He 8:10) Jesus Himself tells us not to think this way, and to keep all God’s commands, even the least of them. (Mt 5:17-19) God’s whole point in giving us His Law is to bless Mankind with a revelation of Himself: He gave it to the Jews so they could teach it to the rest of us, living it out as an example of His righteous ways. (De 4:6-7)

We can’t rightly divvy up God’s Law and say some of it’s for Jews and some of it isn’t, or that some of it’s important and the rest isn’t; its one law for us all. To despise and neglect this simple command, a gateway command to the vast treasures of Torah, is essentially to despise all of God’s ways and laws. (Ja 2:10-11) Yet Paul delighted in all of God’s Law (Ro 7:22), and so should we; our souls should be breaking for the longing we have for His judgments at all times (Ps 119:20), loving His laws intensely (Ps 119:97), hiding them in our hearts (Ps 119:11) and meditating on them all the time. (Ps 119:15)

God’s commandments are given to us for our benefit; He intends a blessing for us in every single one of them. (Ps 1:2-3) Who among us couldn’t use a little more blessing? Starting with the easy, mechanical, external ones can help us train our hearts in keeping the more motive-oriented internal ones.

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How Much More

In our pursuit of truth, YHWH encourages us to use induction, showing us how to draw general conclusions from specific details.

For example, He says, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Mt 7:11) In saying “how much more,” God is telling us how discover more of His faithfulness by observing parents: since He gives parental instinct to move even evil people to care for their children, we should reason that He will certainly care for His own. (Is 1:18)

We learn similarly by beholding the fowls: if God takes care of the birds, how much more will He take care of us? (Lk 12:24) These samples just scratch the surface.

Jehovah has provided His Law to equip us to discern His will in any conceivable situation. (2Ti 3:16-17) He’s done this by writing it in such a way that we can employ induction to discern innumerable related truths from the truth He’s already provided. (Ps 119:18)

Torah establishes the boundary conditions of morality, and we can use these as axioms to derive any and all truth we need to walk with God. (2Ti 3:16-17) We will certainly make mistakes, but we can check and correct ourselves by loving the truth, allowing no contradiction with any text of scripture, and humbly considering all challenges in their strongest possible form.

We don’t get this treasure by merely reading scripture; it comes from hiding it in our heart, meditating on it and praying through it, asking God to reveal Himself to us through a living Word. (Ps 119:99)

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What God Hath Cleansed

God’s Law identifies certain animals like swine, shrimp and catfish as unclean, unfit for our consumption (Le 11:7,12), but most Christians ignore His instruction, thinking these dietary laws aren’t for us today.

A key text is Acts 10, where Peter was admonished for refusing to eat certain animals God had cleansed, but which Peter identified as “common“. (Ac 10:14)

Peter was looking at a sheet swarming with all kinds of animals, apparently including some clean ones (Ac 10:12), and concluded that even the clean ones were unfit to eat due to being in close contact with the others.

God was teaching Peter that engaging with those who aren’t Jewish wouldn’t defile him, which was a Jewish teaching (Ac 10:28) hindering the spread of the gospel. (Ac 11:19) The Jewish disciples never understood from this that God had changed the dietary laws, and continued keeping them faithfully. (Act 21:20)

Every creature which God has set apart for human consumption is clearly identified in His Law (1Ti 4:4-5), and — for eating — He’s called the rest abominable. (De 14:3) Does God mind if those He loves are eating junk? Of course He does.

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No Greater Burden

When the Apostles are first wrestling with how to integrate believing Gentiles into God’s spiritual community, they make a radical break with historic Judaism, which requires us all to become Jewish in order to be right with God. (Ac 15:1-2) The Apostles note that both nationality and culture have nothing to do with salvation. (Ac 15:11)

In addition, the Apostles recommend four things necessary for Gentiles to be welcome in synagogues (Ac 15:28-29), where they might hear Torah read and explained every Shabbat. (Ac 15:21) They include rules which aren’t actually in Torah,* so the Apostles aren’t identifying a subset of Mosaic Law pertinent to Gentiles; they’re providing helpful, extra-biblical guidelines which are easily derived from Torah.

They’re also sensitive to the fact that even these basic rules may pose an inconvenience, a burden of sorts for new believers embedded in pagan culture, affecting their ability to engage in society as they had before. These types of changes are often necessary, but must be proposed with sensitivity and a certain lenience, especially at first. The apostles start with no greater burden than the very basics, and have the Holy Spirit’s approval.

In handling this crisis, the Apostles say nothing like: “Gentiles don’t have to obey X and Y laws of Torah”. Such sentiment dishonors Christ’s command that His disciples teach all nations to observe all things He’s commanded them (Mt 28:19-20), ignores His teaching that even the least of Torah’s commands are obligatory (Mt 5:19), and denies its universal profitability. (2Ti 3:16-17)

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Purge the Leaven

The feast of unleavened bread teaches us to purge sin from our lives and communities; we are unleavened, designed to live without sin, because Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. (1Co 5:7-8)

Ice Cave in Mutnovsky Volcano, Kamchatka, Russia

Those who sin deliberately, as a manner of life, don’t belong to God (1Jn 3:9), so as believers we’re already obeying God as best we can (Ps 119:22) and asking Him to help us where we’re powerless to do better. (Ps 119:35) So the sins and faults we’re to purge are often hidden from us: secret faults, where we’re deceived about the way. How do we purge those kinds of sins, those we don’t yet know about?

Our spirit is God’s candle, searching all our inward parts. (Pr 20:27) Since God knows us better than we know ourselves, we can ask Him to take us on a tour of our own hearts (Je 17:10), pointing out secret faults where we need cleansing and healing. (Ps 19:12) We can do this because we’re safe with Him: He loves us infinitely just as we are, with all our brokenness, so there’s no need to be defensive or elusive with Him, even when He’s indignant with us.

With Him inside helping us, we can search our own hearts for hints of secrets faults, looking for clues both in our failings and in the accusations of others. We may be blind to our own sin, but others can generally see them, at least partially. When someone takes the time to blame us for something, or if we can easily see on our own that we’re at fault, let’s despise the shame (Heb 12:2), looking for the underlying belief or character flaw and asking God to deliver, heal and cleanse us. Let’s not fear finding faults in ourselves; let’s fear allowing hidden sin to continue to corrupt our witness, and service for God. (Php 2:12)

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Christ the Firstfruits

Christ our Passover (1Co 5:7) is also the firstfruitsof God’s harvest (1Co 15:23); He’s the firstborn from the dead (Col 1:18), the first of many to rise again eternally. It’s a savor of both life and death. (2Co 2:15-16)

The resurrection of Christ proves everyone shall rise from the dead (Jn 5:28), some to endless splendor and joy, some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Da 12:2) As when we plant crops and expect a harvest, we see the same in spiritual things: we reap what we sow, later than we sow, and more than we sow. (Ga 6:7-8)

Regardless what we sow, our sowing comprises God’s eternal harvest as well as our own. (Re 14:14) He shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend and cast them into a fiery furnace (Mt 13:41), and He will also gather a harvest of His saints together to Himself to enjoy forever. (Ps 50:5)

On this day of Firstfruits, let the resurrection of Jesus remind us that we’re destined for eternity. We’re part of an everlasting crop, a harvest in God’s eternal plan, so let’s bring forth fruit befitting of resurrection life. (Mt 3:12) Jesus overcame death in every sense that it could be conquered, and He lives in His elect to do the same. (Col 1:27) There is no temptation or trial too strong for Him. (Jn 16:33)

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Your Lamb

In preparation for the Lord’s Passover (Ex 12:11), we’re to choose a spotless lamb to represent our house and keep it for four days, a lamb for each household. (Ex 12:3) At this stage it’s any blemish free lamb, a generic lamb.

Once a lamb is selected, a determination is made as to which household(s) it represents. Then a lamb becomes the lamb (Ex 12:4), the one lamb to represent the household(s) for which it is chosen.

Once the lamb-to-household relationship is established, the lamb becomes your lamb. The family spends time getting to know their lamb, verifying that it has no blemish. (Ex 12:5) They inspect it, and become deeply familiar with it. Then, in place of their own firstborn, they kill their lamb on the 14th day. (Ex 12:6)

As in all God’s feasts, He’s giving us a window, a picture, a hint of how to walk with Him.

Jesus Christ is not just a passover lamb; He is not just the passover lamb. It’s not enough to know that Jesus is a savior, one among many. Neither is it enough to know that Christ is the savior, the one and only. Yeshua, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Jewish Messiah, must become our passover (1Co 5:7); until He is our savior, whom we have chosen for ourselves, to represent our souls in the day of judgment, getting to know Him, and He us, we have nothing. (Mt 7:21-23)

Let’s choose Christ deliberately and deeply, giving diligence to make our calling and election sure (2Pe 1:10), getting to know everything about Him that we can (Php 3:10), personalizing His work and connecting with His nature and character. Let’s behold the beauty, feed in the majesty, and enjoy the unfathomable riches of Christ! (Eph 3:8)

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That Which Decays

Basic physics tells us that closed systems tend to greater and greater disorder; they deteriorate and decay over time. So at its beginning our universe must have been highly ordered, which can only be by design.

A similar principle applies in spiritual things: God creates perfectly, then often allows Man to corrupt His work, causing ethical and moral decay.

For example, the earthly temple of Israel, a replica of the heavenly in its architecture, sacrifices and ceremonies (He 8:5), has decayed and vanished twice: the first time in 597 BCE and again in 70 CE. God’s people didn’t use the temple as He intended, to reveal Himself and His salvation to the world. (Mk 11:17) They corrupted His way so deeply and were such poor witnesses that God destroyed His temple and scattered His people to the four winds.

As in its first destruction, this last devastation of the Temple doesn’t mean it’s obsolete; it has merely vanished for a season. (He 8:13) The whole system will be restored one day, fully operational again. (Re 11:1) Its precepts and symbolism are still relevant.

God’s purposes are often mysterious; in being omnipotent, He generally reveals Himself through weakness; being beauty itself, He veils Himself in dullness (Is 53:2); He calls us to fullness of joy through suffering (2Co 4:17), even allowing Man to kill the eternal Prince of Life (Ac 3:15) to reveal through Man the power of His resurrection. (Php 3:10)

Just because God lets something die and decay doesn’t necessarily mean He’s through with it.

Perfecting Holiness

Holiness isn’t popular, yet only the holy will see God (He 12:14): He calls us to godly fear in perfecting it (2Co 7:1), continually cleansing ourselves of all uncleanness, all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. What does this mean? How do we do it?

Holiness is about our heart’s alignment with God’s Law, Torah, the law of love (Mt 22:37-40); it’s God’s measure of how disposed we are to seek His pleasure, of our inclination and tendency to love others as ourselves in deed and in truth.

So how would we live if we cared deeply for God and others? Perfecting holiness is striving every day to live out our answer to this question, exercising our inner selves, training our souls in godliness, purifying our spirits in seeking and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto authenticity and love (1Pe 1:22), seeking the pleasure of God and the good of others in every thought and choice. It’s continuous improvement for life. (Php 3:14)

Thankfully, the pursuit of holiness is itself the work of God, to make us increase and abound in love toward others, so that He may stablish us unblamable in holiness before Himself. (1Th 3:12) As we wrestle this out in daily life He strives in and through our striving (Col 1:29), ensuring our victory (1Co 15:57): He will be glorified in and through us. (2Th 1:10)

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The New Month

Since the moon is central in the timing of God’s feasts, celebrating each new month is natural in God’s kingdom. (Is 66:23)

YHWH doesn’t tell us exactly how to do this, but it’s easy for saints to come together under an open sky to worshipfully enjoy each new moon. Like anything else, the more familiar we are with lunar phases the easier this will be.

Monthly worship rhythms keep us aligned with God’s calendar in community, and encourage us to anticipate and prepare for each biblical feast as it approaches, keeping us in touch with God’s prophetic timeline. (Col 2:16)

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