Shabbat Shalom (continued)

Letter 195 (Shabbat Shalom)     05/09/03

Following last week’s letter of “Shabbat Shalom”, I would like to share a few more thoughts on this very theme. Last week I mentioned that in his letter to the Colossians Paul had asserted that the weekly Shabbat was a shadow of “things yet to come”. Pondering on the subject, it had occurred to me that in this context Paul might be referring to the seventh epoch of creation.  In our day and age it has been suggested by some Bible scholars that we are in the waning hours of the sixth day of humanity.  If this is true, then we need to perk up our ears and take note of the instructions that our forefathers were given (in the wilderness), namely to gather on the sixth day a double portion (of the manna), as on the seventh there would be none.

Yeshua told the parable of the ten virgins, five wise and five foolish. The wise ones trimmed their wicks and went out while it was still day to buy oil for their lamps, just in case the bridegroom would come during the night hours (see Matt. 25:1-13). In Biblical terms the day starts in the evening, and so if the coming of the seventh day is going into the night we must make sure that we have plenty of oil for our lamps, or if we use the manna imagery, we must make certain that we have enough for the approaching ‘day’.  Secondly, are the ten virgins in this story a reference to the ten lost tribes, those that have been redeemed through the new covenant and are now looked upon as a chaste virgin?  “Again I will build you and you will be built, O virgin of Israel: you will again be adorned with your tabrets, and go forth in the dances of them that make merry.  You will yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters will plant, and shall eat them as common things” (Jer. 31:4-5).

Now to this week’s thoughts regarding the writings of the apostles in the light of the only scriptures that they had, that is the Tanach (Old Testament).  In order to explain their revelation, as they received it from the Holy One, there is no doubt that Yeshua’s apostles used words and terms that they were familiar with from the Hebrew Script.   Let us bear in mind that the New Testament was compiled almost 400 years after the apostles had composed their letters, and that by that time the (gentile) Church was persecuting the Jewish Messianic communities and moving away from its Hebraic roots.  So we, who are reading and studying the word from the New Covenant writings, must keep in mind their true origin. We therefore have to rely on the Holy One to teach us and to interpret for us the letters of the apostles from the viewpoint of the Tanach.  With all that said, I want to look at a couple of scriptures from the letters to the Romans and to the Ephesians, pointing out a few words as examples for further research and study.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30).

“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Eph 1:4-5).

Who are the subjects of these letters, that is, the “them” and the “us”, who have been called, chosen and predestined to be justified/sanctified and glorified? Who are the “called, chosen and predestined” in the writings of the Torah and Prophets?  I would propose that Abraham and Isaac were the “called”, Jacob the “chosen”, and the latter’s progeny were the “predestined” to be redeemed through the new covenant, as well as to be sanctified, justified and glorified. 

If we were to read the writings of the apostles from what we have learned about the will and purpose of the God of Israel for His firstborn nation, His elect people, His inheritance, the people for His name sake, we would find an amazing revelation of His faithfulness to His word and to the covenant promises that He made to our forefathers.  We would be dumb-founded at the love that He has for them and us, their seed, even in the state of sin and iniquity.  His mercy truly endures forever and His justice to all generations.  I hope that you will study these words in depth in the Tanach, and then go back and read the letters of the apostles and see if what they are saying does not line up with the whole counsel of YHVH.  It is rather sad that too often we rely on ‘Constantinian’ churchmen to define for us what the New Covenant writings are all about, instead of lining them up with that body of writing (that is the Tanach) which was the very soil from which their revelation sprouted and grew.

There is much deception and counterfeiting going on in Babylon’s various religious systems.  This is why our perspective of YHVH’s plan of redemption and restoration must be rooted in the Torah and the Prophets.  YHVH is intent on reconciling two sides of the same family, house and nation.  I am quite sure that He is not bringing two or more religious systems together, calling it the “One New Man”. If such a bogus creature should ever come into being, it could perhaps be termed “One New Religious Man”!

YHVH is in the process of restoring us back to the Garden of His delight (Eden) and that has to do with a pure, holy and glorified relationship with Him, through the death, burial and resurrection of our Messiah. 

“Thus says YHVH: "When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob” (Ez. 28:25).  This conditional statement upon returning to the land obviously does not pertain to the House of Judah/Israel, but to the second stick/nation that is being gathered, that is, the tree/nation of Joseph in the hand of Ephraim and all Israel (ref. Ez. 37:16).

Ephraim