Tag: Messiah

Tazria (She Conceives) Vayikra/Leviticus 12:1-13:59

Tazria(She Conceives)Vayikra/Leviticus 12:1-13:59

Haftorah Reading: II Kings 4:42-5:19

This Torah portion may seem at first glance to have little to do with us or our world. However, as we go over it tonight I pray each of us will see the biblical truths within these verses, truths that will give us a far better understanding of how it speaks exactly to us today.

Shemini (Eighth) Vayikra/Leviticus 9:1-11:47

Shemini(Eighth)Vayikra/Leviticus 9:1-11:47
Haftorah Reading: II Samuel 6:1-7:17
 
Tonight I want us to look at our portion and search for new revelation and connections to our faith. Let’s look at Leviticus 10:17 and see how it relates to us. To do this we will later look at Isaiah 25:8 and I Corinthians 15:52, 54.
 
To begin, let us examine Leviticus 10:17 from our Torah portion. This verse covers the rebuke of Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar by Moshe.  The verse reads, “Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of holiness, for it is the holy of the holies, and He gave her to you to take away the sin of the congregation.” Remember this rebuke came immediately after Nadav and Avihu had perished after bringing strange fire before the L-rd. Their death was caused by them being overcome with zeal. This action caused the fire of G-d to come forth and kill both boys.  This in its self teaches us an important lesson. Zeal for G-d is a good thing unless it causes us to lose sight of the holiness of G-d and as a result lose respect for His word. Even in our zeal there are boundaries not to be crossed.

Vayetze (History) B’resheet/Genesis 28:10-32:3

Torah Portion: Vayetze(History) B’resheet/Genesis 28:10-32:3

Haftorah Reading: Hosea 11:7-13:5

Today we look at a Torah portion that covers a long span of the life of Jacob. It begins when he is leaving the land of Israel and continues until twenty years later when he is returning home from Haran. He left with only the clothes on his back and returned a wealthy man with many cattle, sheep,11 sons and one daughter. Our Torah portion reveals many details of the 20 years he was in exile.  He left Israel after a prophetic dream in which G-d promised to protect him and bring him back home to the land. (Genesis 28:13)

Noah B’resheet/Genesis 6:9-11:32

Torah Portion: Noah B’resheet/Genesis 6:9-11:32

Haftorah Reading: Isaiah 54:1-55:5

Today we read the second portion from the book of Genesis. In this portion there are many subjects we can cover. I will try to pick two or three for our time together.

To begin, I want to look at Genesis 7:2, 8. In these two verses we see Noah is commanded by G-d to take seven pairs of clean beasts and one pair of unclean beasts. What are we to make of this? Why did G-d specifically tell him to bring seven pairs of clean animals and only one pair of unclean? Remember, this is 400 years before we will see this again appear in Torah in Leviticus chapter 11. In Leviticus the scripture goes into more detail about what animals are clean and which ones are unclean.  

Pinchas Numbers/B’midbar 25:10-30:1

 Pinchas Numbers/B’midbar 25:10-30:1
Haftorah Reading: I Kings 18:46-19:21
Messianic Scripture  Matt. 26:1-20, John 2:13-22, Acts 2:1-21
 
Today I would like to cover what I feel are two very important topics. First I want to discuss my question on how we see the relationship between G-d the Father and Yeshua. My interest in this was sparked by reading an article posted on Facebook where the writer gave a long list of the foundations of his faith, covering many topics. In his article he only mentioned Yeshua, never bringing G-d into the picture of his faith. Yeshua was all and everything in his view. This was troubling to me and caused me to revisit the subject of how I see this question in my own life.

Shavuot 2020

The promise of the Holy Spirit Tonight will be a bit different in that we will have no Torah section to read. However, we will use this time to look at the holiday we are currently celebrating, the holiday of Shavuot. To begin, I want to take a few minutes to share some personal thoughts […]

D’Varim (Deuteronomy) 1:1-3:22

Torah Portion: D’Varim (Deuteronomy) 1:1-3:22

Haftorah Reading Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 1:1-27

 

Tonight, we begin the last book of the Torah. First I would like to discuss why we study the Torah each Sabbath and how important it is to know how it connects with the Messianic Scriptures. One scripture we can look at is Acts chapter two. We have mentioned this before but it is worth repeating. In the opening words we read where the believers in Yeshua were gathered together on the holiday of Shavuot in Jerusalem when they were empowered by the Spirit of G-d to speak to the Jews who had come to celebrate this holiday.

Chukat (Regulations) B’midbar(Numbers) 19:1-22:1

Torah Portion: Chukat (Regulations) B’midbar(Numbers) 19:1-22:1

Haftorah Reading Judges 11:1-33

 

This Torah portion is one of the more difficult portions to understand on several levels. The name, chukat, gives us a hint to its difficulty. The word, when used as it is here, can mean regulations. The root of the word means to engrave, as in stone or metal, something that is meant to endure. Chok, the singular form of the word always means something that, on the surface, seems to be illogical or impossible to grasp. In our portion we read where the people involved in preparing the ashes of the red heifer became unclean. However, when those ashes were applied to a person, who was unclean from being in contact with a dead body, that person became clean again. For an Israelite, being unclean by contact with death meant they were excluded from worshiping G-d in the Temple. That person could not come into the confines of the Temple until they were cleansed by the ashes of the red heifer.

Vayechi (And He Lived) B’Resheet (Gen) 47-50

Torah Portion: Vayechi (And He Lived)  B’Resheet (Gen.) 47-50

HafTorah:  I Kings 2:1-12

This Torah portion is the last of the book of Genesis. Interestingly, it is named “And He Lived” while included in this portion we read of the death of both Jacob and Joseph. This brings me to the first point I would like to talk about. Why would a Torah portion named, “He Lived” devote much of its time to the death of these two men? I think it has to do with the way scripture looks at time. For example the Greeks looked at time as cyclical, never reaching an ending point but always starting over again, there will always be another tomorrow.  The Jews, and I believe we would be the same, look at time as covenantal. For example, here in Genesis in chapter 12 we read of G-d’s promise to Avraham that his descendants will be as the stars in the heavens. He would be given a Land for his people. Yet by the end of Deut./D’Varim the people have not crossed into the Land. The people did not despair, the promise was always before them.

B’resheet (In the Beginning)Gen 1-6

Torah Portion: B’resheet (In the Beginning) Genesis 1:1-6:8

HafTorah: Isaiah 42:5-43:10

This week we have the privilege of starting over in the Torah. We read the first chapters of Genesis. We read about creation, we read of the creation of man, the first birth, and the first sin. We have many things to contemplate tonight.

Even in the first four words, B’resheet bara Elohim, (In the beginning created G-d) By the creating force of His word G-d spoke into being that which had not existed prior. John 1:1 identifies that Word as Messiah Yeshua. G-d alone was/is able to create out of nothing. We all bear His signature, His creative power, when sperm and egg unite and by G-d’s hand another soul enters this world. All of this and we are only in the first four words.