More here.
Posted on 09/29/2006 8:27:34 AM PDT by Buggman
In my first article on the Fall High Holy Days, we saw that the Feast of Trumpets is intimately linked by both Yeshua and Sha’ul with Yeshua’s Second Coming on the clouds of heaven, and saw that this corresponded with the expectations of the rabbis. Now we come to the second of the Fall Feastdays, and the holiest day of the Jewish—which is to say, Biblical—calendar: Yom Kippur takes place on the tenth of Tishri, nine days after Rosh Hashanah.
On that day, the high priest would put on a special coat of white linen and carry out a very unusual sacrifice.
And he shall take the two goats, and present them before YHVH at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for YHVH, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which YHVH's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before YHVH, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. . . .Today, the sacrifices which were the centerpiece of the Levitical ceremony cannot be held of course, but this does not make it impossible to observe the day. Like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur is not a pilgrimage Feast: No one was required to be in Jerusalem (other than the cohenim, or priests) for its service. However, those outside of Jerusalem still bore the responsibility for not doing any work, gathering in a holy convocation (i.e., in their home synagogues), and for denying themselves (Lev. 23:27ff). Out of these three commands, modern Judaism has built its customs.And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. (Lev. 16:7-10, 20-22)
After a final, festive meal in the afternoon before Yom Kippur, Jews the world over dress in white in remembrance of the High Priest’s white linen robe that he would wear within the Holy of Holies, and at sundown go to what is known as the Kol Nidre (“All Vows”) service. The Kol Nidre is a prayer sung to a haunting cadence, which asks God to release one from any wrongful oaths taken that year. It dates to the Middle Ages, when Jews were forcibly converted to Christianity; they would ask God to release them of the vows taken at the point of a sword. Another traditional song is Avinu Malkeynu (“Our Father, Our King”), which translates as follows:
Our Father and Our King
Our Father and Our King
Our Father and King
Be merciful to us
Be merciful unto us.For we have done no deeds
Commending us unto You
For we have no deeds commending us to You
Be merciful, save us, we pray.
Synagogue services typically run all day, with observant Jews petitioning God to forgive their sins. Fasting, denying one’s self, is mandated by Torah, and observant Jews will usually refrain from any comforts at all during the day, including bathing, wearing leather shoes, etc. It should be noted that Isa. 58 and Mat. 6:16-18 both speak against fasting to be seen and fasting in lieu of true repentance:
“Wherefore have we fasted,” say they, “and Thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?” Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.True self-denial is not the mere restraint from food, though it may include fasting from food (Mat. 6:16-18, 1 Co. 7:5).Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to YHVH? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? (Isa. 58:3-7)
Yom Kippur ends with the Neilah (“The Closing of the Gates”) service and a final blast from the shofar. It is said by the rabbis that the gates of Heaven through which our prayers of repentance can rise close at this time, sealing one’s fate for the year. Of course, in the Messiah Yeshua, we may always “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). However, there is still an eschatological truth to the rabbinical belief, discussed in the previous article on Rosh Hashanah.
Of course, it may rightly be asked in what sense can one be atoned for on this day without blood, “for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Lev. 17:11). One who believes in the Messiah Yeshua, of course, looks to Him and His perfect sacrifice for their atonement. Non-Messianic Jews follow the belief established by Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai that acts of righteousness provide atonement (Avot de Rabbi Nathan 4:18). However, even in the Jewish community, the need for blood redemption still runs deep. In the ceremony called Kaparot, practiced only in very Orthodox circles, a chicken is waived over the head three times as the man says,
“This is my substitute, my vicarious offering, my atonement. This fowl shall meet death, but I shall enjoy a long, happy life.” After reading several selections from Job and the Psalms, the person lays his hand on the head of the bird as a symbol of identification, it is killed as his substitute, and given to the poor for their final meal before the fast. (Howard and Rosenthal, The Feasts of the Lord, p. 126)Why is a chicken used instead of a goat, for example? Because goats, bulls, oxen, rams, and lambs could only be offered for sacrifice in the Temple, so the rabbis forbade the use of any animal which might make it appear that one was continuing the sacrificial system. (Turkey or chicken is substituted for lamb for the Passover dinner in most Ashkenazi homes for the same reason.)
In Biblical times, of course, a bull and two goats were the sacrifices made. The bull was offered for the sins of the High Priest and the other priests, so that he could be purified before entering into God’s presence. The goats, one for Yhvh and one for the scapegoat would then atone for Israel. The word “scapegoat” is a translation of Azazel. Keil and Delitzsch explain the significance of the word:
Azazel, which only occurs in this chapter, signifies neither “a remote solitude,” nor any locality in the desert whatever (as Jonathan, Rashi, etc., suppose); nor the “he-goat” . . . The words, one lot for Jehovah and one for Azazel, require unconditionally that Azazel should be regarded as a personal being, in opposition to Jehovah. . . We have not to think, however, of [just] any demon whatever, who seduces men to wickedness in the form of an evil spirit, as the fallen angel Azazel is represented as doing in the Jewish writings . . . but of the devil himself, the head of the fallen angels, who was afterwards called Satan; for no subordinate evil spirit could have been placed in antithesis to Jehovah as Azazel is here, but only the ruler or head of the kingdom of demons. The desert and desolate places are mentioned elsewhere as the abode of evil spirits (Isa. 13:21 and 34:14; Mat. 12:43; Luk. 11:24; Rev. 18:2). (Keil, Johann and Franz Delitzsch, Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament, [e-Sword version 7.0.0, ed. Rick Meyers, 2000-2003])And yet, while the “scapegoat” was, in effect, given over to Azazel, to the very Enemy himself, the “two goats . . . must be altogether alike in look, size, and value; indeed, so earnestly was it sought to carry out the idea that these two formed parts of one and the same sacrifice, that it was arranged that they should, if possible, even be purchased at the same time” (Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, p. 248). So all speculations that the scapegoat might represent Satan or the Antichrist or some other evil entity fall short. What could these two goats signify other than the dual-natured Messiah Yeshua? He carried away all our sin, just as the scapegoat would be sent into the wilderness with the sins of Israel: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us” (Psa. 103:12). Unlike the lambs, goats, and bulls that died on the altar, our Messiah rose again. Thus, like the two goats, He was both sacrificed and yet lives.
A red ribbon was tied in the horns of the scapegoat. When the goat was led out before the people, if God accepted the sacrifice, the ribbon would miraculously turn white as a reminder of the promise that “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:18). It is most interesting that for the forty years between the sacrifice of Yeshua and the destruction of the Temple, the scarlet ribbon did not turn white!
Forty years before the Temple was destroyed the chosen lot was not picked with the right hand, nor did the crimson stripe turn white, nor did the westernmost light burn; and the doors of the Temple’s Holy Place swung open by themselves, until Rabbi Yochanon ben Zakkai spoke saying: “O most Holy Place, why have you become disturbed? I know full well that your destiny will be destruction, for the prophet Zechariah ben Iddo has already spoken regarding you saying: 'Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour the cedars'” (Zech. 11:1). (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 39b)Hebrews 8 -10 explains that when Messiah completed His sacrifice on the cross, He entered the heavenly Holy of Holies, of which that of the Tabernacle and the Temple were merely copies, to complete the Yom Kippur ritual of atonement. The sacrifice was not accepted because it was being offered by the wrong High Priest:
For Messiah is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others . . . But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. (Heb. 9:24-25, 10:12-13)But if this is the sole and sufficient fulfillment of the feastday of Yom Kippur, then we have a problem. In every other feastday that we have seen fulfilled in history, the fulfillment took place on that day. Yeshua was offered up on Passover as the Lamb of God, thus taking away our sin just as leaven was removed from the Hebrews’ houses during the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He rose as the firstfruits of the dead (cf. 1 Co. 15:20-23) on Sfirat HaOmer or HaBikkurim, the Feast of Firstfruits. The Church was given the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) in power on Shavuot, or Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks. And we have seen that His Second Coming seems likely to occur on a Rosh Hashanah in order to fulfill that feastday. Why then would the Day of Atonement be out of sequence?
The Exodus
The Feastdays of the Torah are divided into three groups—the spring feasts, Shavuot (Pentecost), and then the fall feasts—each of which is linked to a distinct stage of the Exodus and Israel’s instruction at Sinai. In addition, there are at least three minor feasts (that is, those which were not ordained at Sinai) which are also prophetically significant. The key to understanding the Feasts’ prophetic significance is to understand their historical significance.
When YHVH reorganized Israel’s calendar by proclaiming the month of the Pesach (Passover) to be the “beginning of months” (Exo. 12:2), He was establishing that His plan of salvation begins with the Passover. However, to truly understand God’s plan, we begin our brief study not with the Passover, but with the six “silent” months which separate the Passover from the previous Sinai-ordained Feastday, Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. Within this “silent period” lie two minor Feasts: Hanukkah, which celebrates the victory of Israel over the forces of Antiochus Epiphanes, and Purim, which celebrates her victory over the forces of Haman some three centuries earlier as is described in the book of Esther. Hanukkah has an eschatological significance which will be explored in another article, but for now it is enough to note the element these two feasts share in common: Both celebrate YHVH’s “hidden” protection of and provision for His people. Though He did not act with any obvious miracles like fire from the sky or supernatural plagues, nevertheless He brought His people to victory against overwhelming odds: In Purim by the placement of a Jewish queen, and in Hanukkah by giving the Jews might in battle.
These “silent” months between Sukkot and Pesach correspond to the 430 “silent years” which lead up both to the Passover of the Exodus (Gal. 3:17) and the Passover of the Messiah. Both periods were characterized by the lack of a true prophet to lead the people, “a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of YHVH" (Amos 8:11). God had not forgotten His people, but it probably felt to them like He had.
When the Lord fulfilled His promise to redeem His people from bondage, it was through the Passover and the death of a Lamb. God’s people were set free from Egypt via the blood of the lamb painted on their doorposts, so that they would not die in God’s wrath. Likewise, God’s people were set free from sin by the blood of the Lamb painted on their hearts, so that they would not die in God’s wrath. The seven days of the Feast of Matzah, in which all the leaven had to be removed from Israel’s houses and no leaven could be eaten, represents the quick removal of Israel from Egypt (in which there was no time to make leavened bread) and the complete removal of all sin in our lives by the sacrifice of Yeshua as we flee the ways of the world.
In the third month after Israel’s departure from Egypt, they arrived at Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19:1). There God descended on the mountain in fire, with the sound of a shofar (vv. 16ff), and called Moses up the mountain to begin giving him the Torah. According to Jewish tradition, the day that this happened was the day of Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, a date consistent with the Biblical record. Like HaBikkurim, the Feast of Firstfruits for the barley harvest, on which Messiah was raised as the Firstfruits of the dead (cf. 1 Co. 15:20), Shavuot is a firstfruits festival for the wheat harvest. On the first Shavuot, the firstfruits of the nation of Israel began receiving the Torah. On Shavuot after the death and resurrection of the Messiah, the firstfruits of the Church began receiving the Torah written on their hearts by the giving of the Spirit of God in the form of fire and with a great sound (Jer. 31:33, Ezk. 36:26-27, Acts 2:3ff).
After giving Moses the first commandments, the Lord called him back up the mountain to receive further instruction, and Moses remained with Him for forty days (Exo. 24:18). It was during this period that Aaron led the people in the sin of making and worshiping the golden calf. When Moses descended again from the mountain and saw this, he smashed the stone tablets on which God had written His commandments, signifying that Israel had broken the covenant they had made to follow all of God’s commands, and many in Israel died, both at the hands of the Levites whom Moses commanded to take arms against their kinsmen, and by a plague sent by God. Moreover, Moses removed the Tent of Meeting (not the Tabernacle, which had not yet been built, but a different tent in which Moses lived and met with YHVH; Exo. 33:7ff) to outside the camp, signifying that the people’s sin was great enough that God had removed the visible place which was the focal point of Israel’s worship and His Presence.
The parallel is not difficult to understand: Forty years after Yeshua ascended into Heaven, Israel still had not repented as a body from her “golden calf.” Just as Israel in the Exodus fell into the sin of worshipping God in the manner of their tradition (in this case, image-based worship), which they learned while in Egypt, instead of worshipping God in the manner in which He had commanded them, Israel in the first century fell into the sin of worshipping God in the manner of their traditions rather than doing so through the Messiah as He had commanded them. While the details differed, the essential core of the sin was the same.
So was the punishment. As Israel in the Exodus was punished by the sword and plague, so Israel in 70 AD was punished by the sword and plague. And as Israel in the Exodus had the Tent of Meeting removed by their prophet, Moses, so Israel in the first century had the Temple removed by the prophet after Moses, Yeshua HaMashiach. The destruction of both Temples took place on Tishbi b’Av, or the 9th of the month of Av. While it cannot be proven, the timing of the Golden Calf incident makes it quite possible that Tishbi b’Av is the day on which Moses removed the Tent of Meeting as well.
In the Exodus sin, God’s fury was so great that He said to Moses, “Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation” (Exo. 32:10). YHVH-Tzva’ot, the Lord of Hosts, was actually planning to destroy the whole nation and start over with Moses and his children! This is, in fact, what Replacement Theology claims that God did to Israel in the first century: destroyed them, and replaced them with the Messiah’s “children,” the Church.
Those who believe that God has cast away His chosen nation need to take another look at Exodus. Moses, who had not joined in the sin of the people, interceded for Israel so that God would not utterly destroy them, though He did punish them, even (temporarily) taking away their place of worship. Are we to think that Yeshua did any less, or that His intercession for Israel would be any less heard? And notice the basis on which Moses interceded for Israel: Not on the basis of their obedience or repentance, but on the basis of YHVH’s Name—that is, His reputation—and His promises (ibid., vv. 12-13). It is on this same basis that the Lord has already begun returning Israel to her land: “Thus saith the Lord YHVH; ‘I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for Mine holy Name's sake . . .’” (Ezk. 36:22).
The Future Fulfillment
“Okay,” the amillennialist answers, “clearly not all of the Jews were destroyed, but the Temple was, and since we are now the Temple of God, there will be no other.” Again, keep reading. After seeing to the punishment of Israel and removing the Tent of Meeting, Moses was told by God, “And I will send an angel before thee . . . for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way” (Exo. 33:2, 3). But Moses, not content that a lesser angel go with Israel, returned up the mountain, and interceded with God for another forty days, going without food or water, until YHVH relented and agreed to send His Presence with Israel. The form in which His Presence went with Israel was in the pillar of fire and cloud which was intimately connected with the Tabernacle:
The Tabernacle of Israel was known by several names. . . The name dwelling from Heb. mishkan, from shakan, to “lie down,” a “dwelling,” connected itself with the Jewish, though not scriptural, word Shekinah, as describing the dwelling place of the divine glory. (Unger, F., The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, R.K. Harrison, ed. [Moody, 1988] “Tabernacle of Israel,” p. 1238)According to the Talmud, the day on which Moses returned with the second set of stone tablets, showing that YHVH had forgiven Israel and restored fellowship with them, was the day of Yom Kippur (Tractate Taanit 30b), and the forty days that he fasted before God correspond with the forty days of T’shuva (Repentence) that are traditionally observed leading up to the Day of Atonement. (This forty-day period of fasting may be the same forty-day period that Yeshua spent fasting and being tested in the wilderness after His baptism.)
Likewise, the day on which Yeshua will return to restore His fellowship with Israel, and direct them in building a Temple greater than that which they built on their own, just as Moses directed Israel in building a Tabernacle greater than the former Tent of Meeting which was taken away from the camp, will be on Yom Kippur. Like the Levitial High Priest emerging from the Holy of Holies to show that God had accepted the sacrifice of the goat on the people’s behalf, Yeshua will emerge from the Holy of Holies in Heaven to show Israel that God has accepted His sacrifice on their behalf.
Yom Kippur is not yet complete. Our High Priest is hidden from our eyes, beyond the veil, making intercession for us day and night, but He has not yet emerged to show all Israel that His blood-stained garments have been turned as white as snow, proving that the Father has accepted the High Priest’s sacrifice on behalf of all Israel, not just the remnant that now believe. When He does, carrying the sign of a covenant restored before Israel even as Moses did, then the Temple promised by Ezekiel will be built, just as the Tabernacle was.
When will the High Priest come forth? On the last day of Daniel’s Seventieth Week when Israel and Jerusalem will “make reconciliation for iniquity” (Dan. 9:24). The word for reconciliation, kaphar, is most often translated “atonement.”
With Israel’s sins atoned for, the way will be made for the final stage of the Messiah’s reconciliation of all things to Himself. Next we will study Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, when Yeshua will be officially crowned King over all the nations . . . on His birthday.
Shalom, and God bless.
You quoted this one to Xenia on 138. Just where, exactly, is the will of His Father in heaven defined?
It means that you have God's holy spirit, the spirit of Christ, indwelling. It means that so long as you let the spirit of Christ be expressed through you, that you will love God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.
The apparent effect of this on you will be that you seem to be keeping the ten commandments. You conform your thoughts, heart and behavior to God's commandments because God's commandments define love:
Joh 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
1Jo 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jo 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
1Jo 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
1Jo 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
1Jo 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1Jo 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
1Jo 2:6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Rom 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
More precisely, God's laws being written on our hearts is the process of overcoming, the process of Christian growth, through obedience to the indwelling of God's spirit:
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
In other words, in the Christian walk, we strive to put aside our own thoughts, ideas and behaviors and let Christ live instead:
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Interesting but I would disagree. I would say that Christ is already living inside of us, perfecting us. God uses everything in our lives to perfect us into obedience to His calling. Our sinful failings have all been identified and the right measure of chastisement carefully planned. Christ will live and reign in us.
That's exactly what I said, but in different words. But bringing ourselves into obedience implies that we know what, or whom, we need to be obedient to. The ten commandments are our school master. They point out just what exactly sin is:
1Jo 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
As Paul says:
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Paul says that he would have no idea what lust was were it not for one of God's commmandments. He would have been stuck in sin, following his own thoughts.
And that's the problem when you take the ten commandments out of the picture. That's why churches are always splitting, always corrupting, always instituting one evil after another. Everyone does what's right in their own eyes instead of in God's eyes:
Deu 13:18 When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.
The Bible does a good enough job. Lawlessness is sin (1 John 3:4). Sin is "any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God." The moral law of God is defined by the Bible, all 66 books of it. The Ten Commandments are a summary of the moral law of God, the basis for defining lawlessless. The NT enhances, revises, and completes our view of the moral law, e.g., in the area of sabbath day particulars. We worship on the first day of the week in the new covenant after the practice of the apostles and early church as recorded in the Scripture. We do not worship as semi-Jews. It's that simple.
Lawlessness is not defined in terms of any ceremonial or judicial details given uniquely to Israel in her typological/redemptive role. IOW, we are not held guilty for not following God's command to purge the promised land from all foreign nations given to Moses and Joshua. Likewise, we are not held guilty for eating swine flesh or wearing clothes from two kinds of material. Indeed, this is obvious from the fact that Paul did not condemn Peter and Barnabas for "living in the manner of Gentiles" (Gal 2:17), but for playing the hypocite when Peter withdrew at the appearence of "certain men came from James".
Apparently the kosmos doesn't make the cut.
"For God so loved the kosmosthat He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the kosmosto condemn the world, but that the kosmosthrough Him might be saved."
You're seem to be a pecular interpretation of that passage. God loved the kosmos but apparently He does not have the wherewithal to actually save the kosmos.
The Greek word kosmos is used 151 times in the NT. It has a variety of meanings. The context of John 3 makes it clear that kosmos is a reference to God's entire creation that is subject to His redemptive mission. (The aorist passive of "save" in the greek original of John 3:17 does not convey the notion of potential failure.)
Christians believe in a God how does save, not just one would might save. Otherwise we might all end up in the lake of fire, and God would be left with no one to sing His praises in all eternity.
The Bible does a good enough job. Lawlessness is sin (1 John 3:4). Sin is "any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God." The moral law of God is defined by the Bible, all 66 books of it. The Ten Commandments are a summary of the moral law of God, the basis for defining lawlessless. The NT enhances, revises, and completes our view of the moral law, e.g., in the area of sabbath day particulars. We worship on the first day of the week in the new covenant after the practice of the apostles and early church as recorded in the Scripture. We do not worship as semi-Jews. It's that simple.
Then, can you point to which scripture commands a change from God's Sabbath to Rome's?
Furthermore, the Promise was made to Abraham and his seed. The scriptures say that believers in Jesus are adopted into this Promise. Israel the person was a descendent of Abraham, Israel the Nation was a descendant of Abraham, as are those who believe in Jesus (the Israel of God) - through adoption. So, in a way, Christians are semi-Jews!
Lawlessness is not defined in terms of any ceremonial or judicial details given uniquely to Israel in her typological/redemptive role. IOW, we are not held guilty for not following God's command to purge the promised land from all foreign nations given to Moses and Joshua. Likewise, we are not held guilty for eating swine flesh or wearing clothes from two kinds of material. Indeed, this is obvious from the fact that Paul did not condemn Peter and Barnabas for "living in the manner of Gentiles" (Gal 2:17), but for playing the hypocite when Peter withdrew at the appearence of "certain men came from James"
I pretty much agree with you here, but it is pretty clear that none of the Bible authors (all Jews in your opinion) ever broke one of the 10 Commandments. Had they done so, then they would have been disfellowshipped using the Deut. and Isaiah standards for prophets.
Act 17:11 And these were more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily to see if those things were so.
"For God so loved the kosmosthat He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the kosmosto condemn the world, but that the kosmosthrough Him might be saved."
You're seem to be a pecular interpretation of that passage. God loved the kosmos but apparently He does not have the wherewithal to actually save the kosmos.
Actually, I was just playing your litle word game. The scriptures are clear that this earth and all its works will be burned up and the heavens will be rolled up. The new earth will have no night. We will not remember this sinful world. These things are true and verifiable.
Christians believe in a God how does save, not just one would might save. Otherwise we might all end up in the lake of fire, and God would be left with no one to sing His praises in all eternity.
I'm afraid these Christians you reference are in error.
Joh 5:28 Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves shall hear His voice, Joh 5:29 and shall come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have practiced evil to the resurrection of condemnation. Joh 5:30 I can do nothing of My own self. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of the Father who has sent Me.
No, that isn't what I said. We don't bring ourselves into obedience. It is God who brings us into obedience. That is what the Law of the Spirit is about.
More here.
You may ping whomever you like.
Then, can you point to which scripture commands a change from God's Sabbath to Rome's?
If you mean can I point to Scripture which indicates a change from the last day sabbath of the old covenant shadows to the first day sabbath of the new covenant substance, the answer is "yes".
No need to take up bandwidth. Just go back an read my many older posts.
"Rome", as you folks like to bring up, was nowhere in existence when Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week, and when the Spirit was poured out on the first day of the week, and when Peter, Paul and the other apostles met with the church on the first day of the week for worship (teaching and the breaking of bread, the Lord's Supper). The first day represented the substance of the new covenant order.
Last day sabbath worship finally expired with the end of the old aeon, that is, when the temple was finally destroyed and old Israel came to an end ecclesiastically. The only folks who continued to follow a last day sabbath were the apostate Jews and the heretical groups like the Ebionites. The true church followed the teaching of the apostles and worshipped on the Lord's Day, the Christian sabbath.
Actually, I was just playing your litle word game. The scriptures are clear that this earth and all its works will be burned up and the heavens will be rolled up. The new earth will have no night. We will not remember this sinful world. These things are true and verifiable.
Just to add one more thing to help you clear up your confusion, the greek word kosmos (world) is not the same as the greek word ge ala "new heavens and new earth".
It's apparent from John 3 that Christ came to save the "world" (kosmos) even thought the "earth" (ge) will be destroyed by fire and renewed. Skip the word games, and just check the context. It's more profitable.
Hope that helps.
If that were not the case, then Sha'ul, Kefa, Yochanan, and a lot of other apostles and Church fathers wasted a lot of ink extorting us to the obedience of the faith:
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22)If having the Torah written on our hearts by the receiving of the Spirit automatically means that we walk in the way God wants us to, without instruction and as it were by instinct, then why did Sha'ul so often have to write to the churches to rebuke them for sin?Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25)
Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. (I Thessalonians 4:1)
Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. (I Thessalonians 5:14)
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; (I Timothy 2:1)
These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. (Titus 2:15)
But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:13)
Indeed, you cannot separate the Spirit of God from the written Word of God, which is, after all, the Sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17, cf. Heb. 4:12). Thus Sha'ul writes, "All scripture (including the Torah!) is given by inspiration of God (lit. "is God-breathed," given by the Breath, or Spirit, of God), and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Ti. 3:16-17).
When God gives us His Breath and a new heart and writes His Torah on our hearts, He gives us an earnest desire in our new "inward man" to follow Him. This is why Sha'ul could write in Rom. 3:11, "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God," but then turn around and say, "For I delight in the Torah of God after the inward man" (7:22). He could delight in the Torah, instead of being pressed down under its burden, precisely because of the Spirit within him.
But having an earnest desire to follow God in our inward parts does not automatically mean that we know what to do. Some things are obvious and come naturally to the believer (2:14f). Others are obvious, but we come under "the deceitfulness of sin," and require rebuke and exhortation from our fellow believers and the written Word to bring us to repentence.
And other things are not at all obvious. For example, consider the issue of eating meat sacrificed to idols. The first century believers were caught between the command not to participate in idolatry and the fact that any meat sold in the market could well have been sacrificed without their knowledge. Sha'ul gave a very carefully reasoned solution: Since the no-gods of the Gentiles were demons, one must not knowingly eat of meat sacrificed to them as a witness that we follow only one God; but since the demons have no power over we who are in the Messiah, it is not necessary to inquire after every piece of meat in a paranoid fashion. It may seem trite to us, but it was a very important issue back when the Epistles were written and required study and consideration.
I know you love God, Harley, and that you are going about loving Him in the way that you were raised to, and the way that you believe is right and proper from your understanding of Scripture. But this is why simply saying that the Spirit guides us is not an excuse for not studying the Sword of the Spirit and submitting itself to what it--not our own opinions, which are shaped by upbringing, tradition, and temperment as much as by the Spirit--says is the right way to follow God.
God did not give us His Spirit to replace the Scriptures, but to open our eyes and hearts to receiving and obeying the Scriptures--not in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the Spirit (Rom. 7:6, 2 Co. 3:6).
Both of your charts are too simplistic.
No need to take up bandwidth. Just go back an read my many older posts.
I'm afraid your previous answers fall terribly short, especially in light of this scripture:
Act 17:11 And these were more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily to see if those things were so.
If you recall, the Sabbath is the 7th day of the week:
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah your God.
Last day sabbath worship finally expired with the end of the old aeon, that is, when the temple was finally destroyed and old Israel came to an end ecclesiastically.
You got a scripture for that?
It's apparent from John 3 that Christ came to save the "world" (kosmos) even thought the "earth" (ge) will be destroyed by fire and renewed. Skip the word games, and just check the context. It's more profitable.
Word games? Your the one who took us on the kosmos tangent. Here is the pertinent verse again in several translations.
NKJV: Joh 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.
KJV: Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
NASB: Joh 3:17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
YLT: Joh 3:17 For God did not send His Son to the world that he may judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him;
DRB: Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world, to judge the world: but that the world may be saved by him.
ISV: Joh 3:17 For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
It does not say "will".
Are you intersting in listening to this sermon and sharing your thoughts?
Justification & Judaism by Baruch Maoz.
Excellent sermon. I won't have time to finish but many tonight.
Hardly. Acts 17:11 merely teaches that when the apostles came along teaching that it was customary to compare their teachings with the Scriptures. No problem with that. But, what would they do when Peter came along and told them that God revealed in a vision to "take and eat" with respect to unclean foods. (Yes, I recognize this vision is really an argument from the lesser to the greater, and that really God was speaking of the salvation of the gentiles and their place in the kingdom, but it must also necessitate the abrogation of the old covenant food laws and other laws that separated Jews from gentiles.) Would they not object, based on Scripture, when Peter and Paul would "live in the manner of Gentiles" (Gal. 2:14)?
Or what about when Paul or another of the apostles would tell them of the abolition of the earthly priesthood? Are you suggesting they would turn in their Scriptures and declare Paul a heretic based on passages like Exo. 40:15 and Num. 25:13?
So, if you are declaring that there was absolutely no change in the law from Old Testament to New, and that somehow a bare reading of Acts 17:11 refutes the change of the sabbath details, I'm afraid you are incorrect.
If you recall, the Sabbath is the 7th day of the week: Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah your God.
I noticed how you subtly switched the verse to suit your theology. I made this point before, that Exodus 20 does not say, "the sabbath day is the seventh day" as if eternally set in stone. It actually says, "the seventh day is the sabbath". Just as new moons and unleavened bread and passover were also sabbath days under the old covenant. So the seventh day was a sabbath day under the old covenant. But under the new it has become the first day of the week.
again in several translations.
Everything but the greek. Curious. The tense is exactly the same as what we find in passages like, "that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, " (John 12:38). Tell us plainly, was there any possibility that the word of the prophet would not be fulfilled?
Or how bout this passage, "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also," (Rom. 4:11). If it possible for Abraham to not be the father of all who believe? Or, is it possible that righteousness minght not be imputed to the righteousness.
One needs to be careful about trying to make odd and unusual theological points based on English translations.
That's what I get for typing and listening. ;O)
High point of sermon. Our works has nothing to do with the grace of God. Are we keeping God's commandments because of God's grace or are we doing works because we feel its necessary because God saved us?
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified." (Gal. 2:16).
Same aorist passive tense as John 3:17. Is the suggestion in this passage that a person can believe in Jesus without being justified by faith?
It actually says something like "that we may be being justified by faith", but that is clumsy English. Likewise, John 3:17 really means something like "the world may be being saved through Him".
The bottom line is that the English translators did the best they could in conveying what the underlying Greek was saying, but imperfections exist, and to rely on those imperfections ("might" doesn't mean "maybe/maybe not" in this passage) to cloud our theology is pure folly.
Reformed Baptist. I figured you might like him.
In the meantime, though, your two charts still present the fallacy of the false dilemma.
I'll repeat: I do not seek to keep the Torah in order to be saved. I seek to keep the Torah because I am saved, and I want to be like my Savior in every way--and that includes observing the times He observed, eating only what He would eat, etc.
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