Two Week Restart
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10
Clean – If you invite the King of the Universe to take up residence with you, what condition would you like your house to look like? Dishes piled up from last night’s party? Grass not mowed? Closets with clothes piled on the floor? Laundry not done? Dust and cobwebs? A carpet stain or two? Fingerprints on the mirrors? Of course not. You would want the place looking its very best. Yes, it might not be brand new construction, but no matter its age, you would clean up, dress up and repair all that you could. Not because He demanded it but because He is King of the universe.
“So important is this mishkan [place of residence] that we must constantly be building it—preparing it and making it fit for His rest. Anything that soils it or makes it inappropriate for His presence must be jettisoned from our lives and repudiated as unbecoming a child of God whose primary goal in life is to have on-going communion and friendship with the Creator.”[1] Now we have a better Hebrew sense of atonement. It is not so much the forgiveness of our sins as it is the wiping away of that which defiles and so prevents the present residence of the Creator. To atone is to clean it up so that YHVH may take up residence. Forgiveness is a forensic matter. It deals with guilt. But atonement is house-cleaning. It is the removal of all impurities. When we say that Yeshua provides our atonement, what we mean in Hebrew is that he cleans the house so that we may appropriately invite YHVH into residence. All of the ritual acts of cleansing associated with the Temple and with sacred practice are connected to this idea of atonement. In the final analysis, atonement removes death, the last impurity that blocks full participation with the God of the living.
From the perspective of his impurity (not just his sin), David cries out for God to create a clean heart. The Hebrew is tahor. In nearly every case, it describes ritual or moral purity. It is translated in Greek as katharizo, katharos or katharismos. Do you see “catharsis” in this Greek? Behind the words is the idea of purging, getting rid of things that do not belong, restoring purity. You can think of pure water, pure gold, pure robes and the purification periods following childbirth or healing. Ritual purity insured that the person could once more enter into community, either with God or others. David is asking for a lot more than forgiveness. He is asking to be made ritually pure and morally pure so that he may rejoin fellowship with YHVH.
Two weeks ago we looked at David’s request for a restart. Perhaps you too were convicted of some sin that continually upsets your experience of the divine presence. But now two weeks have passed. Are you back in God’s court? Did you discover that forgiveness of guilt was not quite enough? You needed more. I needed more. We needed to be made ritually pure, an idea that doesn’t have much content in the Christian world but that had enormous significance in the ancient Hebrew world. God wants fellowship with us. He intends to reside among His people. That requires purity—and as David realized, only God can actually make us pure in this sense. We have a role to play. Jettison anything and everything that is associated with impurity. Then God can act to “create in us a clean heart.”
You can’t just throw more things in the closet and push the door closed. You can’t hide dirty dishes in the dishwasher. You can’t move a piece of furniture over the stain or keep your eyes closed when you look at the yard. Things can’t be stuffed into the garage. Cleaning is first getting rid of the trash. Then asking God to scrub the walls.
Topical Index: clean, tahor, ritual purity, Psalm 51:10
[1] Tim Hegg, Studies in Torah: Exodus, p. 158.
Banana Cream Pie (In The Face)
His Part and Ours
~ and the blood of Jesus (who is the) Christ, cleanses from ALL sin.. ~
Why the banana cream pie? – What does it take (dear ones) to get our attention?
They would not listen,
they did not know how
Perhaps they’ll listen now
“Now listen to another parable. There was a Farmer who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower; then He rented it to tenants and left. When harvest-time came, He sent His servants to the tenants to collect His share of the crop. But the tenants seized His servants — this one they beat up, that one they killed, another they stoned.”
~ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets, and stone them which are sent to you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not! ~
(Matthew 23.37)
So He sent some other servants, more than the first group, and they did the same to them. [Ample warning?] Finally, He sent them His Son, [because God SO loved the world..] saying, ‘My Son they will respect and revere.’
Do we? Do we give unto the LORD the glory due His Name?
His Name is Wonderful Counsellor-Mighty God-Everlasting Father-Prince of Peace.. [and Yes, – there’s more! – Much more!]
But when the tenants saw the Son, they said to each other, ‘This is the Heir.
[whom He has appointed Heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds]
But was He revered? – or was He reviled?
The [Unrea]l Response
~ Come, let’s kill Him and take His inheritance!’ So they grabbed Him, threw Him out of the vineyard and killed Him ~
“His blood be upon us and upon our children..” [exactly!..]
Now when the Owner [Who owns it all?] of the vineyard comes, what will He do to those tenants?” They answered Him, “He will viciously destroy those vicious men and rent out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him His share of the crop when it’s due.” [Oh?..]
Yeshua said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Tanakh,
‘The very Rock which the builders rejected
has become the Cornerstone!!
This has come from ADONAI,
and in our eyes it is amazing!
~ Therefore, I tell you that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to the kind of people that will produce its fruit!”
“But ten lepers where cleansed, – where are the nine?”
~ As the head Cohanim and the P’rushim listened to His stories, they perceived that He was speaking about them. [the arrow found it’s mark]
But when they set about to arrest Him, they were afraid of the crowds; because the crowds considered Him a prophet ~
The Plot Thickens
The Rest of The Story
To Be Continued..
Of all the frustrating mis-perceptions among so many of my friends in the Christian community (not all, praise YHVH!), this one has to be one of the most crippling for growth. I am talking about the dialectic that has been artificially inserted in between God’s forgiveness and our sanctification. I mean, I have found the two so far removed from each other as to have been made to be irreconcilable enemies of each other. In fact, upon probing, I have found myself running into this THING in people’s heads that is assuring them that BECAUSE they have been forgiven, they don’t have to worry any more about the sin in their lives; it has all been ‘taken care of’ so, and apparently for, THE PURPOSES OF, not having to obey the Law! Now, talk about exhibit “A” for something that makes no sense! But, it does to them. Their ears shut down, and they tell me that if they start having to think about the Law in conjunction with sanctification, that that will, somehow, and I cannot seem to get anyone to explain to me exactly HOW, but they are just dead sure that somehow, they will lose the forgiveness of their sins and their salvation if they even go thinking about the Law! They apparently think they have to choose: obedience OR salvation. At that point, the conversation shuts down. They think that they can hide behind Christ, and that in the eyes of the Father, they are perfect BECAUSE He can only see His Son when He looks at them, AS LONG AS they are not “going back under the Law”, for, if or when they do, all bets – I mean, salvation- is off. And all of a sudden, the Father looks at them, slaving away “under the Law”, and says “Well, no salvation for you!”. Sigh.
Somewhere in here, what always seems to get lost, is what exactly we are being saved from (this crowd seems to think it is being saved from FIRE), and when. They assure me it was either (or both) a: at conversion, or b: at death. The concept that they are to be saved from SIN and that means NOW, either gets the response “well, I am already saved from sin now, because of Jesus”, but somehow cannot explain why they still struggle with temptation (“But that is ok, because Jesus loves me”), or they say “well, I am no longer under condemnation, so it is ok if I am not perfect”. But, without exception, all of them agree on one thing: if you start pushing the Law at them in any context, for any reason, they think you are trying to steal their salvation! So what does that make the Law-pusher? The devil?
You know, somewhere, somehow, between Calvin and here, the concept that sin was our biggest enemy has somehow been replaced with the idea that sin has been taken out of the equation entirely, and the new enemy on the block is: dah-dah-dah- Dah-dah-Dah! the LAW! If I try to explain that the Son of God was the supply train that is bringing the saving medicine to the dying people, but that the Law is the actual mechanism BY WHICH we are cured, they think I am a heretic. Confession of sin, sure. Sweat and cry and moan about your unworthiness a while, then get up and jump around and “get the feeling” that you are actually a perfect child of the King, and somewhere in there Jesus did an abracadabra thing, and, voila! no more sin! (Or at least, no more condemnation!). And that new life thing? Only possible without the condemnation of the Law! Get that Law out of here!
So what do you replace sin with when you repent for it? I ask. “Wouldn’t that be, um, obedience?” “Oh”, they reply, “the Law is no longer applicable because, because, now we have LOVE!” “So”, I ask, “what do you think love is?” Well, upon probing, almost without exception, they say that love is a feeling in your heart that you can get by like, meditating on the Blood, or by praying (preferably in tongues), or by, well. Anything. Anything but reading that Law! “But what if the Law IS how we know what Love is?” I ask. Then I get the glazed eyes look again, and the guns come back out, and somebody is going to start thinking I am just trying to trick them back out of their salvation! End of THAT conversation!
The knowledge that the Law IS Love, has been lost. The knowledge that the obedience to that Law (which no one can do in their flesh), was what was restored to us by the Cross and the gift of Yeshua’s obedience, has been transmuted somehow into ‘permission’ to ignore that Law. The only thing I can figure at that point, (where people assure me that the reason the Law does not apply is because it has been determined by heaven no less, that we cannot obey it in the flesh, so, out with it!) is that people must want to stay, or at least think they have to, in their flesh! When I go point that out, though, I get assured that that flesh is what the Blood ‘covers’. leaving them ‘free’ in the Spirit (whatever THAT means!) And, of course, the best evidence that you are walking in that Spirit, and not in that flesh, well, frankly, this is usually where the praying in tongues gets dragged out as exhibit “A”. No one, in fact seems to be able to explain to me exactly what “walking in the Spirit” actually means. But, see, the Law got dropped out of the conversation! Nice sleight of hand! In fact, it seems that the only time the Law is permitted on the playground, is going to be pre-cross. If there is any Law post-cross, however, someone is for sure fixing to lose their salvation again! The idea that we are to appropriate His obedience into our lives when we repent, BY then turning around and embracing that Law through Him, seems to have been, for all intents and purposes, turned into heresy.
But up and above all, the precious gift of true freedom from sin; now, today, which can only happen BY OBEDIENCE, has apparently been buried under a sea of Blood. “Oh, the Blood does that; I don’t have to”, is the response I get. Then, when they wake up suffering from the effects of sin and its attendant curses, they blame the devil and invoke the Blood and keep right on sinning and suffering. Why? Because, if you remove the devils from the house, preached Yeshua, and left it EMPTY, seven more, worse than the first, come back to inhabit it. So what do we fill that house back up with? The right guess would be obedience, but the current popular guess is, usually, well, this is where I get that Blood thing again. Hey, if in doubt, always guess: The Blood! Yep, that will do it! The concept that the only way the devil got in that house in the first place was because of disobedience gets conveniently ignored.
The precious fact that freedom from sin, in this lifetime, which is sanctification, IS our ticket out of our hells, is gone. Because the only way repentance is going to stick- is going to actually GET THE SIN GONE, is if we repent INTO something, and that something is: the LAW! We repent for disobeying the Law. Then, we get obedience to it back through Yeshua. It is obedience that saves me from sin and all its curses. It is obedience that restores my soul and leads me in the paths of righteousness. It has been obedience that has lifted me out of terrifying circumstances and debilitating illness in my life, and set me on high ground. It has been obedience that has set me free. From sin, that is. Not the Law! Halleluah! True repentance, in fact, IS obedience! Who knew?! “Oh, how I love Thy Law!”
Tragic, Laurita, but clearly (and may I add, amusingly) addressed.
And it’s interesting to me that these same people who have a visceral repulsion to “the Law”, calling it bondage, a curse, and legalism, will take Paul’s words and make THEM law! Skip said something similar yesterday in another comment, and it really got me thinking about how much of Paul’s words become law for some. Women can’t teach in the church, women can’t cut their hair (or some even go so far as to say that women shouldn’t wear makeup), and yet those things were specific to certain congregations, and possible even specific women. I’ve heard some claim that Paul commands NOT to be circumcised.
Why the resistance to one law but not another? Makes no sense to me.
The aversion is nothing new. Those who are being awakened to the need to follow the whole scripture are falling into the same trap as we post. We don’t know how to embrace christians and not endorse the practices and or lack thereof. It’s tricky. Those whom you associate with become your identity in the eyes of others. And so you seek to keep Your identity in Messiah but reject anything that looks “christian” We are going through a form of what the 2nd and third century Messianic believers went through. How do you remain in fellowship with Sadducees and Pharisees who have destroyed the Law by imposing imposed a law of their own that forces you to break the commandments? The invisible force field of their theology blinded them to the theology of Yeshua. The people had to figure out how to continue to bare with one another. Eventually the Greeks could no longer bare to suffer with the Jews so they threw off every identifying practice that caused them to look Jewish. That is occurring once again today as we come out of the church. Some of us are hearing the call to go back to the church and seek to redeem those in bondage to the law/theology of the church just as Yeshua came to redeem those who had been in bondage to the theology of the Rabbi’s. I firmly believe that when the messenger told Joseph that He would call his name Yeshua because he would Yeshia/save his people from their sins, that it was his teaching that was to save them. I believe that because sin is transgression of the law and proper practice is fulfillment of the law thus teaching them HOW to keep that law would save them from transgressing it. The Rabbinic law often causes one to transgress the torah. As we are learning from Skip, pardon, forgiveness, and atonement are entirely different subjects. We gain access to the kingdom by the merit of his blood shed for us but we can only have dominion and rule in the kingdom through obedience to the commandment.
Let me repeat that last sentence.
We gain access to the kingdom by the merit of his blood shed for us but we can only have dominion and rule in the kingdom through obedience to the commandment.
but it makes perfect sense if you know the history of the formation of the church. Listen to my two lectures on Rome and the Church and you will see why we could deny Torah and embrace a Christian Paul
I understand how it happened Skip. But at this point in my life it only makes sense to one who is utterly mad.
Skip, Links please to these two lectures. Thank you.
What two lectures are you asking about?
So there is two aspects to me for it. One is I think it doesn’t jive with our culture to be obedient and the other is God gives all knowledge just like all blindness. We know what we know because of Him and not anything else. The other is it is our job to continue to search and seek His face. I’ve met Christians where I try to explain it and it’s a blank look. They honestly aren’t dense people they just don’t get it. Then their are some that I’m sure when I’ve explained it’s just inconvenient. Either way we just do the best with what is revealed to us.
I firmly believe that if you talk to the random adam on the street Christian, I don’t know even if they know what they believe. It’s a shame to me and I don’t say it as an insult either because I was there. It’s a shame because when life gives you tribulations the reason WHY we do these commands isn’t to win favor it’s to practice our faith. When we practice our faith we are faithful when refinement comes. The whole purpose was for a relationship with Him. That’s the shame of it with people discounting doing things in my mind. Everything else I figure is going to be up to him.
Oh Laurita, Your words are the lament of my heart. I am currently attending a very popular christian women’s bible study and the content is of all things possible, “The Torah”. We have spent the last few weeks in Lev. studying the tabernacle.
Everyone is thoroughly convicted that they need to reverence God more than they do. And even though we are starring the Law right in the face, no one is able to give any real answer as to how they might be able to do that and absolutely no one that I can tell is considering actually obeying anything that is being studied. Obedience to Christ has no definition but obedience to this law we are studying which is carefully laid out by YHVH in strict detail and proclaimed to be revelation of the character of the God we are supposed to be in the image of in these passages is completely out of the question. The invisible force field of theology is firmly established and effectively doing it’s job before we even get to the text that we are carefully examining and asking all the wrong questions about. I actually cry when I leave much of the time. I hate what satan has done to my sisters and I don’t know what to do for them but continue to pray and love them and interject as much as is possible without disrupting everything and ruining my witness. All I can figure is that I’m there to raise the standard and declare it still valid as opportunity and the nudging from the Spirit arise. I pray through the entire thing and let so much go unsaid. Yah leads me into what little hill to die on that day. It’s very hard to love these ladies and leave them in these lies each week. But I’m in a group and I keep reminding myself that it is His will that none should perish and so I must trust that the pace He seems to be setting is good for all of them. Being anxious for nothing and praying really does make the difference. I have great hope that none of this is in vain. Otherwise I would spare myself the agony.
House Rules
~ and when you pray, say “Our Father..”
If only. If only we could think in terms of “relationship,”- rather than “religion.” “Opinion” is as diverse as personality- everyone has one.
Even the prodigal Son, after he repented and returned home after his wilderness wanderings, had to be willing to live under his Father’s “house rules.” [Here, in My house, we “love one another with a pure heart, fervently!!] Every home (hopefully) has “rules to live by.” We don’t do “that” here.., but instead we “do that!” This is where “authority” comes into play. Dad, be “firm,” but fair! BTW, what is the difference between a house and a home? – “Love!”
[Kids]- “love one another!” #ifonly
And remembering the lyrics of one of my favorite hymns, “then I trembled at the Law I’d spurned!” You see, for years [wasted years], I paid no attention to the User’s Manual, our “B asic I nstructions B efore L eaving E arth.” When all else fails, -read the intructions! [right?]
No, the Law of the LORD has NOT been “done away with!!” No. Not at all.
Friends,
~The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul ~
Need to be refreshed? – I know I do! Refreshed and renewed! Where [sumdumguy inquired] is the “gettin’ place?” Look in the Book! READ IT. Explore. – “It’s in there!”
And? [is there more?] Yep.
~ the testimony of the LORD is sure, -making wise the simple.. ~ (Psalm 19.7)
And the wisdom of God is found where? [oy!] Open His Book- the Book God wrote!- and look inside!! Extra! Extra! – read all about it!! It is a Love Story like no other! – and [again] ~ ALL scripture is given by inspiration of God! ~
From the beginning to the end, – It is the “never-ending Love story!”
And?
ALL [did he say all?] scriptures “testify” of One Man! #howdoheknowthat
~ these are they that testify of ME!!! ~ (John 5.39)
They (all) answer the question #bestquestionever: “Who is this King of glory?”
And His Name is? [amazingly!] – “the Word of God!!” (Revelation 19.13)
And?
~ The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple ~
Want wisdom? – Do what He (the Living Word of God) says.
~ I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another, just [in the same way] as I have loved you, so you too should love one another ~
Our Prodigal Father says, ~ Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! ~ And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God ~
We have our “instructions!” – Love one another with a pure heart, fervently!
By this
shall all men know
that you are my disciples,
if you have love one to another.
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His Law is Love,
and His gospel is peace.
The Law (the Way of YHVH from heaven to earth) was either spoken or written in stone. Both proceeded from YHVH. When man wanted to reach heaven, they fashioned bricks and sought to build their own edifice (way to get to heaven) by their own efforts in the manner they thought best. Come let us… With your tithe you can still buy a stairway to heaven. In the places fashioned with bricks made by man, you can hear the plan “edited” by man to get eternal life then and easy living now. Whatever happened to YHVH being our reward? Nothing new under the sun. That might be why it sounds like you’re speaking different languages when talking about the Babylonian plan and the Heavenly plan for ascent.
Laurita, I have been reading your posts and have been finding that your grasp of the “Christian tragedy” is most profound. Your current description of the law/obedience crisis is particularly insightful. I would even suggest that this is perhaps the most poignant reason why the Hebraic way of living CANNOT be built upon the Christian foundation. We who are increasingly aware of the nature of this crisis may have to regard it as a spiritual, even demonic, stronghold to be broken in the lives of many we know who do love the Hebrew God and His Messiah. May Yah give us wisdom re the way forward with our Christian brothers. As for you continue to bless us with your revelations and profound insights. Shalom sis. Arnella
Arnella. That is such a pretty name! I wondered who the pretty woman was in your picture! And I think (know) that you are right when you say you think we have to build again. I think the modern Christian Crisis has been spurred by a desperate attempt to lower the standard to include the world, but it doesn’t ever work. The second and third century Christians tried it, but Israel tried it, too. When are we ever going to learn that obedience to Him is enmity with the world? Shalom to you and your house, too, sis. Laurita