Saturday, October 26, 2024
Creation
Friday, October 18, 2024
TabernaclePilgrimage
This Sabbath's reading portion is titled CHOL HA-MO'ED SUKKOT, which means "the interim days of the Feast of Tabernacles". This Sabbath falls in the middle of that seven-day feast. The Feast of Tabernacles is a seven-day fall feast commanded by the LORD to His people. It is one of three feasts out of the seven in which the LORD requires that His people physically gather in Jerusalem to come before Him: "Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread...and the Feast of Harvest (also known as the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost), the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering (also known as Tabernacles) at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord (adon - Lord, master, owner, king, ruler, husband) God." (Ex. 23:14-17). The other feasts may be observed locally, but these three feasts, including Tabernacles, must be observed before the Lord God, which would be at His tabernacle/temple, and later in history that place would be in Jerusalem (1 Kings 8:1-6).
In one of this Sabbath's reading portions, the LORD is withdrawing from the Israelites because of their continuing sinful and rebellious attitude towards Him: "And I will send My Angel before you...for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." (Ex. 33:2-3). However, Moses could not journey on until he received the promise from God that He would indeed continue to be with them in their midst. The presence and identity of the LORD Himself among His people is what separates His people from the other peoples. Moses said: "Now therefore I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) way (derek/darak - way towards, journey, manner, road trodden, direction, a going hence, the way which leads to that place, mode, course/tread, walk, lead forth, guide, bend a bow, archer), that I may know You and that I may find grace (hen/hanan/hana - grace, favor, acceptance, elegance, kindness/mercy, show favor, pity, to bend or stoop in kindness/dwell, encamp, rested, bow down, incline) in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people. And He (the LORD) said, My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. Then he (Moses) said to Him, 'If Your Presence (panim/pana - face, presence, before and behind, countenance, person/turn, look, prepare, regard, to face, appear) does not go with us, do not bring us up (ala - raised, arose, exalted, ascend, go up, be brought up, be carried away, led up, be offered) from here. For how will it be known that Your people have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth. So the LORD said to Moses, I will also do this (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) thing (dabar - word, thing, matter, speak, utter) that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name." (Ex. 33:13-17).
It was considered absolutely essential to Moses that God dwell, be present among, and travel with His people. This is "Tabernacle". The Hebrew word and roots for tabernacle is miskan/sakan/sakab, meaning "dwelling, place, tabernacle, residence, temple, habitation, tent/dwell abide, inhabit, remain, continue, dwellers, cause to remain, rest/lie down, sleep, rest, lodge, take rest."
The prophet, Ezekiel, also wrote how the presence of the LORD, which is the meaning of tabernacle, among His people marks them as different from all other people: "My servant David (referring to the immortal Messiah/Christ, the descendant of David) shall be their prince forever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know the I, the LORD, sanctify (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore." (Ezek. 37:26-28).
In another reading portion for this Sabbath, King Solomon wrote of the importance of the intimate relationship of grace present when dwelling with God in His tabernacle, especially as the calamity and terror of the last days approach: "Remember now your (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult (ra - evil, wickedness, hurt, trouble, affliction, adversity, grievous, calamity, harm, distress, misery) days come...Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well...Let us hear the conclusion of the matter: Fear (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil." (Eccl. 12:1, 6, 13-14).
We see an example of the calamity that comes upon God's people when they forsake the blessing of being in an intimate tabernacle presence with their God: "For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the LORD our God; they have forsaken Him, have turned their faces away from the dwelling place (miskan - see above: tabernacle) of the LORD, and turned their backs on Him....Therefore the wrath of the LORD fell upon Jerusalem, and He has given them up to trouble (za'ava - a horror, trembling, object of terror or trembling), to desolation, and to jeering, as you see with your eyes. (2 Chron. 29:6, 8).
One of the Psalms expresses a deep longing for the tabernacle presence of the LORD. The Psalmist wrote: "(David said) I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place (miskan - see above: tabernacle) for the Mighty One of Jacob....Let us go into His tabernacle (miskan - see above: tabernacle); let us worship at His footstool. Arise O LORD, to Your resting place. You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let Your saints shout for joy." (Ps. 132:4-5, 7-9).
In this place of tabernacle, there is a change in circumstance, a transformation as the LORD answered the desire expressed by the above psalmist: "This (Zion) is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will clothe her priests with salvation. and her saints shall shout for joy." (Ps. 132:13-16). The place of the LORD's tabernacle dwelling with men has become Zion, and the great blessings of the LORD are found there.
Psalm 84 cries out to be in the LORD's tabernacle, where God dwells with man: "How lovely is Your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God...Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will still be praising You. Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage (mesilla/salal - ways, path, raised way, staircase, ladder, course of life/lift up, cast up, exalt, raise up, make a level way). As they pass through the Valley (emeq/amaq - valley, lowland, open land suited for growing corn or for a battlefield/deep, depth, deep as being unsearchable) of Baca (weeping, lamentation, bewail, mourn, shed tears, weep bitterly), they make it a spring (mayan/ayin - fountain, spring, well, a place irrigated with fountains/eye, sight, fountain, well, presence, face, pleased); The rain (more - early rain, teacher, archer) also covers (ata - cover, enwrap, envelop oneself, clad, array, clothe) it with pools (beraka - blessing, prosperity, praise of God, a gift, benediction, treaty of peace, invocation of good). They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion. O LORD of hosts, hear my prayer; Give ear O God of Jacob!...For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of My God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You!"
Not only does the tabernacle of God cause a transformation, but the pilgrimage in the Spirit that a person makes to the tabernacle dwelling place of God creates a transformation along the way as we saw in the verses above from Ps. 84. We create spiritual highways that change low places of mourning and bitter weeping into pools of praises, blessing, peace and benedictions, or good words. Sometimes we are so overset by the troubling events of the depths that we see now, that we neglect our upward spiritual pilgrimage that transforms the "now" into the dwelling place or tabernacle of God with man, the place of glory and grace.
There used to be, and still are, pilgrimages from all over Israel and even from the nations of the world to Jerusalem, to the mountain where the temple of the LORD stood. The people would walk up many inclines and steps as they ascended to the House of God. Many believe that the prophets of God have written about another physical temple/tabernacle that will be built in these end times before the return of Jesus Messiah/Christ. These pilgrimages in the natural were shadows of the spiritual pilgrimages we are called to in order to come to that place where God dwells with and in man.
Moses sought this place of oneness with God (Ex. 33:18-23). Abraham sought a city whose Maker and Builder was God and not man (Heb. 11:8-10). Both Paul and Peter wrote of the House or dwelling place of God, being built not with natural bricks or stone, but of living stones, which are the believers in Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith (Eph. 2:19-22, 1 Pet. 2:4-5). Peter also wrote that by believing in the promises of God, we make a pilgrimage in faith looking forward, as Abraham did, to those new things to come, even a new creation (2 Pet. 3:12-13, see also Isa. 66:22-23). This tabernacle pilgrimage brings forth the transformation from the realm of the prophetic into manifestation (Heb. 10:35-39, and Heb. 11:1-3).
This is the marvel that awaits us at the end of our spiritual pilgrimage to the tabernacle of God: "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.' Then He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new..." (Rev. 21:1-5).
This is a similar transformation as the one we read in Ps. 84, above. regarding the Valley of Baca. If we want to see the tears and mourning of these times transformed into righteousness and salvation, let us begin our prophetic pilgrimage to the LORD's tabernacle.
Jesus left us the most powerful promise concerning His Father's tabernacle and its feast: "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house (oikia/oikos - house, dwelling, abode/house of God, tabernacle) are many mansions (mone/meno - abode, dwelling, indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers/kept continually, not to perish, endure, remain, lasting); if it were not so, I would have told you. And if I go and prepare (hetoimazo - make ready, prepare, provide, prepare a feast, a supper, a lodging; to receive on coming, things made ready in advance) a place for you, I will come again and receive (paralambano/lambano - to take with one's self, to join with one's self, receive near/take with the hand, take up a thing to be carried, to take in order to carry away, to collect, to gather) you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way (hodos - a travelled way, road, a traveler's way or journey [see "pilgrimage" above], progress, a manner of thinking, feeling or deciding) you know." (Jn. 14:1-4).
As Jesus described His Father's tabernacle and the place already prepared within it for us, He also connected this to His return. Our spiritual pilgrimage or "way" to God's tabernacle also anticipates not only Christ's return but our being received or carried away to Him - known as the Rapture (see 1 Thess. 4:16-18). Jesus expected His disciples to make the spiritual pilgrimage to the tabernacle of God, where Christ has prepared to be joined to us, and to return. The promises connected to the Feast of Tabernacles/Ingathering are very deep, eternal, and creation changing.
If you would like to know more about our tabernacle pilgrimage, you can pray with me: "Father, You have called me to Your tabernacle, made me a living stone in Your tabernacle, and Your Son, Jesus, has also promised me a place in Your tabernacle forever. As I make my spiritual pilgrimage to this destination, I am praying and believing that transformation will follow my steps, that deep places of suffering and tears will be transformed into elevated places of Your abounding blessings. As my spiritual pilgrimage to Your tabernacle progresses, let old things pass away, and let Your new things be manifested. Father, let the gathering in, called the Feast of Tabernacles, of Your salvation harvest be filled and completed with both Jew and Gentile from out of all nations, and let Christ's return be hastened. These promises associated with this feast are almost too awesome to comprehend but help me to learn and walk in them by Your Holy Spirit and Your living Word. I ask for and believe these things by faith in the name of Jesus. AMEN."
*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of the two pictographic Hebrew letters can also be interpreted "Adonai (Lord) of the Cross/Covenant". In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as Α Ω , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.
Friday, October 11, 2024
AtonementWitness
This Sabbath, according to some calendars, is the observance of the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kipur, which is one of the fall feasts of the LORD. Believers in Jesus Messiah/Christ know that He IS the atonement for our sins, covering and obliterating our sins with His own blood made as a sacrifice, thus fulfilling this feast (see Mt. 26:27-28, 1 Jn. 2:1-2, Rom. 5:10-11, Rom. 3:23-25). This is a one-day feast commanded by the LORD in Leviticus 23: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement (Kipur/kapar - atonement, expiation, redemption/atonement, purge, reconciliation, forgive, cleansed, pardon, pitch, obliterated, to cover over [with pitch], to expiate, be merciful). It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict (see below) your (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. And you shall do not work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God..." (v. 26-28).
Before we leave the Hebrew word meanings above connected to Yom Kipur, I would like to look more closely at the Hebrew word ana, translated to mean "afflict", regarding our souls. Most traditionally treat the affliction of our souls as a day of fasting and repentance, however, the Hebrew meaning goes deeper than that. The Hebrew word ana means "afflict, humble, be bowed down, to stoop, to weaken oneself, submit oneself, concern oneself with one's soul, be labored or exercised over one's soul." There is an additional meaning to the word ana, or afflict, that requires an action: "to answer, respond as a witness, make answer, testify, speak, give account, sing, cry out, praise song, the shout of soldiers in battle, a witness giving evidence." This powerful day of "affliction" is not only to include a humbling examination of our souls, but it is a day that requires us to take an action, and to give evidence. We will see this in the next few examples.
The root word of Kipur (Atonement) is kapar as shown above. The root word kapar first appears in scripture during the account of Noah's building of the ark. As we see above, kapar means "atonement, purge, reconciliation, forgive, cleansed, pardon, obliterated, cover over (with pitch), to expiate, be merciful." The LORD had told Noah that "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood...and cover it (kapar - see above) inside and outside with pitch (koper/kapar - ransom, satisfaction, price of a life, redemption price)." (Gen. 6:13-14). All mankind was to be destroyed except for one family: "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." (v. 8). How would you feel to have seen by revelation from God the deserved total destruction of all mankind and then to have been told that you and your family would be the only exception? How would you feel to have received this unearned gift? Would you bow down in humility and submission before this awesome gift and mercy of God? This is what the LORD is looking for in His people because we have received the undeserved atonement in the blood of Jesus Christ, who, while we were yet sinners, died for us. Do we understand the utter destruction from which the atonement blood shields and delivers us? Why would we think that this day is about food or the abstaining from food? The LORD corrected this false perception in Isaiah 58. We don't want to reduce an act of God's transformative power and mercy into a religious ritual.
In this account of the ark, scripture remarks upon Noah's genealogy and generations. Noah is described as a just man, perfect (tamim/tamam - without blemish, perfect, upright, without spot, whole, complete, full, innocent (see Mt. 27:3-5), complete or entirely in accord with truth and fact/end, finished (see Jn. 19:30), clean, perfect, done, be completed, completely crossed over) in his generations, as well as the remark that "Noah walked with God." (Gen. 6:9). The LORD was looking at Noah's generations, calling them "perfect". What He saw in those generations is found in the statement: "Noah walked (halak/yalak - depart, die, live, carry, cause to walk, take away, vanish) with God (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega Ha-Elohim)." To me, this is saying that Noah's generations or descendants contained the Messiah/Christ. In the same way as the later case of David, the seed of the Messiah, who is the *aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega, was in Noah. This was a very humbling thought for David (see 2 Sam. 7:18-22), and it must have been for Noah also. All of these things is enough to cause a person to bow down before the LORD in thanks and awe.
Noah, as a witness and a testimony to the atonement, followed God's will and prepared a place (see also Jn. 14:1-6) which was the ark. That place was covered inside and out with the koper/kapar atonement (pitch) that protect from the destruction of judgment. Noah applied the pitch (covering atonement inch by inch, foot by foot, inside and outside of the very large vessel.
Another Atonement witness or testimony is found in Num. 16:41-50. There had been a terrible rebellion among the children of Israel when they were in the wilderness. As a result of this rebellion, all involved in it died, having been swallowed alive by the earth, or consumed by fire from heaven. After these deaths, the people turned against Moses and Aaron, falsely accusing them of killing God's people (Num. 16:41). The glory of the LORD covered the tabernacle and Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle as the LORD said: "Get away/Get ye up (ramam - exalted, lifted up, mount up, to rise, to be high) from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell (napal - fall down, be offered, cease, die, perish, smite out) on their faces." (v. 42-44). Notice how Moses and Aaron fell down on their faces, as the LORD commanded them to "Get ye up". The lower you humble yourself or your soul, the higher you are lifted up in the Spirit. "So Moses said to Aaron (aharon - "light bringer"), 'Take a (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) censer (mahta/mehita/hata - fire-holder, censer, firepan, a pan for live coals, implement or vessel in which burning coals are carried/destruction, ruin, terror, a breaking/to take hold of, seize, take away, snatch up [coals], to pick up fire) and put fire in it from the altar, put incense (qetoret/qatar - odor of burning sacrifice, perfume/fumigation, a smoke of sacrifice) on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement (kapar - atonement, purge, reconciliation, reconcile, forgive, cleansed, merciful, pardon, pitch, to cover over, overspread) for them; for the wrath has gone out from the LORD. The plague (negep/nagap - blow, striking, plague, stumbling of the foot/smite, hurt, slain, struck, stumble, beaten, defeated) has begun." (v. 45-46). Aaron did so, "...standing between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped." (v. 48). Aaron ran into the middle of a deserved plague of judgment with the atoning fire from the altar. Before the plague was stopped by Aaron's atonement witness, 14,700 people died (v. 49).
In describing the Messiah/Christ who would come, John the Baptist said: "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." (Mt. 3:11).
We experienced a terrible plague in the past few years. Millions were sickened and many died. What was our atonement witness in the midst of the plague? Was it the same as Aaron's? By definition, we, the believers in Christ, understand what it means to be a people who were undeservedly spared (see Rom. 5:8) from utter destruction because of the Atonement blood of Jesus. Did we apply the atonement for the sins of the people in the midst of the plague?
Jesus, the Person of the Atonement, gave humbling testimony of the ministry of atonement. We think of the atoning work of the cross, which is true, but the atonement didn't start there. Jesus first dropped His atoning blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, meaning an olive oil press, located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, where His soul was so deeply troubled and sorrowful that His sweat became great drops of blood that fell to the ground (see Lk. 22:44), and where His testimony was the submission of His will to the will of His Father. (Mt. 26:36-39, 42). This is the perfect picture of the affliction (ana, see above) of the soul associated with the Day of Atonement. If you are in this sorrowful place of pressing and wrestling in your soul, Jesus left His atonement blood in that place for you. He left the answer in that place for you also: "Not my will, Father, but Your will."
The next place that Jesus shed blood was at the house of Caiaphas the high priest. He was accused of blasphemy (see Isa. 50:6), and they spit in His face, beat Him, and slapped Him. (Mt. 26:65-68). If your religion has separated you so far from God that you can no longer recognize Him when He is standing before you, Jesus left drops of His atoning blood in your house also if you will receive it.
From there, Jesus was taken for the first time to Pilate's palace, where He must have continued to drop blood from the beating, and then He was sent to the palace of Herod, where He also must have left drops of blood on the floor. He was then returned to the judgment court of Pilate, where He was crowned with thorns, scourged, and beaten. (Jn. 19:1-3). There must have been great streaks of blood left at Pilate's judgment seat. If you think that government is the answer to problems, a provider of equity, and the dispenser of justice separate and apart from God, or you are a member of government who panders to power and wealth rather than righteousness, Jesus left drops of His atoning blood in your house too if you will receive it.
Then Jesus began the walk with the cross through the streets of Jerusalem, where His blood must have trailed on the ground on the way to the place of crucifixion. Simon a Cyrenian (a place in Libya, Africa), a passerby not involved in the horrible proceeding, was forced to carry the cross for Jesus (Lk. 23:26-27). Simon must have gotten smeared with that atoning blood as well. Jesus does not remain confined to a church building but walks the streets of our communities (see Prov. 8:1-10), where He leaves drops of His atonement blood. If you think that the atoning blood of Jesus is only for certain racial, ethnic or cultural groups and not for you, He left drops of His blood just for you.
Finally the Atonement and the Atonement Witness, Jesus, came to Golgotha (golgotha/gulgolet/galal - skull/every man, census count or poll to determine the price of redemption/roll away, remove, flow down) where He was crucified (Mt. 27:33-35). Here, of course, His blood would have dripped upon the ground of "the Skull" (every man, see gulgolet, above). However, His blood would also have gotten upon the soldiers who laid Him on the cross, took hold of His arms and legs to nail Him and later stood below Him as they pierced Him in His side (Jn. 19:33-34). The Word of Isaiah 53 tells us that there was never a man whose face and form was so marred as this man. A person doing such a job as those soldiers did on Golgotha couldn't help but come into contact with His blood. If you think that you have done something so offensive to God that you cannot be covered and forgiven by the atonement blood of Christ, Jesus left drops of His atoning blood for you if you will receive it.
Before the day of His resurrection, Jesus left drops of His blood on the burial cloth that laid beneath and over His body in the sepulcher in which He was buried. If or when you are facing death, Jesus left drops of His atoning blood for you. It is the shed blood that has overcome death.
Under the law of Moses, on the Day of Atonement in the tabernacle of God, the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies with a basin of the blood of the sacrifice, dip his finger, rather than a utensil, into the blood and sprinkle the blood of atonement on the Mercy Seat, also called the Throne of God according to Jewish tradition, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people. It is the only day of the year when the priest could enter that holiest part of the tabernacle and come out alive. The atonement must be applied with our hands, not just for our own benefit, but on behalf of others. The Atonement requires an answer, a witness, a testimony, an action. Now, the Book of Hebrews says, we can enter into that holiest place through the torn body of Christ and approach (Heb. 10:19-25) the Mercy Seat, the place where the blood of atonement is applied on behalf of the sins of the people.
If you would like to learn more about the Atonement, you can join me in prayer: "Merciful Father, as we come to the Day dedicated to Your provision of Atonement, which is the blood of the sacrifice of Your Son Jesus, lead me by Your Spirit and Word into a deeper understanding of what it means to be a witness giving evidence of this powerful and costly Atonement. As Noah "walked with the aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega God", show me how to walk and apply Your Atonement upon Your Mercy Seat. It is not by my will, Father, but by Your will. Help me to humble and search my heart and soul until like Noah, Aaron and Jesus, I walk in the application or ministering of Your Atonement especially in these trying times. I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."
*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of the two pictographic Hebrew letters can also be interpreted "Adonai (Lord) of the Cross/Covenant". In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as Α Ω , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.
Friday, October 4, 2024
AncientWays
This Sabbath's reading portion is titled Ha'azinu, meaning "Listen." This Sabbath comes during the Ten Days of Awe between The Feast of Trumpets, Yom Teruah: literally "The Day of Blasts", and the Feast of Atonement, Yom Kippur (kapar - atonement, purge, reconciliation, forgive, pacify, appease, merciful, cleansed, pardon, cover over, expiate/cancel, overspread, obtain forgiveness). This reading portion starts in Deuteronomy 32, which is The Song of Moses. In this song, Moses begins by telling the heavens and the earth that the words he is singing have great importance, knowledge and understanding to bring to us: "Give ear (azan - to hear, listen, be obedient, broaden out the ear with the hand, prick up the ears), O heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching (leqah/laqah - teaching, insight, doctrine, teaching-power/take, seize, fetch, lay hold of, buy, take in marriage, carry off, flash of lightning) drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew...For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He." (Deut. 32:1-4).
As Moses sings his words to "the heavens", it is the Hebrew word samayin, which means not only the abode of God, but also "the visible in which the clouds move and the higher ether where celestial bodies revolve, the firmament which seems to spread out like a vault [an arch that supports a roof or ceiling] over the globe as supported on foundations and columns, a place from where the rain is let down as through doors or floodgates." So not only does samayim heaven refer to the invisible realm of God, but also to the atmosphere and space that vaults the earth. We know that the rebellious spirits of wickedness inhabit this atmosphere, this vault of heaven, as Satan is called "the prince of the power of the air (aer - the air, the atmospheric region)", (Eph. 2:1-3). Paul also wrote about "spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (epouranios/ouranos - the abode of God and His angels; lower heavens of the stars, heavens of the clouds/the vaulted expanse of the sky)." (Eph. 6:10-12).
Moses sings about beloved Jeshurun ("upright one", a poetic term for Israel): "...he forsook God who made him, and scornfully esteemed (see Isa. 53:1-6) the Rock of his salvation. They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons (sed/sud - demon, to rule, rulers/ruin, destroy, spoil, devastate, waste, strong, powerful, to act with violence, to rule, to master), not to God, to gods they did not know, to new gods, new arrivals (qarob/qarab - from near, from the vicinity, of relationship and affinity, intimate acquaintance, within a short space/come near, approach, draw near, bring near) that your fathers did not fear (sa'ar - to feel a sacred awe). Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who fathered you." (Deut. 32:15-18). His own people chose to worship other gods, which were nothing less than demons, fallen angels.
There is a generation that has corrupted themselves within their surroundings, nearby as the above scripture states, within the ways of the times and places, within their neglect and forgetfulness towards God and their Rock of salvation and their worship of the demon rulers and powers that are surrounding, rather than the worship of God: They have corrupted themselves; They are not His children, because of their blemish (me'um - blemish, spot, defect, moral stain): a perverse ('iqqes/aqas - distorted, false, crooked, perverted, perverse of mind and fraudulent of speech/to knot or distort, making the straight way crooked) and crooked generation...they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith" Moses said (Deut. 32:5, 20). The LORD lovingly named His people Jeshurun, the straight and upright ones, but they have allowed themselves to become twisted and crooked.
The apostle Paul wrote to the church: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (Rom. 12:1-2). The world of "here, now and nearby" seeps into us and corrupts us, and, as Moses said above, removes our faith from us. We are no longer recognizable as children of God. Jesus said of His disciples that they were in the world, but not of the world (Jn. 17:11, 14-17). We are also in this world but are not to become of this world.
Moses in his song, calls Jeshurun to remember: "Remember the days (yom - day as defined by the warm, hot hours, time, chronicles, year, always, season) of old (olam/alam - ever, everlasting, perpetual, evermore, always, antiquity, ancient, continuous existence, unending future, eternity/to conceal, to hide, secret, veiled from sight), consider the years of many generations. Ask your father (ab - founder of a household, group, family; originator, generator, first ancestor), and he will show you; your elders (zaqen - ancient man, eldest, aged, ancient, old man), and they will tell you..." (v. 7).
The people of God had/have become so corrupted by "the here, now and nearby" that they can no longer be called the children of the perfect, righteous God of truth, uprightness, and justice, because in their blemishes and imperfections they no longer bear a resemblance to Him. "They are not His children" is a very sad condition. The LORD wants to bring them beyond the "here, now and nearby" that corrupted them and have them consider and remember "the days of old", the eternal and everlasting things, the things that are generally concealed from man, but the knowledge of the ancient truths can be found within their heritage in Him. In the "here, now and nearby", man tends to think that the world is ruled by the will of man, however, there are ancient and everlasting foundational spiritual truths upon which all creation, including man, began and continues. The LORD spoke about these ancient ways: "Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old (olam/alam - ever, everlasting, perpetual, evermore, always, antiquity, ancient, continuous existence, unending future, eternity/to conceal, to hide, secret, veiled from sight) paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not listen." (Jer. 6:16-17). During these present fall feasts, the trumpets or shofars are blown, calling for God's people to repent and return to Him.
Not only does the LORD want His people to return to these ancient paths that lead to Him, but it is our ordained purpose to restore those ancient paths that have been forgotten, neglected and destroyed: "Those from among you shall build the old (olam - see above) waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In." (Isa. 58:12). It is interesting that this chapter of Isaiah begins with: "Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." (v. 1). We may mistakenly think that we have nothing to repent for, that repentance is only for the unbeliever, but by believing so, we miss an opportunity to see the resulting restoration of eternal truths through us for the whole world. The whole creation groans for the manifestation of the sons/children of God (Rom. 8:20-22) who, through Jesus Christ, resemble their Father in truth, perfection, righteousness and justice, as Moses said. This is part of God's call for His people to return to Him, especially during this time of repentance and return (shuvah) during the fall feasts.
During this shuvah return time of the fall feasts, part of this Sabbath reading portion is from the prophet, Micah: "He (God) does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy/lovingkindness. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old (qedem/qadam - old, ancient, before, aforetime, eternal, antiquity, Mount of the East, earliest time, beginning, that which is before/go before, go in front, beforehand, precede)." (Micah 7:18-20).
Another reading portion from this Ha'azinu, "Listen", Sabbath is from the prophet, Hosea, calling the LORD's people to return to Him: "O Israel, return (shuv- return unto, come back, go back, restore, refresh, renew) to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity; Take words with you and return (shuv - see above) to the LORD. Say to Him, 'Take away all iniquity; Receive us graciously, for we will offer the sacrifices of our lips." (Hos. 14:1-2). The LORD says in response: "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him...Those who dwell under His shadow shall return (shuv - see above); They shall be revived like grain (dagan/daga - wheat, corn, grain, increase, multiply, used for bread/multiply, increase, become numerous, to cover, covering over everything, great multitude), and grow like a vine..." (v. 7).
In the meaning of the word, return (shuv), there is also the meaning of restore, refresh, renew as we see above. We saw this same truth in the verses from Isaiah 58 above. Hosea calls it "revived". So many want to see revival. So many are praying to see all men know the LORD and His salvation through Christ. The seeds of it can be found in the shuv return to the LORD by His people.
The LORD said, "Return to Me and I will return to you." (see Mal. 3:7, Zech. 1:3, Neh. 1:7-9).
As His people return to Him, the LORD promises: "I will be like the dew (tal/talal - night mist, to cover with a roof, distilled from heaven [see Deut. 32:2, above] to Israel; He shall grow like the lily (susan/sus - whiteness, trumpet-shaped/exult, rejoice, leap with joy), and lengthen his roots (seres - roots indicating permanence, footholds, flourishing in prosperity) like Lebanon (meaning whiteness, purified, make white). His branches shall spread; His beauty (hod - glory, beauty, majesty, honor, splendor, goodly) shall be like an olive tree (zayit - be bright, fresh, luxuriant, oil as clear and brilliant), and his fragrance (reah - pleasant scent, fragrance, perceive, breath, to blow) like Lebanon." (Mic. 14:5-6).
If you would like to experience repentance and the restoration of the LORD, you can join me in my prayer: "Lord, I come to You in repentance. I desire to return to You, to the place of My salvation, restoration and renewal. Remove the spiritual blemishes from me. I turn away from the thoughts and ways of the world and turn to You, my Creator and King. Restore me to the ancient paths of righteousness and let me be a repairer and restorer of those ways for others. Fill my life with the fruits of repentance and the way of life everlasting, in Jesus' name, AMEN."