April – 2010 – New Covenant Forum - Encouraging Conversation About Jesus the Jewish Messiah

April 30th, 2010

I have been reading a book that purports to reveal to it’s reader a deeper understanding of Messiah through understanding the cultural context of the events in his life. I grew up with the motto: if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything; so I won’t mention the book or its author by name. But I must say that I am finding this book hard to read.

So much of the author’s time is spent trying to create context where none in the Scriptural text exists. Although some of what he says may be true, most of what he claims as 1st Century Jewish cultural practise is unattested and, to my mind, dubious. I ask myself the question: why? Why does he feel this need to create (however well-intentioned) a context beyond what is already clearly there?

When I first encountered the New Testament writings, the B’rit Hadashah, it didn’t take me very long to recognize how Jewish they were. I don’t necessarily mean in linguistic style with respect to the Hebrew Scriptures; after all there were approximately 400 years between the last writer of the Hebrew Scriptures (Malachi) and the earliest of the New Covenant writings. That’s about the same time lapse between modern language and the language of Shakespeare, so we can anticipate a real difference in style.

The Jewishness of the New Testament I found in the Jewish understanding of its writers – both in what was written and what is assumed and therefore not written. A good example is the encounter between John the Baptizer and those sent to question him in the Gospel of John 1:19-27. Here we have a very Jewish discussion about a very Jewish matter. We see a delegation from the Sanhedrin being sent to John to ask what he was doing. In this conversation, no one asks what the other is talking about, because it is understood by the parties involved – they are asking about issues regarding the coming of the Messiah. Furthermore, John the Gospel writer does not feel the need to explain these things to his reader – he assumes they understand.

All the writers of the B’rit Hadashah were Jewish, (even the supposed Gentile, Luke, I believe,) and wrote with a Jewish understanding. As a Jew, that was very clear to me as I first read the book. Not Jewish in the way of the rabbinic writings, but Jewish in the way of the 1st Century writers of the time.

If you are Jewish and have not read the B’rit Hadashah (New Testament), why not check it out and read from Jewish writers about your Jewish Messiah, Yeshua.

Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum.

Posted in Jesus and Jews, Jews and Jesus, This, That, The Other Thing, Uncategorized | No Comments »

“Avatar” Envy

April 28th, 2010

Some time after the movie “Avatar” came out, I read a e-news article alleging that a number of people who saw the movie were experiencing depression because of it (see here). The article I read stated that people saw the peaceful and exotic planet of the Na’vi natives who lived symbiotically with their world, and longed for the same. Not seeing that possibility in the real world, they became depressed.

I have finally had the opportunity to see the movie (an excellent one in my opinion). Indeed the world portrayed in the movie is one where people are at peace with their surroundings and seem to know their place in the scheme of things. There is a beneficially symbiotic relationship between the planet and its people who, though broken up in clans, seem to have good relationships with each other. Everything would be perfect if it were not for the horrible humans coming in and ruining it all for their own monetary gain.

Looking at this Edenic world, I am not at all surprised that some people get depressed. I wonder if deep down inside each and every one of us, there is not a memory of Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden), and with it a longing to return. After all, in Gan Eden, there existed a peaceful relationship between ourselves and our Maker, represented in the movie by the spirit of the planet. In Gan Eden, humankind knew their place in the world and were at peace, one with another. In Gan Eden, the world was beautiful and undisturbed and we had a good relationship with flora and fauna alike. Life, in fact was perfect. For a picture of this perfect world, read Genesis 1 and 2.

That peace existed because humankind was at peace with its creator. But all that ended with the first sin. That brought disunity between us and God. Just as a wall that is not plumb eventually falls apart, our world has slowly been unravelling so that sin, and sickness abounds and we no longer feel attuned to the world around us.

No wonder some get depressed when they make this comparison. I was not one of them, however. Because even as Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden and created that separation between humankind and God, God was there caring for his fallen creatures. And God has made a promise that one day all that was wrong would be made right.

He said to Abraham that, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” That blessings was Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ). One of his 1st Century disciples said this: “For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. (Romans 5:15)”

Yeshua has brought peace between God and those who accept the free gift of His grace: Christ sacrificed on the cross for our sin. When we are in Christ, though we are still buffeted by the ill winds of this earth, we yet have peace with God and the promise of a new Eden.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says … to the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)” This is the promise of those who believe in Messiah – that they will once again dwell in peace and in harmony with their world and with their Creator. As we who believe already have that promise – what possible reason is there to be depressed?

Don’t be depressed – be at one with God, through your Saviour Yeshua!

Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum.

Posted in Blog, This, That, The Other Thing, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Genius Artist From Vitebsk

April 20th, 2010

The art world of Marc Chagall is unique. Just as most people would immediately recognize the paintings of Norman Rockwell, the paintings of Marc Chagall are also distinct and recognizable once you acquaint yourself with them. His many works abound in Jewish symbolism, Biblical stories, and his beloved childhood town of Vitebsk in Belarus. Chagall painted fanciful visions depicting floating, dream-like images as well as sinuous figures of people and animals that are most times out of proportion in size. A goat or a fish may appear much larger than a man. His inexhaustible palette of vibrant and rich colours are his trademark and his distinct and whimsical images have set him apart as one of the world’s greatest Jewish artists.

Marc Chagall was born in 1887, eldest of nine children into the home of a poor Hasidic family. Chagall told his mother that he wanted to be a painter but she could never comprehend why he would set his heart on such an impractical vocation. Nonetheless, in 1906 at age sixteen, Chagall began to study at the art school of Yehuda Pen in his hometown. A year later he left for St. Petersburg to further his studies under various known artists, eventually going to Paris in 1910. He returned to Vitebsk in 1914 to marry his fiancé, Bella Rosenfed. World War I broke out while he was home and Chagall became a participant in the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Bella and Marc moved to Paris in 1923 where he later became a French citizen. The Nazi occupation of France during World War II led Chagall and his wife to flee Paris. American journalist, Varian Fry assisted their escape from France through Spain and Portugal and in 1941 they settled in the United States. Unfortunately, his beloved Bella died in 1944. Chagall returned to Paris where he began to work in ceramics, sculptures and stained glass windows. The synagogue of the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem boasts one of Chagall’s greatest achievements, twelve stained-glass windows each depicting one of the tribes of Jacob.

Perhaps the most remarkable painting Chagall ever painted was in 1938 entitled ‘White Crucifixion’, the first of his many paintings of the crucifixion. For 1900 years no well-known Jewish artist dared to paint the figure of Jesus on the cross and yet Chagall did; he painted Jesus as a suffering Jewish Saviour. Amid much symbolism of Jewish persecution, the painting portrays Jesus nailed to the cross with a lighted menorah at his feet. His loins are covered with a Jewish prayer shawl and over his head written in Hebrew, ‘Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews’.

Chagall painted yet another picture that has been declared by some to be the most unusual self-portrait in the history of art, ‘Self-Portrait with a Clock’. Chagall has painted himself standing with brushes and palette in front of a picture of the crucifixion which he has just painted. His demeanor in the picture is melancholy as he contemplates the cross while his head is bowed over a sad-eyed donkey. A clock rests above Chagall’s head and interestingly, the time is set at three o’clock and above the head of Jesus is a rooster. Why a rooster? One can only speculate but perhaps there is an answer to the question. A custom that has been observed for centuries by Eastern European Jews is called kapparah from the Hebrew root ‘to cover.’ It is a traditional right that is supposed to be atoning as a substitute for the temple sacrifice. The male of the household takes a rooster on Yom Kippur and swinging it over his head three times will declare: ‘This is my substitute, my atonement, it shall meet death but I shall find long life’ and then the rooster is slaughtered.

Was Chagall bowing to his kapparah? We will never know but this we do know, Marc Chagall painted a Jewish Jesus for the world to see, and he painted him as a suffering Savior. Chagall died in 1985 at the age of 97 leaving behind his legacy and art works worldwide. Today a museum sits at 29 Pokrovskaia Street in his home town of Vitebsk, a tribute to ‘the genius artist of Viebsk.’

Contributed by Marilyn Duguid, Secretary/Treasurer on the Board of Directors of New Covenant Forum.

Posted in A Gentile perspective, Atonement, Personal Stories, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Persecution of righteous Israel?

April 19th, 2010

Reading Michael Brown’s book, “Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus” (Purple Pomegranite Productions), I came upon this inciteful statement:
“In fact, although it brings me no joy to write this, Pharisaic/traditional [i.e. rabbinic] Judaism is the only form of Jewish practise that has been subject to continual dispersion, judgment, and exile since it became dominant (especially in the generation after Yeshua [Jesus], at which time the Second Temple was destroyed).”

Dr. Brown brings up an excellent point. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob promised blessing to the righteous. In Deuteronomy Chapter 28, an intrinsic part of His covenant commitment with Israel, the Lord says that he will bless Israel when they are righteous and curse Israel when they are unrighteous. This is a common theme that is aptly taken up by the prophets as they continually warned Israel of their behaviour towards God and the consequences of their disobedience.

Indeed, one of the problems with the identification of the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 as the Nation of Israel (an interpretation first popularized in the 11th Century by Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzhak, known as Rashi) is that the suffering servant is clearly defined as a righteous servant. If this servant represents the nation of Israel, then God has broken his promise. It is far better to interpret this passage as speaking of the Messiah, as even the Talmudic sages did when referring to it.

So if the Jewish religion of the rabbis is correct, why was Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed in 70 AD? Why have our Jewish people been under continual dispersion for the last 2,500 years? Why, in fact, have we been the subject of the curses of Exodus 28 rather than the blessings?

Is it not possible evidence that the Jewish religion of the rabbis is not the biblical Jewish religion – not the Jewish religion according to God?

Is it not also possible that the state of Israel exists today, at a time when there are more Jewish people coming to faith in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) than since the time of Yeshua itself, in preparation for the fulfillment of the prophet Zechariah’s prophecy?

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)”

Really, what makes more sense? Think about it!

Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum.

Posted in Jesus and Jews, Jewish Tradition, Jews and Jesus, Talmud vs. Tanakh, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Nothing but the blood of Yeshua!

April 13th, 2010

There is a song of Christian praise that goes,
“What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!”

The song’s message is very clear: if we want to make atonement for our transgressions against God – for our sins – then we must do it through the atoning blood of Jesus the Messiah. This is not a strange concept. It is a concept that comes right out of the pages of the Tanakh.

In Vayeekra (Leviticus) we see God instructing Moses about the sacrificial system for the temple. The first 10 of the books 27 chapters is taken up with these instructions and their institution among the Israelites. Later, in Chapter 17, God talk about the importance of people bringing their sacrifice to the temple and insisting that they do not eat the blood of it. Then he explains why the eating of blood is prohibited:

“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. (Leviticus 17:11)”

God is very explicit here – the means of atonement is through the covering of the blood. The Hebrew word for atonement comes from the Hebrew word for “cover”. It is from this same root that we have the term Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), Kippah (the skullcap that is worn by Jewish men) and Koporeth (the ‘mercy seat’ which covered the Ark of the Covenant). God tells us in Leviticus that it is the blood of the sacrifice that makes atonement.

The question is, how? We need to go back to earlier chapters (Leviticus 4:27-31) to see how the guilt offering was to be presented:
“If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the LORD’s commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed. And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering. And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. And all its fat he shall remove, as the fat is removed from the peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the LORD. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.

Let us look at this sacrifice step by step:
1. The Israelite first had to recognize his guilt.
2. He then was required to bring an unblemished lamb or goat to the Temple. God made it very clear that there was no other place in which the sacrifices were permitted.
3. He then had to lay his hands on the head of it. In this way he symbolically identifies the animal as the bearer of his own sin, so that it is the animal who dies as opposed to the sinner who deserves death because of his transgressions against God.
4. Then the sinner, not the priest, slaughtered the animal.
5. It was only then that the priest interceded – preparing the lamb for sacrifice.
6. The blood of the sacrifice is then poured out at the alter, as a ‘kapor’ a covering of sin.
7. Finally the fat is removed and burnt on the offering to make peace.
8. In this way is atonement made.

This was how atonement was to be made according to the Word of God given to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. Nowhere does he make atonement available in any other way but by the substitutionary sacrifice at the temple and the pouring our of blood as a covering for sin.

In Jeremiah 31:31-34 we read these words:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

So God was to bring a covenant that was not going to be like the covenant at Mount Sinai. It will be a new covenant.

Yeshua, on the night before he went to the cross, while celebrating the Passover Seder, took matzah after the dinner (the afikomen?) and proclaimed that it represented his body that was broken for his disciples (Luke 22:19). He also took the cup of redemption after dinner and referring to the Jeremiah passage above said of it, “this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

Yeshua pointed to himself as the fulfillment of the covenant promised by God through Jeremiah. And he was broken on the cross and his blood became the ‘kapor’ for our sins. It is now through Messiah Yeshua that we can have atonement. How? The same way the Israelite did in the covenant with Moses.

1. A person first has to recognize his guilt.
2. But then God has done the work. He became the living sacrifice in the person of the sinless Messiah – God’s self-sacrifice – through which atonement could be made. God has given no other provision.
3. On Messiah Yeshua were the sins of the world laid, just as is promised in Isaiah 53:4, 5 and 12.
4. It is we who were responsible for the death of the sacrifice, because it was for our sins that he died.
5. He became the priest that makes intercession for us, and so has been fulfilled the promise in Zechariah 6:13 in which the priesthood and the Davidic kingship become combined.
6. It is therefore his blood that makes a covering for our sin.
7. All this, however, is only effective when we accept this free gift of atonement made by God on our behalf. Just as the Israelite trusted in the provision of the sacrifice – the means by which God provided atonement – so we must accpet the provision of atonement that is provided through the crucified Messiah of Israel, Yeshua.
8. In this way is atonement made.

God has given no other provision by which salvation can be had, but by the blood of Yeshua. No other way is biblically authorized. The reason the temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. is that the temple was no longer needed. The New Covenant brought the final and lasting sacrifice that brings atonement from sin and brings eternal life with God. As God is unchanging, so his principles are unchangeing, including the princple of substitutionary sacrifice and the covering of blood to make atonement. Only the vehicle is different. Instead of the yearly sacrifice of bulls and rams, we have the once and for all sacrifice of Messiah.

Will you accept the Messiah today? It is a matter of life and death. If you do, please contact us and let us know about it.

Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum.

Posted in Atonement, Blog, Jews and Jesus, Messiah in the Tanach, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The question of Talmud and its authority

April 9th, 2010

For many years now, I have talked to a number of rabbis and Orthodox Jews about the question of the Talmud’s authority. Where does it come from? From what can I deduce divine approval or support for that authority?

When the Scriptures explicitly state that, “Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD (Exodus 24:4),” it doesn’t leave much room for an oral Torah. So what is the basis for the halachic traditions found in the Talmud and the writings of the later rabbis, especially when we are told by God, “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you (Deuteronomy 4:2).”

To date I have not received one satisfactory explanation to this question about the Talmud’s authority. Perhaps you have an answer? Then again, perhaps the answer is that the Talmud is not divinely inspired or authoritative and that the best thing to do is to read the Word of God as it is written. There have been many Talmudically learned rabbis who have done just that and came to realize that the Tanakh points not to the Talmud for gaining entrance into the Olam Habah, but to the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). (For examples go to this site.)

If you agree or disagree, we would love to hear what you have to say.

Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum.

Posted in Blog, Messiah in the Tanach, Personal Stories, This, That, The Other Thing | No Comments »

How can God have a son?

April 8th, 2010

How can God have a son? I mostly get this objection about Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) from Muslims, but not a few Jews have asked me the same thing. The idea of Jesus being the Son of God seems distasteful, and that is because the title is misunderstood.

The first point to make is that the term Son of God is indeed a title. God himself has many names in the Tanakh (the Hebrew Scriptures): El (אל), Elohim (אלהים), El-Shaddai (אל שדי), Adonai (אדני), and finally the Tetragrammaton – the four letters that represent the name by which God proclaimed himself to Moses (יהוה). Then there are the many titles of God: Adonai Tzva’ot (Lord of Hosts), Adonai Yireh (God who provides), Adonai Nissi (God my shield), along with many, many others that are used in the Tanakh.

The Messiah too, has many titles in the Tanakh. Job calls him his Redeemer (Job 19:25). He is Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14, literally ‘God with us’). He is the Branch (Isaiah 11:1, Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12). His most famous title is found in Isaiah 9:6 in which he is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). A few hundred years before Jesus ministered on earth, the prophet Malachi called him the “messenger of the covenant (Malachi 3:1).” Even if you don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the point is that these are recognized as messianic titles even in rabbinic literature.

Now it is true that the title, Son of God is not mentioned in the Tanakh, though we see a hint of it in Psalm 2. Yet the fact that the phrase “Son of God” in reference to Messiah is not mentioned in Tanakh does not mean that the title isn’t correct, for it is clear that God reveals both his names and the names of Messiah over a period of time.

God did not present himself as יהוה (YHWH) until he gave the Law on Mount Sinai. So we read these verses in Exodus 6:3, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, [el-shaddai] but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them.” Similarly, we are not told of the title of Prince of Peace until the time of Jeremiah the prophet in the 6th Century B.C.E. (Isaiah 9:6). Furthermore, the concept of Messiah as the Son of God was already found in the Jewish writings known as the Apocrypha and the Deuterocanonical books (e.g. (Enoch 55:2; 2 Esdras 7:28-29; 13:32). These were written in the centuries before and after Jesus, and indicate a Jewish understanding of Messiah’s ‘Sonship’. Finally, the title Son of God is fully revealed and confirmed to us at the time Messiah Yeshua came to minister on earth.

Son of God reminds us both of Messiah’s (Christ’s) divinity and his humanity. He is not a son in the same sense that I have a son, as many Muslims would object. Nor, as many Jewish people would insist is he man claimed to be God. Yeshua is God come as Man, born of a virgin by the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit (as one Yiddish writer puts in the mouth of his young protagonist, “If God can do anything, why can’t he make a virgin pregnant?”) to be the reconciler of sinful humans to a holy and righteous God.

Yeshua, in his humanity, had to deal with the same temptations of life as we, but he would not give in to those temptations. That is why, in a letter to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, the author can write, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)”

God come as man to be a sacrifice – a self-sacrifice – for our sins. As Isaiah 53:10 foretold, he became an asham (a guilt offering) and so made atonement for those who believe and accept the sacrifice God made on their behalf.

Won’t you honestly consider the claims of this Jewish messiah for yourself? Won’t you consider the free gift of salvation that brings eternal life with God, by putting your faith in the Messiah promised and sent by God the Father: Yeshua, the Son of God?

Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum.

Posted in Atonement, Jesus and Jews, Jews and Jesus, Knowing God, Messiah in the Tanach | No Comments »

Passover: remembering redemption and the alternative

April 7th, 2010

Published in the Contact – Issue 2010-1

Passover is one of the most important holidays on the Jewish calendar. It is certainly one of the most celebrated. Even Jews who are not very religious in practice, will annually celebrate the Passover Seder, the special ceremonial meal that recounts God’s redemption of the Jewish people from servitude in Egypt.

Throughout the Passover Seder, the miraculous deeds of God are recounted, praised and glorified. God sent Joseph into Egypt to prepare the way. Then, after the Israelites became enslaved, God protected Moses while other infants his age were killed. God later met Moses at the burning bush. God sent Moses to Pharaoh to proclaim freedom for his people. God brought down ten plagues on the Egyptians, culminating in Pharaoh’s release of the Israelites. God caused the Egyptians to be generous at Israel’s departure. God divided the sea so that Israel could pass beyond the reach of the Egyptian army who themselves were destroyed as God drowns them in the sea.

All of these amazing things God did to redeem His people Israel from bondage and slavery to Pharaoh. All these things the Jewish people rejoice in, and rightly so. Beyond that there were the miracles in the wilderness, the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, the sending of manna for eating, the defeat of the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-16), the clothes and sandals that lasted 40 years (Deuteronomy 29:5), and, finally, the fall of Jericho and their entry into the Promised Land.

For all these reasons, Passover is a time of great rejoicing. And yet there is a shadow on the proceedings. There are four cups that are drunk during the Passover Seder – a ceremony that might take four or five hours. In order these cups are:

The Cup of Sanctification
The Cup of Plagues
The Cup of Redemption
The Cup of Praise

Of the four, the cup of redemption is the most important – reminding us of the blood of the Passover lamb that was sacrificed so that Israel could have redemption from Egyptian bondage as they put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. This is the same cup that Yeshua used when he said, “this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:20)” Yeshua points to himself as the new Passover Lamb that brings redemption – not from bondage and slavery to Pharaoh, but bondage and slavery to sin and death, as promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

All four cups are drunk after reciting the appropriate prayers, and all of them remind us of the unalloyed joy of God’s salvation – all, except the second cup, the Cup of Plagues. Something different is done with this cup.

In Jewish tradition, a full cup represents complete joy; and so all the cups at the Passover table are to be filled to the brim. Before drinking the Cup of Plagues, however, we place our finger in our cup and let 10 drops fall onto our plates as everyone at the table recites the 10 plagues that were poured out on the Egyptians: one drop per plague.

In this way we diminish our joy. We mourn the loss of the Egyptians, whose destruction came for our benefit. Does it seem right to express sorrow for the enemies of God? We must remember that God’s wrath on the Egyptians doesn’t mean he didn’t love the Egyptians. Many centuries later, through the prophet Isaiah, God talks about a time when Egypt will be blessed (Isaiah 19:25).

We also know that though Egypt didn’t follow God, neither did the Israelites throughout most of their history and God eventually punished them for their disobedience. The Scriptures describe the grief with which God punished Israel, and yet God always holds out the promise of redemption to them when they turn back to Him (2 Chronicles 7:14).

In all this there is an application for believers hinted at by the Apostle Paul when he writes:
“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (Romans 5:10)”

We who are believers in Messiah Jesus, came to be believers while we were yet enemies of God. The Gentiles among us are like the Egyptians, just as the Jews among us are like the prodigal nation Israel. Yet God loved us and brought us out of bondage and into eternal life.

As children of God, should we not therefore sorrow over those who remain enemies of God? Should we not mourn for those who are destined to live eternally without God’s presence? Should we not strive to reach out to those who are enemies, so that they might know Him as father and friend?

There are great lessons, I think, in this second cup of the Passover Seder – the Cup of Plagues. Through this cup, sorrow for the lost is expressed even in the midst of the joy of the redeemed. Certainly we have joy in the redemption that was obtained through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, however our joy cannot be complete while there are still those who are suffering.

Furthermore we should cherish our salvation all the more as we remember the alternative – that from which we were delivered – the pain of death and separation from God for eternity – the sufferings of hell.

Let us remember God’s admonition to Jonah, who wanted to see the Ninevites die instead of allowing God to redeem them:
“should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle? (Jonah 4:11)”

Let us cherish our salvation, and let us express God’s love for the lost by being the messenger of the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum.

Posted in Blog, Goyim for God, Jesus and Jews, Jewish festivals, Jewish holidays, Messiah in the Tanach, This, That, The Other Thing | No Comments »

Facing Death

April 7th, 2010

Recently, the mother of a dear friend of mine passed away, and I attended the memorial service. Although there was much sadness among those who knew her well and much sympathy among those of us who knew the bereaved, nevertheless the proceedings had an undercurrent of joy. You see, this lady was a believer in Yeshua (Jesus). Her husband, her children – all of us who also know Yeshua – recognized that she is most certainly in a place that brings her joy and that we will all have the opportunity to see her again on some glorious day when we go to our heavenly home.

As I approach the end of my first half-century of life (a prosaic way of saying I will soon be fifty), I can’t help but think of my own mortality, and to look introspectively at how the thought of my death effects me emotionally. Now I can’t say how I would respond if I had some dire news from my doctor telling me that my time was up, but I can say that as I look at death I can face it without concern and with not a little anticipation.

My excitement in the afterlife doesn’t come from any presumption that I’m good enough for God in regard to deeds or thoughts. I have no doubt that there are atheists out there who are ‘better people’ then I am. Still I know – and the Scriptures confirm – that nothing I do can make me right with God.
“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6)”

Yet I have the same sense of surety that I am going to be with God that I had for my friend’s mother. This is because I know God through Messiah Yeshua – because of his righteousness which is imparted to me and that I am now clothed with, having accepted his sacrifice on my behalf.
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)”

Now you might say this is wishful thinking – but before coming to faith in Yeshua, although I couldn’t say for sure what the afterlife held out for me, I would have said what many of my Jewish people (and many other people) say: I am basically a good person, and so I should be ok. I did not really feel a need for certainty. My certainty did not come out of my need, but out of my knowledge as I came to know who God was and what His Word said.

That is why another Jewish believer, Saul of Tarsus also known as the Apostle Paul, could rejoice with these words:
“ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)”

There is a way to be certain of your eternal destiny, and that is by having a relationship with God through our Messiah Yeshua. You don’t have to take my word for it. Check it out for yourself. Read the Scriptures – the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament – and see what it says. If you have any questions feel free to make your comment, or you can contact us directly.

Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum.

Posted in Knowing God, Personal Stories, Resurrection, This, That, The Other Thing, Uncategorized | No Comments »

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