Please allow me to thank those of you who have contributed financially to Hoshana Rabbah Biblical Discipleship Resources. Also, thanks to those who have supported us through prayer, by your viewership, readership and by referring this ministry to your friends. We are deeply grateful for all of your love and support!
When I say “we,” I’m not referring to the hired staff that we don’t have, although from appearances (our website, teachings, videos, and so on) it may seem otherwise. Hoshana Rabbah is made up of my wife, Sandi, and me. That’s it. What’s more, I work a full-time job (40 to 60 hours per week), which is how I support my family (I receive no remuneration from this ministry—my work is all volunteer). Additionally, I pastor a local congregation (from which I also receive no remuneration). For her part, Sandi, who manages the website (a huge, time consuming responsibility) receives a small financial allowance each month (she could easily make three or four times as much in the corporate world). Beyond this, all financial contributions go directly into the ministry to pay for expenses to serve the needs of the body of Yeshua. So again, thank you for your support. We do this because we love Yeshua, because he has called us with an irresistible and irrevocable ministry calling, and because we love the brethren. It’s not about us, it’s about Him, so give our Lord all the glory!
Now having shared this, please let me share with you some ministry update information. Continue reading →
What does it mean to have a circumcised heart? What’s an uncircumcised heart? How does one go from having a hard and stoney heart to a soft heart upon which YHVH can write his Torah—his instructions in righteousness? This video discusses this critical, salvational issue.
Here is a study guide to go with this video—
The heart of man in its natural, spiritually unregenerted state is hard, obstinate and rebellious toward the Torah-instructions of YHVH Elohim. Man can’t help himself—this is just the way he is innately. This is the bad news. the good news, however, is that YHVH Elohim, man’s creator, knows how to fix the problem. The solution is the “rain” of YHVH’s Holy Spirit, which can fall on the stoney ground of men’s heart, soften that hard ground, and allow the good seed of Elohim’s Word to germinate, grow and eventually bear spiritual fruit. A day is coming in the near future prior to the return of Yeshua the Messiah when YHVH will pour out his Spirit upon many people causing them to forsake their wicked and rebellious ways and turn to him in loving obedience.
The Bad News: The Problem Is Man’s Sinful Condition
We must first discuss the bad news before we can talk about the good news. Sadly, modern gospel preachers often omit or only lightly touch on or water down the bad news of the sinful condition of man’s spiritually unregenerated heart. Here’s what the Word of Elohim has to say about men’s heart
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful [sly, insidious, deceitful, slippery] above all things, and desperately wicked [to be weak, sick, frail, to be incurable, to be sick]: who can know it?
Rom 3:10–18 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after Elohim. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of Elohim before their eyes.
Rom 7:14–25 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of Elohim after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank Elohim through Messiah Yeshua our master. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of Elohim; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Messiah Yeshua, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yeshua hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Elohim sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against Elohim: for it is not subject to the law of Elohim, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please Elohim. 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of Elohim dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Messiah, he is none of his.
Heb 3:7–19 Wherefore (as the Ruach HaKodesh saith, Today if ye will hear his voice, Harden [to render obstinate, stubborn] not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief [unfaithfulness, faithless, want of faith, unbelief, weakness of faith], in departing from the living Elohim. For some, when they had heard, did provoke [exasperate, to rouse to indignation]: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief [unfaithfulness, faithless, want of faith, unbelief, weakness of faith].
Heb 4:6–7 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief [obstinacy, obstinate opposition to the divine will]: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden [to render obstinate, stubborn, to be hardened, to become obstinate or stubborn] not your hearts.
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of Elohim.
1 John 1:8–10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
The Good News: The Father Is Calling His Prodigal Children Back to Him
Because of man’s sinful rebellion against Elohim, which commenced at the tree of knowledge, man has been in a state of spiritual wandering, separation and exile from a loving relationship with Elohim ever since. This reality is illustrated by two notable historical examples from the pages of the Bible. Because of sin and rebellion, YHVH cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, and similarly, he cast Israel out of the Promised Land because of their apostasy from the Torah. Continue reading →
Romans 7:4, You have been made dead with regard to the Torah. David Stern in his commentary (The Jewish New Testament Commentary, p. 375) explains that it is not the Torah that has been made dead (or abrogated), nor is a believer made dead in the sense of no longer responding to its truth. Rather, he has been made dead not to all of the Torah, but to three aspects of it: (1) its capacity to stir sin in him (vv. 5–14), (2) its capacity to produce irremediable guilt feelings (vv. 15–24), and (3) its penalties, punishment and curses (8:1–4).
To fully understand Paul’s writings, one must have a complete understanding of the Torah and all of its aspects. Most individuals coming from the Christian theological perspective have a very limited and narrow understanding of the Torah (or as they term it, the law). For example, they fail to understand that how we react to the Torah—obediently versus disobediently—will determine how Torah “reacts” to us.
For example, YHVH has embedded into the Torah a cause-and-effect spiritual mechanism: obey and be blessed, disobey and suffer the consequences, i.e., the curses. Other laws in the universe with which we are familiar have the same cause-effect rewards-punishment systems built into them.
How about the law of gravity? Try jumping off a tall building! Paul in verse 13 asks whether we are implying that the (good) Torah, like gravity, is bad? His reply is that it’s not. Gravity, like Torah is good. It is when someone defies gravity and jumps off a tall building that gravity takes on a negative connotation. Is this because gravity is inherently evil? No. The law of gravity is for our benefit, since it keeps man from spinning (or floating) uncontrollably off of this earth into outer space.
So what causes men to jump off of tall buildings? Gravity or the evil inclination inside of their character? The answer is obvious. The same idea applies to the Torah. Paul says in verse 13 that it was sin working death in him through something good (i.e., theTorah), so that sin might be clearly exposed as sin.
So the Torah is very beneficial at exposing the sin in our lives, bringing it out into the open so that it can be dealt with (through confession, repentance, and faith in the blood atonement of Yeshua), so that we might be redeemed, justified, sanctified and finally reconciled to YHVH. Even the Torah’s “negative” side has a very beneficial outcome for those who are willing to follow YHVH’s path of reconciliation and righteousness.
Many Christians resist the Torah not because it’s inherently evil, but because of their own evil inclination, which resists and rejects anything that casts himself in a negative light and forces him to deal with the resident sin in his life.
Romans 8:7 explains the root of this problem in man: “The carnal mind is enmity against Elohim, for it is not subject to the Torah-law of Elohim, nor indeed can be.”
At the beginning, Adam and Eve were not subject to Elohim’s Torah-instructions and quickly rebelled against his clear commands, and humans have been following in this path of pride and rebellion ever since.
Romans 4:11, Sign of circumcision. Circumcision is a seal of righteousness not the cause of righteousness. Humans are perpetually endeavoring to mold religion into their own image in order to highlight their goodness and remove the focus off of YHVH’s terms and conditions for receiving his grace, love, imputed righteousness resulting ultimately in the glorification of man. This is humanism, the fundamental premise of which is the goodness of man resulting in the promotion or elevation of man (in his own eyes, at least) and the demotion of Elohim.
The religion of humanism originated in the Garden of Eden where the serpent (Satan), in the first lie, told man that he could attain immortal life not by having faith in and assiduously adhering to the word of Elohim, but by twisting or conforming the word of Elohim to suit man’s carnal passions. After Adam and Eve had succumbed to the alluring lies of the serpent, they attempted to make amends for their disobedience to YHVH’s word by covering themselves in their own works of self-righteousness. This they did when they fashioned an apron of fig leaves to cover the shame (the result of their disobeying YHVH’s word) of their (spiritual and physical) nakedness. These garments—a symbol of man’s self-righteousness based on his own “good works”—were made to conform to man’s body. In Hebraic thought, fig leaves are a metaphor for Torah (YHVH’s instructions in righteousness). Man’s first sin was to twist YHVH’s word and to rebel against that word or the instructions of YHVH (i.e., the Torah). His first religious and legalistic act was to attempt to atone for his own sins (by covering himself with fig leaves) through his own efforts. They attempted to conform the Word of Elohim to fit their own carnal passions. This scheme of man to save himself through his own works-based or humanistic attempts didn’t relieve man of his sin guilt nor redeem him from the wages or result of sin, which is death, then, and it doesn’t work now. Atonement of sins occurs only through the shedding of blood, which likely occurred when YHVH made animal skins (most likely from a lamb) for Adam and Eve to wear to replace the fig leaves they had made for themselves (Gen 3:21).
A Biblical Overview of the Subject of Circumcision
The first question many will ask is whether redeemed believers should practice circumcision today or not. Continue reading →
In this brief video, Natan Lawrence shows the relationship between the feast of Pentecost (or Shavuot), the marriage of YHVH to the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai, the wedding chuppah (canopy), the holy of holies, and the upper room experience on the day of Pentecost, and the marriage of Yeshua the Bridegroom to redeemed believers in the Song of Solomon.
* Verse numbers in parenthesis refer to the verse number in Christian Bibles.
Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages. If you have general comments or questions on the weekly Scripture readings not addressed in a blog post, here’s a place for you to post those. Just use the “leave a reply” link below.
The full “Read Through The Scriptures In A Year” schedule, broken down by each day, can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links.” There are 4 sections of scripture to read each day. One each from the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and from the Testimony of Yeshua. Each week, the Torah and haftarah readings will follow the traditional one-year reading cycle.
Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 5/19 through 5/25/13.
Chag Shavuot Sameach (Happy Feast of Weeks/Pentecost)!
