{"id":8877,"date":"2016-06-12T04:44:47","date_gmt":"2016-06-12T11:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/?p=8877"},"modified":"2016-06-11T08:00:27","modified_gmt":"2016-06-11T15:00:27","slug":"shavuot-getting-in-tune-with-the-heavenly-philharmonic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/12\/shavuot-getting-in-tune-with-the-heavenly-philharmonic\/","title":{"rendered":"SHAVUOT \u2014 Getting in Tune With the Heavenly Philharmonic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Orchestra<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a story \u2014 not just any story, but our story<\/span><\/strong> \u2014 yours and mine. It\u2019s the story of our lives, the\u00a0 story of our people. It\u2019s an old story, yet a new story. Only the faces and places have changed. The plot remains eternally the same. It\u2019s the story of the Creator reaching out to humans, who struggle to accept his love, yet who end up largely refusing it. It\u2019s a never-ending cycle going from one generation to the next.<\/p>\n

This story started a long time ago. When in Egypt, the children of Israel were in tune spiritually to the rhythms and beat of Egypt (a biblical metaphor for this world).<\/p>\n

YHVH led the Israelites out of Egypt into the quietude of the wilderness. <\/i>The Hebrew word for wilderness is midbar <\/i>and is from dabar<\/i> meaning \u201cto speak, declare, converse\u201d and is related the word d\u2019bar<\/i> meaning \u201cto hear.\u201d Thus, one could say that YHVH led the Israelites into the wilderness to hear him speak his word,\u00a0 and to enter into conversation with him \u2014 an impossibility in the noise and confusion of the environment of Egypt where man is at the center of everything and a lot is going on. The wilderness was a sterile and neutral environment devoid of the noise and confusion of man-made stuff.<\/p>\n

The first place YHVH brought the Israelites to was the foot of Mount Sinai so he could speak to them face to face.<\/p>\n

Before they could hear him, they had to prepare themselves. They had to make themselves clean and set apart from the physical and carnal impurities and distractions of the world and the flesh, which impede one\u2019s ability to hear YHVH -\u2014 to connect with their Creator (Exod 19).<\/p>\n

YHVH spoke to them, but it was too much for them to hear. It frightened them because they weren\u2019t ready to hear him and to get their lives in sync with his Word \u2014 the Torah (Exod 20:19). They still had too much carnality in them. They were still too much in tune with the rhythms of Egypt. That old worldly man had to die in the sterile and noise-free zone of the wilderness.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, in his merciful love, YHVH gave Israel his Torah \u2014 his words of instructions to live by. The Torah shows man how to get in harmony with his Creator. The Torah is a like a tuning fork. When one follows the Torah, one gets in tune with YHVH\u2019s musical pitch \u2014 with the heart, mind and will of YHVH. When this occurs, as a natural result, one gets out of tune with the world, the flesh and the devil.<\/p>\n

The fact that Israel was more in tune with Egypt than with YHVH became evident at the golden calf incident when Israel turned to worshipping the Egyptian calf-idol. At the same time, YHVH\u2019s merciful grace for his weak children was revealed. At the same time, Moses was a holy man who, at a great personal price, had already forsaken Egypt and all it had to offer and had already been purified in his own wilderness experience lasting forty years where he learned to hear his Master\u2019s voice and willingly submitted to YHVH\u2019s will. He was by now totally sold out to YHVH. When Israel sinned, Moses had to separate himself from the Israelites by placing his abode outside the camp of Israel (Exod 33:7). The human leaders YHVH chooses to lead his people are often in a special place of their own \u2014 one that is a little nearer to YHVH and, thusly, further from those around them who are still in tune with their own carnality. How can a leader be a leader if he\u2019s not out ahead of the people? YHVH prepares his leaders beforehand to lead by often stripping them of everything near and dear to them so that all they have left is him. This helps them get in tune with him. This happened to Moses who lost his Egyptian princely position and all the glory and honor that came with it. He also lost his wife and children. All he had left was YHVH. He had already died to himself, which is why he was set apart from the children of Israel who hadn\u2019t reached this stage in their spiritual development.<\/p>\n

The whole history of Israel from the golden calf incident until the day of Pentecost can be described as a tension between being in sync with the vibes of the world versus being in harmony with YHVH. Israel found itself in the middle of this struggle. At times they leaned in one direction, at times in the other, but more often to the negative side. The Israelites\u2019 perennial inclination toward Baal worship is a perfect example of this. To follow Baal was to succumb to the lower and downward pull of man\u2019s carnal nature. \u201cIf it feels good do it,\u201d is the mantra of the religion of the Baalim. On the other hand, YHVH demands that men resist the downward, gravitational pull of sin and to ascend to him. This is done only as we submit to YHVH and follow his rules \u2014 the Torah.<\/p>\n

On the day of Pentecost in the book of Acts, YHVH put his Holy Spirit (or Set-Apart Spirit) into each person and wrote his Torah on his people\u2019s hearts. This was the big breakthrough that helped men to finally have the internal help to get in harmony with the heavenly music of YHVH\u2019s divine will \u2014 his Torah. Now, with the internal dynamo of the Set-Apart Spirit, each person could not only operate in harmony with YHVH\u2019s will, but they had the spiritual power to take the symphonic message of the pro-Torah gospel message to the lost sheep of Israel scattered throughout the world.<\/p>\n

The whole earth, all of nature, and the universe is in sync with YHVH Elohim. Each aspect of YHVH\u2019s creation does what it was created to do without question. Each knows its master and follows the Creator\u2019s laws. The ox knows its master and the donkey its place in the world, but, on the contrary,\u00a0 Israel fell into rebellion against its Creator (Isa 1:3). The heavens declare Elohim\u2019s glory and the sun follows its circuit of rising and setting (Ps 19:1, 5\u20136). Everything reproduces after its own kind (Gen 1:20, 24\u201325). The cycles of seedtime and harvest, winter and summer, day and night continue without cessation (Gen 8:2). Only man rebels against this symphony of creation and refuses to follow the Heavenly Conductor\u2019s direction. Man needs to repent of the sin of Torahlessness and get a new, circumcised heart to obey YHVH Elohim!<\/p>\n

The weekly Sabbaths and biblical feasts are in harmony with the seasons, which are in harmony with the sun and moon. The plants and animals are in harmony with the seasons. Even the mighty ocean tides follow the moon\u2019s direction. Like musicians in an orchestra, all follow the Divine Conductor\u2019s direction. Yet man lives out of spiritual harmony with these things. Even man in his calendar, though subdivided into months (moons), refuses to follow the moon\u2019s lunar cycle. Man is rebellious, stiffnecked and proud and thinks he knows better than the Creator. How small, foolish and silly man is! The seasons, months, the seven day week that ends in the Sabbath, and the seven biblical festivals are all like musical instruments that when combined harmoniously create a melodious message pointing to the Creator. The whole creation is shouting, yes, screaming at man to follow the Creator\u2019s direction \u2014 his Torah. Yet man refuses to listen, to obey and to walk in harmony with the directions of the Divine Conductor! It\u2019s time for man to repent of his rebellious pride and to get in sync with his Creator.<\/p>\n

Psalm 19 says that the heavens declare YHVH\u2019s glory from one end of earth to the other.\u00a0 As the sun\u2019s rays light man\u2019s path in the darkness, so the Torah is a light to direct man in his spiritual walk through the darkness of this world (Pss 19:5ff; 119:105). Yeshua, the Living Torah, is our spiritual Sun of Righteousness who\u00a0 brings healing to the troubled soul (Mal 4:2). He is the spiritual light of the world (John 1:7\u20139; 8:12), and he will be the only light in the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:23). As Psalm 19 says, the whole creation, like musicians each playing their part in an orchestra, points us toward YHVH and his Torah (both the Written Torah and Yeshua the Living Torah-Word of Elohim incarnate), which is the spiritual vehicle to bring us to YHVH \u2014 to put us in harmony with him. About the Torah, Psalm 19 says,<\/p>\n