How the Kings Lived

I have chosen to live out my faith in the creator God and his only begotten son Yeshua a little differently than most. I believe that the old testament and all it's instructions is still relevant to God's children. I don't believe that when Yeshua died on the cross that that meant the entire law of Moses (as it commonly referred to in scripture) was laid to rest. For this seemingly bizarre stray from mainline "Christianity" I have been subjected to some persecution. While not enjoying the persecution, it has caused me to delve back into the scriptures to see for myself that how and what I believe is scriptural.
Okay, now for what I wanted to comment on, the scriptural reference to my path that I'm on. I've been trying to read through the entire scriptures again and I'm reading in 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings. Here's what I've notice. Each king that is chronicled is NOT remembered for their personal contribution to the people they rule over. Each king is NOT remembered for the infrastructure built while in power, or for the cities that they've acquired or for the wealth gained or lost during his reign. What each king IS noted for is their return to or straying away from the commandments of Yahweh. The terminology used in the scripture is this: "so and so"king did evil in the sight of the Lord and worshipped the gods of the people" and "so and so" king did what was right in the sight of Yahweh.
One king is noted for their evil deeds and the other for their righteous deeds. Evil is equated to worship and the ways of the nations, righteousness equated to return to Gods ways and His commandments.
This pattern repeats throughout the first (old) testament. The prophets warn the people of Yahweh to return to His ways; I'm thinking of Ezra as just one example. It's one of the main themes of the scriptures.
So here is my question: Why would a loving God, throughout the first (old) testament turn his back on his children who turn their backs on Him by forsaking his ways, then declare in the second (renewed) testament that it really doesn't matter what you do? Why would He suddenly change history really, change his mind and not care about how His children live out their faith.
Yeshua came and fulfilled the promise made to Abraham, the seed that would save the world. Through Yeshua's atoning blood we are rendered innocent of breaking these commandments. Are we only to keep his commandments in our hearts? (that's another blog)

Here is an analogy I've come up with to help explain. Please keep in mind when reading this analogy that approaching the Father is not the issue. Coming into the Father's presence is not what I'm describing. The only way to be declared innocent of breaking the rules is by the "blood of the lamb". I'm addressing the rules themselves, the commandments. With that in mind I will continue with my analogy.

There is a family with one son. He is given the commandments of the house; the house rules. All those who belong to this house are required to the best of their ability to keep the house rules. When the son decides not to keep the house rules and chooses to follow foreign "rules" that the son has learned from his neighbours, His father is not pleased. His father warns him to return to the original house rules, but he does not. Eventually the son is told to leave the house. He has moved far away, following the ways of the neighbours. When the son comes home and wants again to live under the protection of the Father, he repents and promises to keep the house rules. He wanders again, back to the ways of the neighbours and his father again gives him consequences. This cycle repeats.

According to what mainline Christianity teaches this is what happens next in my analogy.

In the neighbourhood there is another son from another family, who hears about the house of the Father. He decides that he wants to be a part of this wonderful home. This is good news for the Father because he has always had an open door policy. Any one could come live in His house. This neighbourhood son comes to live in the house and as long as he's there he doesn't have to keep the house rules. Well not all of them. This newly adopted son has to only love the Father, but the other rules, well they are not that important any more. The other rules are just for the first son, not the second son. Okay, maybe if the original son returns, then he doesn't have to keep the rules either. The rules that were in place, now the Father considers, are obsolete and irrelevant. What was I thinking, says the Father. No one can keep these rules, so I will just toss them to the wind. I will blanket all children living in this house with grace, so whenever they break, whatever rules they chosen to follow, I will just forgive them and we'll all be happy. I don't really care anymore if they worship me in the ways of the neighbours, because, well, at least they are still worshipping me. I know in the past that I've said that I hate this blended worship, but things have changed. It doesn't matter what I said to my original child, even if I did say forever, I didn't really mean it.

In this ending to the analogy the Father would, in my opinion be, cruel. The Father, who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow is really not the same. If he can change the rules of the house, at will, how will we ever know what he expects of us. And the poor first son, who lived with consequences of the Father's rules. He was kicked out and left to the ways of the neighbours, for breaking the Father's rules. He is to find out later that the adopted son didn't get any consequences from straying from the house rules. The adoptive son is held to a lesser standard than the first son. If I were the first son, I would feel ripped off. An adoptive son gets relatively no consequences and the original son get dispersed to the neighbours. Hmmmm!


I don't believe that this is what the father has done. I think the analogy ends like this:
The father has grieved that his first son has left the protection of the father's house, but because the son did not want to honour the "rules" he had to give him consequences. The father never "lifts " the rules. The adoptive son, who wants to come live in the wonderful house of the Father, is required to follow the house rules too. (Remember that the way to forgiveness from disobeying the rules is not the issue, but the rules themselves) The rules are the same. If the adoptive son wants to live in the same house as the original son, then the adoptive son doesn't get preferential treatment. The same rules apply. The Father is fair, righteous, and it's clear what is expected from all children living in the same home.

It makes more sense to me that the Father of the house, no matter who has come to live in the home, requires all his children to follow the same "rules". All children in the home are forgiven of the SAME RULES by the same way, which is through the sacrificial blood of Yeshua.

New Moon

Recently on a field trip to the Wilson Coulee Observatory, I was reminded of how magnificent our God is. He created the firmaments of the earth and the stars of sky. Every celestial object in space, is in it’s place, because He decided where it would go. One of His specially placed objects is our moon.

While not knowing all the reason’s why He choose to place this round rock where He did, the scriptures, however, are clear about one of the reasons. According to Genesis 1:14-19, it is how our Father marks time. It is God’s calendar. The moon marked the days and years for Adam and Eve and for every generation of God’s children after them.

For example, God’s lunar calendar is used to mark the first Passover (Exodus 12). A festival celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month. Why the fourteenth day of the month? The fourteenth day of a lunar month is the time when the moon is full and shines the brightest. This extra light would have benefitted the exiting Hebrew’s of the original Passover as they travelled into the wilderness; a sort of heavenly flashlight. Yahweh is so cool.

Passover, Coming soon

I am starting to clean the house a bit. A little here and there, whenever I get the chance. In between schooling, sanding vents, and regular life, I'm trying to get ahead to clean house for upcoming Passover. Okay I know that it's a little ways away, however I don't have a lot of extra time to get to the deep cleaning my house really needs. (As I type, I'm thinking that the Father is telling me something. Listen again to my statement. "I don't have a lot of extra time it get it the deep cleaning my house really needs") Does my house need some deep cleaning? I need to take the time so that He can do some deep cleaning. Hmmm...now He has my attention. I like when this happens. Of course now I have to be prepared to be deeply cleaned. Yikes, sometimes that's not so much fun.

Okay back to my original thoughts. I am thankful that our Father is a teacher who likes to get us to use all of our senses when we come to meet with him. Tactile learners. What I mean is that, Passover preparation means that I get to search over my home for the leaven, literally. Some how the physical act of going through things like cupboards, drawers and pantries gets my mind into gear about Yeshua's references to leaven and sin. I usually end up asking myself, as I'm wiping the pot and pan cupboard, if there is any sin in me? Is there anything in my life that could use the blood of the Lamb to take it away. I love how He uses the concreteness of an activity to solidify, the spiritual.

Messianic Support Group

I am saddened by a recent event. While this event was expected, the force of the chilling blow from the event was unexpected. In this walk, usually referred to as a Messianic walk, I'm sure that I could start a "I'm keeping God's Feasts and my family thinks I'm nuts" support group. Of course one could insert "...and my family thinks I'm in a cult...or legalistic...or a little to religious...or totally misguided. The meetings would open like this..."Hello, my name is Sharon....I am messianic...I have been following the God appointed times for 9-10 years. I am working on step 4 of the program, which is communicating my convictions to my family about traditional Christian holidays (IE. Christmas)...my husband and I decided that we would not longer attend the family Christmas dinner on the 25th...we had been attending this dinner in recent years to accomodate the feelings of several family members...we felt lead to stop that...accomodating thing...well I guess we didn't fair so well...with my family that is...this is a hard step to work through...help me Father to change the things I can change, accept the things I cannot change and the wisdom to know the difference. That's all I have to say for now. I am claiming a kingdom reward on this one, because causing grief for those close to you is not a lot of fun.

The Feast of Dedication

The Hebrew culture has celebrated the Feast of Dedication for many years now. It is knownmore commonly by it's Hebrew name Hanukkah, which means dedication. This winter feast celebrates the re-dedication of the temple after it was desecrated by the ancient Seleucid ruler Anticochus Epiphanes IV in 167 B.C.E.

In a nutshell, the bad guys against Yahweh, took over the temple, wreaked havoc profaningeverything: the good guys (the Maccabees) for Yahweh, fought back, won and had to clean up the mess left by the blasphemers. Since this time, the Jews have kept the Feast of Dedication, marking this dreadful ordeal.

Fast forward to the time of Jesus and we see that in the book of John, in the 10th chapter, Jesus walks through the temple during the Feast of Dedication. As Jesus dialogues with the Jews, the Jews get upset at his claim of being God and pick up stones to stone him with. So where did the stones in the temple come from? The temple keepers would hardly tolerate stones being left around the temple, so where did the rocks, big enough to stone a man, come from? Why were there stones in the temple?

It is quite possible and highly probable that the stones they picked up were the altar stones left from when the Maccabees rebuilt the temple. The altar stones were considered sacred yet they had seen the blood of an abominable pig. This left the Maccabees with a problem. The stones could not have been tossed aside as a mere common rock yet they could hardly be used for a sacred altar to Yahweh.Set aside but not discarded these desecrated rocks were left for years inside the temple in Solomon's Portico.

I'm sure the Maccabees never dreamed that during the Feast that celebrates the return to Yahweh's holiness, the mistreated holy stones of the first altar, would years later, be used to threaten the life of the long awaited Messiah.

In the Beginning Was the Word

I discovered that I love history, especially when history involves the Scriptures. Uncovering the Hebrew culture and lifestyle has given me a whole new perspective of what it means to follow in the foot steps of our Messiah, Jesus.

For example, in the book of John, he opens his gospel by saying, “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Did you know that in the Hebrew translation of the book of Genesis, in Genesis 1:1, where the bible begins, where the line reads very similarly to John’s gospel, there is a word that is not translatable? The “word” is really not a word at all, but two Hebrew letters, the Aleph a)) and the Tav t. The first and last letters of the Hebrew written language. The beginning and the end. Does this sound familiar?

Since the newest portion of the scriptures are translated from the Greek language, we are more familiar with the statement from the book of Revelation 22:13 that states “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” These terms Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek language and while accurately translated, their use can unknowingly bury a deeper meaning to the Lamb’s declaration in John’s vision and John’s gospel.

John knew his Hebrew scriptures and in his Gospel he used the book of Genesis to point out, to all who doubted, that indeed, Jesus (Yeshua) was there in the beginning. Jesus is the Word, the Aleph and the Tav, and He was with God in the beginning and He was God. Later when John writes of his “revelation” he records Jesus’ statement, again proving, that He is that Word and was there before the foundations of the earth were created. He is the beginning (the Aleph) and the end (the Tav).

Isn’t God so cool? He used letters and language to convey his meaning across the ages and pages!

Assumptions That Affect Our Lives

I'm reading a great book titled Assumptions That Affect Our Lives by Christian Overman. I'm taken with how far away we've travelled from our King's kingdom. Lured by others, by the sweet word that rots the bones. I was once asked what I thought rebellion was. Listening and accepting anything other that what our King has said. Entrapped by the beauty of lifeless words, our disloyal hearts can be so easily swayed into hypnotic death. Unearth my loyalty from the grave, and return my heart to the King. Direct me home; in 'the way' I should go. I do not want to patronize the assumptions that have affected my life. I want to go home. I want to stay home. Thanks for the small gifts of big books. When a boat goes off course only 2 miles from it's departure port, it's easy to correct the co-ordinates and re-direct the course. After 2000 miles of travelling toward the misplaced mark, the boat has travelled too far off course to recognize the surroundings. It is lost. It's best to go back and start over. Back to the beginning, back home to where we started.