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From Eliyahu
Dear friends,
This
Sabbath we have a lot of meaty truth for you to consider, brought to you
directly from Tsiyon Tabernacle of Greater Austin Texas. First, I would
like to tell you about our new hour-long video; "How to Keep the Sabbath."
Since this is the first actual Sabbath message to be recorded at Tsiyon
Tabernacle, a few words about these Sabbath videos are in order. Our goal is to
bring these Sabbath messages to you live and interactive, but we are still
working on installing all the necessary software and hardware for the live
online meetings. We will be posting the full videos of the live teachings for
members on the home page at the Tsiyon.net website.
An abbreviated version of the live meetings, edited for member privacy, will be
posted on YouTube. Until then, we can record Sabbath messages, such as this one,
as we are able, and we will post these to YouTube as well as to our Tsiyon
Tabernacle of Greater Austin website. We expect to put these out at least once
per month, and maybe more frequently, as we overcome the technical learning
curve. This will lead, in a few months, to the live online meetings with our
Tsiyon members.
"How to Keep the Sabbath"
This video message "How to Keep the Sabbath" finds the connection between the book of Bamidbar / Numbers, which we are currently studying in the Midrash, and the miracle healing story, found in Yochanan / John 5. Here Y'shua Messiah commands the afflicted man who had waited 38 years for healing to "Rise, take up your bed and walk." The man obeyed the command, walking through the streets of Jerusalem carrying his bed! This quickly proved to be problematic, since it was the Sabbath, and walking around the city carrying a burden was forbidden.
What about this? Was Y'shua commanding the man to disobey the Sabbath? Healing on the Sabbath is not as hard to accept. However, ordering the man to walk, AND to carry a burden on the Sabbath, stretches the point much further. Certainly, the Jewish religious leaders did not accept it, and felt moved to start plotting His death at this point. Some Christian commentators also see the command as breaking the Sabbath, so interpret it as Y'shua nullifying the "Old Testament Law." This conclusion would make Y'shua a liar, however, since He explained His intentions thusly:
“Don’t think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the Torah, until all things are accomplished. Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." Matt 5:17-20
We can assume Y'shua was acting in accord with His statement from Matthew. In the John 5 story, then, Y'shua is teaching us "to do" the Sabbath - the right way, with a righteousness that exceeds that of the religionists. How is this to be understood? That's what the video explains. This is how we desire to keep the Sabbath, here at Tsiyon.
Torah of Jealousy
"Torah of Jealousy" is the theme of our latest Midrash, released today. You can hear it free of charge today on our Tsiyon Road radio stream. The arresting picture at the top of this page illustrates what this lesson is about. And yes, the picture is repulsive. Have you noticed that the Torah is not all cotton candy and butterflies? On the contrary, it addresses pretty much all the things most people would rather not think about. That's why these hard topics get skipped over by most "Bible" teachers in favor of subjects that will garner more favor from listeners. You aren't going to get the masses of listeners these teachers are looking for by reminding the people of things that are unpleasant!
Ah, but there are a faithful few who really do want to hear the WHOLE word of Elohim! These are the people who really do love Him, so want to keep His commandments. Such people want to consume all that YHWH has to give, the bitter along with the sweet. This makes them wise, as they enter into His Mind, and are transformed to be more like Him. These dear folks are the precious few this ministry was raised up for.
In this message we consider what many regard as a bizarre section of Scripture. This is the unusual test of the woman suspected of unfaithfulness. Dawn joins Joe Don and I for this Midrash, to bring us the feminine point of view, since this passage especially concerns women. I believe you will get a lot from this message, since this portion echoes the heart of Elohim through the Scriptures, all the way to the Book of Revelation.
Blessings and Shalom,
Eliyahu Ben David
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