One man's thoughts about Life, Torah, and Messiah

I have been thinking about the above question for some time now, and through my study, I think that I’m finally coming to an answer that satisfies me, at least for now.

The New Covenant as outlined in Jeremiah 31 is a covenant that was actually revealed in Exodus 34, right after Moses broke the tablets that the Old Covenant had been written on. Now I realize that Jeremiah states that the Torah will be written on our hearts, and I fully believe that, but in looking further at the passage in Exodus that I mentioned above, I think that we can see a shadow of the New Covenant mentioned.

When Moses broke the first set of tablets, it was due to the idolatry/adultery of Israel. It was Israel who broke that covenant. In a way, Moses here is representative of the whole nation when he threw down the tablets. In like manner, Moses receives the “New Covenant” on behalf of the whole Nation, and it is at this point that there truly is a noticeable difference in Moses. He had to wear a veil whenever he was not communicating the Torah to the people due to the brightness radiating from him. HaShem wrote the words of the New covenant, and then told Moses to write for himself the covenant.

Now, I may be stretching things a bit, but it seems to me that Moses wrote the copy so that he would be able to teach others from his copy, and the copy that HaShem wrote, went in the ark of the Testimony.

As I mentioned, I could be way off on some of this, and I will continue to study, but it sure seems to me that God is trying to communicate something far more than a repeat of Moses’ first climb on the mountain.

In essence, the New Covenant isn’t really new at all. It has been around forever. Abraham was saved through the new covenant, as well as thousands after him. The way to become a part of God’s covenant people is to have faith in Him. The way to stay a part of His covenant people is to obey His Torah. We show that we love Him if we keep His commands.

Happy Purim to all who may happen by our site! We will be celebrating this holiday with some other believers from our congregation, and are very much looking forward to the festivities. It should be a very happy time.

If you don’t know what Purim is, all you need to do is read the story contained in the book of Esther. The long and short of the story is that God used Esther to save the Jewish people from the evil schemes of Haman. It is a great example of God’s hand at work behind the scenes, even when all external appearances appear that He is nowhere to be found.

As I was thinking about the story of Esther last night, I really began to see some parallels from the story with my own life. Esther was a stranger in a strange land, and to a large degree, her identity was a secret. God had placed her where she was for a very specific reason, and she was left with a choice to reveal that she was a follower of the one true God, or let her people suffer and die at the hand of the evil one. Now in my life, obviously I’m not in a position of royalty, but in a very real way, I feel that I’m a foreigner in a land that is not my own. Sometimes, when I look in the mirror, and the image staring back looks more like a Jew than a stereo-typical Christian, I wonder what I’m doing. I ask myself if I’m really sure that I’ve heard the call of the Master to follow Him down this road.

Let me state that the answer is always in the affirmative. The Ruach has led me to follow Yeshua in this way, and I will not go back. While it is wise to always check your own motivations, it is also wise to listen to and obey the leading of the Spirit. He will lead us into all truth.

This last Friday evening, my family and I had the opportunity to share Erev Shabbat (Shabbat evening, or the beginning of Shabbat) with some friends of ours. We were so blessed! There is nothing like getting together with brothers and sisters for a meal, and then discussing the Torah of God with one another.

I have been increasingly challenged to become more and more observant in my own life, through things like the meal mentioned above, as well as other experiences. HaShem has called His people to be a holy people. My heart is yearning to be a part of a community of believers that recognize His calling to holiness, and that will also do whatever is necessary to ensure that holiness is among their defining traits.

So what exactly is holiness? Simply put, holiness is being set apart. When God called the nation of Israel to be His own, He set them apart from the rest of the nations of the earth. If that was not enough, He also gave them teachings and instructions (the Torah, commonly translated “law”) on how to be holy. His desire was and is that His people would be set apart from the rest of the nations of the world. This “set apart-ness” is to be evident in all aspects of life, from eating habits, to holidays, to even some articles of clothing that are worn.”

So what does all this have to do with Erev Shabbat? Shabbat is God’s holy day. It is a day of rest, and we are commanded to set it apart, and to guard it. It is an incredible privilege to share this time of joy with others, and to also perform these mitzvot with like minded believers. By performing mitzvot, we are building the Kingdom of our Master, and hastening His return.

I believe that it is vitally important to meet with other like-minded believers. It is virtually impossible to live Torah out on your own. God designed that His ways be demonstrated by individuals living in a community. I’m not advocating communism, but I am saying that God’s plan was that His people function together as a unit. We are to be “in the world, and not of it.” Functioning in a community & demonstrating God’s plan for humanity requires dedication, both to Him and to others. Yeshua taught that we will be known by our love for one another, and I believe that when we demonstrate that, it will be seen for what it is, and others will be attracted to His love that is shining forth through us.

Well, Monday night began the Network + training. I have to say that at this point, I am somewhat overwhelmed. I’m very thankful that two years of level 2 technical support has prepared me for this, but it is still pretty strenuous.

Last night I followed along with the discussion just fine until we began looking at sub-netting, and then I was lost! I will talk with one of my co-workers today to try to get a better grasp on this topic, as I know it is key to understanding how to set up and manage a network.

Thus far, I’m thinking that this is up my alley, but I have a lot to learn still. I’m still kicking around the idea of going on to get Cisco certified, and possibly even another certification after that. We’ll just have to see, but I’m anticipating having a certificate in my hand.

I’m really looking forward to the possibility of being self-employed in the future, or at least working for a smaller company. I guess that I’ll just have to wait to see what the Father has in mind. We are still planning on going to Kenya and spending a minimum of a year, so I don’t know how all of that plays in to my educational plans.

Enough for now…have to get back to work!