Shabbat in the Land?

My first Sabbath in the land what not what I expected.  For the last year, I have changed my lifestyle to honor God on the Sabbath.  It's been so sweet, keeping His Sabbath rest.  But yesterday, Shabbat was a whirlwind of activity - all delving into the land of Israel and the history of God's people.

We rose early, ate a sumptuous breakfast, (which our guide said was simple because of Shabbat) and were on the bus by 8am heading to Caesarea.

What strikes me most about the land is how ancient everything is.  Coming from the U.S., everything is new by comparison.  But here in Israel, even the new construction, made to blend in, has a feeling of being a part of this place for a long time.  And that's hard to grasp when you don't grow up with it.

Take for instance, when we were at the tel of Megiddo.  Archeologists have uncovered over 5000 years of history there, and I was looking at it and touching it!

As we were ascending the mound, our guide Hillel, said that every so many feet we ascended, we were moving forward in time by 150 years.  That is truly a hard concept to get my head around.  The rooms I stood in at one time held people who were contemporaries of Solomon, of Ahab, of Abraham!

I think the most emotional part of the day was when we were at Mt Carmel.  We ascended the stairs of a church to the roof.  As we came out of the stairway, the view of the Valley of Jezreel took my breath away!  It was so vast, so beautiful and surrounded by mountains far in the distance.

As I stood there, knowing it is also called Armaggedan, the thought of that valley being filled with blood to the height of the horses chest spoke volumes of the amount of blood that will be spilled.  If there is going to be that much blood shed at the end, there will be millions upon millions of deaths. How sad that humankind is so willing to die rather than bending the knee to Messiah.

And having seen and experienced this, God used this whirlwind of a Sabbath to make my heart a little more like His, as I now have a deeper desire to pray for the salvation of many.  And isn't that what Shabbat is all about...drawing closer to Him?

Shalom Alechem!

Landing in the Land

This long awaited trip feels like it has yet to start.  We are in Tel Aviv and it reminds me of Hollywood Beach, Florida. Yet, there are many telling differences.

The hotel we are staying at is kosher.  The elevators move up and down on their own.  And at one of the entrances to the hotel there is a table with many candles on it - candles lit to welcome the Sabbath.  To be honest, I felt a bit guilty that the hotel was working last night.

The dinner buffet was magnificent.  There was such a variety of food that I couldn't even sample one of everything!  I had lamb, which I haven't had since I was a child.  I remembered the flavor.  It was my mother's favorite, but I remember not liking it too much.  Funny how your taste buds change as you get older.  Very much like your taste for the things of the Lord as you grow in Him.  

The dessert spread also had far too many choices, but what I did have gave such joy, that I truly felt this was a special Sabbath.  

After dinner, my roommate Laura and I took a walk on the promenade.  In Hollywood, we call it the broadwalk.  As we stepped into the sand, it was so soft!  It felt like talcum powder.  And as we approached the Mediteranean, I knew we weren't in Kansas anymore.  

Living in the United States, a fairly new country, we don't have the connection to the ancient past as do many other places in the world.  And here, in the land flowing with milk and honey, as modern as Tel Aviv is, the spirit of ancientness (if there is such a word) permeates.  

Our tour guide, Hillel, has 43 years experience.  The ride from the airport to our hotel gave a small, wonderful morsel of things to come.  He has so much knowledge!  I am praying that the Lord will make me a sponge so that I can soak up all that he has to pour into me, not losing a drop, so that I can bring this precious water to you. 

And only here, in the land of Israel, does the tour start with the guide praying the Shema!  Praise God!

Dreaming Toward Israel

This blog is called Journey to Messiah. I started it as a way to share what I've learned with my Gentile brethren about our Jewish Messiah.  There have been many times that I've wanted to write something, but it was more of an experience than lessons learned, so I opted not to write.

Yet this morning, as I was praying about what to write, the Lord prompted this silly child of His - what better time, what better platform to share my journey to His Holy land?

I am on a flight to Tel Aviv.  As I write these words, it still feels surreal.  On the little monitor in front of me, I see the progression of the plane as we have crossed the ocean and are now flying over Spain.  I am in awe that this little Italian girl from Corona, Queens, New York, would actually be on an airplane on the other side of the Atlantic.  And most astounding of all...on my way to Israel!     
   

Even as I write these words and see the screen assuring me that is exactly what is happening, it doesn't seem real.  Could it be that it has been a dream for so long, that I'd given up hope of it ever happening?  Could it be that I don't feel deserving?  Could it be that all these years of reading about the place has made it somehow fictional?

Probably all of the above.  Yet here I am, 6 hours out of the US and 4 hours from my destination - the most holy place on earth.  The place God chose to dwell.  The land flowing with milk and honey.  The place that will see the return of the King Messiah as He rules and reigns over all the earth.

For those of you who may not know, it was the generosity of God's people, my brothers and sisters in Messiah, who made this trip possible.  And that makes it all the more precious.  Check out the fund raising campaign for the details. (www.indiegogo.com/dreamingtowardisrael).  

I don't know how often I will be near a wifi to post, but I will do it as often as I can.  And I suspect that I when I get back home, I will have a lot to say, to share my experience of the land and the people of Adonai.

The Light of Messiah

God said let there be light and the light was good.

Years ago I home-schooled my six children. We were coming to a place in science where they would be learning about the speed of light.  As I was preparing for the lesson, I anxiously asked the Lord how I would explain this based on the six days of creation.

Never had I doubted the Word of God, but here I was confronted with scientific fact that seemed to contradict the story of creation.  I fretted over this because I didn’t want to teach my kids something that would lead them away from faith in God and the dependability of His Word.

I could almost see the pitying look on my Father’s face.  You know, the kind of look a dad has when his little child is worrying and fretting over the silliest little thing?  That’s what I sensed coming from my Dad as He nudged me to read the story of creation.

And of course, there it was plain as day (pun intended).  

On the first day, God created the light.  It wasn’t until the fourth day that He created the physical source of the light.  So it all made perfect sense and in no way contradicted what I would be teaching the kids about the speed of light.  In fact, it strengthened my ability to teach them that faith in God is a sure thing.

But wait, there’s more!  Here I am some 20 years later still discovering wonders in this light of creation.

Thanks to First Fruits of Zion’s Torah Club, I have access to some of the teachings and understanding of the sages and rabbis.  According to Rabbi Eleazer, the light God created was a “miraculous, wondrous light, independent of a luminary.”  

Now this was the very thing God showed me.  But as I read it this week, it got me to thinking about John’s Revelation where he tells us that there is no need for the sun and moon because Messiah is the source of the light – the miraculous light.  So the light that began in creation will once more shine brightly in the kingdom of Messiah on earth.  (And as FFOZ’sTorah Club 2 points out, “‘Light’ is one of the names of Messiah.”)

My old 'suitcase'

All this culminated this morning as I pulled out one of my old bibles – mainly because it has large print and my eyes were acting their age.  There, in my old tattered ‘suitcase’, as if to confirm all that the Lord has been teaching me, was a bookmark at John 8 with verse 12 underlined. It is there that Jesus Himself boldly announces, “I am the light of the world.”  

It just doesn’t get any clearer than that.

My Suitcase?

Did you ever have a pastor say something to you that you weren’t quite sure how to take?  I did.  About a year ago I had the opportunity to meet with my pastor to discuss a decision I needed to make.  As we were getting settled in, he referred to my bible as ‘that suitcase’.  At the time I wasn’t sure what he meant by that.  

Now before you go judging the pastor, you should know that my bible is often stuffed full of papers, notes, bookmarks and even drawings from my granddaughter. When I looked at his bible, it seemed very neat by comparison.  So was it an insult?

Knowing the pastor, I don’t believe it was.  But I must admit it often bothered me.

Then yesterday, I was thinking about my upcoming trip to Israel and what I would need to buy, how much I would need to pack.  I usually travel light when I go away, but I’ve never been out of the country before, and never traveled for 11 days.  As I was mulling this over (with my first cup of coffee starting to clear away the brain fog that greets me each day) I pulled out my bible.   As often happens, I remembered the pastors words and suddenly a light bulb went off in my head!  My bible really IS my suitcase!

Think about it – as believers, we live on this earth as sojourners, traveling through this world until we can go home to our own country.  Like any traveler, we carry around the bare essentials we need to get through the journey.  And that’s exactly what the Word of God is.  It is everything we need to get through each day we are away from home!

So whether that pastor meant his remark as a dig, or more likely a tongue-in-cheek observation, he was absolutely right.  My bible is my suitcase.  And so is yours.  Whether it is simple and neat or stuffed full of all sorts of placeholders, it has everything we need to get through every day we are away from home.

How Could They Grow Cold in the Land of Plenty?

We often wonder how the Israelites, who walked closely with God in the wilderness, saw all His miracles, ate of nnected with the God who loves me too much to let me stay away from Him. ck into ministry, but above all, I'em, I need fiHis manna and had all their daily needs provided, could turn cold once in the land of plenty.

The other day I watched 'The Appointed Times: Jesus in the Feasts of Israel' with Michael Brown, Avner Boskey and Michael Rydelnik. It is a video about the feasts of the Lord, but as I watched, something jumped out at me.  Helen Frenkley, former Director of Biblical Landscape Reserve, described what the land of Israel was like.  She pointed out that Israel’s only source of water is rainfall, and that it only rains from November to March – at best.  All the water needs of the country – for the entire year – are dependent on the rainfall of just these few months.

This is the land that God said flowed with milk and honey.  Yet it is completely dependent on rain fall.  No rain, no crops. No rain, no drinking water.  So God blessed the people of Israel with a land that caused them to stay close to Him for their sustenance – just like in the dessert, but with more freedom to conduct their daily lives.

This got me to thinking about my own life.  For several years I was a field merchandiser working part-time for several companies.  Every morning I spent a lot of time with my heavenly Father.  We talked about life, about my needs, about what He wanted me to accomplish for that day.  He always provided lots of jobs and I never went without.

Then I got a position as a salaried manager. And each day saw a decline in the time I spent with my Dad and more time I invested in my job.  And then I stepped away from ministry, and eventually even my family took a backseat to the call of my career.

About a year ago I got a wake-up call.  I had done very well with the company and was promoted to upper management.  But as I said – God, family, friends and ministry all took a backseat to the job.  After the promotion, I spent 15 months doing nothing but work.  I stopped going to church, stopped talking to people, didn’t even call my mother to say hello.  The only people I spoke to or seemed to care about were my fellow employees.  My conversation, once full of stories of God’s miracles, was now peppered with expletives and centered on nothing but work. 

Then the axe fell.  

The company, that lauded my originality and enthusiasm, was no longer happy with my performance and demoted me.  After all that investment of time and energy, one quick decision wiped away 15 months of my life.  It was then that I realized work is nothing but shifting sand.  It is the Lord that matters.

And that’s when I realized how easy it is to be like the Israelites, and before I stand in judgment of them - or wonder how they could so easily turn away from God - I need to first take a look at my own life.

I am still in management, but have put the job back in its proper place.  I returned to fellowship with believers, reconnected with my family and friends, and am back in ministry. But above all, I’ve reconnected with the God who loves me too much to abandon me to my own folly.

What Makes Jesus Jewish?

What makes a Jew a Jew?  In other words, what is it that distinguishes the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from all other peoples of the world?  It is their covenantal relationship with the King of the Universe, the Creator of all things.

I recently read “The Jewishness of Jesus: Relevant or Essential?”[1].  And I’ve got to tell you, I was very frustrated by the baseless conclusions of the author.  In fact, I scrawled notes all over the place, highlighting this, underlining that.  But in the end, I could hear God whisper, “Take a deep breath and look at what is going on.”  I then realized that the writer, educated as he may be, simply did not have the foundation he needed to accurately consider his subject matter.  

Here is the foundation I believe he missed: The ‘Jewishness’ of the people of Israel comes from God.  As they follow His covenant, His Torah, their covenant lifestyle sets them apart from all other people of the world.  God chose them to live differently.  He gave them a set of rules to live by.  This set of rules calls them to holiness.  And it is this holy lifestyle that testifies to His holiness.

Now, I need to clarify here that I am not talking simply about ethnicity, but about those who take their covenantal relationship with God seriously.  So what makes them look different?

There is a huge difference between the lifestyle of the descendents of Abraham and the lifestyle of the rest of the world, but here are just three examples:

1)      Sabbath

-          The Sabbath is kept on the day God said to keep it.

-          It is not a day just to do whatever you want, but a day to rest and honor God. A day to be kept holy/sanctified/set apart.

2)      The Name of God

-          'OMG' did not likely come from the text of a Jew

-          They are serious about not taking God's name in vain, even using 'G-d' in their writing

3)      Food

-          Their standard of what to eat and what not to eat comes from God and His instructions in the Bible.

(Many Christians have looked at Peter’s vision in Acts as saying God told Peter that all food was now clean.  However, there are some problems with this interpretation. First, we are never told that Peter actually ate that food; and second, Peter’s own explanation of the vision is that God showed him that He had enabled Gentiles to repent and be saved.[2])

When Jesus came, He was completely Torah observant.  He taught us that the covenant is based on love for God and love for man[3].  The example of His life shows us that the covenant - God’s Torah - teaches us how to live out that love. This is what makes Jesus Jewish – walking out the love of God for man by His covenantal obedience to the Torah of God.

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[1] Reitsma, Bernard; Theological Review; Apr2005, Vol. 26 Issue 1, p55

[2] Act 10, 11 and 15

[3] Matthew 22:35-41