Is Everything Now Clean?

We typically hear that God did away with the laws of clean and unclean in Peter’s vision.  But is that true?  Is that really what He did?  Let’s go to Peter’s own explanation to find out.

In Acts 11:4 Luke tells us, “Peter began explaining in detail what happened.”  Then in verse 9 Peter says, “But the voice spoke again from heaven: ‘Stop treating as unclean what God has made clean.’”  And at that very moment the Gentiles showed up.  

What I hear God saying to Peter is that man is created clean and shouldn’t be lumped in with the creepy, crawly things.  Can I tell you when I first saw this it blew my mind?  How many times have we heard the quote, ‘our righteousness is as filthy rags’?  Being a filthy rag is a far cry from being clean.  But when we look at the whole of God’s Word, we gain better understanding.

Let's use this chart for reference, courtesy of Rabbi Matthew Salathe:

God created things in their natural state as common.  (Anything that is not holy is common.)  Within the category of common, things are either clean or unclean.  

Pigs, in their natural state, are unclean.  It’s not a judgment against them; it is simply how God created them.  Common unclean things can never be made holy.

Man, on the other hand, is created clean.  True, left to our own devices we become polluted by sin and end up unclean.  BUT, we are not unclean in our common state.  This means we can be cleansed and made holy.  (Now the visual of the filthy rags is making more sense.  Before a rag becomes filthy, it's clean, isn't it?)

So how do we go from filthy rags to clean?  The same way the Israelites did – by believing God and trusting in what He said.  God told the Israelites that a blood sacrifice would cleanse them.  Through the sacrifice, they could enter into His presence and live.  

Like them, we believe God when He says that Jesus is the Lamb sacrificed for the sin of the world.  Jesus’ blood cleanses us.  Jesus makes us clean again.  And being clean, we can enter into the presence of the Father and live.

Now think for a moment.  Because the Gentiles were so polluted with sin (and unrepentant) the Israelites came to believe their natural state - their common created state - was unclean.  As unclean, they could never be made clean, which means they could never be exposed to the Holy God and live.

So the Lord revealed to Peter in a vision that the Gentiles should not be lumped in with the common unclean ‘four-footed animals, beasts of prey, crawling creatures, and wild birds.’  Instead, Peter realized that though the Gentiles were polluted by sin, God had created them clean.  And as such they could repent, be cleansed, and have life[1].

So I ask you, is everything now clean? 

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[1] Acts 11:18

Why Did Jesus Curse the Fig Tree?

Did you ever wonder why Jesus killed the fig tree in Matthew 21?  I have.  I mean, did He go around cursing things that didn’t do what He wanted?  It seems out of character for Him, doesn’t it?

I had the privilege of attending a bible study with Rabbi Matthew Salathe at Temple Aron haKodesh a couple of weeks ago.  He was just starting a book study of Matthew.  To my delight I found his desk covered in books when I arrived.  That’s what I love about Rabbi Matthew.  He dives into the Word, draws on the wisdom of others, and with the leading of the Holy Spirit brings up wonderful nuggets of truth and revelation. 

Thursday night was no different.

As the evening ended, Rabbi Matthew had an extra nugget for us from Exodus 12:1-3.  What does this have to do with Jesus and the fig tree?  Hang in there, it’s coming. 

In Exodus 12 the Lord instructs Moses and Aaron to choose a lamb for the Passover sacrifice.  The Lord told them to do it on the tenth day of the first month.  This is also the day Jesus entered Jerusalem – the day the lambs are selected.

Rabbi Matthew read to us a portion from the Midrash Rabbah, commenting on Exodus.  I was not able to follow all the logic, but in this passage the sages were discussing Messiah.  They quoted from Song of Solomon regarding the fig tree.  One perspective said the fruit stood for the righteous people.  The other points out that the Hebrew word means unripe fruit.  As such, it would represent wicked people because Song of Solomon 2:11-13 says the winter has passed, the rain has come and gone, and it's time for flowers to bloom and fruit to start showing on the tree.

Now we go to Matthew 21:18-19 where Jesus cursed the tree.  At first read we see it was because He was hungry and there was no fruit on it.  Again, it seems out of character for Him, doesn’t it? 

Yet a closer look at what happened just before our key passage sheds some light.  Matthew 21:12-13 tells us that after Jesus entered Jerusalem and before he cursed the fig tree, he overturned the tables in the temple.  Why?  Because the people were not doing right by God and each other.  They were not bearing fruit of righteousness at a time when they should have been celebrating God’s redemptive work!  Like the fig tree, the time had come to bear fruit and there wasn’t any.

I suspect Jesus would have known much of what would be written in later centuries in the Midrash Rabbah.  Was this his way of saying, “The fruit tree, mentioned in Song of Solomon should have borne fruit, but didn’t.  The sages who pointed out that it stood for wicked people were right.  And they were right that it discussed Messiah.  Here I am, the Messiah, looking for fruit and not finding any.”

Now does the story of the fig tree make more sense?

This is just one of many Hebraisms that we miss when we are divorced from the wisdom of the sages.  Yet it is another proof that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah of God.

The Good News of Elul

What exactly is Elul and why should Christians care?

In the Hebrew calendar, Elul is the name of the month that comes before the fall feasts. It is the time leading up to Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot.  Traditionally, it is remembered as the time God gave Moses the second set of tablets and forgave the people for the sin of the golden calf.

So what, if anything, does this have to do with Christianity?  

First of all, in preparation for the holy days, Elul is a month of repentance.  It is an island of time to reflect on where we have sinned and ask God to forgive us.  This lines up with the gospel message.  When Jesus began preaching, He did so by calling people to repentance.   And when He sent His disciples out, they went out preaching repentance.  

Second, Elul is a month of reconciliation - not only with God, but with man.  According to Jewish tradition, God cannot forgive us for sins we committed against someone else until we first ask them to forgive us. So this is an island of time to think about anyone we hurt and to seek their forgiveness.

As a Christian, this should sound familiar. In Matthew 5 Jesus said, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”  Jesus also gave us the flip side of this when he told us to forgive as much as we had been forgiven. 

With the main focus of Elul being repentance and reconciliation, how can we - as followers of Jesus - ignore such a great opportunity?  During this month, let us join our Jewish brethren all over the world as we search our hearts for the sin that so easily trips us up.  Let us seek to be reconciled to God and man.  Is this not, after all, the good news?

Did Jesus Rescue Us from God?

What many non-Jewish Christians don’t get is that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Oh, we say we get it, we say we believe it, but do we really?  When it comes to a discussion of Torah, our words often reveal something entirely different – and we don’t even realize it.

Because we have distanced ourselves from the Jewish roots of our faith, we look down our noses at the Torah of God.  I even had a dear lady, completely sincere and with a loving smile on her face and a look of pity in her eyes, misquote Paul as she informed me that the Torah is the law of sin and death.

We so often see the Torah as a bad thing that Jesus came and rescued us from.  If that’s true, then it follows that since the ‘God of the Old Testament’ is the One who wrote the Torah, we must need to be rescued from Him as well.  

On the surface, I’m sure you will agree that this is so far from the truth that it’s scary.  But when we look at the Torah as a bad thing, we must look at its author as bad also.  Didn’t Jesus say a good tree cannot produce bad fruit? So if God is good (and I’m sure we all agree His is), then what He gives us is good also.  This includes His standard of right living – His instructions, His Torah.  

Jesus also said, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father".  Look at that – Jesus referred to God as the Father. As a non-Jewish Christian, I always thought this was something unique to Jesus. That He came and gave us a new perspective of God.  But as I’ve studied the Torah and read Jewish commentary, I found this is not true.  Many of the Lord's chosen people view Him as Father.

When we take the time to read our Jewish brethren’s writings, we walk away with a much different picture of the ‘God of the Old Testament’.  He is no longer this vengeful, blood-thirsty God.  On the contrary, He is merciful, gracious and long-suffering.

The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He has a standard of right living that we are to strive toward on a daily basis.  And when we cannot achieve what our heart longs to do for our Father, He made a way to atone for our failings. Why? Because God’s desire has always been to have a relationship with us.  

God is all about relationship.  Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and the people of Israel are all proof of this.

Jesus told us that the Torah, the first five books of the bible, can be summed up in two things – love God, love man.  When we study Torah based on these two things, a loving relationship with our God and with man (who is made in His image), we clearly see that God is the same from Genesis to Revelation.  His Torah speaks volumes of His love and His desire to be in a loving relationship with us.

As I study the month of Elul, from a Jewish perspective, I hear the echo of my Savior’s voice. So much of what is written about this time of introspection sounds like it came from Jesus’ own mouth.

I hope you follow along with me this month as I explore the subjects of repentance and reconciliation – the very theme of the month of Elul, the very theme of our Savior's life.