Light In Torah

I am going to be a little cryptic this morning. Do you notice anything interesting in the two verses below? And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward  (saphon)  before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar. (Lev. 1:11) Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the LORD: it is most holy. (Lev. 6:25) Today, I want to take you on a technical thought trip on how to think. Are you ready? Let me warn you ahead of time—do not freak out about learning how to visualize, because you do it all the time already, and the results are evident. Your brain has a reticular activating system (RAS), which is composed of a network of neurons. It acts as a filter system by allowing certain things into your brain and keeping others out. Unfortunately, we and the people of our past are responsible for this fil...

We have completed one week of our study in the book of Leviticus— Vayikra   ("and He called"). As we have learned, the root word of   vayikra   is   karav   ("to draw near"). This book, the heart of the Torah, the book of holiness, the book that contains the four initial prerequisites for new covenant believers (Acts 15:19–21; Lev. 11, 19), is filled with more details than you can "shake a stick at"! Truly to the point of being overwhelming and mind-boggling. Maybe that is why I call Leviticus the speed bump of the Torah (most likely to avoid it :-). Through many conversations over the past couple of weeks, there have been quite a few people in my life facing abundant challenges. Many have been struggling with spiritual victory in their daily lives. There is the constant pressure to conform to the cultural standards of this world. And, honestly, if we were to speak out loud, most of us would admit that we live in a world where most of us feel we need to pe...

This morning we will continue our journey through the "speed bump" of the Tanakh (the Old Testament)—Leviticus ( Vayikra ). This week's Torah portion,   Tzav   ("command") (Lev. 6–10), is our second week of learning about the   korbanot   system used to give us access into the presence of the Most High God! We read about the laws known as the   korban Tamid , or the daily offering (Lev. 6:9–13). Our portion begins by telling us, "This is the law of the burnt offering" ( korban olah ) (Lev. 6:9). The burnt offerings in this passage, unlike Leviticus chapter 1, are not voluntary. The lamb is brought voluntarily, but the role of the priest is under   tzav —"command" (Ex. 19:6). The offering of this lamb is to be continual (Rom. 8:36): As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (Rom. 8:36) The  Tamid , or daily offerings, are required to be brought at the beginning and end of every ...

Every sermon I have ever heard regarding Lot's wife has always pictured her in a negative light. They always emphasized her desire for the lifestyle of Sodom and Gomorrah—longing for that life rather than the deliverance that came at the hand of the angels.  Through this week, we have identified multiple characteristics of salt, and none of them have to do with anything that is wicked or sinful. In fact, everything that we have shaken out in our studies—pun intended—has been that salt is amazing and necessary in every area of life, especially in our speech (Col. 4:5–6): Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. (Col. 4:5–6) What put us on this salty journey was Leviticus 2:13, where every offering that is brought into the presence of the Lord must be seasoned with salt. Similarly, we have also seen in 2 Chronicles 13:5 that the covenant of salt is conne...

All week long we have been building on the idea that every offering must contain salt (Lev. 2:13). What does that really look like? Without a doubt, being salt and light has its challenges! Especially when the question keeps coming up: "What does that look like?" Once again we have the million-dollar question. Many have turned our "walk" into a "thought," or the word "do" into a "positional truth" without doing the "do," and "His commandments" into "convenient suggestions." Politeness and cultural norms of expectation have become the true spirituality of our day. Yet in reality, it is hard to tell the difference between a polite businessman and a Scriptural believer today. How do we know who is salt and light? Consequently, anyone who is polite, upright in the public eye, involved in community activities, does not beat up their spouse, etc., is considered a good person. Everything that Yeshua has taught us ...

"I know the plans  (mahashava)  I have  (kashab)  for you..." (Jer. 29:11) This word is really not "have." We translate it this way because it makes sense in English, but in Hebrew the verse really says, "I know the plans that I plan for you" or "I know the purposes that I purpose for you." If you are like me, we just read it over and forget to pay attention to nouns and verbs. Huh? Do you ever wonder what God's plans are for your future? The word for "plans" that we looked at is really used twice—first as a noun and then as a verb. In the second case, the verb has a slightly different sense. The noun is  mahashava  ("new ideas"). The verb is  kashab  ("make plans," "reckon," "account," or "think"). Perhaps there is more to this verse than simply that Yahweh has purposes for our lives. That sense of the verb is certainly in His purpose for each of us. In fact, without that sense of t...

Yeshua said to His audience, "You are the light of the world! A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden" (Matt. 5:14). Why would Yeshua say this? Did He not just tell us that we are the salt of the earth? You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matt. 5:13) As salt agents on mission, are we not supposed to be agents to prevent decay? Are we not supposed to create hunger and make things taste better? Are we not supposed to be agents that create thirst in others for the living God? After all, like salt, we are all just a bunch of inorganic matter with life breathed into us from the Almighty (Gen. 2:7), and without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). He calls that which is not as if it already is (Rom. 14:17). Does it not make sense that we should become who He says we already are? Yeshua is adding a dimension to us that on the...

The introduction to the offerings ( korbanot ) covered a lot of territory, since none of them are really sacrifices but investments toward a more intimate walk with the Lord. The technical aspects of the Lord's commands regarding the offerings are daunting for our "temple-less" days, but we can make a simple acknowledgment of what we can understand: there is one lifestyle commonality with each   korban —salt. At first, salt seems like a trivial addition, especially since the offerings are put on the fire, but this little detail is revealed to be a powerful and transformative idea (Lev. 2:13): And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt. (Lev. 2:13) As we should, let us ask the obvious questions that most inquiring minds know: salt is a mineral consisting of the two elements sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl). Sa...