Light In Torah

For those who missed Passover on April 1, Scripture makes a special offer for individuals to participate in Passover   Sheni   (Second Passover; Num. 9:7–8), May 1, 2026. We will host a second Passover at Faith Works here in Stanton, Michigan, at 6:30 p.m. (potluck style :-). In this fourth week of counting the Omer—today being the 23rd day—we will take the time to expand our understanding of blood and atonement. Like everything we have done over the past three weeks, there is probably more to the story than tradition has taught us. And like every study at the beginning of the week, I ask for your patience until we get to the very end. And as always, I encourage you to go back and double-check everything because I am susceptible to making mistakes, like anyone else :-). When blood is applied to people in the Torah, it marks a transition from one realm to another, in the direction of greater holiness, greater access, and greater intimacy with God. Blood, associated with the cov...

In the Torah portion,   Kedoshim   ("holiness"), I was reminded of the story of two young fish that were swimming along and happened to meet an older fish swimming upstream in the opposite direction. The older fish nods at them and says, "Morning, boys. How's the water?" The two young fish swim for a bit, and then eventually, one of them looks over at the other and says, "What in the world is water?" The moral of the story is not quite obvious regarding the most important realities of life. The things—including people—that we are surrounded by, all day, every day, are among the realities that are hardest to see, perceive, and understand. As Ricky Ricardo would say on   I Love Lucy , "Let me 'splain." Over the past three weeks of counting the Omer—now day 22—we have reexamined grace and the Passover Lamb (FYI: for those who missed the first Passover, May 1 is Passover  Sheni —Second Passover; Num. 9:6–7 :-). And in last week's Omer cou...

This week's Torah portion,   Acharei Mot   and   Kedoshim , focuses on the commandment to be holy even as He is holy from Leviticus 19:2, as well as 1 Peter 1:15–16: "Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy." (Lev. 19:2) "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." (1 Pet. 1:15–16) Have you ever asked, "What is the greatest threat to holiness?" Is it a sin? Have you ever considered  permission ? Avoiding what is forbidden is clear. But what about everything you are allowed to do and never stop to question? What if the real test of holiness ( kadosh ) is not just saying no to sin, but knowing when to say no to yourself? The theme of holiness permeates this week's Torah portion, setting the stage for how God's people are to conduct themselves in every aspect of their l...

I have had many father figures tell me, on frequent occasions, "I am proud of you." "That's impressive." "Nice work." "Great job." One of the worst things in the world is when a child does not hear their parent(s) or their spouse say, "I am impressed. I am impressed with you today." I do not know about you, but I am OK with hearing affirming words like this! Noah built an ark against all cultural odds. Abraham built a family against some pretty significant odds (a barren wife). Moses built a nation against even greater odds. David built a kingdom. Nehemiah built a wall. Each person did what God said to do because God wanted them to do it. Our God put Adam in the garden way back in the beginning. He did not actually say, "Pray more." He said, "Work." When God called Abraham, He did not actually hand him a door to walk through. He did not hand him a prayer book. He handed him a mission. He said, "Go build a fa...

During this third week of counting the Omer—day 19—I want to remind you that, during your obedience and overcoming, God is impressed and proud of you! I hope you have sensed that this week. More on this during our 9:00 a.m. Zoom call today (The Pit of Despair). It is all over the Scripture, and this is important when I talk about work that pleases God. I am using the Tabernacle as an example, but I am not talking about religious activity. I am not talking about more prayers and more services and more pious activities. That is one kind of doing, and it is important—no, they are essential. But the Torah has something much bigger in mind. However, there is a problem. The Torah does not divide the sacred and secular life. The Torah may divide holy and common, but the sacred and secular distinction—that is a later invention of religion as a thing you do in this little compartment of your life. In the Torah framework, Adam tending to the garden—that is work for God. Building the Tabernacle—t...

Happy 17th day of counting the Omer! You are one-third of the way through the ascent in preparation for the insightful revelation waiting for you at Pentecost this year, 2026. I know He is proud of you! Most believers know that God is in a relationship with us. In a relationship, both parties are affected by what the other one does, for better or worse. The critics of maintaining good works (Titus 3:8, 14) are strong proponents of the truth that we do not earn our way into the family. We do not purchase salvation. We do not perform our way in. And that is right! That is absolutely right. It has never been considered otherwise. Even Judaism—as much as they get a bad rap about trying to earn their salvation—never considered that. By the way, you cannot earn your way into being a child of God (John 1:11); it is established by covenantal promise, faith, God's initiative, and your response. It is not just a transactional thing. Now, the Protestant tradition has a category for what I am ...

Should we try to impress God with our faithfulness? Should we strive to please Him with our faith (Heb. 11:6; Num. 14:11; Ps. 78:22, 32; Ruth 2:12; Prov. 11:18; Ps. 119:10; Prov. 8:17)? Should we make Him proud where He proclaims, "Well done"? The simpler this topic becomes, the louder the critics become. Over the years I have heard everything from "cult leader" to "putting us under the law" to "undermining the gospel of Jesus Christ with a Torah mindset" to "trying to earn your salvation" or worse, living a life according to God's commands, affe ctionately known as "Torahism" (as though the "-ism" carries extra theological weight). Some will say, "God's not impressed, honey. It's about grace. Don't you forget that, sweetie." I have seen the negative articles. I have read the press clippings filled with warnings. But to be honest with you, I think many of you are absolutely looking to impres...

Welcome to the 15th day of counting the Omer. Over the past two weeks, we have taken a completely different journey than in past years. The first week of counting the Omer, I shared with you expansive thoughts on the topic of grace (*chen*). Hopefully, with hindsight, those thoughts did not diminish what Christ did for us on the cross, but rather enhanced our understanding of how grace actually works in the life of a believer—an area in which we should be growing (2 Pet. 3:18). Last week, with our focus on the Passover Lamb—the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)—we talked about salvation. We discussed that salvation is not just about the decision I made so many years ago (Eph. 2:8–9), but it is an ongoing process centered in a life that lives by faith—from faith to faith, the just shall live by faith (Rom. 1:17; Hab. 2:4). This morning, and this week, as we continue to ascend toward the 50th day of Pentecost, I want to point out the obvious (since I am Mr. Obvi...

In this week's Torah portion,  Tazria  and  Metzora   (Lev. 12–14), sickness of the soul manifests as lesions on the skin. No, this is not the skin ailment we find in third-world countries today known as Hansen's disease; this is a spiritual condition that shows up in the skin. Hence, the metzora (the leper) would not go to a doctor to diagnose and remedy the disease, but to the high priest. Since the people of God took the Promised Land, mankind's spiritual level has plummeted to great depths, and our skin has lost its sensitivity in manifesting the condition of the soul for everyone to see.  The two primary causes of this malady, known as  tzara'at  (leprosy), are gossip and slander.  Scripture considers this behavior a very serious crime, as it is likened to the three cardinal sins of idolatry, murder, and adultery. Someone who habitually practices this form of speech affects his life in the world to come (Matt. 12:36–37; Eccl. 12:14; Prov. 13...

The Passover is an entry point for every individual into the family of God. It is said frequently at most Messianic Passover  seders   that Jesus is the Passover Lamb. The lamb died so Israel could live. Jesus died so we can live. What is the confusion? But if that image—if that is the one that you reach for first, the one that has the instinctual pull—turns out to be doing something different than it is assumed to do, then we have to ask questions about how we read other texts related to this particular issue. In plain English: similar wording does not always mean similar meaning. This can become a very big issue. Let us open to Exodus 12, your assignment from yesterday, and see what it actually says—the instruction God gives for the first recorded Passover. The instructions are pretty detailed, pretty specific, and pretty different from what is often assumed about the Lord's Passover (Ex. 12:1–13): Each household selects a lamb on the tenth day of the month and keeps it unti...

Yeshua's own words make a very clear point about His death: that it is a participatory phenomenon. Remember this from the Passover to Calvary—it is something that all their culture shares experientially. The logic is not that Jesus died so we don't have to. Based on the patterns we learned last week, Jesus died so that we, together, can follow the steps and die with Him (1 Pet. 2:21) and, like Him, have full fellowship with His suffering so that we might share in the likeness of His resurrection (Phil. 3:10–11). While Jesus did die on our behalf, it does not mean that Jesus died instead of us. It means that He died ahead of us… and with us. Last week we examined the word for grace ( chen )—merited favor. We talked about the  tzadik , the pattern of the righteous one who stands for the benefit of others; the one who has demonstrated faithfulness becomes their standing. We saw Moses at the golden calf (Ex. 32–33). We saw that Noah himself had found favor (Gen. 6). Joseph and the ...