6.6.25 ~ It's lift up time!

Good morning!

Quick note: If I haven't got a 'keep me on your prayer and text list' today, I will understand you don't want or need the daily prayer and studies from me. No offense taken :-) I understand the value of your time.
Shalom, shalom!

I woke up at super early:30 this morning, on this preparation day, the 6th day of counting towards the first fruit of the wine, and my mind was running full speed ahead on 4 different passages, which I'll share in our morning bible study here at my host's house :-)

Closely related, is the theme passage of this '50 day count' towards the first fruit of the wine (Jn. 15). In John 15, when Yeshua, teaching His disciples on the night of His betrayal, explains the relationship between the True Vine and the branches (Jn. 15:1-8), He's teaching a concept they were very familiar with from the Torah and Prophets. Any branch attached to Him that falls off the trellis, attaches and roots to the ground, the Husbandman (the Father) will lift it up/airo and put it back on the trellis so it can bear fruit (Jn. 15:2).

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away/airo and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit." (Jn. 15:2)

This verse makes me ask the simple question: 'With a good husbandman, the Father (Jn. 15:1), how did this branch fall off the trellis and get attached to the ground? Was it a storm? Was it the choice of the branch to express its free will, attach and start receiving nutrients from another source? Was it a negligent husbandman? Enquiring minds want to know.

In spite of a covenant marriage relationship, established at Pentecost, God gives us the choice to stay separate from the world, and devoted to Him, or attach to another source for our nourishment. However, being a good Husbandman, He can't let one of His branches do both: stay attached to the True Vine and stay attached to the world. He has to sever the root system and put it back on the trellis in order that it will bring forth much fruit and glorify the Husbandman's care for the Vine (Jn. 15:8).

The Prophet Jeremiah wrote to the Tribe of Judah. One of the 12 tribes that had a vineyard relationship with the God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Isa. 5). They were told, in the midst of their 'trellis-less- decisions...

"For if you truly amend/yatab your ways and your deeds , if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. (Jeremiah 7:5-7)

When the prophet tells us to “truly amend,” he isn’t asking to change the color of our wardrobe or drive a different route to work.  He’s asking you, figuratively speaking, to 'sell everything and move to another country'.  He’s asking for radical change, not incidental alterations. This is a whole-hearted transformation;  Attitude, thought, and action are all involved.

Yatab/amending our ways, finds its home in God’s world of separation, living above the world, not attached to it, and if we are going to use this verb to describe our relationship with Him, we need to line up our actions with what God does (Eph. 5:1-4).

Jeremiah calls the covenant people to repentance; to amend/yatab their ways; before the Husbandman severs their root system (a painful process) and lifts them back on the trellis.  They are to give up their current ways and deeds.  But that isn’t enough (Rom. 13:12; Prov. 29:18).  True repentance includes new actions (Matt. 3:8; Acts 26:20).  Those actions are the practice of justice between men, the nurture of the oppressed, the sanctity of life and the refusal to enter into agreement with any other god - Repentance isn’t regret and remorse, alone.  Yes, those are steps along the path, but real repentance means a change in outward behavior, not just a renewed inner spirituality (Acts 15:20,21).  Yeshua says the same thing when He tells us to leave the offering at the altar and attend reconciliation with a brother before bringing your first fruit offering to God (Matt. 5:24).  Yes, you can weep and beg, but when you get off your knees your treatment of neighbors and the needy needs to show you've given yourself a 'checkup from the neck-up'.

And lest we think that God, our Husbandman, is a kill-joy and just demands love within our communities for His sake, what He's really saying is: Do you boys and girls know why I'm telling you to amend/yatab your ways? Because, if you keep going down this road, you're going to do great harm to yourselves...haven't you learned anything from those 'masochists' that went before you? (Jer. 44:7-10; 7:7).

By abiding in Him, we bear much fruit (Jn. 15:5), the Father will be glorified (Jn. 15:7; Matt. 5:16) and you'll be blessed; both benefit in covenant relationship :-)

Have an amazing day!
Shalom,
Alan

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