1.12.26 ~ The Process of Becoming Who You Are

What was there before Genesis 1:1? Before Yahweh Elohim created everything? Was it empty space? Matterless? Does it matter? Ah, yes, it really does. Before the material creation, there was Everything! There was Yahweh Elohim! Creation is not the formation of things (from Yahweh's perspective), but rather it is the diminishing of everything. From our perspective, there was nothing before creation. From His perspective, there was everything, and He had to limit Himself (tzimtzum). Our destiny is to create what He created—a little apartment for the One that we love. What do we call that apartment, that space where He would dwell among us? Something that could be Yahweh's own little space, His own little world in our world?


In order to make that world work, we would have to take upon ourselves to observe certain laws to make Him comfortable. Laws that are not really designed for us, but laws that are designed to make comfortable the guests that we want to bring into this place. The apartment, of course, that I am talking about is the Tabernacle (Mishkan). And the laws are all the things that you need to keep to be able to make the Tabernacle work.


In yesterday's Torah portion, Shemini ("Eighth"), a primary role of the priest was revealed to us: know and teach the laws of tamei (unclean—literally, something that fragments you) and tahor (clean—literally, to make you whole)—aka the laws of unclean and clean—as well as kodesh (holy—literally set apart) and chol (common—literally common :-) Thanks, Mr. Obvious). All of these laws, which, if you think about it, are godly laws, are not focused on human beings; they are about the Divine. They are not really relevant to us. And if you say, "Why should I keep them because they don't seem to be relevant to me?"—the answer is you keep them out of love. You keep them for the same reason the Creator keeps the laws of physics. He keeps the laws of physics so that your environment works. So you are going to keep the laws of kodesh and chol and tamei and tahor so that you can maintain an environment in which He is going to be comfortable. You may not understand it at first, and that is okay! We do not have to understand it all because it is not about us. It is about Him. When we move and breathe by His Spirit, by His leading, we reach our spiritual potential, which might explain the name of the guys who built the first Mishkan. Who is the artisan who constructed the Mishkan? Ahh, I see your memory is working well... yes, his name is Bezaleel—"in the image of God."


Bezaleel's name means "the one who is created in the image or shadow of Elohim." Bezaleel is the one who fulfills the destiny of humankind to actually create this place for the One that we love by the Spirit that dwelt in him (Ex. 31:3).


Now if that is true—if this whole idea is true—it might explain the centrality of the Mishkan. For example, why does the Mishkan take up so much space in a story that seems not to really be about the Mishkan? If you think about the Torah as a whole, you might say the Torah as a whole really is, in a way, about the Mishkan. The Mishkan is at the center of the story. The entire second half of the Book of Exodus (Sefer Shemot), all of the Book of Leviticus (Sefer Vayikra), and the entire first half of the Book of Numbers (Sefer Bamidbar)—they are all about the Mishkan. It literally is the center of the Torah—Yahweh's instructions.


In between Yahweh Elohim making a home for us (Gen. 1–2), our expulsion from that home (Gen. 3), and our exile in a strange land (Canaan and Egypt) for 400 years, Yahweh inserts a homecoming story where we are reunited in a special home that He wants us to build for Him, according to His specifications (Ex. 25–40). The creation story is about Yahweh limiting Himself to make a home for us, and the Mishkan is about us relying upon His Spirit to build Him a house.


You might be asking, "What does this have to do with our 49 days of grace," or entering into the eighth day of counting the Omer? In every way! As we continue our studies on grace and counting the Omer, we are constantly working on improving who we are as His Tabernacle (2 Cor. 5:1–4), His Temple (1 Cor. 3:16–17; 1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16), the structure that He is building us into (Eph. 2:20–22), His Bride, the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21–22).


Does Yahweh feel comfortable in your Mishkan? Are you carrying out your roles as a priest within this structure (Lev. 10:10–11)?


And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.

(Lev. 10:10–11)


Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

(Matt. 5:19)


Become who you are created to be: His Tabernacle and a functional priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5–8).


Shalom,

Alan


P.S. The website Light in Torah is completely updated. You will find teaching articles, videos, and more. Enjoy the journey of growing into what He has made us to be!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4.4.26 ~ Can You Count to Three?

Image
Today, Saturday 4/4/26, many will celebrate the day that Yeshua was visibly seen risen from the grave (John 20:1; Matt. 28:1–10; Luke 24:1–10)! The day after His resurrection, Yeshua would be out ministering to the doubts of His disciples, helping them realize that He is alive and that the purpose of His resurrection would be catalyzed by their lives. For the disciples closest to Yeshua and those who stood at a safe distance away, it was a time of doubt. The enemy was in hot pursuit. They were fearful for their lives, but just at the God-appointed time, their salvation appeared.  Does that sound vaguely familiar? It should. Earlier this week, on the day after Passover—the 15th of the first month—the natural-born Israelites and those who joined them through the blood of the Lamb exited Egypt and headed toward the sea. In just a few days, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pharaoh would not be happy that he let the Israelites go; he felt betrayed, and he was hot (Ex. 14:5–9). Mose...
Read more

3.20.25

Good morning! Yesterday, we learned some essential truths about how to 'be still and know that He is God (Psa. 46:10). Today, I want to ask you a different question based on life's ability to throw a wide variety of circumstances at us!  One of the most difficult situations is when we are threatened by someone or some circumstance. Have you ever been threatened?  Oh, maybe no one came up to you with a gun, or shouted at you with malice, or told you that you were going to be tortured or punished.  Maybe all the threat you ever had was the innuendo of rejection, or the social snub or something much less violent than jail time.  But my guess is that if you are traveling the road with Yeshua, living a Torah lifestyle, you know what it means to be threatened. Every time the circumstances of your life look as though they are about to cave in, you are threatened.  It might not be a threat from a physical enemy, then again...but we all know that in one form or another t...
Read more

3.22.25

Good morning! Shabbat shalom! Although the portion of Vayakhel/and he assembled is almost entirely focused on the construction of the tabernacle, it begins by reminding the children of Israel that no work may be done on the Sabbath (Ex. 35:2,3). Why does it begin here rather than jumping right into how to construct the Tabernacle? Enquiring minds want to know :-) By placing the topic of the Sabbath against the construction of the Tabernacle it's God's way of defining the boundaries of the Sabbath...that even the most intimate work for the Lord needs to be put aside for His 'Date Day'. However, upon further investigation, there’s another layer to understand that connects us back to the golden calf (Ex. 32). As we know, while Moses was up on the mount getting the instructions from God the children of Israel decided to make an object that would replace Moses, their deliverer; The object, later known as the golden calf, originally intended as a 'necessary' means to ...
Read more