Tuesday, 27 December, 2016
3rdDay of the Week
10thD, 10thM
By MBPSTB
Jesus told us He is the Living Bread, the Bread of LIFE. But He also told us of Living water:
(Joh 4:10) Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Joh 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
(Joh 7:38) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
And again of the water of Life:
(Rev 21:6) And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
(Rev 22:1) And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
(Rev 22:17) And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Water. It is essential to life here on this planet for every living breathing being. It is made of TWO elements; Hydrogen and Oxygen. Without those two elements we cannot have water.
YHWH is the only Living God and just like water, no one element defines Him and no one element by itself is enough to know Him. Jesus Christ, EHYEHshua ha Meschiach, the Great I AM. By whatever name you call on Him.
TORAH. The Living Word. Known to all Christianity as the “Law”. Known to Judaism as The Instruction and Teaching of Moses. Both understandings cause a misdirection of the truth. Christianity calls it “Law”, something that they have been taught has been done away with, we don’t need it anymore, you can’t be saved by it and it only applies to the Jewish people. The Old Testament is for the Jewish people.
Judaism calls Torah “The Teachings of Moses”. This too is a misnomer. While Moses did write it down, it was not his work. It was YHWH’s and YHWH used Moses as His intermediary for this purpose so that Israel would have written record of all that God required of them to have a relationship with Him. HE KNEW…that Israel would backslide, wander away and go off to worship other gods. HE KNEW this because HE IS WHO HE IS. He foretold of the scattering:
Deu 4:27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.
Deu 28:64 And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.
Deu 32:26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
THREE times! Just in Deuteronomy of the TORAH!!! Israel truly has forgotten the face of their Father, they have forgotten WHO THEY ARE.
But, YHWH gave them a way out. A way to avoid the death sentence imputed to sinning (missing the mark, inability to keep commandments, statutes, ordinances of God). He came to us, manifested in the flesh, with divine eternal sinless blood. The only blood that could atone for sins committed in ignorance once and for all.
Jesus told his disciples:
(Joh 14:16) And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
(Joh 14:26) But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
(Joh 15:26) But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
(Joh 16:7) Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
This is missing for those in Judaism:
Lam 1:7 Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.
Lam 1:8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
(Lam 1:9) Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.
(Lam 1:16) For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.
Judaism. They know the TORAH by heart, just as Christians are taught to memorize verses. But they are missing the SOUL of the Torah and that Soul is Jesus Christ.
He is the Bridegroom. He is the Torah. He is the WORD incarnate.
His people Israel are the Bride. They have the Holy Spirit because they believed in Jesus and received Him unto themselves and so He gave what He promised; that being the Comforter who:
Joh 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Here are the TWO:
TORAH.
JESUS.
They are as inseparable as the two elements which combine to make water.
There can be no Living Water without Torah AND Jesus. Judaism needs Jesus and Christians need Torah.
This is the meaning behind the two sticks of Ezekiel. The physical coming together of both houses (Judah and Israel[Ephraim]). But also the spiritual coming together of the Torah and Jesus, Christianity and Judaism merging into ONE as it should be, as it was meant to be.
Replies
I recently had a meditation which is similar to the water molecule object lesson in your midrash.
In Matthew 13, after Yeshua enters into the house, leaving the crowds (to whom he would speak only in parables) he spoke to his Talmidim (disciples).
Matthew 13:44
the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
Notice the fusion of two elements here. The earth of the field and the pearl.
Now to unpack this a bit ,a allowing Scripture to interpret Scipture, we might say that the earth is in Hebrew "Adamah" the essential element from which humans are composed.
And of the pearl one might point to Prov 8:11 where it says that Wisdom is greater in worth than pearls. Although it doesnt say that the two are substitutable since Wisdom is greater, one might say that a pearl is a fitting symbol thereof, since something more sublime than a beautiful pearl is hard to find.
Now Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:30 says that the Messiah became Wisdom for us. Notice the qualification of this statement. He became. He wasnt intrinsically and inherently Wisdom but he became such.
And in the parable of the great pearl the connoisseur of jewels buys the field with the pearl hidden in it. The two elements together, which achieve a sort of synergy whereby the two combined are much greater than the sum of the individual elements.
I think this sort of analysis might be that which was referred to in the Gospel of Thomas. When of two you make one then the kingdom of the Heavens will make sense (i am paraphrasing from memory here).
I think this puzzle is a key element of the puzzle referred to at Proverbs 30:2-5.
Nice Midrash!!!