A Jot and A Tittle

"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." - Matthew 5:18

Have you ever read this verse and wondered what a "jot" and a "tittle" were? 

Or perhaps you have heard that a jot is the smallest Hebrew letter and a tittle a tiny letter distinction.

Well...I have know this for a little while now but as I study Hebrew it is fascinating to see - I am a VERY visual person! 

A "jot" is the English pronunciation for the Hebrew letter "yod" which looks like a hovering comma and is about a quarter of the size of all other Hebrew letters!

Jesus is saying that He will fulfill the law down to the smallest letter!

A "tittle", on the other hand,  is just a part of a letter.

In Hebrew there are several letters that look very similar to another letter. The only distinction is the "tittle" 

DALET RESH

See the "Tittle"!?!?

BETKAF

Jesus goes even farther....not even the smallest PART of a letter of the law will go unfulfilled!!

And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. - Luke 16:17

The Messiah's Authority To Forgive Sin

I get so excited when I get another glimpse of the incredible correlation between the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament!

Here is what I learned today during my time studying The Life of the Messiah from a Jewish Perspective!

Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12 and Luke 5:17 - 26 the account of the man sick of the palsy.

Jesus said: "Man, your sins are forgiven you".

Arnold Fruchtenbaum explains - Yeshua knowing very well that forgiving sins in a salvation sense is going to raise some serious questions in the minds of the Pharisees and scribes that are present, and it does.  Notice He puts it in the passive state, "man, your sins are forgiven you."  Remember Yeshua is speaking in Hebrew.  The Hebrew form of the passive. "your sins are forgiven" are used only in one section of the Hebrew Bible.  It is used only in Leviticus 4-6, this section has to do with blood sacrifices for atonement was used in the passive sense.  The Pharisees knowing the Hebrew and the Law, would understand the connection He is making.  Yeshua was claiming the authority to forgive sin, that God used in Leviticus 4-6, for Himself!!  By means of the blood atonement their sins were forgiven them by God and Jesus was therefore speaking as it He was God with the power to forgive sin as Leviticus 4-6.  You will never read of anyone else in the New Testament using that phrase, for the forgiveness of sin.  The word forgive in the Hebrew text is only used of God and never of man.  So these Pharisees understood that Yeshua was claiming authority that only God could claim.  

Read Leviticus 4-6 and note the 5 times where God, giving the Law, says "and it shell be forgiven him" (4:35; 513, 16, 18; 6:7)

God's Word is so amazing! 

The Messiah's Power Over Leprosy

From the time of the giving of the Mosaic Law to the time of Jesus there is no record of a Jew being healed of leprosy (Miriam before the Law and Naaman a Gentile). Yet, in the giving of the Law God gave minute details and procedures as of what to do when a Jew was healed of leprosy. Why is that? Because no Jew had ever been healed of leprosy, the Rabbis concluded that the healing of leprosy was a miracle only the Messiah could perform. Perhaps God gave such detail in Leviticus 13-14 concerning this disease so that there could be no overlooking of who Jesus was! The Messiah!

According to the election of GRACE

 I say then, Hath God cast away his people [Israel]? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 
-Romans 11:1-5

ובכן אמר אני הזנח האלהים את־עמו חלילה כי גם־אנכי ישראלי מזרע אברהם למטה בנימין׃ 

לא־זנח האלהים את־עמו אשר ידעו מקדם הלא תדעו את־אשר הכתוב אמר באליהו והוא צעק אל־האלהים על־ישראל לאמר׃ 

יהוה את־נביאיך הרגו ואת־מזבחתיך הרסו ואותר אני לבדי ויבקשו את־נפשי׃ 

ומה־ענה אתו דבר אלהים השארתי לי שבעת אלפים איש אשר לא־כרעו לבעל׃ 

וכן גם־בימינו נשארה שארית כבחירת החסד׃ 

April 15th - REMEMBER

"Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten." - Exodus 13:3

"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? for He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was He stricken. And He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." - Isaiah 53:5-12

"For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:" - 1 Corinthians 5:7b

"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:" - 1 Peter 1:18-19

Genealogy of Jesus

Mom has been on a family heritage campaign the last couple of weeks. In so, she found one of my grandpa's 1st cousins in Florida and her 2nd cousin in Utah who she did not even know existed! She has had so much fun talking to these ladies on the phone finding out lots of interesting family history.
Well, this morning, in my study time of the Messiah from a Jewish perspective I looked at Jesus' family history! It is so exciting to see things in scripture which puts God's Sovereignty and Omniscience on display!
To make a long study short...

Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38
Jesus is seen as the Son of David (King), the Son of Abraham (Jew), the Son of God (Divine) and the Son of Adam (Human).

Jesus Christ is the JEWISH, GOD, MAN, KING!!!!!!!!

The Synoptic Gospels

Right now I'm studying the Life of the Messiah from a Jewish Perspective. The Bible was written by God through Jews. Jesus was  Jew, He came to reach the Jewish people and He lived and taught in a 1st century Jewish culture. To truly understand the Gospels and the teaching of Jesus it is important to understand the Jewish background! 

So many people have questions about the Synoptic Gospels because different accounts are recorded in one and not in another and different details are given about certain accounts. Below is an explanation from Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum which greatly helped me understand the variant between the Synoptic Gospels! Its so exciting to me to learn!    

The sources of Knowledge and Luke's prologue.  Lets think in terms of a circle and everything Jesus ever said, and everything He ever did and all His actions are in this circle.  Jesus' entire life is within this circle.  In John 21: 25 it is said that everything that Jesus did is not written in this book because the world would not be able to contain all that would be written.  So each of the gospel writers would have to be selective in everything they chose to write in their gospel.   So the writer would choose what to record and what not to record. So what would be the basis of what they would pull out of the circle and record or not record.  The basis was on their particular theme as to what they chose to use or not to use.   Each gospel writer had a theme as to what he wanted to develop.  So Matthew had a particular theme he wanted to develop and he looks inside the circle at everything Jesus said and did and selects teaching point A, as this will help him to develop his theme.  Then he looks at point B, but this point does not help him with his theme so he skips it.  He then looks at point C and decides to use this point to develop his theme.  Then Mark comes along with his theme for his book and he looks at point A, and it is not beneficial to put forth his theme.  So where this was helpful to Matthew but it is not helpful for Mark.  Then we go to point B, which was of no benefit to Matthew, is beneficial to Mark and his theme, so he pulls it out and uses it in his gospel.   Then we look at point C, which was beneficial to Matthew and is beneficial to Mark, so they both use point C in their gospel.  Now we see that Matthew and Mark may use the same point, but what will be different is their theme and the way they use it and write about it will be a little different from each other because they are looking at that point from the prospective of their individual theme.

The Gospels are not contradictory but supplemental. 

              Matthew: A and C

              Mark: B and C

              Luke: A, B and C 

Jesus Christ our Savior in the Book of Revelation

Lately I have been in the book of Revelation. The book reveals that Jesus Christ is coming again to save His people Israel, He will judge the wicked, He will cast the Devil into the Lake of Fire, He will reign a 1,000 years on this earth, and He will rule and reign over the New Heaven and New Earth. It is amazing to note what this book reveals about the Person Jesus Christ! Here is some of what I found. 

Jesus Christ is a faithful witness (1:5)

Jesus Christ is the first begotten of the dead (1:5) 

Jesus Christ is the Prince of the kings of the earth (1:5) 

Jesus Christ loves us and washed us from our sins in His own blood (1:5)

Jesus Christ has made believers kings and priests unto God His Father (1:6; 5:10)

Jesus Christ is worthy of glory and dominion for ever and ever (1:6)

Jesus Christ is coming again (1:7)

Jesus Christ is Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end (1:8)

Jesus Christ is eternal (1:8)

Jesus Christ is the Almighty (1:8)

Jesus Christ is Alpha and Omega the first and the last (1:11)

Jesus Christ lived, died, and is alive again (1:18)

Jesus Christ holds the key to heaven and to hell (1:18)

Jesus Christ is the Son of God (2:18)

Jesus Christ searches the minds and the hearts (2:23)

Jesus Christ sits with God the Father in His Throne (3:21) 

Jesus Christ is the only One who is worthy to open the book in Heaven (5:5-9)

Jesus Christ is worthy because He redeemed us to God by His blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation (5:9)

Jesus Christ is worthy to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing (5:12)

Jesus Christ is worthy of eternal worship (5:13)

Jesus Christ liveth for ever and ever (5:14) 

The kingdoms of this world will one day be Jesus Christ’s kingdoms (11:15)

Jesus Christ shell reign for ever and ever (11:15)

Jesus Christ was slain from the fountains of the world (13:8)

Jesus Christ will be victorious over the kings of the earth (17:12-14)

Jesus Christ is the Lord of lords and King of Kings (17:14)

Jesus Christ is called Faithful and True (19:11)

Jesus Christ, in righteousness, judges and makes war (19:11)

Jesus Christ is The Word of God (19:13)

Jesus Christ will rule the nations with a rod of iron (19:15)

Jesus Christ is KING OF KINGS, and LORD OF LORDS (19:16)

Jesus Christ will reign on this earth for a 1,000 years (20:4-6) 

Jesus Christ is the temple of New Jerusalem (21:22) 

Jesus Christ is the light of the New Jerusalem (21:23)

Jesus Christ is the root and the offspring of David (22:16) 

Jesus Christ is the bright and morning star (22:16)

 Marvel at who our Savior is! 

Giving thanks for ALL things

What about being thankful for those things that are not really very pleasant? Does not God tell us in His Word to be thankful for ALL things?

In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Lately I have been thinking about this verse and trying to thank God when things arise which  I would not entitle as “good”.

Thanking God for the trials of this temporal earthly life reminds me to have a heavenly perspective! Thanking God for trials helps me remember that God is all powerful and in His complete goodness He is using trails in my life for His glory until one day we are caught up to be with Him in glory and there we will bow before Him and glorify Him!

Here are just a few amazing verse that show us some purposes for trials:

Produces patience (James 1:3, Romans 5:3) Produces maturity (James 1:4) Produces experience (Romans 5:4) Produces hope (Romans 5:4) Produces strength (2 Corinthians 12:10) Produces more of Christ’s likeness (Romans 8:28-29) Produces an outlet for ministry (2 Corinthians 1:4)

MOST of all…our trials should result in bringing God glory!

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: - 1 Peter 1:6-7

Give God thanks for ALL things!! 

Colossians 1:15-22

Jesus Christ is the visible manifestation of God!

Jesus Christ is the firstborn of every creature!

Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things!

Jesus Christ holds all things together!

Jesus Christ is the head of the Church!

Jesus Christ is the preeminent One!

Jesus Christ has made peace through His blood!

Jesus Christ can present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight!

The Glory of the Cross

Here promises were exchange for fulfillment, shadows give way to reality, sin is judges, forgiveness is offered, wrath is propitiated, grace is enthroned, death is defeated, life and immortality come to light, Satan received his mortal wound, the glorious victory of righteousness is assured, the kingdom of darkness received its deathblow and the kingdom of His dear Son triumphs. The cross separated darkness from light, the temporal from the eternal, the carnal for the spiritual, death from immortality, perdition from life, hell from heaven. It is the foundation of the salvation of God, the only hope for mankind, the pinnacle of Christ's self-giving love for man.It is the manifestation of the holiness and righteousness of God in relation to sin. It brings reconciliation, redemption, restoration, and the eventual realization of glorification. It brings praise and glory to the one and only God who Himself actualized it!

This is the glory of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! 

Infinite Plan

"In infinite wisdom God designed salvation; in infinite grace and at infinite cost God procured salvation in Christ Jesus, His only begotten Son; in infinite power God sent forth the Holy Spirit to actualize salvation in the individual; in infinite compassion God instituted missions - first through Israel and now through His Church - in order that helpless and hopeless mankind might hear, know and believe the Good News of the infinite salvation of God for mankind." - George Peters in A Biblical Theology of Missions

"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." - Philippians 2:6-8 

These are amazing verses! Jesus Christ is God Almighty and He took on the form of a man. Hebrews 2 tells us that man is lower than the angels. God’s Son took on the form of His creation but not even of His highest creation (Angels) but of an even lower creation (Man), veiled His awesome glory, chose to abide under certain limitations of humanity and died an extremely cruel death in order to provide salvation for sinners like me. Who is more worthy of my life? None! 

God will NOT forsake Israel!

"Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah." 

- Psalm 89:33-37

Single Meaning of Scripture

When God wrote the Bible did He write in understandable language with a specific message? I believe He did! There is single meaning in Scripture not multiple meanings or interpretations that very from culture to culture.

I read this great example and would like to share it with you.

When God communicated to Adam, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Gen. 2:16b-17) Adam apparently understood this statement as God intended it and communicated it to Eve as well. Confusion entered the picture when the serpent suggested to Eve that God's plain statement had another deeper meaning. He said, "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Gen. 3:4b-5).

There is great danger in reading into God's Word things that are not truly written! God did not communicate to man in riddles that he must decode. Rather, He wrote in understandable language exactly what He wanted man to know! We have a good God and He has given us His Word! Let us read it for what it says so that we may know Him and glorify Him!

Quote of the Day

"It shall greatly help ye to understand Scripture if thou mark not only what is spoken or written, but of whom, and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what extent, with what circumstances, considering what goeth before and what followeith." - Myles Coverdale

Redeemed

Understanding more and more of Greek is so rich. It is like reading in color. For our one English word for “Redeemed/Redemption, there are three Greek words.

agorazo - has the meaning of “to buy in the market place”

exagorazo - has the meaning of “to buy out of the market place, never to be resold”

lutroo - has the meaning of “to loose, or set free by paying a ransom”

We put them together and it says:

Christ bought us out of the slave market of sin. We are eternally secure in Christ. Christ set us free from sin’s bondage by paying the price sin demanded – DEATH!

This is redemption! We are bought with a price. We are not our own. We belong to the Lord!! Walk Worth of our very worth God!

Ask

What do we ask for when we pray? Often it is for things or that things will happen in a certain way. Yes, our Father does want us to bring everything to Him in prayer. But where is our heart behind our requests?

For my personal devotions I have been in the books of the Kings. In 1 kings chapter 3, God speaks to Solomon in a dream, and tells him to ask anything and He will give it. Solomon could have asked for anything, Health, Wealth, Land, Power. But he instead asks the Lord for Wisdom that he may rightly rule God's people, Israel.

"And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days". - 1 Kings 3:13-16

What an example we have in the request of a king!

I have been pondering this account on Solomon for a few days. For your family devotions we just started reading James. This thought ties right in.

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it (wisdom) shall be given him. But let him ask (for wisdom) in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." - James 1:5-6

So often when situations arise in our life we ask God to work in it according to how we see fit. Rather we should be asking for wisdom for the situation that we may respond in a godly way and that Christ would be glorified.

Do our requests please the Lord?

The Heavens Declare the Faithfulness of Our Father

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." - Psalm 19:1

I have always loved this verse. Living here at camp we have amazing dark nights making visible millions upon millions of stars! During choir tour this past Spring we had the opportunity to visit the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas. We were able to watch "THE HUBBLE" in the IMAX there! AMAZING to see the vastness of the universe! This is the handywork of our Father who we know personally! The heavens are filled with beauty that we cannot even see with our necked eye, yet our God created it for His glory and for His good pleasure!

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." - Revelation 4:11

Seeing the pictures taken from the Hubble cause me to worship my Lord who is so mighty and so vast...YET He LOVES you and me, and cares for us, and teaches us!

God created all this to display His unwavering faithfulness!

Latally I have been thinking about Israel and God's faithfulness to His chosen people. The book of Hosea pictures Israel as an harlot who has left her husband, God, and gone after other gods and committed idolitry and adultery. YET God does not forsake her!

"I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her." - Hosea 2:14

So many nations and people today believe that God is finished with Israel, that all the promises that were made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not going to be fulfilled literally, that the Church has taken Israel's place in the sight of God. This is NOT true!

This is am AWESOME verse....

"Thus saith the LORD; IF heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD." - Jeremiah 31:37

GOD WILL NOT FORSAKE ISRAEL!! The only possible way that God would cast of Israel is if the heavens could me measured. We know this is impossible from scripture "the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured" Jeremiah 33:22 And we know from what we can see from pictures taken of space that this is impossible!

May this be an encouragement to us, that this same God who is faithful to such a nation as Israel is faithful to you and me!

"I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" - Hebrews 13:5

May this be an encouragement to us to pray for Israel. God's chosen people!

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee." - Psalm 122:6

Because of who Christ is.....

For the past 6 months my devotion time has been camped in the book of Hebrews. It was been an amazing study and awesome to see the superiority of Jesus Christ our Savior. I could talk on Hebrews all day long and write many many blog posts, but this time just simply look at our Lord and how He is seen in this amazing book....

JESUS CHRIST:

- Superior to the prophets (1:1)

- Heir of all things (1:2)

- Creator of the world (1:2, 10 and 2:10)

- The visible manifestation of God Himself (1:3)

- Upholder and director of all things (1:3)

- Seated at the right hand of the Father (1:3)

- Better than the angels (1:4)

- Inherited a better name than the angels (1:4)

- Worshiped by the angels (1:6)

- Eternal (1:11)

- Unchangeable (1:12)

- The victorious one (1:13)

- Our Savior (2:3, 9)

- Ruler of all (2:8)

- The Captain of salvation (2:10)

- The victor over death (2:14)

- The deliverer from bondage (2:15)

- Our helper through trials (2:18)

- Our High Priest, the One sent from God to represent God to us (3:1)

- Builder of God’s house - believers (3:3)

- He is God (3:3-4)

- Our Sabbath rest (4:1-9)

- Knower of all (4:13)

- Perfect (5:9)

- Author of Eternal Salvation (5:9)

- The power of an endless life (7:16)

- High priest forever (7:23-24)

- Holy, Harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, higher than the heavens (7:26)

- The way into the Holy of Holies (9:8-11)

- The mediator between us and God (9:24)

- The Author and Finisher of our faith (12:2)

- The One by whom we praise God (13:15)

From looking at our Savior, let us look at our response as the children of this Almighty God.

LET US:

- Labor - 4:11 (because Christ has finished the work)

- Hold Fast - 4:14 (because we have a great High Priest)

- Come Boldly – 4:16 (because we have a sinless High Priest that understands our temptations)

- Go On – 6:1 (because we know the foundation doctrines, we move on to perfection)

- Draw Near - 10:22 (because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross which made a living way)

- Hold Fast our profession of faith – 10:23 (because Christ is faithful)

- Consider One Another – 10:24 (because of Christ’s faithfulness we are to encourage each other)

- Lay Aside ever weight and sin – 12:1 (because we have the witness/example of the heroes of the faith in chapter 11)

- Run with Patients – 12:2 (because Jesus Christ is the Author AND finisher of our faith)

- Have Grace to Serve God– 12:28 ( In the Greek, this word “grace” means “Graciousness, Joy, Liberality, Pleasure, Thanks”. Because we are secure in Christ and His kingdom/reign cannot be moved, let us have pleasure and joy in serving Christ!)

- Go Forth – 13:13 (Because of Christ sacrifice and salvation, we leave the world behind and be identified with Christ)

- Offer Sacrifice of Praise – 13:15 (because of what Christ has done and because it is a sacrifice that is well pleasing to God!)

We often ask, "What is God's will for my life?" The book of Hebrews and the whole Bible is full of the revealed will of God. We can run the race God has before us with joy and confidence because of who our Lord is!