The Door to The Kingdom of Heaven
The Torah Portion for this week lays out for us the 8 Moedim. These are the Eight Appointed Times of The LORD G-D from Vayikra (Leviticus) 23. They were established for us from ‘The Beginning’:
(from www.studylight.org)
The word moed comes from the word yâ‛ad meaning ‘to meet’. The two letter root is ayin-dalet, can be expressed as ‘see the door’. This will mean more as we progress through this teaching. When the student puts all of this together, we are able to understand that ADONAI our G-D has appointed MEETING TIMES for us from the very Beginning. And we ENTER INTO these Holy Rendezvous with Him through ‘THE DOOR’.
The Appointed Times were fixed in The Beginning of Creation. They are our MEETING PLACES – HOLY RENDEZVOUS – WITH our KING YESHUA!!!
Everything our Creator establishes is for our guidance. Therefore, Followers of Messiah need to understand these Eight Moedim more fully. And in so understanding these Divine Appointed Times, we will more fully understand The Savior…and thus, ourselves within His Kingdom.
Many Christians today look at these Appointed Times as ‘Jewish’ and largely irrelevant to their walks with Jesus Christ. That is only because of the church’s history of anti-semitism. The Scriptures themselves testify that these Appointed Times are The LORD’s, which means for all of His Creation. The times demand we look more closely into our faith in this Jewish Messiah.
Rabbi Sha’ul (Paul) wrote letters to the Gentile community that had come to faith in the Jewish Messiah. His letters to these new ‘Thinkers in The Way of Torah’ (and former pagan believers) contain much education on Torah Principles AND warning against ‘boasting’.
In the book of Romans (written to a group of Gentile ‘G-D fearers’), he dealt with much arrogance and ‘glorying’ that leads souls astray – Romans 11:
do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.
In fact, the predominate usage of the word ‘boasting’ in the B’RIT CHADASHAH (ReNewed Covenant) – which Rabbi Sha’ul taught against and dealt with in great measures – will be found in THE LETTERS TO THE GENTILE ‘EKKLESIA’.
And so it remains today, any ‘Christian Believer’ who is teaching against the ‘Things of the Spirit of Torah’, the Biblical Feasts of ADONAI our G-D (taking them lightly, of little value and of no consideration), and the Jewishness of The Holy Text is ARROGANT, not understanding that it is THE ROOT THAT SUPPORTS THE BRANCHES.
Arrogance always comes out of unawareness. Arrogance is ‘foolishness’, meaning ‘to be without’ wisdom from above. There is wisdom from above! And then, there is wisdom from below. They each produce very different kinds of things. Consider James 3.
Now, we can see that this type of thinking has produced much death/darkness/discord (the lamp of the wicked whose first branch is ‘the haughty eye’ – Proverbs 6:16-19) within their/our own respective communities. This damaging haughty eye WHICH ADONAI ELOHEINU CLEARLY ‘HATES’ (avoids!) can and will keep the soul from RECEIVING THE LIGHT OF THE 8 MOEDIM – beginning with SHABBAT.
Shabbat is the only one of the Eight Holy Rendezvous given to us by our King that is mentioned in The Ten Words (Commandments). Shabbat is the only one of these Appointed Times that also seems to be above the rest since G-D ‘BLESSED & SANCTIFIED IT’ in Genesis 2:
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them. 2 On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce. (CJB, emphasis mine)
Shabbat is HOLINESS IN TIME.
Remember, Day 4 of Creation is when these Moedim were established in the Heavens to TEACH us about G-D’s Authority over our lives.
Day 4 was also when Lazarus was RAISED TO RESURRECTION LIFE, and was unbound by his community, as instructed by his Resurrector Yeshua The Messiah.
What is the connection? Why did he not ‘stay dead’? Because he RESPONDED TO THE VOICE OF his HEALING AUTHORITY/THE DOOR OF LIFE as symbolized on his being dead for 4 days!
(click Image to redirect to Hebrew4Christians.com for more on this letter)
The Number 4 has to do with THE AUTHORITY OF THE WORD (Again, ‘moed’ translated as ‘seasons’ in Genesis 1:14 was part of Creation and put in place as Authoritative on Day 4).
Its very Hebrew name, ‘dalet’ means DOOR (direct your eyes to John 10):
6 Yeshua used this indirect manner of speaking with them, but they didn’t understand what he was talking to them about. 7 So Yeshua said to them again, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that I Am The Door for the sheep. 8 All those who have come before me have been thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I Am The Door; if someone enters through me, he will be safe and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only in order to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure. 11 “I Am the Good Shepherd. (CJB)
Dalet also has the meaning of ‘the lowly person’. Yeshua our Master and G-D, lowered Himself to Atone for the sin of mankind. G-D turns from the proud, but hears the prayers and gives grace to the humble. This is the lowly one who recognizes his own state of depravity and thus, has NEED. Yes, HUMILITY is The Doorway to The Kingdom of Heaven! And humility, too, is The Divine Gift from Yeshua, The Door!
The word Judah (Yehudah in Hebrew) contains The Holy Letters of the Tetragrammaton with the addition of the letter Dalet:
יְהוּדָה
This teaches us that The Way to ADONAI ELOHEINU and His Kingdom will be through the line of Judah, Yeshua, The Door, The Healing Authority!
A disciple of Yeshua The Messiah must comprehend that any voice we allow to keep us from hearing and obeying The Voice of The Good Shepherd is of the thief whose will it is to steal (the mind), kill (the body), and destroy (the spirit).
A fuller picture of the teaching of Mashiach, The Healing Authority (The DOOR OF & TO LIFE), can be seen through immersing your mind in John 10.
22 Then came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter, 23 and Yeshua was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo’s Colonnade. 24 So the Judeans surrounded him and said to him, “How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us publicly!” 25 Yeshua answered them, “I have already told you, and you don’t trust me. The works I do in my Father’s name testify on my behalf, 26 but the reason you don’t trust is that you are not included among my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice, I recognize them, they follow me, 28 and I give them eternal life. They will absolutely never be destroyed, and no one will snatch them from my hands. 29 My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no one can snatch them from the Father’s hands. 30 I and the Father are One.” (CJB)
With whom will you choose to agree with? It is easy to decide when you have learned to ‘separate’ and differentiate between The HOLY (from That Side) and the common (from this side). We have all seen and experienced what the two sides are capable of producing in the soul/community.
Anti-Semitism IS Anti-Christ. Anti-Goyism IS Anti-Christ. Anti-Imager Bearer IS Anti-Christ. By the way, ‘boasting’ is not merely a ‘Christian Gentile’ thing obviously. It is a very HUMAN thing and must be identified, dismissed, and guarded against in all forms.
Yeshua The Messiah is The Way, The Truth, and The Life.
There are other doors available to you, however. But there is only ONE DOOR INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (from which your soul came) and it is through YESHUA THE MESSIAH.
Do you hear The Shepherd’s Voice? Enter, and keep entering into The Kingdom of Heaven through The Door.