Author: Steven R. Bruck

Savior or Son: Why Did He Come?

Leave a comment

I wrote a teaching series (it is available through my website) on the differences between the Jewish and Christian expectations of the Messiah. One main difference is that in Judaism, the Messiah is seen as a national savior, whereas Christianity sees him as much more of a personal savior.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

In the Gospel of Matthew, considered by many to be the most “Jewish” of the four, Yeshua is referred to as King and Messiah many more times than in the Gospel of John, unquestionably the most spiritually written and metaphoric of the four, who constantly refers to Yeshua as the Son of God, and (in my opinion) where the idea of the Trinity originated from.

According to the NIV Study Bible, Matthew was written in the 70s, Mark in the mid-60s, Luke around 60, and John probably between 80 and 95, making John the last and oldest of the Gospels. Matthew was written to the Jewish Believers, Luke (most likely) to any Believer, Mark to the Gentile Believers in Rome and John to Gentile Believers.

When Yeshua came to earth and started his ministry, the Jewish population was looking for a political savior which is part of the reason that he wasn’t accepted by the majority, who were more interested in being freed from Roman authority than they were being freed from spiritual slavery.  The Gentiles who accepted Yeshua, on the other hand, did not have any political agenda for their savior; in truth, they never even considered salvation because their culture and religion never had need of a savior.

This difference in the description of the Messiah, along with the political environment at that time, led to a distinctly different approach with the Gospels, which led to the separation between the “mainstream” Jews, the Jewish Believers, and the Gentile Believers.

When Matthew wrote his gospel, the majority of Believers were Jews who accepted Yeshua as the Messiah God promised, but by the time John was penning his narrative, he was writing to Gentiles who did not have any real idea of the traditional, Jewish understanding of who and what the Messiah would be. John identified Yeshua almost exclusively throughout his gospel as the son of God, which is a description the Gentiles would easily identify with since so many Roman gods and goddesses had children. These Gentiles were experiencing a religious and lifestyle paradigm shift, and that is why the Elders in Jerusalem did not require them to make a total conversion to Judaism, which is what they were learning about, all at once. We read about this in Acts 15, and too many times people totally miss Acts 15:21, where James states these newly converted Gentiles would learn the Torah when they went to Shabbat services and, eventually, become Torah observant.

The Messiah, in Judaic thought, was to regather the people to the Land (Israel), reconstruct the Temple and reinstitute the sacrificial system so that we would be able to receive forgiveness of sin (which is impossible when there is no temple) and thereby once more be in communion with God. In the times of Yeshua, because the temple still existed, they expected the Messiah to free them from the Roman rule so that all the Jews in the Diaspora would be able to return.

The Gentiles had no such expectation or desire, and their main reason for accepting Yeshua was to receive an eternal existence in heaven.  The approach to the Gentiles was rejecting paganism and accepting Yeshua, as the son of God who would be able to grant them eternal joy.

At the time John wrote his Gospel, the Romans were persecuting the Jews because they were revolting against Roman rule. It had always been okay with Rome to allow the Jews to continue to practice their religion, but when it came to kicking Rome out of Israel, that’s where the Romans drew the line.  So, because the Jews were on the Roman hit list, these Gentiles (who were Roman citizens) didn’t want to be associated with the Jews, which is why they didn’t rush into converting to Judaism. Besides that, by the time John wrote his gospel, there were many more Gentiles in this (what had been a) Jewish movement than Jews, and they weren’t in any rush to get in trouble with Rome. So, they started to separate themselves by changing the Sabbath, not requiring more than what the Elders stated in their letter, and trying to stay under the radar with Rome.

This eventually backfired on them, because the only thing Rome hated as much as a rebellion was the establishment of a new religion under their rule.

Eventually, as we know, once Constantine got his hand in it, Christianity, as we know it today, was created with a different Sabbath and man-made holidays to replace the ones God told us we should celebrate.

Since then, Christians and Jews have been at odds with each other, Christians trying to convert Jews and Jews hating Christians for trying to do it. The separation between Jews and Christians has been greatly enhanced because of the difference between how Yeshua is described in the gospels of Matthew and John. I believe this was intentional but never designed to have the destructive influence and results that it has.

The Messiah came to fulfill God’s plan to reconnect with his chosen people, and to also extend grace and salvation to the Gentiles. The Messiah, Yeshua, did that, and once his role as Messiah was completed, he was returned to heaven to sit at the right hand of God. One day, soon (God willing!) he will return as King Messiah, ruling the earth, defeating once and for all the Enemy of God, and completing God’s plan for humanity. At that time, both Jews and Gentiles will see Yeshua for who and what he truly is, both Messiah and son of God, but mainly the Messiah.

Yeshua came to earth to be the Messiah, and being the son of God was not required for that. Instead of identifying him as God’s Messiah, by the time John’s gospel was written and soon after that, men screwed it all up by presenting him in a way that was attractive to Gentiles and not as God intended.

Messiah was to be a stumbling block to those who rejected him, but instead because of what men did he became a stumbling block to the people he was sent to help.

Oy!

Thank you for being here and please subscribe and share these messages with everyone you know. I welcome your comments and look forward to the next time we are together; until then, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Parashot Tazria-Mezora 2020 (Leviticus 12-13/ 14-15)

Leave a comment

Because this is a leap year, the Jewish calendar adds an additional month, Adar Rishon, so that it remains in proper sync with the Gregorian calendar.  As such, there are times when, in order for the annual cycle of the Torah readings to end on Shemini Atzeret (the 8th day of Sukkot), we will have a double parashah reading (the plural of “Parashah” is “Parashot”.) This Shabbat is one of those occasions.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Both of these readings deal with uncleanliness, which would prevent one from being allowed to enter the Sanctuary and in some cases requires isolating the person until the condition is determined to be resolved. The first reading deals with leprosy (which in Hebrew is called Tzara’at) of the body, clothes, and even the walls of the house, and the second reading deals with uncleanliness caused by bodily excretions, such as a seminal emission and menstrual flow.

The Torah tells us how to determine if the tzara’at is contagious or not, and also what sacrifice is required for either of these forms of uncleanliness, once the person has been declared clean. With regard to those suffering tzara’at, until such time as the person is declared clean, they are to be isolated from the rest of the community.

The laws of purification are complex, and there are those who argue they were instituted for hygienic reasons, and those who argue they are purely levitical (religious); the former hold that these laws prevent the spread of disease and the latter that they are designed to bring us to a more holy station in life.

There are good arguments for both, and I believe that they are two sides of the same coin, being complementary and not exclusionary.

I find it very interesting that these readings, dealing with the need to isolate those with an infectious disease, occur at this point in time when the world is experiencing the same, exact sort of problem.  We are all in a form of isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The one main difference is that the current isolation is not for religious reasons at all, but strictly to (hopefully) prevent the further spread of the disease.

But is there a religious side to it?

I think we can look at this pandemic as a way to gauge the spiritual status of a country. For instance, here in America, our politicians (who have been at odds since the election of the current President) are not working together at all to help the citizens, but using the current panic to play the “Blame Game”; one side saying the administration didn’t do enough, fast enough, and the administration saying they did what they did in a timely manner and when they wanted to do more, they were held up passing legislation because the opposing party wanted to fill the legislation with their own “pork”.

In the meantime, the people these politicians are supposed to help and work for suffered and will suffer even more after this de facto Martial Law is lifted because we will be in a recession.

Worst of all is the media, which has unquestionably been at the forefront of the panic and, in my opinion, directly caused the panic with their sensationalism and irresponsible reporting. And as I have said many times, Satan is called the Prince of Power of the Air (Ephesians 2:2), and all our news, whether through radio, TV, or the Internet goes through the air.

This nation used to be God-fearing and brave, but that was way back when I was a kid and God was still a valuable asset to this country. We were formed by the need to worship God, we included God in our government and schools, and we based how we lived on God’s rules. That’s not the way it is today; we have kicked God out of the government, out of the schools, and even out of the workplace. We ignore God and his instructions but are overly sensitive to possibly offending godless people. Americans today are offended by any spoken word, insult and ridicule God-fearing people, are totally self-absorbed, and worship sports figures, movie stars, and science.

The Enemy has been watching and evaluating when the best time will be for him to make his move. He is readying his forces on earth (if you think I am talking about China, you are right, but it’s not just China) and I believe he has already begun his attack. His attack started with a diversion, the Covid-19 attack, which is using the godless people of the media and government to throw all their attention to the popular fear of infection when the real attack is against our economy.  And not just the economy of America, but of the world because if America suffers economic devastation, it will become world-wide economic devastation.

The current program of isolation in America is the means to an end; not just for slowing the spread of this current pandemic (which, by the way, won’t really keep more people from catching it in the long run) but for setting us up for the Antichrist to gain a foothold in order to take charge of this country, then the world. When America falls, the world will follow because we are still the most powerful nation in, and the leader of, the world.

The Shabbat reading for tonight couldn’t be more appropriate and timely.  We are suffering from an infectious and deadly disease, but it isn’t tzara’at or Covid-19, it is faithlessness and apostasy. This pandemic has proven that people today are easily controlled by fear, which is not what the Spirit of God gives, but is a tool of the Enemy.

People are not saying “Goodbye” anymore, they are saying “Be safe”, but I think we should be saying, “Trust God and don’t be ruled by fear.”

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share me out and check out my books; and remember that I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

Covenant Chronology

Leave a comment

When we think of the word “chronology”, we think of a linear timeline, meaning something happening in a particular order. And that is fine, but for the purposes of this message we will discuss more than just the order of the covenants, we will also look at the priority of order within the covenants.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Let’s start with a basic introduction to what a covenant is, sort of a Covenant 101 Class:

A covenant is, essentially, a contract. Like contracts, there has to be a promise by one party to deliver some action to another party. There are two ways to make a contract, which are orally and written, and they are either unilateral or bilateral. The unilateral contract is a promise by one person with no requirements on the other party in order to receive the promised action, and a bilateral contract is two-way: A promises B to do something so long as B performs some service.

With regard to the covenants God made, the unilateral covenant is called unconditional, and the bilateral covenant is called conditional.

There are 5 covenants in the Bible:

  1. The Noahic Covenant (Genesis 8:21-22);
  2. The Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12-17);
  3. The Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19-24);
  4. the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7); and
  5. The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31).

Here is one of the most important things you must understand about the covenants which God has made with humanity: they are not exclusionary, they are complementary.

That means that the newer covenant does not replace or supersede the previous covenant, but adds to it, confirming and increasing the scope to include the newer elements. For example, when God made his covenant with Abraham, he didn’t stop placing the rainbow in the sky. When he made the covenant with the Jewish people through Moses, he didn’t say circumcision wasn’t necessary anymore.

And when he promised all humanity he would make a New Covenant, it is based entirely on the prior covenant with King David to make one of his descendants the Messiah.

There are only two of the five covenants God made with us that are unconditional: the Noahic and the New. These are promises by God that do not require us to do anything in order to receive them. The other covenants are conditional. Circumcision was conditional for the Abrahamic, circumcision plus obedience to the instructions God gave Moses, and the line of kings under David must also remain obedient to the Torah for David’s descendants to remain on the throne.

The New Covenant, according to Christian theology, was made by Jesus at the Last Supper, but that is not true. God already told us what he would do way back in Jeremiah. And this New Covenant was unconditional because God said we can’t accomplish it, ourselves.

Now, one might say the New Covenant is conditional because we have to accept Yeshua as our Messiah in order to be saved, but technically, that is not really necessary. Although I have run into some who claim they are sinless and we all can be, despite what the Tanakh tells us, most people believe humans cannot live a sinless life. But, if we did, in other words, if we were able to obey every commandment in the Torah every moment of our life, then we would be righteous in God’s eyes and there would be no need for us to be saved by Messiah’s sacrifice.

I believe living a sinless existence is not possible for humans, which is why we need the Messiah, and since God did send the Messiah, it seems he agrees with me.

The last lesson for today is about the priority of order within the covenants; in other words, who does what, first.

Too many churches, especially the mega-churches with thousands of people, always prioritize their “spiel” about God with all the things God will do for you. And they finish with all you have to do is be a “good” person, loving each other and not doing anything bad. They teach that when you accept Jesus then God will give you blessings. They teach your only requirement is to accept Jesus as your Savior and you get blessings.

That’s not how it works, and besides that, it is also in the wrong order.

It isn’t about what God will do for us, but what we are to do for God. It’s true that God wants to bless us, but the blessings are not given until they are earned. The priority within these covenants is that we are to obey God’s instructions, i.e., do as he says we should, and then in return, he will be our God and we will receive the blessings he promises.

Jews have always known the proper priority because, well, we’re the ones through whom God set up this system. We understand that it is about what we are to do for God and not about what he will do for us. We serve God, not the other way around, and that means the priority, the proper “chronology” of actions within each conditional covenant, is that we must FIRST do our part, which is to follow the instructions God gave us, then he will do his part and deliver blessings to us.

One of the most remarkable things about God is that even though we have broken the conditional covenants over and over, and over again, God has not exercised his moral and legal right to renege on his part. Even better, God gave us an escape clause: not to escape the covenant, but to escape the consequences of breaking the covenant, and that is the sacrificial system. When the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed that made forgiveness impossible, but through the Davidic covenant, which is accomplished through Yeshua, we can find redemption, which is why without Yeshua we have no hope of salvation.

What I am hoping you get out of today’s message is this: the covenants God made do not remove or do away with any of his previous covenants, they are all found in the Tanakh, and the most important lesson today is that we are the ones who do for God, not the other way around. When we do as God wants, we will receive his blessings, but he has no obligation to do anything for anyone of us until we show him we have met the conditions of his covenant.

God is the most wonderful partner anyone can have in any covenant because he so desires to bless us, that even though we continuously break the covenant, he allows us to come back into that covenant.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share out these messages, buy my books, wash your hands and I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Why Did I Come in Here?

Leave a comment

When I am riding my bike or alone in my car driving somewhere, I always start out with prayer. And it is when I am praying, and my mind wanders off on a topic, I find my inspiration for many of the messages I post on this ministry. When an idea hits me, I try to quickly make a calendar entry so I don’t forget what I wanted to talk about.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

I went to see what was on the calendar for today and all I saw was “Yes, go ahead and save that.”, which was what I told my Google assistant to do after I had asked “her” to make a calendar entry to remind me what I wanted to talk about today.

And, of course, I don’t recall what the heck it was, and thought this problem might be more of an age-related issue than one of misusing technology.

Now that I think about it, though, there is a spiritual message in here, and that spiritual element is the danger of forgetfulness; not of why you came in the room, or what you wanted to talk about, or the names of people you have known for a long time.

What we need to be careful about never forgetting is God and the way he wants us to live our life.

An example of this is Shlomo, otherwise known as Solomon. Despite his extraordinary wisdom, later in his life, he forgot about God and the promises he made to God and started to worship other, false gods (1 Kings 11:4).

You may ask how someone who had always been so worshipful and dedicated to God, with so much sekel (Hebrew for understanding or insight), could have done that, and the answer is that he was influenced by his wives (he had about 700), many of whom were from the people that God said we shouldn’t have any dealings or relationships with because they would (as in Shlomo’s case) turn us away from our God.

So what does a failing memory have to do with apostasy? Everything.

Even though Shlomo’s problem wasn’t so much memory loss, as what we old folks experience, the memory loss we can all fall victim to is losing the memory of what is right and wrong.  As we get older, and I can verify this from experience, your priorities change, and it becomes more difficult to exercise the self-discipline you used to have. The discipline to go places when you are tired, the discipline to keep in touch with people, the discipline to read when you can more easily watch TV.  Even personal hygiene becomes a burden, especially if you live alone, for many older people. All of these disciplines, which we take for granted when we are young, become difficult when we get older.

Now, don’t get me wrong- I am not ready for the Old Folks Home, not by a long shot, but I can see patterns forming, and I can see how I used to be and how I am now.

I used to send cards to everyone for their birthdays and holidays, but for years now I don’t bother. It isn’t so much the cost of greeting cards (which is, by the way, ridiculously high) but I simply don’t feel like doing it, anymore. No offense to my friends and family, I still love you all but it is just too much effort for too little reward.  And I also feel that way about finding a place to worship. I went to a Hebraic Roots church for a few years after moving here, but after they had to close their doors (the Senior Pastor had a full-time job and was starting a Master’s program so he didn’t have time to be a full-time Pastor, and there was no one else to run it) I just didn’t feel like looking around for someplace else. And I still don’t want to, even though there are so many houses of worship here that on a windy day you can spit in any direction and hit a church.

You don’t have to be old to forget about God; you can be any age and lose focus or forget about proper worship and lifestyle. It can happen as you get more involved with your job, or with family problems, or even with outside activities. When we have many worldly things on our mind we tend to become forgetful about spiritual things that take effort, such as reading the Bible every day.

If you are a Believer and have many friends (like I do) who are not Believers, you expose yourself to forgetting about God, just as Shlomo did when he married foreign wives with foreign gods. Their influence can become a trap for you, tying you to worldly things instead of to God.

On the other hand, we are to be a light to the nations and we can’t shine if we never interact with non-Believers. In fact, we should be out there among the non-Believers as a symbol and example of how God’s grace and Holy Spirit gives us peace and the ability to remain calm in the midst of troubles. That’s why I am concerned for myself, because as I get older and things become more difficult, it may be easier for me to not “fight” with those who don’t worship God, and simply let them alone or, worse, give in to them just because I don’t have the strength to argue.

Don’t worry- I doubt that will happen to me, but being aware of the fact it might is what keeps me properly focused.

I may not remember why I came into the room this morning, or even what I wanted to say when I started to write this, but I do remember that God has instructions for me to follow and because I forget things more easily now, I must remember one thing if nothing else, and that is to fear the Lord, God. If I can remember that one thing, nothing else will be that important.

That’s the reason I keep my Bible in the bathroom- I know no matter how forgetful I become, I will always remember where the bathroom is. And, when I get there, I see the Bible; since I will have a few minutes while I am there, I might as well read a chapter or two.

That’s one way I remember to stay in touch with God, and (frankly) I don’t worry too much about what else I have to remember, except, maybe, to take my pills in the morning.

Thank you for remembering to be here today, and please don’t forget to subscribe so if you forget to look for a message on my website, you will be notified by email that I have posted. You can also “like” my Facebook page and that way you will know when I post.

I always welcome your comments and I try to remember to reply.

Until next time (assuming I don’t forget to write), L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Why Read The Torah?

Leave a comment

Oops! Last week when I posted Parashah Shemini, I was a week too early. I missed the fact that on the Shabbat after Pesach (Passover) we read a different portion of the Torah, specifically for that Shabbat. So, that means I am a week ahead, and as such, I thought we could use this week to review the reason why reading the Torah portion (called a Parashah, the plural is Parashot) is so important, especially if you want to be able to understand what is in the New Covenant writings.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video. 

The Torah is the first five books of the Bible (most of you already know that) and they contain every, single instruction for how to worship God and how to treat each other that God wants us to know. In truth, it is really the only part of the Bible that is made up of the exact words God gave to us, with Moses taking dictation. Every single Torah is exactly the same as every other Torah- when the Scribes who are specially trained to write the Torah (called Sopherim) finish copying one Torah to another, they count every single letter to make sure there is nothing missing or added.

Yeshua taught from the Torah. That was the only scripture that existed. Of course, there were many traditional teachings, which became the Mishna and the Gomorrah (together they make up the Talmud.) But as for the written word of God, when Yeshua was teaching, he was teaching from the only scripture there was, and that was the Torah. And as far as Yeshua being the spotless lamb of God, i.e. a sinless person, he was sinless because he did everything that God instructed us all to do, which (again) is found in the Torah.

My point is that to understand what Yeshua taught, we need to first know what is in the Torah. Shaul (Paul) also taught only from the Torah; in fact, being a Pharisee trained by one of the greatest Rabbis in Jewish history, Gamaliel, he was a Torah expert.

The New Covenant writings have absolutely nothing in them that is “new.” I know, I know…you are going to quote from Ecclesiastes and tell me there is nothing new under the sun, and (of course) I will agree with you, which also proves my point about the New Covenant. Yeshua taught from the Torah, the Disciples of Yeshua taught what they learned from Yeshua, which was from the Torah, and Shaul taught what he knew from the Torah.

Let’s take a break for a minute and go over something important to know. In the letters from Shaul to the congregations of (almost exclusively) Gentile Believers he formed, he gave them a lot of leeway in how strictly they followed the Torah because they needed that. He was against requiring Gentiles to make a complete and immediate conversion to Judaism because he knew that paradigm shift in lifestyle would be too difficult and he would lose a lot of them. That is the same conclusion the Elders in Jerusalem came to, which you can read about in Acts 15. They gave only 4 immediate requirements, and that was never meant to be the only thing Gentiles had to do, just all they had to do for now. It was assumed (and you can see that plainly in Acts 15:21) they would eventually learn all the commandments in the Torah. This discussion, however, is for another time.

If you wanted to build a house, you wouldn’t start with the roof or the second floor, would you? In fact, you wouldn’t even start with the main floor until you had laid the foundation. The Torah is the foundation for the Tanakh, which is what many consider to be the “Jewish Bible”.  The books that come after Deuteronomy are either of historical nature (such as Joshua, Kings 1 and 2, Chronicles 1 and 2, Ruth, Esther, etc.) or they are prophetic books. But they all have one thing in common, and that is that they show us how well, or more often how poorly, the Chosen people lived within the covenant they had made with God. They also show how God always kept his side of the covenant, even when we kept breaking our side of it. And how willing God was, and still is, to forgive us when we repent.

The New Covenant writings start with the Gospels, which are the narrative of all the messianic prophecies we read throughout the Tanakh coming to fruition in Messiah Yeshua. His teachings, which we read in the Gospels, are all from the Torah, but what was different was not what he taught about the commandments, but what he taught about how we are to follow the commandments.

The Pharisees were teaching performance-based salvation, i.e. what we call in Judaism the P’shat, the plain language of the Torah. For example, when they taught do not murder, they meant to not kill someone on purpose, and that was all. Yeshua taught the Remes, the deeper, spiritual meaning of the law, so he said we know not to murder, but if we hate in our heart, that is murder.

If you aren’t familiar with the terms P’shat or Remes, look up the Jewish form of biblical exegesis called PaRDeS.

In order to understand what Yeshua taught, we need to know what the Pharisees taught so we can see the difference. Only reading the New Covenant is like reading the second book of a two-book story, without ever having read the first book. You might get some of the story-line, and may understand a lot of what is happening, but without knowing the background you will never really understand the characters or the way things got to where you “came in” to the narrative.

This is why it is important for anyone and everyone who professes to want to follow Yeshua to know what he knew- the Torah. After all, didn’t John say the Word of God became flesh and walked among us? He was talking about Yeshua, and the only Word of God (as we learned earlier) that existed then was the Torah, so Yeshua is the living Torah. That is why he could never preach anything against the Torah, because if he did then he would be a house divided against itself, and we all know what he said about that.

If you are a Believer and have not read the Torah, then you are cheating yourself out of knowing your Messiah. You cannot understand the depth of what Yeshua taught or understand anything in the letters Paul wrote if you do not know the Torah and, in fact, you really need to know the entire Tanakh. That was what they taught from, and that is where we learn about God, the Messiah and God’s plan for mankind.

It comes down to this: if you don’t know the Torah, you can’t really know Yeshua.

Thank you for being here; please subscribe and share these messages with others. I always welcome your comments, and next Friday we will be back on schedule with the Parashah readings.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!