Recently, I was having a long chat with a good friend. We were discussing a podcast that I have been listening to for a couple of months now, the BEMA Discipleship Podcast with Marty Solomon.
As I shared before, in 2014, I asked God to reveal His nature to me. That question sparked an adventure, leading me to a new church, a new pastor, and a fresh perspective, though it required navigating through a whole lot of muck. Much of the muck needed to be chucked (snort)! The flawed theology I was taught as a child in church has led me to believe that corporate American church habitually gets it wrong.
There’s no one to blame; most are simply passing on what they’ve been taught. By sidelining the Old Testament due to the “new covenant,” we inevitably overlook crucial aspects of God and His nature.
When the hour came, Yeshua reclined at table, and the emissaries with Him. And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will never eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And when He had taken a cup and offered the bracha (blessing), He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. For I tell you that I will never drink of the fruit of the vine from now on, until the kingdom of God comes.” And when He had taken matzah and offered the bracha, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, given for you. Do this in memory of Me.” In the same way, He took the cup after the meal, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you. (Luke 22:14-20 TLV)
But now Yeshua has obtained a more excellent ministry, insofar as He is the mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first one had been faultless, there would not have been discourse seeking a second. For finding fault with them, He says, “Behold, days are coming, says Adonai, when I will inaugurate a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not remain in My covenant, and I did not care for them, says Adonai. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Adonai. I will put My Torah into their mind, and upon their hearts I will write it. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And no more will they teach, each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know Adonai,’ because all will know Me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more.” In saying “new,” He has treated the first as old; but what is being made old and aging is close to vanishing. (Hebrews 8:8-13 TLV)
“Behold, days are coming” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not like the covenant I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they broke My covenant, though I was a husband to them.” it is a declaration of Adonai. “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “I will put My Torah within them. Yes, I will write it in their heart. I will be their God and they will be My people. No longer will each teach his neighbor or each his brother, saying: ‘Know Adonai,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.” it is a declaration of Adonai. “For I will forgive their iniquity, their sin I will remember no more.” Thus says Adonai, who gives the sun as a light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars as a light by night, who stirs up the sea so its waves roar, Adonai-Tzva’ot (Lord of Hosts or Lord of Armies) is His Name. (Jeremiah 31:31-34 TLV)
The author of Hebrews clearly quotes Jeremiah, conveying the same message: God is establishing a new covenant with Israel, writing His Word directly on their hearts. The need for priesthood is eliminated, as everyone will know Him, individually. Adonai will forgive their sins, remembering them no more.
The Hebrew word for iniquity is avon which means iniquity, guilt or wrongdoing (perversion, crookedness, wickedness, distortion of what is right, sin, misdemeanor, iniquity, crime, and offence) but includes not only the transgression, itself, but the consequences or punishment AND the state of being held responsible for the wrongdoing PLUS the burden of guilt. Yikes! His forgiveness covers a bit more than the mere text in English expresses.
Which brings me back to my point with regard to corporate American church but before I burrow down that rabbit hole, let’s go back, look at Luke and what Jesus said about what He came to do:
- Not to abolish but to fulfill the law and the prophets. Matthew 5:17
- Seek and save the lost. Luke 19:10
- Not to be served but to serve and give His life as ransom for many. Mark 10:45
- Not to do His own will but to do the will of His Father. John 6:38
- Not to bring peace (shalom) but a sword. Matthew 10:34 (in my opinion this is reference to the Spirit which is referred to in Ephesians 6 as a sword)
The verses from Luke that describe
the last supper are the only in which Jesus, himself, uses the word covenant: “This
cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you. (Luke
22:20) He says that he will not eat this meal again until “it
is fulfilled in the kingdom of God”.
First let’s discuss the old covenant for just a quick second. Adonai makes a promises Abram that if you follow Me, I will make your name great. Out of you will come a great nation. They will be a nation of priests and bring blessing for all the families of the earth. The covenant becomes binding via a ceremony which includes blood through animal sacrifice. It is further established as everlasting through circumcision (again with blood). This is all found in Genesis.
As clearly described in the scripture above from Hebrews and Jeremiah, the Jews did not hold up their end of that covenant but God being LOVING above all else allows His only begotten Son to offer Himself as the sacrifice needed for this NEW covenant. A covenant sealed by blood, like the first, but this NEW covenant extends to both Jew and Gentile.
Our days start in the morning and conclude in the evening, but Jewish days start and end in the evening in the evening. Shabbot begins Friday evening and ends Saturday evening. The meal in the upper room was on Shabbat. The daytime had been part of what is referred to as Preparation Day, when Jews thoroughly clean their homes to make sure it is free of all leaven. Logically, the upper room meal was the Passover seder. A Passover seder is a ritual meal and ceremony which retells the Hebrews exodus from Egypt including the Passover.
Passover begins in the evening on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan and the festival on the evening of the 15th and last for 7 days. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is celebrated immediately following Passover. Jesus was most certainly crucified during these holy days and most likely during the daytime on Passover, itself. It is a fulfillment of the law and the prophets that He became the lamb without blemish that was sacrificed for ALL iniquity, His feet (6 days before Passover) and head (2 days before Passover) anointed as was the custom per the Old Testament. The anointing IS important because it signifies the lamb being set apart for the purpose of God.
We are told these stories without context, missing too much information and therefore unable to grasp the profound meat of the story. We are only given milk.
“IT is fulfilled in the kingdom of God” is the act of Jesus laying down His life for the atonement of sin once and for all. The fulfillment of the old covenant. No more need for animal sacrifices and ALLLLLLLLL those laws in found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Leaving us instead with just two commandments given to us by Yeshua: (1) love the Lord God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind and (2) love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39).
In the Greek, the word for neighbor is plēsion which means close by or near. Most of the New Testament was written in Greek including Hebrews but know that Matthew was first written in Hebrew. The Hebrew words that mean neighbor are shakhen and re’a. Re’a is akin to friend or companion. It also carries a wider meaning, referring to another person or fellow citizen. Shakhen is parallel to inhabitants, acquaintances or someone that lives nearby in the same area. In the Old Testament, the Bible's usage encompasses a broader concept of community, including strangers. Abraham was famously hospitable to strangers. Hebrews 13:2 warns us, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers—for in doing so, some have entertained angels without knowing it.” I think it is clear Jesus intended for us to LOVE…period (mic drop).
Can you see my point about American church? We are told all the significant Old Testament stories in Sunday School. As teenagers, they focus on keeping us in the pews by any means necessary, often through distraction. Adulthood arrives, and you choose your beliefs, but how can you truly decide when you’ve never been properly taught? No one revisits those stories to clarify their context, significance, or how the Old Testament connects to the New, much less to our own lives. Instead, we are spoon fed raecipes and formulas like 50 ways to leave your lover (snort)…okay not really but how many sermons have you heard that are 7 steps to a life of blessing or 3 keys to accessing favor, blah, blah, BLAH!
This is where understanding that Jesus was a Jew and studied the Torah, the Nevi’im, the Ketuvim – all together known as the Tanakh. He went to synagogue and school. His education started around 5 years old (same as when we begin Sunday School). From ages 5 to 9, He would have attended Beit Sefer, which emphasized literacy and memorizing the Torah. Next, He would have attended Beit Talmud (ages 10-13) focusing on studying interpretations and engaging in debates over those interpretations. School ended at 13-14 (manhood) after which most Jewish men went on to learn a trade to provide for their family.
Side note: MOST Jewish boys would have attended Beit Sefer. MOST Jewish men were literate.
Yeshua became a rabbi which meant between the ages of 13-15, He enrolled to be formally educated at Beit Midrash. He most likely became an apprentice or disciple of a rabbi. He would have vigorously and with fervor discussed and argued over Mishnah (oral tradition of Jewish law) and Talmud (commentary on Jewish civil and ceremonial law). We know Jesus was an exemplary student because in Luke 2:41-52, He freaks His parent’s out by staying behind at the Temple after the Festival of Passover, they found Him days later in a group of rabbis that were “amazed by His understanding” and His answers to the questions asked. Even today the average observant Jew spends a minimum of 15 minutes a day on Torah study plus Shabbat.
American church does promote study outside of Sunday School or Vacation Bible School. But why? Where did the church lose the desire to study and know God’s word on a corporate scale? I suspect it has something to do with it being in Latin instead of our spoken tongues. When God used man to write on His behalf, it was always done so that man could read it whether in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek.
I DO know we’ve lost the wonder of God’s stories. We lost reverence for Him, treating Him more like a genie in a bottle than the King of the Universe. The Torah’s story of God’s love is completely overlooked. Instead, we naively think love only arrived with Jesus. We never receive lessons on hospitality and then wonder why we struggle to love our neighbor. We landed ignorantly on replacement theology. We grant power to the adversary that should be reserved solely for Adonai. We’ve splintered a thousand times over into a myriad of denominations. We get a lifetime of spoonfuls of sugar (milk) instead of a single bite of meat, much less a meal from the Word.
I refuse to keep asking myself, where’s the beef? I want to KNOW God. I want to KNOW Yeshua. I want to KNOW the Spirit. Unknowingly, I asked for meat, thinking I’d already received it, unaware of the far greater abundance awaiting. If the church won’t guide me, I’ll pursue rabbit holes, as through them I’ve gained a deep respect for I AM THAT I AM. He is both mystery and predictable. We were the bride of Adonai before Jesus revealed the wedding plans. Despite attending church since I was a wee lass, I finally learned that truth at 54.
At this point in my walk of faith…I want a lot less “where’s the beef” and a lot more “we got the meat”.
Side note: Priscilla is believed to be the unnamed author of Hebrews. Gentile believer. Wife of a Jew. Tent maker. First century missionary alongside her husband, Aquila and Paul.
