Thursday, July 31, 2014

ANCIENT HEBREW MEANING OF SALVATION

Salvation means many things to many people, but what we find in the scripture can all be traced back to an agricultural image we all have seen, the growth of a plant from a seed.

The concrete meaning of the word has to do with spaciousness.

is the 2 letter marriage root of both the state and action of what we today call 'salvation'. It depicts a stripping upward action, which is what happens when a seed sprouts. As it drinks in the water given to it, its life as a seed is stripped away, and, in doing so, it loses its current life as a dormant seed to gain life as an expanding plant, expressing the life once hidden inside it.

The seed is first planted in the ground, a place where it is dark and confining, which may be likened to bondage. When it sprouts and pushes its way out of the ground into the open air, this is the time when it enters spaciousness and sunlight. This is the picture given to us by our Creator of what salvation is, to be freed from bondage and darkness to experience spaciousness and light.

Ronen

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

ALL IN MESSIAH, WHAT ABOUT OUR RESPONSIBILITY?

Solomon spoke of, not only the heaven we see above, but also the heaven of heavens, not being able to contain God, which the ancients understood to mean that all creation is in God, like a womb inside a mother:

But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
(1Ki 8:27)

Now from man's experience, they could argue with Solomon saying, "Of course he dwells on the earth...he is dwelling in the most holy place is he not?" And they would be correct, but that does not mean Solomon was not correct. They both would be, it is all a matter of perspective. One doesn't discount the other.

Speaking of the Word, before becoming flesh, John wrote that everything that is created was created in the Word:

Everything existed by his hand and without him not even one [thing] existed. That which existed in him was life and the life was the light of men.
 (Joh 1:3-4)

And then, to me, the most powerful expression of this truth is Paul's witness, that everything that was built, including thrones, lordships, rulers, and authorities, which we in the East understand to mean evil powers of darkness, was built in him, and that they stand in him. Apart from him nothing can exist, or stand:

 And in him everything that is in heaven and on earth was built, all that is seen and all that is not seen, whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities, everything [is] by way of him and was built in him. And he is in front of all and everything stands in him.
 (Col 1:16-17 MGI)

Those espousing dualistic Greek thinking will probably not like this, but it is what the earliest believers understood, and is why I share it as an alternative starting point, the one Athanasius held to, instead of the more common understanding today built out of a framework starting from separation, as Augustine held to.

This that I have shared is not in opposition to one's responsibility to confess Yeshua, to turn to God, to live as one connected to the Head, who is Messiah, nor of the need to be saved.

If people are in a room full of light and their eyes are closed, they will be fumbling as those who are lost in the dark. This does not negate both truths, that they are in the room, and in the light (God's reality), yet at the same time, they are walking in darkness (man's reality). They do not need to have someone lead them to the room to enter it (they are already inside it). What they need is for someone like Paul to 'open their eyes, so that they will turn from darkness to the light and from the authority of Satan to God and they will receive forgiveness of sins and a portion with the holy [ones] by faith that [is] in me.' (Act 26:18 MGI)

They are like the Greeks he spoke to, who were blindly groping about trying to find the God they were inside the whole time! This is why there is so much emphasis on opening the eyes, having the eyes of the heart enlightened, etc, not for the purpose of entering into Messiah, but to realize where they are and grow in their experience of that truth.

GEHENNA...IN GOD

Make no mistake, dear brothers and sisters, of the horrors pictured by Gehenna, both in the description given by the prophet Jeremiah...

For the sons of Judah Have done the evil thing in Mine eyes, An affirmation of Yahweh, They have set their abominations in the house On which My name is called--to defile it, And have built the high places of Tophet, That [are] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, To burn their sons and their daughters with fire, Which I did not command, Nor did it come up on My heart." Therefore, lo, days are coming, An affirmation of Yahweh, And it is not said any more, `The Tophet,' And `Valley of the son of Hinnom,' But `Valley of the slaughter,' And they have buried in Tophet--without place." And the carcase of this people has been for food To a fowl of the heavens, and to a beast of the earth, And there is none troubling."
(Jer 7:30-33)

and also Isaiah:

for arranged since yesterday was the pyre. Moreover it is prepared, yea prepared, for the king, He deepens, He widens its abode for fire and much wood. The breath of Yahweh, as a watercourse of sulphur, is consuming in it."
(Isa 30:33)
And they fare forth and see the corpses of the mortals, the transgressors against Me, for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they become a repulsion to all flesh."
(Isa 66:24)

of which Yeshua found it fitting to reference

Then shall He be declaring to those also at His left, 'Go from Me, you cursed, into the fire eonian, made ready for the Adversary and his messengers."
(Mat 25:41)
And if your hand should ever be snaring you, strike it off. It is ideal for you to be entering into life maimed, rather than, having two hands, to come away into Gehenna, into the unextinguished fire" where their worm is not deceasing and the fire is not going out.
(Mar 9:43-44)

For all that these speak of, one thing to also take note of it this...the physical type and shadow of the heavenly realities is found in 'the land', specifically, the land of Israel, the promised land. The entirety of the land was considered by God, the holy land, and all of it is a picture of the spiritual reality of heaven itself, of God himself.

How fitting then, is it to find that this valley of the sons of Hinnom, called Gehenna, although outside of the city of Jerusalem, is still very much in the promised land itself, and is thus in God, prepared, kindled, and maintained by him. As with everything in God, even Gehenna has a purpose that will be in accordance with all that is good and just that our Father has before determined according to his will.

Ronen


Tuesday, July 22, 2014

EARLY BELIEVERS VIEW OF JOHN 1:3,4

Joh 1:3 Everything existed by his hand and without him not even one [thing] existed [of] that which existed.  4 In him was life and the life was the light of men.  (Joh 1:3-4 MGI)

כל באידה הוא ובלעדוהי אפלא חדא הוא הות מדם דהוא בה חיא הוא וחיא איתיהון נוהרא דבנינשא

Basically, this is how English translations today translate this verse, whether from the Greek, or from the Aramaic, which I have here.

I discovered though, that the earliest believers in the East after the apostles did not render these verses this way, and it makes quite a difference.

One thing I appreciate about the MGI (Magiera's translation of the Peshitta) is that she puts words in brackets that are not actually in the text, but that she believes makes for proper or smooth English. Notice that there are two words here in brackets...'thing' and 'of'. What I find interesting is that, in Aramaic, the letter ד serves as a prefix to indicate the idea of 'of' or 'that of'. You can see it in the last word דבנינשא which is literally ד of בנינשא men's sons.

The word for 'that' is מדם and it does not have the prefix ד. This is important because this is where the early believers understood this passage different than is done today. She added the 'of' because she understood these verses in the way that most today do, and needed to add it to make sense of it in English. Take out the bracketed word and verse numbers and let's see where they punctuated these verses at.

Everything existed by his hand and without him not even one existed. That which existed in him was life and the life was the light of men.  (Joh 1:3-4 MGI)

Compare this with the way it is today:


Everything existed by his hand and without him not even one existed of that which existed. In him was life and the life was the light of men.  (Joh 1:3-4 MGI)

The earliest understanding of these verses is consistent with the eastern churches understanding of the entire universe being in God, held together and sustained by his Son. His life has always been the life that truly exists in all his creation.

Ronen

WHAT IS DARKNESS...AND HOW IS IT CONNECTED TO SATAN'S AUTHORITY

...that you should open their eyes, so that they will turn from darkness to the light and from the authority of Satan to God  (Act 26:18 MGI)

Paul was given his commission by Yeshua, and in the giving of it, he was told something very powerful here. For the authority of Satan is darkness. This is where he gets his authority from. And what is that authority?

What is the opposite of an opened eye? A closed one. Someone who has their eyes closed is blind, existing in darkness. So when we put it all together, The authority of Satan is darkness, but it is not a true darkness, for everything that exists...the entire universe...is in God, sustained and nourished by his Son. Since God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all, then the only way darkness can be experienced is to close your eyes. This blindness is the darkness that gives Satan his authority. It is not a true authority, nor is it a true darkness, for someone who closes their eyes outside on a sunny day is still in the light. They are just not seeing it!

Ronen

HOW WILL YOU EXPERIENCE THE FIRE OF GOD?

Symeon the New Theologian writes:
God is fire and when He came into the world, and became man, He sent fire on the earth, as He Himself says; this fire turns about searching to find material -- that is a disposition and an intention that is good -- to fall into and to kindle; and for those in whom this fire will ignite, it becomes a great flame, which reaches Heaven. ... [T]his flame at first purifies us from the pollution of passions and then it becomes in us food and drink and light and joy, and renders us light ourselves because we participate in His light. (Discourse 78)

Isaac the Syrian:
It is totally false to think that the sinners in hell are deprived of God's love. Love is a child of the knowledge of truth, and is unquestionably given commonly to all. But love's power acts in two ways: it torments sinners, while at the same time it delights those who have lived in accord with it. (Homily 84)

Both get their understanding from the scripture, one of the clearest being this Psalm:

Like the whisking away of smoke shall they be whisked away; Like the melting of wax from the face of fire, So shall the wicked perish from the face of Elohim." Yet the righteous shall rejoice; They shall be glad to the face of Elohim, And they shall be elated with rejoicing."
(Psa 68:2-3)