The Bible is a historical record of how God has related to mankind ever since creation. The Bible is also the very word of God for all of humanity to find the path of forgiveness and restoration for all that is tainted and broken in life. Religion, in the general sense, provides a systematic path of prayers and rituals for human beings to connect with the spiritual world in various ways. The God of the Bible provides a path to know Him but this path sometimes becomes obscured by manmade religious practices.
This week’s Torah Portion is found in Leviticus chapters fourteen and fifteen which details how to handle situations when individuals become impure because of a skin disease, like leprosy, or various bodily conditions which separate individuals from society until they are cured or purified from their unclean state. There are no real remedies recorded in the Bible for these various impure states. One is simply clean and pure or unclean and impure as detailed in these two chapters. The only way that we read about individuals becoming clean and pure from these chronic conditions which make one unclean is through the supernatural power of God. There must be a miracle. To learn more about this miraculous path of healing and being made clean, I invite you to read this article: The LORD Your Healer
Shabbat HaGadol – The Great Sabbath
God’s provision of purification and cleansing is also connected to this particular Sabbath day. The Sabbath day that is upon us, April 13, 2019, is the last Sabbath before Passover and it is called by a special name in Hebrew שבת הגדול – Shabbat HaGadol – The Great Sabbath or Sabbath of The Great One. There are different reasons for why this Sabbath is called by this name. One of the more obvious reasons is found in the corresponding reading in the prophets, Malachi chapters three and four (in the Hebrew, and some translations of the Bible, this is only chapter three).
The verse that directly relates to the name of this Sabbath in Malachi chapter four is the following: “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD.” (Malachi 4:5) This verse speaks about sending Elijah the prophet before a certain future day, which is called “the great and terrible day of the LORD” or in Hebrew יום יהוה הגדול והנורא – Yom Adonai HaGadol VeHaNorah. This “great and terrible day of the LORD” which is spoken of in Malachi is associated with the Messiah and the great day of redemption which will bring peace to this world. Just as God provided a great redemption for His people Israel in Egypt at the Passover, even so He will do it again through the Messiah.
The Messianic Age
The prophetic portrayal of the Messiah in Malachi chapters three and four is widely accepted by both Christian and Jewish scholars. A Jewish commentary on this section of Scripture in Malachi provides the following insights: “Tradition understands that the prophet Malachi is referring to the advent of the messianic age as “the great and awesome day of the Lord.” – (The Irwin Jonas Onkelos on the Torah, Leviticus. Gefen Publishing, Jerusalem p. 283) Although there are many questions regarding exactly how Elijah will prepare the way of the Lord, the New Testament seeks to provide a reasonable response to these questions:
For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. – Matthew 11:13-15
John was sent ahead of the Messiah to prepare the way of the Lord. John is believed to be the messenger spoken of in Malachi chapter three:
But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way before You.’ Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! – Matthew 11:8-11
Just as Yeshua fulfilled the prophecies in the Bible regarding the Messiah, so John the Baptist fulfilled the prophecies in the Bible regarding the messenger who would come before the Messiah.
The Refining Role of the Messiah
In the beginning of Malachi chapter three we read about the Messiah who would come after the way is prepared before Him. The Messiah is described in these verses as also being God Himself:
Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. – Malachi 3:1-4
When Yeshua came to this earth as the Messiah, He literally came to His Temple in Jerusalem as a baby (Luke 2:22-38), as a youth (2:41-51), and as an adult (Mark 11:15-18). He also came as the messenger of the longed for covenant which He instituted at Passover.
The Messiah is described in the verses above as “a refiner’s fire” which purifies precious metals. Just like the furnace of a refiner, He would purify the priests, the sons of Levi, so that they can present offerings in righteousness. When we read the pages of the New Testament, we see the reality of what it looked like for Yeshua to live out this prophecy of being the Great Purifier of men. Yeshua’s very presence on earth brought conviction to mankind and caused sinners to repent.
When Yeshua washed His disciples feet during the final Passover celebration, Yeshua illustrated to His disciples the importance of allowing themselves to be purified and cleansed at His hands:
Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.” – John 13:5-11
Yeshua gave His disciples an example of how to serve one another by washing their feet. At the same time, Yeshua was also teaching them that they needed to be cleansed by their Master. If they refused to allow Him to cleanse them, they would have no part with Him. Yeshua wasn’t only focusing on their physical cleansing but rather, on being spiritually clean and in right relationship with the Father.
The Purifying Word of God
The work that Yeshua accomplished on the cross by becoming the final and complete sacrifice for sin provides total atonement and cleansing from the judgment of sin, however, there is also a reality of walking in the holiness and purity that God has called us to day by day. This call to walk in purity is only possible as we continually fellowship with our Messiah and abide in Him:
I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. – John 15:1-4
The word which Yeshua spoke to His disciples brought cleansing to their lives but they needed to continually walk with their Messiah and abide in Him in order to maintain a fruitful life.
Before Yeshua went to the cross He prayed to the Father in heaven and asked the Father to keep His followers from the evil one. Yeshua prayed the following words:
But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. – John 17:13-17
One of the main ways that believers are to be protected from the evil one and to be kept separate from this world is by the word of God.
It is the word of God that sanctifies us and keeps us from the tainted lies of the enemy. The teaching and appropriating of the word of God must be a priority in our believing communities in order to grasp the fulness of the joy of Yeshua and to live successful spiritual lives before the Father in heaven. When the word of God is silenced or ignored in our believing communities, believers in Yeshua will look and act just like the world. We must protect and promote the effective teaching of the word of God in order to properly equip the believers in our midst and to keep us from the evil one.
The word of God must never be reduced to just another book or one of many spiritual paths in this world. The word of God is a unique spiritual tool which is at our disposal as described in the New Testament:
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. – Hebrews 4:12
The word of God is compared to a purifying weapon that touches every part of our being. The word of God cleanses us, exposes the hidden areas of darkness in our hearts, and purifies us from the evil in this world.
The Great Purifier
The power of God’s word is illustrated for us in the pages of the Bible but it can never be totally contained by the pages by which it is bond. The word of God is truth, this truth is personified in a Person, and this Person is clearly presented to us in the gospel of John as the living Word of God:
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14
Yeshua the Messiah is the very Word of God. It is only in the revelation of Yeshua that we can know the fullness of God the Father and it is only through abiding in Yeshua that we can walk in purity. On this Sabbath of The Great One, let us remember the power of God to purify us through Yeshua the Messiah, The Great Purifier.
Shabbat Shalom!
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Torah Portion: Lev. 14:1 – Lev. 15:33
Haftara: 2 Kings 7:3-20
Shabbat HaGadol: Malachi 3:4 – Malachi 4:6
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So lovely Daniel, thank you!