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Tol'dot
is a very interesting parashah in which we see a change of guard
from avinu Avraham to avinu Yitzchak. The theme of this message today
is "G-d's election or that's not fair-is G-d unjust?" Like
Sarah, Rivkah cannot get pregnant and Yitzchak intercedes for her
exercising the faith our fathers. In so many ways, Yitzchak is a
portrait of Messiah. For me, he is the most boring of all the patriarchs,
a typical mama's boy who needed to be comforted after the death of
his mother Sarah. We read that of the twin sons born to them, he
preferred Esau who was a hunter, an outdoorsman and whose food he
loved. This first-born son was the older and the stronger while Yaakov
stayed in the tent with his mother. Yet it was this younger, weaker,
mama's boy Yaakov who would be the one chosen by G-d to be in the
line of 'the chosen people".
In
discussing election, I want to begin by stating that there is no
one who can do anything for their own salvation. When I have said
that in the past, it has made people upset. "I received Jesus
in my heart. I confessed and prayed the sinner's prayer. I accepted…I
decided to be a believer" is what I have been told.
Well
I am sorry to tell you, the Word of G-d says the opposite. In Psalm
139 King David wrote about how there is nowhere we can run or hide
from G-d. Ask Jonah if we can run from G-d. In the Messianic Writings
in the letter to the Romans 9:6-13 we read that it is G-d's sovereign
choice. It is not about being Jewish or part of the chosen people
because Yeshua himself said that he can make children of Abraham
from the stones. It is not a matter of being Calvinist either. It
is a matter of being faithful to what the Scriptures say.
We
have been so conditioned by what people, scholars and theologians
have taught us about the Word of G-d that our thoughts have become
impregnated with falsities which we have come to accept as truth.
For example I recently heard an orthodox rabbi saying that Gentiles
are committing a sin if they observe the Shabbat. When Christians
state that they are no longer under the law and they don't need to
keep the Sabbath, we can see that both sides agree on something however
it doesn't make them right. I don't doubt their honesty and integrity
in what they believe but nonetheless, the Scriptures teach the opposite.
It is the same with the word, saint. There are no saints in the bible.
This word was taken from kadosh which simply means set apart for
a purpose. It does not make one better than anyone else. In fact,
all our biblical heroes were very human.
Rabbi Shaul is very clear in Ephesians 2:8-9 when he says "by
grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may
boast." So many of the passages in the Messianic
Writings (New Testament for Christians), have been so adulterated
that they now have a completely different meaning.
It is G-d choice about who belongs to Him and that is difficult for
us because we want to have control over our own lives. In Yohanan
15:16, Yeshua states "You
did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear
fruit-fruit that will last".
Jewish and Christian understanding of salvation is completely different.
The Christian looks at salvation in a very personal way; Jesus died
for my sins, I am born again, can look forward to eternal life in
heaven and am basically free to live by grace. The Jewish understanding
of salvation is multifaceted. For Jews G-d saves us from the problems
we are having and He gives us a better way of living. It always relates
to the community at large. It is not a personal thing.
For God, it is not only a matter of the salvation of the soul but
it involves wholeness, is synonymous with healing, a better way of
life, where the individual serves the community not the opposite.
Think back to the moment that G-d revealed Himself to you. Do you
honestly believe that you chose to follow G-d? Can you really say
it was your own personal decision? Shimon called Kefas (Peter) said
to Yeshua "where else can I go, Lord?"
When
we truly have an encounter with G-d, where can we go without Him?
We are filled with a sense that there is no other way or place to.
He knew us before the foundations of the world. It is only after
He lifts the veil from our eyes when we recognize that we belong
to Him, and then we really have free will to choose good from evil.
It is only in G-d that there is any purpose in our life and the doing
of good or evil has true consequences.
Does
being saved by grace mean that we no longer have to be obedient to
Torah? Yeshua said, 'If you love me you will obey my commandments."
(Yochanan 14:15). Which commandments is he talking about? In Deuteronomy
it is written that if you break one commandment it is as if you are
breaking them all. One is as important as all in Jewish thought.
G-d is not a G-d of formulas. He is all or nothing.
It
is being taught today that salvation before and after Jesus is different;
that we are under a new dispensation; that G-d kept changing His
plans - when plan A failed, He came up with plan B and so on until
finally He had the bright idea to come up with the Messiah and finally
got things right. It is as if G-d did not know from the beginning
exactly what He was going to do. We say that G-d is the same yesterday,
today and tomorrow but we don't really believe it. Remember it is
G-d's sovereign choice to save us for His purposes and we have no
say in the matter. We have nothing to boast about; instead we need
to be humble and obedient. G-d uses us as an instrument for His Glory
not our own. Any religious pride is danger.
Rabbi
Shaul said in Romans 9 20 - 21: But who are you, O man, to talk back
to God? "Shall
what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like
this?' Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same
lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common
use?"
You
cannot believe if G-d has not revealed it to you. You cannot make
anyone else believe. When He saves us we become an instrument of
change.
May
G-d add blessings to His Word!
Rabbi
Percy Johnson
Netanel
ben Yochanan
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[b lantn
©
2008 Use by Permission
Kehilat
She’ar Yashuv
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