Welcome to The Crimson Thread. the teaching web site of Jon Behrens, pastor of Restoration Messianic Fellowship in the Boulder/Longmont area of Northern Colorado. You will find here articles on various Scriptural subjects as well as Bible studies that have been recorded at RMF.
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Truth is one of the world's most elusive qualities; yet the Bible holds it in the highest regard. How then do we navigate human interactions while holding fast to the truth
In a private conversation on the Mount of Olives, the disciples ask Y'shua about the signs and timing of His return. Most of His answer is in the negative; listing events that will be disturbing but are not signs of the end. He is careful to emphasize that His coming will not be subtle and that He expects to find His servants doing what He tells them to do.
There are two instances of heart circumcision in the Torah. While their intended effect is the same, the agent is different in each case.
When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He did not take them directly to the Promised Land. Instead He began a process of teaching the former slaves how to be free. The first stage of the process took 50 days (seven sabbaths plus one day). That pattern is repeated in the Land, but in years instead of days. Every fifty years, Israel was to do a reset, restoring everyone to his patrimony, freeing all slaves and forgiving all debts. This teaches us that liberty is not easy and must periodically be refreshed.
The human impulse to seek a 'better deal' than one believes is available from God has not gone away. Idol worship today looks a bit different than in Biblical times, but all of its pathologies are still with us. This new look helps keep idolaters from realizing what they are doing - allowing them even to attend church with a clear conscience.
Judges begins with Israel failing to obey God. They were instructed to wipe out the inhabitants of the land yet they took Adoni-bezek captive and humiliated him. This sets the tone for the entire book. Israel was not willing to carry through with the destruction of the Canaanites et al, so they were never to have peace nor were they able to have all the land that God wanted them to possess.
The Parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 21 and the great feast in Luke 14, while similar, were given to different audiences for different purposes. The emphasis in the Matthew parable is on the Second Coming and the final judgment. In the Luke parable the emphasis is on the gentiles coming into the Kingdom.
Life in this world is difficult. That is not a flaw, it is a feature.
As we prepare to celebrate Passover, it is well to reflect on God's appointed times as, among other things, a mechanism to keep our history fresh in our minds. In the west today, our history is under systematic attack. The success of that attack has left our young people adrift, not sure who they are or what 'tribe' they belong to. That gap has been used to advance every form of evil.
This is an extremely Jewish prayer reflecting a difference in focus between the synagogue and the church. The focus of both the synagogue and the early church was bringing Heaven down to earth or repairing the creation. About 300 years ago the church shifted focus to getting people into heaven and began neglecting earthly governance.
Leviticus 16:1—18:30
Ezekiel 22:1-19
Matthew 10:16—33
Thus said the Lord:
"Stand by the crossroads
and consider,
Inquire about ancient paths:
Which is the road to happiness?
Travel it, and find tranquillity
for yourselves."
(Je 6:16)