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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There is some confusion in Christian/Messianic circles about the status of the Aaronic priesthood and our status as priests.
Yom Teruah can be translated as a day of cheering. In Revelation when the seventh trumpet sounds there is cheering in Heaven because "the kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ." At that time Christ will begin purging the world of His enemies, those who worship false gods. The impulse to idolatry has not gone away. What does it look like today when people in the church turn to other gods in the same way that Israel did in the past?
In Mark the disciples do not understand the feeding of the multitude or the calming of a storm because of their hard hearts. A hard heart causes one to see what he expects to see instead of what God wants him to see. A hard heart makes one vulnerable to a spirit of fear.
Standards for gentile behavior and salvation were burning questions in the early Church. The Council of Jerusalem debated and answered those questions.
Israel's desire for a king so that they could be like all the other nations was both a flight from responsibility and a dilution of God's plan. He did not want them to be like the other nations.
Once the exiles had arrived in Israel, they began by building the altar and celebrating the Sabbath and the feasts. When they had laid the foundation for the Temple, the Samaritans asked to join the effort. When the Jews refused, the Samaritans petitioned the Persian king to stop the project.
When God sends Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt, he asks what shall I say your name is? The answer says a lot about what God is about to do.
The world and the culture are awash with death. Moses, in Dt 30 presents life and death as a choice and recommends that we choose life. In a sense that choice is the central point of the entire Bible. All the law and the prophets tell us what behavior leads to life and what leads to death, both temporal and eternal. Choose wisely.
Psalms 22, 23 and 24 are a triptych describing the Crucifixion, our walk with Y'shua and the Second Coming. They start at Mt Calvary and walk through the valley of the shadow of death to Mt Zion. They go from Passover through Pentecost and end at the Feast of Trumpets. These three Psalms give us insight into God's appointed times. They encourage us to endure and triumph even during the current time of plague.
Peter is arrested by Herod and kept in prison pending display before an hostile crowd. An angel delivers him from captivity.
Ecclesiastes
1:1 - 12:14
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)