When Israel was exiled to Babylon, Jeremiah prophesied that they would be there for 70 years. In 538 BC the Persian emperor, Cyrus issued an edict which allowed the exiles to return to their land and rebuild the Temple. Ezra is the chronical of that rebuilding.
The sin sacrifices in Leviticus are only designed to handle unintentional sin. Only the sacrifice of Messiah handles intentional sins.
There three ceremonies prescribed in Deuteronomy 26 and 27 that set up the Deuteronomy 28 recitation of blessings and curses in the covenant made with the generation going into the land. Each of these ceremonies is designed to maintain perspective as Israel prospers in their new land. When they neglected them, the nation descended into idolatry, injustice, violence and finally exile. We today are on the same path for the same reasons.
Today the entire world is focused on a virus that has emerged from China and is sweeping the world. The panic caused by this virus has crashed financial markets and disrupted daily life in unprecedented ways. In Hebrews, God has promised times of great shaking that will reveal that which cannot be shaken. This time presents great opportunity for the advancement of His Kingdom.
Food and table fellowship has always been a stumbling block between Jews and gentiles. Peter's vision of the sheet descending from Heaven showed him that diet does not disqualify gentiles from the Kingdom of God.
People learn by trial and error - that's not a flaw, it's part of the design. Understanding this, God has provided ways for us to recover from error.
Civilization can be corrosive to learning to trust God and to be free. God solved that for Israel by keeping them in the wilderness for an entire generation.
For the first time, the nation Israel became more than passive participants in the events orchestrated by God and Moses. They would provide the materials and the labor to make a way for God to dwell in their midst.
The month preceding the fall feasts is an excellent time to reflect over the past year and think about what you want to accomplish in the next. In this, 2 Peter has a helpful progressive list of character traits that lead to Godliness.
In the Parable of the Weeds, Y'shua warns that false believers will enter the church and will persecute the faithful. He says that those 'weeds' will not be plucked up until the final harvest and that His people are called to endure in the face of that persecution - even to the point of death.