Musing – How important is Confession?

 

Hebraic Musing – How important is Confession?

The LORD told Moses to “Say to the Israelites: ‘When a man or woman wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the LORD, that person is guilty and must confess the sin he has committed.  He must make full restitution for his wrong, add one fifth to it and give it all to the person he has wronged.” Numbers 5:6–7 NIV  How might this work in real life? 

Imagine that a businessman committed a serious financial crime.  Years later, he regrets what he did, returns the stolen money and resolves never to steal again. Is he absolved of his sin?  A question closer to home, might we commit a similar sin on a smaller scale?  What to do about it?

In Judaism, there are three steps in repentance:
- First is to regret the deed,
- Second is to orally confess the sin,
- Third is to determine never to repeat the offense again.
- But, if there was any harm done through his sin, the person must do whatever it takes to repair the damage.

What happens if a person completes steps one and three, and even makes restitution, but skips the confession part?  Is he or she still considered guilty?  The Jewish sages teach that a person who takes every measure to repent, but skips over the oral confession part, is considered righteous. However, he or she will still need to “pay” for his or her sin in this lifetime or afterward.  Only oral confession can truly heal the soul.

I am reminded of King David’s words: “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven . . . When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long . . . Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin” Psalm 32:1–5 NIV   As David so poignantly pointed out, confession is a doorway to freedom and forgiveness.  Note that the verse only calls for confession of our sins in the presence of one being — the presence of God.

This being the case, one could wonder why verbal confession is required at all.  Why can’t we just think our confession?  After all, God knows our thoughts!  The answer - we don’t confess our sins so that God can hear them.  We confess them so that we can hear them.  Speaking is more powerful than thinking.  God didn’t think the world into existence; He spoke it into existence.  So, too, our words have power. When we confess our sins, we break down barriers that block our soul.  We let go of toxins that poison our spirit.  Most importantly, we engage God in our cleansing process, and it is only He Who can truly purify our souls.

SUMMARY - Next time you mess up, as we all do, resist the temptation to cover up and ignore it.  As David attested, sweeping away our sins only makes matters worse.  Instead, pour out your heart before God.  As we confess our sins before God, He will heal our souls.

Points to Ponder

How much more meaningful is it to actually confess our transgression to the offended party? 
What might be the impact on that person?

 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matt.11:28
Why did Jesus say that?

“I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.”  Quote from David in Psalm 38:18

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                 July 26, 2022

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage”    Weekly “Hebraic Musings”      InsightsByYosef.blogspot.com

Note – Inspired by & excerpted from Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein’s “How important is confession”, May 26, 2015

Musing - What Happens if you are Not Ready?

 

Hebraic Musing - What Happens if you are Not Ready?

How would you live differently if you knew that this day would be your last?  As usual, God’s Word has the answer - "Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil."  Ecclesiastes 9:8 NIV 

Symbolically – “He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.” Rev.3:5    And the “Oil” on your head represents the presence of God; BTW, the first mention of “oil” in the Bible is when Jacob acknowledged the presence of God at the stairway to heaven in Gen.28:18.

On the topic of “how to live each day”, the Talmud* shares a meaningful exchange between a teacher and his students.  Rabbi Eliezer told his students, “Repent one day before your death.”  His students asked him, “Does a person know when he will die?”  To which he replied, “Then he should repent today, maybe he will die tomorrow!  This way, all his days will be full of repentance!”
His students quickly realized that since we never know which day is our last, its best to live every single day like it could be.  That’s why King Solomon expresses the very same idea in Ecclesiastes, our opening verse.  And there are numerous Bible verses addressing “Living each day as if it was your last.”  (Google it!) Example – “...for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.” Eccl.7:2 NIV

The Talmud also gives us an allegory to help us understand this verse:

A king invited his servants to a great feast, but he didn’t tell them when it was going to happen.  The smart ones got ready right away and put on their finest clothing. They waited patiently just outside the entrance to the palace in anticipation of the king.
The foolish ones, however, remained in their regular clothing and continued to do what they would normally do on any other day.  They assumed that they would have plenty of time.  Suddenly, the king announced that the feast was about to begin.  The foolish servants were nowhere near ready, and only the smart ones were able to attend.  Only the servants that prepared were able to enjoy the grand celebration with the king.

Similarly, in Matthew 22:1-14, Jesus tells a “Parable of the Wedding Feast”; and it includes an invitation, then mentions those who rejected the invite, then a broader invitation, and then Jesus “noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.”  That man was tied hand and foot and they threw “him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Jesus summarized the parable saying “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” Matt.22:14

IN SUMMARY - Life is one long preparation for a big feast with the Master of the World.  We could be called to attend this feast at any moment; none of us knows our day of death.  If we are smart, we won’t wait to get ready.  We will live each day with passion, meaning, and purpose.

Points to Ponder

What am I passionate about?

What is my purpose in life?  Is it the #1priority in my life?

What would I be doing differently if today was to be my last?

Do we fully recognize what it is to be “Chosen”?
Does that realization affect our day-to-day activities?

♫   There's a great day coming, A great day coming, There's a great day coming by and by;
      When the saints and the sinners shall be parted right and left, Are you ready for that day to come?
        Are you ready?  Are you ready?   Are you ready for the judgment day?  ♫

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                 July 19, 2022

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage”    Weekly “Hebraic Musings”      InsightsByYosef.blogspot.com

Note – Inspired by & excerpted from Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein’s “Always Ready”, June 19, 2012

* Talmud (Learnings in Hebrew) is a collection of writings that covers the full gamut of Jewish law and tradition, compiled and edited between the third and sixth centuries

Musing – Gen. & Rev. “In the Beginning” and “in the End”

 Hebraic Musing – Gen. & Rev. “In the Beginning” and “in the End”   Reprint of Hebraic Insight #83, 2010

In an “Hebraic Insight” published twelve years ago, I listed 22 examples of how God “finalized” in the Book of Revelation what He created or started in the book of Genesis.  You might call this overview “Creation and De-creation” or “The Relationship between Genesis and Revelation.”  This is another example of why we cannot fully understand the New Testament unless we understand it as fulfillment of the Old Testament.  What God creates in Genesis, the beginning of time, He wraps up in Revelation, the end of time.  Examples (all NIV):

Genesis 1:1               ”In the beginning God created …”
Revelation 22:13      “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

Genesis 1:3               “God said ‘Let there be light’…”
Revelation 21:23      “The city does not need the sun … glory of God gives it light …”

Genesis 1:6               “God said, ‘Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.’”
Revelation 8:10–11  “The third angel sounded his trumpet, and … A third of the waters turned bitter …”

Genesis 1:8               ” God called the expanse ‘sky.’”
Revelation 20:11      “Then … Earth and sky fled from his presence … no place for them.”

Genesis 1:11             “Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees …’”
Revelation 8:7          “The first angel … earth was burned up, a third of the trees … all the green grass …”

Genesis 1:14             “God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from night ‘”
Revelation8:12         “The fourth angel … a third of the sun … of the moon … of the stars … turned dark.”

Genesis 1:20             “God said, ’Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth …’”
Revelation 8:8–9      “The second angel sounded … and … a third of the living creatures in the sea died …”

Genesis 1:26            “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness …’”
Revelation 9:15        “And the four angels … ready … were released to kill a third of mankind.”

Genesis 1:27             “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him …”
Revelation 21:3        “Now the dwelling of God is with men …God himself will be with them… be their God.”

Genesis 2:1–2           “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed… God had finished … he rested …”
Revelation 21:5–6    “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ … ‘It is done.’”

Have you seen the pattern?  Everything that God started in Genesis, He tied off or finished in the Revelation:

a)    Sin is introduced in Genesis 3.     Sin is done away with in Revelation 20:3 “He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations …”

b)    The curse is pronounced in Genesis 3.    The curse is destroyed in Revelation 21.

c)    Death enters in Genesis 3.      There is no more death after Revelation 21.

d)    Man is banished from Eden in Gen. 3.    Man’s presence is welcome in the Garden of Eden. Rev. 22.

e)    The Tree of Life is guarded in Genesis 3.   The right to the Tree of Life is available in Revelation 22.

f)    Sorrow & suffering introduced in Genesis 3.    There is no more sorrow or suffering after Rev. 22.

g)    Nimrod founds Babylon in Genesis 10.      Babylon finally falls in Revelation 18:21 “Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: ‘With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.’”

h)    God uses a flood to destroy sinful men in Genesis 6–9.    Satan tries to destroy the elect in Rev. 12.

i)     God signs His covenant with a rainbow in Genesis 9.     Then He seals it in Revelation 10:1 “Then I saw another mighty angel … robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun …”

j)     Sodom and Egypt are introduced as signs of evil and corruption in Genesis 13.      Sodom and Egypt become the two witnesses in Jerusalem in Revelation 11:8: “Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.”

k)    A bride is chosen for Abraham’s son in Genesis 24.     In Rev.19 & 21 Abe’s seed becomes the bride

l)     The marriage of the first Adam takes place in Genesis 2.     The last Adam is married in Revelation 19.

m)   Satan’s dominion is established in Genesis.     Christ’s dominion is established in Revelation.

We see that what God created in Genesis at the beginning of time,
    He wraps up in Revelation, at the end of time.

Point to Ponder

Can you really understand and fully appreciate the New Testament
without studying the Old Testament, especially the Torah?

Might this be timely considering current events in today’s news?

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                 July 12, 2022

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage”    Weekly “Hebraic Musings”      InsightsByYosef.blogspot.com

Musing – Why Do Some People Still Reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

 Hebraic Musing – Why Do Some People Still Reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Even in America with Bibles available and Biblical truths being preached, people still reject the Good News.  Do people today reject the Gospel for the same reasons Jews would not accept Jesus as Messiah?  Jesus came as a baby in a manger and lived a humble life.  The Jews were looking for a man, a Messiah, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who would reign as King, who would lead and liberate them.  The Jews were not looking for the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.  Didn’t they understand they were sinners?  Their prior beliefs were not dismantled.  There were yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecies!  Jesus did not do those things in His humble incarnation.  Instead, He lived the perfect, sinless life—the life we cannot live—and then died!    Thus, many rejected their Messiah (Matthew 27:22).  Do we have a similar problem today?

Why do people reject the Gospel today? *

1.   The gospel doesn't fit their plausibility structure; accepted beliefs, convictions, and understandings that either green-light truth claims as plausible or red-light them as implausible.  i.e., Christians green-light the truth claim of Jesus rising from the dead as plausible, but that claim may not be plausible to a non-Christian.

2.   Evangelizing Christians have not looked for common ground.  Do they look for common ground that both they and their audiences already hold to be true as an introduction to sharing the gospel?  The Jewish audience had Scripture as common ground.  But for a gentile audience unfamiliar with Scripture; but the common ground can be God’s grace, the miracle of creation, and universal human desires.  Christians should still use Scripture but we don’t have to begin there; common ground ensures the gospel won’t be rejected outright. 

3.   They don't understand sin and guilt.  Sin is our focus in gospel presentations, but in our culture shame is becoming a more prominent concern.  We have “shamed God” with our sin; we’ve “not been honoring God”! 

4.   Their questions aren't answered.  Start with the basics, be ready to answer tough questions about your faith, like “How do you know there’s a God?”  People might be rejecting the gospel because we are either answering questions they aren’t asking, or not answering the questions they are asking.  Listen!

5.   Ethics are a barrier to belief.  Our non-Christian friends don’t think of “Christianity” as the good news of salvation, forgiveness, restoration, justice, mercy or love.  Instead, they think of hate, fear, power, and violence.  They think their stances are ethical because they empower, liberate, and restore justice to the marginalized.  They are about choice, equality, and rights.  Christians are thought to be unethical because they are viewed as the oppressors, finger-pointers and haters; non-Christians are viewed as the ones on the side of love, justice, and mercy.  Do people reject the Gospel because of this image problem?

6.   The gospel isn't real in Christians' lives.  The question that matters is “Is it real in your life?”  Do we walk the walk and talk the talk?  Do we evangelize to our postmodern friends in a way that communicates authenticity?  When we speak words of truth, do they see a love that is real.  In 1 Thess.1:5, they believed the gospel because they saw Paul’s authentic living.

7.    Wrong evangelistic pedagogical methods.   Evangelism in this postmodern day requires a lifestyle change when it comes to our methods and/or practice of teaching.  From Active practice comes Belief, then Truth.  The Christian life is livable; and if it’s livable then it becomes believable; and if it's believable, then it's accepted as truth.  When our non-Christian friends see how the Christian life works, they will discover it is livable, leading to believability.  “And if they see that, they might also acknowledge that it’s true!”

8.   Culture’s existential cry goes unanswered.  The gospel isn’t merely a set of propositional truths about Jesus; it answers the cry of culture.  We need to speak to our audience in their culture, using the language, idioms, and metaphors of their culture; “What bugs them?”  Connect good news of the gospel to their culture.

9.   Christians try to win the mind before emotions.  However, if tomorrow you woke to the headline, “The Bones of Jesus Have Been Discovered!” would you believe it and leave behind your faith in Christ’s resurrection?  Probably not, because we have prior truth commitments that override what we heard.  When we present facts, evidence and data to our non-Christian friends about Jesus’ resurrection it’s no different for them.  Win over emotions before the mind; then the door is open to overcome prior truth commitments. 
♫ “The joy of the Lord is my strength”

10.  Prior beliefs are not adequately dismantled.  After establishing common ground, we need to use reasoning and evidence to dismantle a nonbeliever’s presuppositions.   Resonate: Describe, understand, and empathize with their presuppositions.  Dismantle: Show a deficiency or dissonance in their presuppositions.  Gospel: Complete their cultural storyline with the gospel.  We need to dismantle their faulty worldview and present the Christian worldview as an attractive alternative.

Point to ponder

How many come to the Lord because someone (a Christian they knew) had what they wanted?

How did the early Apostles use these approaches to overcome Jewish prejudices?

Does the world see us Christians as willing to die for them?

Jesus must be our Creator God because Peace, Justice and Love are not natural attributes!

In Luke 15:21  The prodigal son said “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.”  And the father celebrated!

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd            July 5, 2022  
Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage”   Weekly “Hebraic Musings”      InsightsByYosef.blogspot.com

*  Inspired by & excerpted from “zondervanacademic.com/blog/reasons-why-people-reject-gospel”