Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? -2 Peter 3:9-12 (NRSV)
As a Jew, I believe that the coming of the Messiah does not depend on my belief that he will come, nor does it rest solely in God's hands. I believe it remains our task to bring the Messiah -- that he will arrive only when we are in a state of readiness to bring him, to welcome him, to appreciate him. Salvation must be earned. And thus it is what we do, as Jews, that will determine the time of the Messianic arrival.
from Bringing the Messiah - On Our Own Terms
by Rabbi Jerome Epstein
Published on September 1999
at The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism site
A little over a week ago, I posted a blog article called We're Here to Bring Mashiach, which apparently didn't get a lot of attention. I was comparing the actions of Moses in building the Mishkan (Tabernacle) in the desert to the Jewish concept that, we have something to contribute to the world that will affect the timing of the coming of the Messiah.
Last night, I was reading the first chapter in the book Love and the Messianic Age by Paul Philip Levertoff, and in reviewing the commentary by the First Fruits of Zion (FFOZ)/Vine of David writers, I found this very interesting (some may say "startling") statement:
That the Shechinah sojourns with Israel in exile can be demonstrated from the Torah; as it says "I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again." (Genesis 46:4) This may also be learned from the apostles: "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:21-22) Through repentance we hasten the day of the coming of our righteous Messiah and thereby draw His Presence out of exile.I'm sorry, what was that? Let's read it again:
Through repentance we hasten the day of the coming of our righteous Messiah and thereby draw His Presence out of exile.That sounds like, "the sooner we repent, the sooner the Messiah comes." That means, a delay in repentance (of the Jewish people? Of the world?) delays the Messiah, while hastening repentance will bring him sooner. Not Biblical? Let's read 2 Peter 3:12 again, and I'll emphasize the key part of the verse:
...waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire?Levertoff, in Love and the Messianic Age, quotes from Isaiah 22:4, Jeremiah 31:16 and the Jewish mystical text, the Zohar (specifically Zohar I, 203a and Zohar III, 20b) to illustrate how the Shechinah, the Divine Presence which inhabited both the Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple, went into exile with the Jewish people. Levertoff used the unique and mystical perspective (I know this may sound very alien to some of you) of Chasidic Judaism to interpret the New Testament in ways we may not imagine, but also in ways that may add a meaning we've never understood.
Christians (as well as some Jews) reading this, may criticize me for applying the Old Testament as well as Jewish mystical texts to the New Testament writings about Jesus (and although the Zohar is thought to have been compiled in the 12th or 13th centuries, C.E., some of the individual writings may go back to the 1st or 2nd centuries, very close to the time of the Apostles), but we must remember that Jesus was and is the Jewish Messiah and that it was the Jewish people who alone, worshiped the One, True God thousands of years before our Gentile ancestors ever heard of Jesus. Jews were honoring God, observing the Shabbat, and studying the Torah for a hundred generations, while the Gentile ancestors of those of us who call ourselves Christians were bowing to pagan idols of wood and stone and even offering their children to the fire.
What I've just said certainly suggests that the Jewish people might have a few insights into their own Messiah that the rest of us may lack.
As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I'll write a complete review of Love and the Messianic Age after I've finished going over all of the material (mystic texts must be read more slowly than popular novels), but before that, I will be posting several "mini-reviews" as I encounter a number of little gems within Levertoff's treasure trove.
The FFOZ/Vine of David commentary contains a caveat stating that Jewish mystical interpretations may not be your cup of tea, so you could read what I'm writing with a bit of skepticism. That's understandable, especially if you've been taught to believe that the Zohar and the study of Kaballah equates to occult fortune telling and casting of spells. In fact, Christianity has its own mystic tradition (The Cloud of Unknowing, The Interior Castle), which contains analogous material. Mysticism in both Christianity and Judaism is the drive to move beyond studying about God into the realm of fully experiencing God. Levertoff saw the Gospels and the Epistles through a Jewish mystic lens. He saw how the New Testament writings closely mirrored Chasidic mystic lessons, and wondered how it was possible for non-Jewish Christians, especially those without a background in Chasidic Jewish education, could possibly understand what Jesus was teaching.
I wonder too. By reading Levertoff and the commentary addressing his book, I hope to take one or two steps closer to the answer. Wouldn't it be wonderful to discover that we can be a much closer part of God's plan for Creation and the plan to bring the Mashiach than we ever thought possible?
"A Jew never gives up. We're here to bring Mashiach, we will settle for nothing less." -Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh
The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.
4 comments:
"Through repentance we hasten the day of the coming of our righteous Messiah and thereby draw His Presence out of exile."
Romans 11:25-27
"For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”
Combine what Levertoff said with Romans 11 and Matthew 24 and you get quite a picture. Levertoff is right in a way, but prophecy works somewhat. All of these things are going to happen in the end days, we know this to be true because prophecy comes from Gd, the only one who can see beginning and end. He's telling us "look, these are the telltale signs to look for when that age is upon you, I would know because I'm Gd and I can see it all". The return of Mashiac happens not because we're cognisant of what needs to happen, but because it is the natural course of what is going to happen. Some people are aware of what will happen, most are not.
Just a quick visual illustration. When the prophecy was given by Yeshua was it possible that mankind could hasten the coming of Mashiac in the year 1136 AD? Not really, because it doesn't align with all that was prophesied to happen, so it doesn't make complete sense to say that we as humans are the ones that determine when the Mashiac returns, but at the same time, we do.
"the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of"
Gd's people will know the day to look for the Messiah, and if he doesn't show up, we continue to live our lives.
I have lately pondered on Matthew 24:45-51
prophecy works somewhat differently*
These little "mini-reviews" are incomplete thoughts as they occur to me while I'm reading. In some sense, they help me remember certain points in the text so that later, I can gather them all together to make a (hopefully) cohesive whole. About to write another one.
Just a quick visual illustration. When the prophecy was given by Yeshua was it possible that mankind could hasten the coming of Mashiac in the year 1136 AD? Not really, because it doesn't align with all that was prophesied to happen
OK, I can buy that, but conversely, I don't think we're just a bunch of rocks sitting on the ground, either. We are woven into the fabric of creation and what we do matters. I think it's reasonable to believe that we are part of the "timing" of things and part of the coming of the Messiah by what we do. In a way, we are "little Messiahs" (this is very metaphorical, so don't panic) in that we are supposed to be doing what we expect the Messiah to do...helping others and "fixing" the world.
The more we do this, the more like him we become. Jewish mysticism has the concept of Adam Kadmon or the idealized man. It's sort of the "new man" we're to become when we become believers, but I think it's a process rather than a point event. I think we continue "becoming" the "new man" and the process isn't finalized until the Messianic Age.
Still shooting off sparks.
I don't think we're rocks sitting here either, I believe we do hasten the return of Mashiac because we see the ingredients necessary, there are things we can control and things we cannot control, when those align then we know we're in the end times. For example:
"And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows."
Yeshua goes on to say "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."
You also wondered whom Peter was referring when he said that repentance was the key to the hastening with Mashiac. It seems Peter was probably talking to Jews. At the same time we notice what Yeshua says and it suggests that repentance isn't the say-all-end-all piece to the puzzle. Perhaps it's the piece to the puzzle pertaining to the Jewish people, but Yeshua makes it quite clear that many things will happen in those end days.
Or how about this:
"Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!"
I like the belief of hastening to return of the Mashiac, but at the same time do realize much more has to happen. But there's also this passage which supports Levertoff:
"For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened."
The elect will shorten the days of the tribulation, seems to me like a parallel to the belief that we hasten the return of Mashiac. Of course ALL of these things happen in due time and there are many pieces to the puzzle.
Post a Comment