Whoever says Messiah is the King, must also admit He is the High Priest

Numbers Chapter 18: “And YHWH said to Aaron: You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood… And you shall keep the charge of the sanctuary and the charge of the altar, that there be no more wrath upon the children of Israel… And YHWH spoke to Aaron: I, behold I have also given you the charge of …all the holy things of the children of Israel; I have given them to you and your sons because of the anointing, as a perpetual ordinance.”

Please correct me, anyone, if I’m wrong, but I’ve read in more than a few places which explain traditional Judaism* that Messiah, when he comes, will arise as the King and Deliverer of Israel. This is certainly true, and would to God more goyim would realize and acknowledge this. And would to God that more goyim who profess to be followers of Christ would realize and acknowledge that to truly do so is to pledge allegiance to Israel’s King.

But are we missing something here? Isn’t the anointing of the high priest just as much of an anointing as that of the king?

The high priest is the messiah of YHWH, just as much as the king. Why am I not seeing this pointed out?

We need to understand that much of what we read in Torah may be understood as illustrations of eternal truth, as well as the explicit instructions of the God of Israel. And is it just me, or isn’t there a marvelous picture in Numbers Chapter 18 of YHWH’s anointed being set out to bear a more profound iniquity than merely his own? You have to notice that the reason YHWH gives for instituting this assignment for the high priest is “that there be no more wrath upon the children of Israel.” If you go back and read the preceding chapters of the book, you’ll see that there was plenty of iniquity and plenty of resulting wrath going on! There had to be something done – the present system wasn’t working. It doesn’t seem fair to tell Aaron that from now on, he’s going to bear the iniquity of the entire community, but if you were in the shoes of anyone else there but him, you wouldn’t be the first one to point that out, would you?

It is surely an admirable thing for someone to suppose that they can atone for their own sin through repentance and prayer, and to make a sincere effort to that end. But what does it take? Is anyone good enough – can anyone be or become good enough – to satisfy Elohim’s just demand for absolute, flawless righteousness? Let’s just start with the number one requirement – to love Him with everything we’ve got, and the person across the street, to boot!

It’s not that it’s humanly impossible, but we start out just far enough behind in that quest to ever quite get caught up (you may have noticed, if you’ve had children, that the first word many learn is “no!”), and each day that we fail to live up to even the first requirement, the farther behind we get. But if we had someone to take all iniquity away from us, to bear it away for us – ah, then we might have a fresh start, mightn’t we? And what if – could it be this good? – what if that sin-bearer could always be there for us each new day, and bear it away if and when we slip up again?

Ah, but would that be what we want, really? A guarantee of sin-then-get-forgiven today, and then sin-but-get-forgiven tomorrow, and then sin-but-get-forgiven-again the next day, and so forth? I think that is, unfortunately, what we do experience in Christianity, but I don’t buy for one minute that this is what God ever intended for us. There is a much greater place for tshuva and tikkun olam in our lives than we often realize, and sometimes I think that those who see this as their only means to atonement have a practical leg up on Christians who act as though we think we can “continue in sin that grace may abound,” as Paul puts it. But first we need that fresh start. We need a High Priest who will bear our iniquity, at least until we can come into our inheritance as children of the Most High.

(* For example, Jews for Judaism is a provocative resource for understanding the traditional viewpoint, updated to our time; another detailed site is Judaism 101.

Take a look at specific and detailed references to the traditional concept of Messiah, and, if you’re brave, at an argument against vicarious atonement.)

Jesus said, “What can I compare God’s kingdom with?”

“…It is like what happens when a woman mixes yeast into three batches of flour. Finally, all the dough rises.”

Jesus taught the Jewish people about the kingdom of God, but much of it was hidden in the form of parables. There are many things regarding the kingdom of God that are hard to grasp for the average Joe. So then, there are also many different understandings of what it’s all about.

I was writing last time about the kingdom of God in us being an amazing vertical relationship. (“In us” — now there’s a mouthful right there!) It’s for His own good pleasure, and also for our benefit. “Stop being afraid, little flock, because your Father is delighted to give to you the kingdom.”

But at the same time God is not a pushover. He wants His will His way. Or as I was saying, complete submission to the Creator brings fullness of joy. I’m talking about living and dwelling in God, being saturated with His power and having His life infused in and through us, and radiating out from us.

Something totally different from the things in the past that we call religion.

There are a few basic requirements, though, starting with a sticky little thing called “repentance.” All that means is changing your mind about everything, in such a way that it changes everything you do. That’s all. Not much. Just everything.

But at this point, I’m getting into what is commonly and rightly known as “the gospel of salvation.” How we can be released from the power of sin and of darkness, so that we can then be transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God. How we can have forgiveness of sins, and then a whole new life, through the shed blood of Jesus, God’s own sacrificial lamb.

There are plenty of places where you can hear this. However my purpose here was to write about how the kingdom of God is, in an outwardly visible way, the kingdom — the rightful rule — of Jesus, Son of David, Yeshua ben David. And how this is completely tied up with the restoration of the people of Israel, the descendants of Jacob the grandson of Abraham, to their rightful preeminence in the affairs of man. And how all we goyim better sit up and pay attention to what is even now happening in Israel, and in the lives of Jews across the globe. How all along, we goyim have been the bottom of that two man pole, and we should begin to recognize that, and also be okay with it.

And, if you’ve heard of something called “the rapture,” you can forget all about that, too. I’ll let that sink in a little before I say some more. In the meanwhile, is there anything you’d like to say?

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not about dying and going to heaven

I had written an earlier post in this spot, but since that time I’ve seen over and over again where well meaning believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have been caught up short when speaking with Jews who rightly point out that God’s purpose for us is to live righteously in this present world, not muddle through this life in order to go to heaven when we die. And why are we so looking forward to death? Death is a thief and a robber.

Jesus came to give us life, but the only way we can have life is by doing the complete and perfect will of God. And it was only He who accomplished the work of living perfectly and righteously before God in this world who then became qualified to pass that ability on to all who come to him through faith.

I began to realize that I could never say enough about this in a blog post, so I’ve put this discussion in a separate page here. And yet I know that I can never say enough about this in a blog page, or in an entire blog, but we all have to start some place. Since there isn’t a spot to comment on a WordPress page as far as I can tell, I welcome your comments, corrections, or challenges under this post. Just don’t expect me to argue with you much about it. Sometimes one just has to put forth “the foolishness of preaching” for them that choose to believe.

Ts’daka, shalom, v’chedvah b’Ruach Haqodesh