Feast of Tabernacles meditation: we serve in the new way of the Ruach

Romans 7 Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Two Laws at War
7 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I speak to those who know law), that the law is master over a person as long as he lives? 2 For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives; but if the husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. 3 So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law—so she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man.

4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were made dead to the Torah through the body of Messiah, so that you might be joined to another—the One who was raised from the dead—in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions that came through the Torah were working in our body parts to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, having died to what confined us, so that we serve in the new way of the Ruach and not in the old way of the letter.

7 What shall we say then? Is the Torah sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the Torah. For I would not have known about coveting if the Torah had not said, “You shall not covet.” [a] 8 But sin, taking an opportunity, worked in me through the commandment all kinds of coveting. For apart from the Torah, sin is dead.

9 Once I was alive apart from the Torah; but when the commandment came, sin came to life 10 and I died. The commandment meant for life was found to cause death. [b] 11 Sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. [c] 12 So then, the Torah is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

13 Therefore did that which is good become death to me? May it never be! Rather it was sin working death in me—through that which is good—so that sin might be shown to be sin, and that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. 14 For we know that the Torah is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold to sin. 15 For I do not understand what I am doing—for what I do not want, this I practice; but what I hate, this I do. 16 But if I do what I do not want to do, then I agree with the Torah—that it is good.

17 So now it is no longer I doing it, but sin dwelling in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me—that is, in my flesh. For to will is present in me, but to do the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do; but the evil that I do not want, this I practice. 20 But if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I doing it, but sin that dwells in me.

21 So I find the principle—that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I delight in the Torah of God with respect to the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in my body parts, battling against the law of my mind and bringing me into bondage under the law of sin which is in my body parts. 24 Miserable man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—it is through Messiah Yeshua our Lord![d] So then, with my mind I myself serve the Torah of God; but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin.

Footnotes:

1.    Romans 7:8 Exod. 20:17; Deut. 5:21.

2.    Romans 7:11 cf. Lev. 18:5; Deut. 30:19.

3.    Romans 7:12 cf. Gen. 3:13.

4.    Romans 7:25 Lit. Grace be to God through Messiah Yeshua our Lord; cf. Jn. 14:6.

John 7 Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Anticipating Hostility at Sukkot
7 After these events, Yeshua was walking about in the Galilee. He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Judean leaders wanted to kill Him. 2 Now the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles[a] was near. 3 Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea, so Your disciples also may see the works You are doing. 4 No one who wants to be well known does everything in secret. If You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world!” 5 For not even His brothers were trusting in Him.

6 Therefore Yeshua said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always at hand. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go on up to the Feast. I’m not going to this feast, because My time hasn’t yet fully come.” 9 After saying these things, He stayed in the Galilee.

10 But after His brothers went to the Feast, He also went, not openly but secretly. 11 Then the Judean leaders were searching for Him at the Feast and kept asking, “Where is that fellow?” 12 There was a lot of murmuring about Him in the crowds. Some were saying, “He is good.” But others were saying, “Not so! He leads the people astray.” 13 Yet no one spoke openly about Him for fear of the Judean leaders.

Teaching at the Temple
14 About halfway through the Feast, Yeshua went up to the Temple and began teaching. 15 Then the Judean leaders were amazed, saying, “How does this man know so much, having never been taught?”[b]

16 Yeshua answered, “My teaching is not from Me, but from Him who sent Me. 17 If anyone wants to do His will, he will know whether My teaching comes from God or it is Myself speaking. 18 Whoever speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true and there is no unrighteousness in Him. 19 Hasn’t Moses given you the Torah? Yet none of you keeps it. Why are you trying to kill Me?”

20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who’s trying to kill you?”

21 Yeshua answered, “I did one good work, and all of you are amazed. 22 Because Moses has given you circumcision (though it is not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a man on Shabbat. 23 If a man receives circumcision on Shabbat so that the Torah of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry that I healed a man’s whole body on Shabbat? 24 Do not judge by appearance, but judge righteously.”

25 Then some of the people from Jerusalem were saying, “Isn’t this the person they’re trying to kill? 26 Look, He speaks openly and they’re saying nothing to Him. Can it be that the leaders know He is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this person is from. But the Messiah, whenever He may come, no one knows where He is from.”

28 Then, while teaching in the Temple courts, Yeshua cried out, “You know both who I am and where I am from! I have not come on My own, but the One who sent Me is true. You do not know Him, 29 but I know Him because I am from Him and He sent Me.”

30 Then they were trying to seize Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many from the crowd believed in Him and were saying, “When the Messiah comes, He won’t perform more signs than this person has, will He?” 32 The Pharisees heard people in the crowd murmuring these things about Him, and the ruling kohanim and Pharisees sent guards to arrest Him.

33 Yeshua said, “I am with you only a little while longer, and then I am going to the One who sent Me. 34 You will look for Me but will not find Me. Where I am, you cannot come.”

35 The Judean leaders then said among themselves, “Where is this person about to go that we shall not find Him? He’s not going to the Diaspora to teach the Greeks, is He? 36 What did He mean by saying, ‘You will look for Me but will not find Me. Where I am, you cannot come’?”

Satisfying Spiritual Thirst
37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Yeshua stood up and cried out loudly, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, ‘out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” [c] 39 Now He said this about the Ruach, whom those who trusted in Him were going to receive; for the Ruach[d] was not yet given, since Yeshua was not yet glorified.

40 When they heard these words, some of the crowd said, “This man really is the Prophet.” 41 Others were saying, “This is the Messiah.” Still others were saying, “The Messiah doesn’t come from the Galilee, does He? 42 Didn’t the Scripture say that the Messiah comes from the seed of David and from Bethlehem, David’s town?” [e] 43 So a division arose in the crowd because of Yeshua. 44 Some wanted to capture Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

Religious Adversaries
45 Then the guards returned to the ruling kohanim and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring Him?”

46 “Never has anyone spoken like this man,” the guards answered.

47 The Pharisees responded, “You haven’t been led astray also, have you? 48 Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him? 49 No, but this mob that doesn’t know the Torah—they are cursed!”

50 Nicodemus, the one who had come to Yeshua before and was one of them, said to them, 51 “Our Torah doesn’t judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he’s doing, does it?”

52 They answered him, “You aren’t from the Galilee too, are you? Search, and see that no prophet comes out of the Galilee!”[f]

53 Then everyone went to his own house.

Footnotes:

1.    John 7:2 cf. Deut. 16:16.

2.    John 7:15 Lit. knows letters, not having learned.

3.    John 7:39 cf. Isa. 44:3, 55:1, 58:11; Ezek. 47; Zech. 14:8.

4.    John 7:39 Some mss. read Holy Spirit (Heb. Ruach ha-Kodesh).

5.    John 7:43 cf. Mic. 5:1(2).

6.    John 7:52 The earliest manuscripts do not include John 7:53-8:11. Others locate the passage after 7:36 or after 21:25.

end of footnotes

Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.

For those interested, here is a list of the 2016 Jewish feasts days:
5777 Jewish Calendar Year (240 Dropped in 135 AD) = 2016 – 2017

Mon. 3 October 2016 Rosh HaShanah – Feast of Trumpets
Wed. 12 October 2016 Yom Kippur – Day of Atonement
Mon. 17 October 2016 Sukkot – Feast of Tabernacles
Mon. 24 October 2016 First Day of Simcha Torah
Tue. 25 October 2016 Simcha Torah – Joy of Torah
Sun. 25 December 2016 Chanukah – Feast of Lights 

a new message for Yom Kippur 2016 meditation (6): New Manna in the Wilderness

Romans 6 Tree of Life Version (TLV) Who Is Your Master?
6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound? 2 May it never be! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who were immersed into Messiah Yeshua were immersed into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried together with Him through immersion into death—in order that just as Messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have become joined together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also will be joined together in His resurrection— 6 knowing our old man was crucified with Him so that the sinful body might be done away with, so we no longer serve sin. 7 For he who has died is set free from sin.

8 Now if we have died with Messiah, we believe that we shall also live with Him. 9 We know that Messiah, having been raised from the dead, no longer dies; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. 11 So also continually count yourselves both dead to sin and alive to God in Messiah Yeshua.

12 Therefore do not let sin rule in your mortal body so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not keep yielding your body parts to sin as tools of wickedness; but yield yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your body parts as tools of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know that to whatever you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to what you obey—whether to sin resulting in death, or to obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching under which you were placed; 18 and after you were set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.

19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you yielded your body parts as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, so now yield your body parts as slaves to righteousness, resulting in holiness. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. 21 So then, what outcome did you have that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now, having been set free from sin and having become enslaved to God, you have your fruit resulting in holiness. And the outcome is eternal life. 23 For sin’s payment[a] is death, but God’s gracious gift is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.

Footnotes:

1.    Romans 6:23 Or the wages of sin.

John 6 Tree of Life Version (TLV) New Manna in the Wilderness
6 Afterwards, Yeshua went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A large crowd kept following Him, because they were watching the signs He was performing on the sick. 3 Then Yeshua went up the mountainside and sat down there with His disciples. 4 Passover, the Jewish feast, was near.

5 Lifting up His eyes and seeing a large crowd coming to Him, Yeshua said to Philip, “Where will we buy bread so these may eat?” 6 Now Yeshua was saying this to test him, for He knew what He was about to do.

7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii[a] isn’t enough to buy bread for each to get a little bit!”

8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what’s that for so many?”

10 Yeshua said, “Make the people recline.” There was much grass in the area. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. 11 Then Yeshua picked up the loaves. And having given thanks, He distributed bread to everyone who was reclining. He did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted.

12 When the people were full, Yeshua said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftovers, so nothing is wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had finished eating.

14 When the people saw the sign that Yeshua performed, they began to say, “This is most certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world!” [b] 15 Realizing that they were about to come and seize Him by force to make Him king, Yeshua withdrew again to the mountain, Himself alone.

The Savior on the Sea
16 Now when evening came, Yeshua’s disciples went down to the sea. 17 Getting into a boat, they set out to cross the sea toward Capernaum. By now it had become dark, and still Yeshua had not come to them. 18 A great wind began to blow, stirring up the sea.

19 After they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia,[c] they catch sight of Yeshua walking on the sea, approaching the boat. They were terrified! 20 But Yeshua says to them, “I am. Don’t be afraid.” [d] 21 Then they wanted to take Him into the boat, and right away the boat reached the shore where they were headed.

The Bread from Heaven
22 The next day, the crowd remaining on the other side of the sea realized that no other boat had been there except the one, and that Yeshua hadn’t gone into the boat with His disciples, but that His disciples had gone away alone. 23 Some other boats from Tiberias came close to the place where they had eaten the bread after the Master had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd realized that neither Yeshua nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and set off for Capernaum to find Him. 25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”

26 Yeshua responded to them, “Amen, amen I tell you, you seek Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate all the bread and were filled. 27 Don’t work for food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on Him, God the Father has put the seal of approval.”

28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do to perform the works of God?”

29 Yeshua answered them, “This is the work of God, to trust in the One He sent.”

30 So they said to Him, “Then what sign do You perform, so that we may see and believe You? What work do You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘Out of heaven He gave them bread to eat.’”[e]

32 Yeshua answered them, “Amen, amen I tell you, it isn’t Moses who has given you bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the One coming down from heaven and giving life to the world.”

34 So they said to Him, “Sir, give us this bread from now on!”

35 Yeshua said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty. 36 But I told you that you have seen Me, yet you do not believe. 37 Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and anyone coming to Me I will never reject. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will but the will of the One who sent Me.

39 “Now this is the will of the One who sent Me, that I lose not one of all He has given Me, but raise each one on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and trusts in Him may have eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

41 Some of the Judeans[f] started to grumble about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Isn’t this Yeshua the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

43 Yeshua answered, “Stop grumbling among yourselves! 44 No one can come to Me unless My Father who sent Me draws him—and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’[g] Everyone who has listened and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God—He has seen the Father.

47 “Amen, amen I tell you, he who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

52 Then the Jews began arguing with one another, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”

53 So Yeshua said to them, “Amen, amen I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

55 “For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who eats of Me will also live because of Me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven—not like the bread your fathers ate and then died. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

59 He said these things while teaching at the synagogue in Capernaum.

Fallout from a Hard Teaching
60 So when many of His disciples heard this, they said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can listen to it?”

61 But Yeshua knew His disciples were murmuring, so He said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man going back up to the place where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life! 64 Yet some of you do not trust.” Yeshua knew from the beginning who were the ones who did not trust, as well as which one would betray Him.

65 Then He told them, “For this reason I’ve told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by the Father.”

66 From this time, many of His disciples left and quit walking with Him. 67 So Yeshua said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to leave also, do you?”

68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life! 69 We have trusted and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

70 Yeshua answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is the adversary!” 71 Now He was speaking of Judah, the son of Simon of Kriot—for he, one of the Twelve, was about to betray Him.

Footnotes:

1.    John 6:7 One denarius was the daily wage for a laborer.

2.    John 6:15 cf. Dt. 18:15.

3.    John 6:19 About three or four miles, halfway across the sea.

4.    John 6:21 Lit. I am. Don’t be afraid; cf. Jn. 8:24; 18:6.

5.    John 6:31 Ps. 78:24; cf. Exod. 16:4-36; Neh. 9:15.

6.    John 6:41 Perhaps Galileans.

7.    John 6:45 cf. Isa 54:13.

end of footnotes

Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.

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