Messiah in Yom HaBikkurim Chapter 94 Part 3
- Part 3: Messiah teaches us about the Kingdom of God
- Messiah is the Compassionate One cloaked in human form
- The Strong One Who helps the weak
- The Loving One Who lifts you up
- Olam chesed yibaneh
- Messiah is the Key that unlocks and opens-wide the Door to Heaven
Messiah is the Compassionate One cloaked in human form:
Now when Yeshua heard about Yochanan ben Zechariah, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself.
“And when the people heard of this, they followed him on foot from the cities. When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he healed their sick; and he began to teach them many things.”
In Exodus 34:6-7, HaShem (the NAME) reveals Himself and His Image (Tselem Elohim, the Messiah), to be compassionate, gracious, longsuffering, steadfastly loving and kind, truthful, protective, and forgiving. All of the attributes of the Righteous Father dwell bodily in His Beloved Son, His Messiah. Through our faith in the Messiah, Abba Avinu not only forgives us of our sins but He sends us the gift of His Spirit to Indwell us forever. The life of the Spirit is the righteous life that the Father wishes for all of us to have. Through the life of the Spirit we are gradually changed from the Inside-out. The life of the Spirit is the life of the Messiah.
“HaShem, HaShem the Al-Mighty One, compassionate…”
Our Father in heaven is the All-Powerful Creator. He is the One Who created the heavens and the earth. He is the Supreme Ruler over all the force (el) and forces (elohim) of both the natural and spiritual realms. He is the Omnipotent One. Yet, to our great blessing He is also revealed to be the LORD of all Compassion. HaShem is the “Compassionate One” (רַחוּם-rachum). The Hebrew words rachamim means “mercy” and rechem means “womb.”
The words rachum, rachamim, and rechem are very much affectionate terms. The Creator’s generous care for humankind is one that cherishes and attends to us with much affection and tenderness. Rachum (רַחוּם) refers to a strong love that is rooted in a natural bond. Small infants evoke this feeling.
The Creator is compassionate toward everyone.
With His adopted people, the children of Israel, our Eternal One affectionately looks upon us as a watchful mother caring for her children (1, 2). In the Tanakh we learn that our Creator is even compassionate to His enemies (1, 2).
The use of the term rachum in the Torah passage of Exodus 34:6-7 clearly reveals that our heavenly Father possesses a nurturing and affectionate nature. He wonderfully and powerfully communicated through His servant Moses that He is compassionate and tender-hearted. He passionately loves and cares for His children; just as a mother tenderly expresses love “for the child she has born.” So does the Eternal One yearn to tenderly care for and gently love every person to whom He has given the gift of His “breath of life.”
The Strong One Who helps the weak:
The heavenly Father is an immeasurably strong party negotiating with an incredibly weak party (us).
In compassionate grace Abba Avinu exerts a significant degree of ‘force’ upon humanity. He exerts this force upon us not to harm us but to help us. Abba Avinu does not consider it too lowly a task for Him to stoop down to the level of His children. He stoops down to us in the lowly form of His Beloved Son the Messiah. From this humble vantage point HaShem (our Father and our God) graciously urges us to seek His Divine mercy and receive His help. This means that through the Salvation of HaShem (Yeshua) the redemptive powers of Abba Avinu (our Father) are in no way dependent on fallen man. The Salvation of HaShem is dependent solely on the virtue of the Holy One. For His love is an everlasting love that is all-powerful to save us. He alone possesses a love so forceful and compassionate that He can deliver to us never-ending mercy and forgiveness.
The Loving One Who lifts you up:
The Hebrew word for forgives is Nasa (to lift up).
The basic meaning of nasa (נָשָׂא) is “to lift up.” Abba Avinu discloses that He is the Forgiving One who can and will in compassion and mercy bear and lift up His sacrifice that can carry away even the most “perverse,” “bent,” “twisted” iniquities of His beloved children.
HaShem our God is the Forgiving One who takes away our sin (Psalm 32:1, 5). He reveals to us through the Messiah that He alone possesses the authority, power, and means to remove the horrible consequences of His children’s depraved actions (עָוֺן-aron), transgressions (פֶּשַׁע-pesha) and offenses (חַטָּאָה-chattaah).
The bread of death is now being removed and replaced with the bread of life.
Iniquity, transgression, and sin are a direct result of the first Adam hearing and obeying the voice of the evil one. This rebellious act led to the human race fatally ingesting evil into our collective “consciousness.” Through Messiah’s atoning death this toxic-infectious consciousness that was originally injected into the spiritual bloodstream of the human race (in the case of the woman by ‘deception’) can be extracted and replaced (cf. Message in the Middle #1, “The Inception“).
Olam chesed yibaneh:
HaShem is the Compassionate Source of all of life and the Ground of all our being. His Spirit is the breath of life. We exist as an expression of His love (ahavah) and kindness (chesed). The world is a manifestation of His loving kindness. Olam chesed yibaneh: ע֭וֹלָם חֶ֣סֶד יִבָּנֶ֑ה (Psalm 89:3):
“The world is built with chesed.”
The creation is a manifestation of the infinite kindness of the Creator (Hayotzer). Likewise, we are the highest expression of His kindness and love. We are His beloved children. HaShem (the NAME) Eloheinu (our God) sent His Beloved Son into the world as an expression of His compassion. Even after Adam sinned the Father of Mercies (Avi HaRachamim) has remained compassionate to all who have sinned and forgiving to all. Out of the vast treasure-house of His mercy the Creator sent His Son into the world. The Son of God (ben Ha-Elohim) is the perfect Image of our Heavenly Father (Avinu Shebashamayim). The Messiah was sent to earth from heaven to deliver us from sin and to reconcile us to our loving Father. Therefore, we must ask the question that the prophet Micah asked (Micah 7:18):
“Who is a El (Almighty One) like You, who pardons iniquity
And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?
He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in [His] unchanging love (chesed).”
The heavenly Father desires atonement with humankind even after we sin and, therefore, in Holy Love He graciously continues to preserve and sustain our existence in the world. He generously makes His sun rise on both the evil and on the good, and sends His rain on the just and on the unjust.
Beyond these temporal things, wonderful and good that they are, Abba Avinu even offers us the immeasurably greater gifts of forgiveness for sin and eternal life. He offers us deliverance from sin and eternal life through His All-surpassing gift of His Beloved Son. The Messiah is the Compassion of HaShem expressed to us in human form.
The heavenly Father loves every person, for He is the Creator of us all.
This is true even though He hates our sin. In Holy Love, the Forgiving One, the Father of Mercies has secured a righteous provision for our sin. He has given to us the gift of His Beloved Son. He is the Compassionate One dwelling among us in human form. Through the Messiah’s once-in-eternity sacrifice of atonement our Righteous Father removes our sin. This He does so that our souls can be cleansed and made shalom (הִשְׁלִים-perfected; made whole, complete) by our experiencing His salvation, love, and blessings.
Our Father in heaven continues to love us all; even though He hates our sin.
Through the Compassionate One, our iniquities will be tread underfoot:
Like the first redemption of Israel out of Egypt, where HaShem (our Father and our God) was exalted above all so-called deities, in the future deliverance of Israel our Compassionate Father will reveal His restoring grace to us. This our Father in heaven will do by re-declaring to a future generation of Israel His Besorah (“Glad Tidings,” Good News); that was first revealed and rejected nearly two thousand years ago in the teachings of M’shicho (His Messiah).
In the near future, after the testimony of Messiah is re-introduced to and accepted by the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel) then will all of the promises of God the Father finally be fulfilled, even up to the end of the age.
Avi HaRachamim who delights to restore what is broken by means of His mercy and love will not retain his anger against Israel forever because He delights in His steadfast love. Therefore the testimony of the prophet Micah continues (Micah 7:19-20):
“He [HaShem] will again have compassion on us;
He will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham,
As you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.”
Messiah is the Key that unlocks and opens-wide the door to Heaven:
Therefore, it must be understood that the “key” that unlocks the door to all the mysteries of the Hebrew Scriptures is the Mystery (הַסוֹד-HaSod) of Messiah. In fact the Messiah Himself is the Door (הַשַׁעַר-HaShar, Gate) to Heaven. Messiah is the promised Perfect One. He is the only Man who has ever come directly out of eternity into creation. And he is the only one to resurrect from the dead and return back into eternity. Messiah is the Firstborn of the Dead (Habekhor hakam min-hametim).
The Messiah is the Living One (HeChai) and He is the Conqueror of sin and death.
The Anointed One pre-exists creation. He came to earth from heaven so that one day we might be reborn out of the earth (our temporary home) into the ‘new creation’ of eternity (our permanent home). The Rabbi of Heaven came from heaven to earth so that we might be reborn from above. The righteous works of the Mashiach (Anointed One) is the just means by which we will one day be perfected and enter into the New Heaven and New Earth. In this magnificent future dwelling of pure righteousness no one will even remember what sin was or that it ever existed at all.
In the eternal age we will forget sin and remember only the goodness, righteousness, and truth of our heavenly Father.
The false bread of death of the evil one (his chametz) will by then be completely removed from all of our lives (blotted out of our conscious being and awareness). This is the evil one’s chametz (unholy leaven). It is the knowledge of evil that he created independently (against) the will of the Righteous Father, who is through the Messiah (His Voice) our one and only true Rabbi who daily (forever) feeds us His nourishing, healthful Bread of Life.