The students were silent.
“When Isaiah prophesied of Messiah’s atoning death, he wrote this: ‘He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The punishment for our peace was upon Him . . . ’ Peace only comes after the atonement is made. So it was only after Messiah died on the cross and rose that peace could be given. But Isaiah’s prophecy doesn’t say ‘our peace.’ It says ‘our shalom.’ And when Messiah spoke the blessing to His disciples, He didn’t say ‘peace’ either. He said, ‘Shalom aleichem.’ ‘Shalom be upon you.’”
“But if shalom means peace,” said one of the students, “then what’s the difference?”
“The difference is everything,” he said. “For shalom means much more than peace. Shalom means safety, rest, prosperity, wholeness, welfare, completion, fullness, soundness, and even well-being. So what blessing did Messiah speak to His disciples? His blessing can be taken this way: ‘May you be blessed with safety, with rest, with prosperity, with wholeness, with completion, with fullness, with soundness, with well-being . . . and with peace.’”
“All that in that one blessing?” asked one of the students.
“All that in His shalom. All that in His sacrifice. And all that is the blessing that Messiah gives to His disciples . . . and what He gives to you. Their part, and your part, is to learn what that exactly means . . . and to receive it.”
The Mission: Today, make it your aim to receive the shalom of Messiah—His peace, fullness, rest, completion, well-being, and wholeness. Shalom Aleichem.
Isaiah 53:5; John 20:19–21; Colossians 3:15
The Shalom I Give
DAY 138
THE LEPER KING
THE TEACHER LED me into the Chamber of Books where he removed from one of the shelves a large reddish book and placed it on the wooden table.
“The Sanhedrin,” he said, “was the council that put Messiah on trial. They accused Him of being a false Messiah, judged Him guilty of blasphemy, and delivered Him over to the Romans to be executed. What you’re looking at is the writing of the rabbis from the Talmud. It’s called ‘Tractate Sanhedrin.’”
“As in the same Sanhedrin that judged Messiah guilty?”
“Yes,” said the teacher. “And that’s what makes what you’re about to hear amazing. The writers of Sanhedrin said that the Messiah of Israel would be called the Leper.”
“Leper?” I replied. “A strange name to call your Messiah. Why?”
“The words of Sanhedrin explain why as they say this of the Messiah: ‘Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him a leper; smitten of God, and afflicted.’”
“So Tractate Sanhedrin is describing the Messiah as the One who bears our sufferings.”
“Yes. They’re quoting Isaiah’s prophecy of the redeemer who dies for our sins. And they’re identifying the one who dies for our sins as the Messiah of Israel. And they named Him ‘the Leper’ to speak of Him as a man of afflictions, stricken, and plagued, despised and outcast. And the prophecy goes on to say: ‘He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace fell upon Him. And by His stripes, we are healed ... The Lord laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter... He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of My people to whom the stroke was due.’”
“There’s only One who fits that description, only One who could be that Messiah—the very same One that the Sanhedrin condemned to death for not being the Messiah. And yet the words of Sanhedrin describe the Messiah as Him.”
“Yes,” said the teacher, “think about it. By condemning Him to death on the charge of not being the Messiah, they caused Him to be despised and rejected, wounded, afflicted, bruised, punished, and killed.”
“To become the very One they describe as their Messiah.”
“So if even they who deny Him . . . bear witness of Him, how much more must we bear witness of Him . . . and fully partake of the atonement that bring us healing and shalom. The Sanhedrin’s Leper King is Messiah.”
The Mission: Even the rabbis bear witness: Messiah has taken your sins, your infirmities, your sorrows, and your condemnation. Today, let Him have them.
Isaiah 53:4–8; Matthew 8:16–17; 1 Peter 2:22–24
The Leper King
DAY 139
THE APOKALUPSIS
WE WERE ALL sitting around the campfire, the teacher and I, along with several other students. But because I was sitting next to him, only I could hear his words as he read from the scroll in his hand.
“‘The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.’ It’s from the Book of Revelation,” he said, “the apocalypse.”
“It definitely sounds apocalyptic.”
“Many fear the apocalypse. Do you?”
“I guess.”
“But do you know what the most apocalyptic of things is? . . . A wedding.”
“How could a wedding be apocalyptic?”
“The word apocalypse comes from the Greek apokalupsis, which, in turn, comes from two root words: apo, which means away or to remove, and kalupsis, which means a veil or covering. So the apocalypse is the removing of the veil. It speaks of the revealing, the opening of the vision concerning the end. But there’s another connection. When you get to the end of the Bible and to the end of the apocalypse, you find there a bride and a Bridegroom. You find a wedding. In the ancient Hebrew marriage, on the day of the wedding, when the bride and groom, after their long separation, now stand face-to-face, the bride lifts the veil from her face—the removing of the veil, the apokalupsis, the apocalypse. So the two stand there, with no veils and no more separations, face-to-unveiled-face. In the same way, there will come a day, a wedding day, when all veils will be removed and we will see Him as He is, and He will see us as we are, unveiled, face-to-face. You see,” said the teacher, “we are all heading to one apocalypse or another, the apocalypse of judgment or, in salvation, the apocalypse of the wedding. And if you are of the wedding, then you must even now come before Him and remove your veil and your coverings, with no more separations and nothing hidden. For only if you come as you are, can you know Him as He is. And only then will He be able to touch you as you must be touched and changed. Learn the secret of living as on the day of the wedding . . . even now . . . with no coverings . . . in the apokalupsis of the bride and groom . . . face-to-face . . . and beyond the veil.”
The Mission: Come to God today in the apokalupsis of the bride, unveiled, nothing hidden, and nothing covered. Let Him touch what must be touched.
1 Corinthians 13:12; Ephesians 5:27; Revelation 13:1; 19:7–9
The Person Behind the Veil
DAY 140
THE SECRET OF COLORS
HE LED ME into a garden filled with small fruit trees and flowers. It had to be one of the most beautiful places in the entire school.
“So many colors,” said the teacher. “What do you see?”
“Red, blue, and purple flowers, yellow and green fruits, white lilies . . . ”
“Why is the red flower red?” he asked.
“Because . . . that’s its color?” I replied. “I don’t understand.”
“The red flower is bathed in the light of all colors. It absorbs all colors except one—red. Red is the color of the one light it doesn’t receive or absorb. So red is the one color it reflects or gives back. Now what if a flower took in and kept all the colors of the light? What color would it be?”
“No color,” I said. “It would be dark. It would be a black flower.”
“Correct,” he said, “and not only with flowers but with all things. That which you take and keep to yourself is not that which you are. . . but that which you are not. It is that of which you are empty. It is those who take from this wo
rld and don’t give . . . who are the empty. It is those who seek to acquire love from this world, but not to give love . . . who are the loveless. And it is those who take blessing but don’t give blessing . . . who are the unblessed . . . the black flowers.”
“So that which you give is that which you are.”
“Or what you become,” said the teacher. “It is those who give love who are the loved. It is those who give of their possessions who are the rich. And it is those who bless who are the blessed. So that which you would have your life to become is the very thing you must give. Therefore, live a life of giving love, and you will have love. Live a life of giving of your possessions, and you will be rich. Live a life of blessing others, and your life will always be blessed. For the light shines on every flower. But each flower becomes the light it gives back. So His love shines on all. But only that which you give back is what you will be and become.”
He paused to pick up a white lily, which he held up to the sunlight.
“And what happens to those who keep nothing but give everything back?”
“They become white,” I answered.
“More than that,” he said. “They become light.”
The Mission: Commit to become a vessel of giving, to fully give of every blessing. Start today. And your life will become the reflection of God.
Proverbs 11:25–26; Matthew 5:16; 2 Corinthians 3:18
The Celebration of Light
DAY 141
THE SECRET OF THE AXE
WHILE ON ONE of our walks, we came across a groundskeeper. He was cutting down a small tree with an axe.
“‘If the axe is dull,’” said the teacher, “‘and one does not sharpen its edge, then more strength must be exerted.’ It’s from the Book of Ecclesiastes. In other words, if you use an axe with a dull edge, the energy you expend and the power you apply will be spread out and dissipated over a dull edge. The axe becomes inefficient and ineffective. You need to put in more time, energy, or force to accomplish the same amount of work. On the other hand, if the axe’s edge is sharp, it will focus and concentrate your energy and power. Therefore it will take less time, energy, and force to accomplish more.”
“I’ll remember that,” I said, “when I cut down my next tree.”
“You won’t cut down trees,” he said. “But you’ll still need to remember it.”
“Why?”
“Because it can change the way you live.”
“How?”
“Replace the word axe with the words your life. If your life is dull, and you don’t sharpen its edge, then more strength must be exerted. A dull edge is one that is less focused. It doesn’t converge to a single point. The same with your life. If your life isn’t focused, if your life doesn’t have a single focus, if it’s spread out in many directions or with unclear purpose, then it will have a dull edge. But if you apply to your life the secret of the axe, if you sharpen your life . . . ”
“How?”
“First, you need to have a clear focus and aim. Then you need to bring everything in your life into harmony with that focus and aim, so that everything you do is consistent with that aim and converges to that focus. Then your life will have a sharp edge. Then your life will become powerful. Such were the lives of the giants of Scripture from Elijah to Paul to Messiah. Live life with a sharp axe, a focused edge, and your energy, your strength, and your efforts will be multiplied. Make God the point of everything you do. Make His will the aim of your life, and His purpose the focus of your life. Sharpen the axe and the tree will fall.”
The Mission: Today, sharpen your axe. Focus your life. Make God and His purposes the point, the aim, and the goal of everything you do.
Ecclesiastes 10:10; 1 Corinthians 9:24–27; Colossians 3:17
Sharp
DAY 142
RECHEM AND RACHAM
WE WERE OVERLOOKING a village of tent dwellers, one with which the teacher was well acquainted. There was a single person in sight, a young woman sitting by the door of a tent.
“She’s with child,” he said. “Within her womb is the most delicate of beings . . . a new life. The only real protection it has is the womb. In Hebrew, the word for womb is rechem. It comes from the word racham.”
“And what does racham mean?”
“Racham speaks of tender love, deep compassion, and mercy. In fact, racham means both mercy and womb.”
“How are the two connected?”
“The womb is a place of tenderness, nurturing, and protection. If not for that tender love we never would have been born. And yet the word racham, which can mean both mercy and womb, is used in Scripture for the love and mercy of God.”
“So the word used for God’s love is linked to the womb.”
“And that’s the mystery.”
“What’s the mystery?”
“The love and mercy of God is as a womb.”
“How?”
“It is God’s racham, His tender love and deep compassion, that causes us to be born . . . again. In the Book of John, Messiah tells the Jewish leader Nicodemus that to enter heaven, one must be born again. Nicodemus responds with a question, ‘Can a man enter his mother’s womb to be born when he is old?’ The answer is, ‘No.’ But there is a womb that we can enter, the rechem, the womb of God’s tender mercy. And it is that mercy, that rechem, the womb of His love, that tenderly keeps us throughout our lives, that keeps us, holds us, nurtures us, and protects us from harm. And it is by living in that love and mercy that we grow and are formed into the child of heaven we were called to become. The racham of God is the rechem of our new birth. For every birth must have a womb. And the womb of our new birth is His love.”
The Mission: Take time today to dwell in the racham, the deep compassions and tender mercies of the Lord. Let it change you into His image.
Isaiah 44:24; John 3:3–8
Rachamim
DAY 143
TZEMACH: THE BRANCH MAN
IT WAS EARLY afternoon. The teacher and I were sitting outside in the shade of one of the school buildings. He pointed downward.
“Do you see this?” He directed my attention to a little green plant sprouting up from the soil. “This could be called a tzemach,” he said. “It comes from a Hebrew root word that means to sprout, to blossom, to bear, to prosper, to branch out, and to spring forth. So a tzemach is that which sprouts up, that grows, branches out, springs forth, and blossoms. In the Book of Zechariah it is prophesied of Messiah that He will be the One who, in the days of the kingdom, will build God’s Temple. But the prophecy gives Him a name: ‘Behold the man whose name is the Branch.’ So the Name of Messiah is the Branch. But what it actually says is, ‘Behold the man whose name is the Tzemach.’ Messiah is the Tzemach.”
“And what’s the significance?”
“Messiah’s life is the sprout, the branch, the blossom, that which springs up from the earth. The prophecy goes on, ‘ . . . for He shall grow up out of His place . . . ’ In other words, His Name will be the Tzemach, because He will branch out from His place. His life will start out as a small shoot coming up from the earth, like this plant. But the effect of His life on the world will grow. It will grow so much that it will transcend the place of His origins. His life will branch out beyond Galilee, beyond Jerusalem, beyond Israel. It will branch out to cover the entire world. And His life will blossom. And the blossoming of His life will fill the world with its fruit . . . Think about it,” said the teacher. “In the natural, a peasant carpenter dying on an execution stake has little effect on the world. But this crucified peasant is the Tzemach. Therefore, the impact of His life grows and grows and grows until it covers the world. And so the Tzemach changes the course of the world.”
“And would that also be true for His presence in our lives?”
“Exactly,” he said. “So it is also for all who receive Him, for all who truly know Him . . . He is the Tzemach of their lives. So He must continually grow. His life and the effect of His life must always be increasing. Ther
efore, if you truly know Him, then He is always becoming greater and greater in your heart and in your love. It must be that way . . . for His Name is Tzemach.”
The Mission: Is He greater in your life than before? Today, make Him greater in your heart, your mind, your ways, and your love.
Zechariah 6:12; Philippians 2:9
The Tzemach
DAY 144
THE SUNRISE COMMANDMENT
LOOK ALL AROUND you,” said the teacher. “What do you see?”
“Mountains, plains, buildings, rocks, plants, gardens . . . Why?”
“Why do you see them?”
“Because I’m looking.”
“But if you were looking at night, you wouldn’t see anything. You only see them by the light of the sun. Everything is illuminated by the sun . . . the beautiful and the ugly, the good and the bad, the holy and the unholy. All across the world everything is illuminated by the sun, lands, oceans, cities, deserts, cathedrals and prisons, hills of grass and mounds of garbage, saints and criminals, the good and the evil, all of it is lit up by the same sun.”
“How could it be otherwise?” I said.
“That’s the question. Messiah told His disciples, ‘Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good . . . ’ He causes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good. What would happen if it was otherwise . . . if the sun only shone on the beautiful of this world and not on the ugly? And what would happen if the sun only gave its light to the good and the righteous but not to sinners and evildoers? What if the sun only gave its light to those who deserved its light? What if the sun only gave its light to those who blessed the sun and withheld its light to those who cursed it?”
The Book of Mysteries Page 21