I am proud to be a part of Fusion Global’s Tribes program which is an exceptional resource to go deeper in God, connecting the old and the new. From Rabbi Jason: Sobel’s website.
What is a Fusion Tribe? Fusion Tribes are small, local Bible study groups that meet regularly for discipleship and community, utilizing Fusion resources to guide their gatherings. Why Fusion Tribes? Because we are passionate about multiplying disciples in small, local, in-person groups. Fusion Tribes are where we can study the Bible in high definition – together!
Who can start a Tribe? You can! You don’t have to be a gifted leader to start a Tribe. You simply have to be available for God to use with a heart that desires to see people grow in their faith. Click Here to learn more about how to start a Tribe.
How do Fusion Tribes work? There are winter, spring, and fall Tribes seasons. Each season has a unique theme that covers 8 sessions and runs for 8 weeks.
We just completed the Spring Season which covered Shavuot (Pentecost) and Yeshua and Paul in the Temple. What wonderful richness we found throughout the different sessions, but it was during our final meeting for this season that I was given a huge revelation. Some information that I will be sharing comes from the discussion Rabbi Jason and Rabbi Ryan Lambert had in the Tribes Talk video concerning to Temple and that information will be italicized for credit to be directed back to them, the source it came from.
When thinking of the Temple, it is easy to think of it in categories. Solomon’s temple with its grandeur, the dedication at which God’s presence fell and the priests couldn’t stand to minister because of His glory, and then destruction of that temple by the Babylonians. We then shift to Ezra and Nehemiah and them coming back into the land to rebuild the temple, and how it wasn’t as beautiful and grand as the First Temple. If you have studied the history of the Jewish people, you will think of the Maccabees and how Antiochus, the Greek ruler at that time horrifically defiled The Temple and how Hanukkah was birthed. And then of course how Herod turned this Temple into a marvelous wonder, and it was the very Temple that Yeshua-Jesus walked in, followed by its destruction in 70 AD. But this was not the start of the House of God.
The origins of what we know as the Temple goes much further back, all the way to Moses and the Children of Israel after they had left Egypt. Rabbi Jason and Rabbi Ryan discussed this beautifully.
Exodus 25:8 – Have them make a Sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them.
In Hebrew V’Shakhantiy (ושכנתי) comes from the same word that Shechinah, the Manifest Presence of God comes. B’tokham (בתוכם) can be translated as “among them”, “In the house”, and also, “I will dwell in them”. God’s ultimate desire was to mut just dwell among them, but to dwell in them, therefore we have become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we are being built up into a spiritual temple. 2 Peter 2:4-5 reads, “As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but chosen by God and precious, you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Messiah Yeshua . (See also Ephesians 2:20) We also find in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, “Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that the Ruach Elohim dwells among you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him, for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” The word used for Temple/House in Hebrew is Bet Hamikdash (המקדש בית) and literally means “The Holy House”. (From Tribes Talk Spring Season, Session 7)
During our Tribes Talk discussion, an interesting topic was brought up. Sometimes we can be harboring a root of bitterness in our heart that we don’t even realize is there becasue we have built up walls like around it in the act of trying to protect ourselves. At this comment, it was a light went off in my head and I immediately thought of a passage from Leviticus.
“Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, “When you have entered the land of Kena’an which I am giving you as a possession, and I put and infection of tzara’at (Leprosy) in a house in the land that you possess, then the owner of the house is to come and tell the cohen, ‘It seems to me that there may be an infection in the house.’ The cohen is to order the house emptied before he goes in to inspect the infection, so that everything in the house won’t be made unclean: afterwards, the cohen is to enter and inspect the house. He will examine the infection; and if he sees that the infection is in the walls of the house, with greenish or reddish depressions that seem to go in deeper than the surface of the wall, he is to go out of the house to its door and seal up the house for seven days. The cohen will come again on the seventh day and examine the house; if he sees that the infection has spread over its walls, he is to order them to remove the infected stones and throw them into some unclean place outside the city. Next, he is to have the inside of the house thoroughly scraped, and the scraped-off plaster is to be discarded outside the city in an unclean place. Finally, other stones must be set in the place of the first stones and other plaster used to replaster the house. If the infection returns and breaks out in the house after the stones have been removed and the house scraped and plastered, then the cohen is to enter and examine it. If he sees that the infection has spread in the house, it is a contagious tzara’at in the house; it is unclean. He must break down the house and take its stones, timber, and plaster out of the city to an unclean place. Moreover, whoever enters the house at any time while it is sealed up will be unclean until evening. Whoever lies down or eats in the house must wash his clothes. If the cohen enters, examines and sees that the infection has not spread in the house since it was plastered; then he is to declare the house clean; because the infection is cured. Leviticus 14:34-38
I first want to look at the word tzara’at. While the definition does include leprosy, it isn’t isolated to just that particular disease, but other skin diseases as well. In regard to clothing or a building, it was referencing a mildew, fungus, or mold. When we harbor resentment, bitterness, anger, hatred, or anything that is not of God in our hearts, we are like a building that has tzara’at or mold in its walls. We plaster over the mold in the walls, and we don’t realize that it is still growing behind the plaster. This made me think about black mold. I went to bobvila.com and looked up some information about black mold as it is a perfect representation of tzara’at.
Black mold or stachybotrys chartarum grows at an alarming rate under the right conditions. It can form inside the walls, its characteristics are slimy texture, dark green-black or sometimes gray in color, and spotted appearance. It causes respiratory issues. (From How to Get Rid of Black Mold in Your Home — Bob Vila)
The root of bitterness, anger, hatred, and so on is like black mold and can grow at alarming rate, and we may not even be aware of it. As the Temple of the Holy Spirit, when need our Cohen Gadol (High Priest), Yeshua, to come in and inspect the walls of our hearts. We need Him to reveal if we have tzara’at growing inside of us, and if so, we need Him to cleanse us and replaster the walls, tearing out the plaster we put over them ourselves. Like the leper that Yeshua met who said, “If you’re willing, you can make me clean.” He will stretch out His hand and touch us and say, “I am willing. Be cleansed!” (Luke 5:12-13) and the tzara’at will leave us just as it did that leper. He is the only one who can the unclean and make it clean. Let us daily check our hearts and see if we need Him to come and cleanse the temple.
Comments