TESHUVAH OF THE HEART!!!

Song of Solomon chapter 4

Psalm chapter 27




Today we are walking in: Teshuvah of The Heart!!




Today we look to the word-TURN- H5493 cuwr-- to turn aside, depart





The Torah testifies............…




Exodus 3:4




And when the LORD saw that he turned aside H5493 to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.






The prophets proclaim..................






1 Samuel 12:20




And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside H5493 from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;







The writings bear witness............






Judges 2:17




And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned H5493 quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so.




TESHUVAH OF THE HEART

The month of Elul is sometimes called "the month of love and compassion" (based on the acronym formed from "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine," Song 6:3). This poignant verse alludes to the mystery that The Most High Yah is our Heavenly Groom and we are His betrothed. The Most High Yah is the great Lover of our souls, and the greatest mitzvah of all is to keep faith in His covenant promise of love (Rom. 8:24). Our Beloved is Coming! Yahashua will soon be here, chaverim. Don't miss the Bridegroom's call! Return to the passion of your first love (Rev. 2:4).




Yahashua illustrated the idea of teshuvah (i.e., "returning to The Most High Yah") by telling the story of the "prodigal son" (Luke 15:11-32). After squandering his father's inheritance, a wayward son decided to return home, full of shame and self-reproach. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." The father then ordered a celebratory meal in honor of his lost son's homecoming. When his older brother objected, the father said, "We had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."




This parable reveals that teshuvah ultimately means returning (shuv) to the compassionate arms of your Heavenly Father... The Most High Yah sees you while you are still "a long way off" (Rom. 5:8). He runs to you with affection when you first begin to turn your heart toward Him. Indeed, The Most High Yah's compassion is so great that He willingly embraces the shame of your sins and then adorns you with "a fine robe, a ring, and sandals." Your Heavenly Father even slaughters the "fattened calf" (Yahashua) so that a meal that celebrates your life may be served....




Why did Yahashua come? He was like the father in the parable who was actively looking for his lost son... He came to "seek and save the lost" (Luke 19:10). Yahashua likened Himself to a shepherd who left his flock to search for one lost sheep, and after finding it, laid the sheep on his shoulders rejoicing (Luke 15:3-7). He also likened Himself to a woman who lost a coin but diligently searched for it. After she found it, she called together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the lost coin!' (Luke 15:8-10).




Another image of how The Most High Yah "seeks and saves the lost" is revealed in the metaphor of the strong man who rescues hostages. We were held captive by the power of the evil one, but The Most High Yah willingly left the glories of heaven to ransom us from captivity. "He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then His own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him" (Isa. 59:16). The Most High Yah then sent His Son to save the world from Hasatan's power (Heb. 2:14; 1 John 3:8). This is the good news of The Most High Yah's salvation: "The Spirit of the Lord The Most High Yah is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me (to bring news for the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim to the captives, liberty, and to the bound ones, release from their chains; to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor" (Isa. 61:1-2; Luke 4:18).




The Strong Man rescued us using a power that evil one could never comprehend, namely, the power of sacrificial love. Yahashua plundered the "strong man's house" through the greater strength of The Most High Yah (Matt. 12:29). This is a power that evil cannot overcome. Yahashua emptied Himself by being clothed in human flesh to die for our sins on a cross (Isa. 53:2-5; Phil. 2:7). In a sense The Most High Yah's "teshuvah '' is the Life of His Son, since He turned to us, "looked upon our lowly estate," and saved us from the hand of the oppressor of our souls... In all things - even in teshuvah - Yahashua has the preeminence (Col. 1:8).




What good is teshuvah without genuine hope? If we expect to be rejected or disapproved by The Most High Yah, it's unlikely we will take the first step toward "returning" to Him. Or if we believe we are conditionally accepted, we will "return" in a state of self-justification, like the older son in Yahashua's parable of the prodigal son. In that case we would need to keep a checklist within our minds of all the commandments we've kept. We would reckon our obedience as virtue or merit, and, if we felt any qualms about our service, we would feel obliged to perform extra mitzvot to allay our sense of guilt. Teshuvah would essentially mean preparing a legal defense, arguing that on the basis of our merits we should be accepted before The Most High Yah's Presence. Ultimately such "repentance" amounts to a demand that we be declared righteous, lovable, worthy, etc.




Yahashua's first words of public ministry were "Repent and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15). The word "repent" is metanao, meaning "change your thinking," and the word "gospel" means "good news". We could translate the verse as: "Go beyond your usual way of thinking by believing the message of The Most High Yah's good will toward you." The good news is that we are to be set free from the curse of the law and the futile efforts of seeking self-justification before Heaven... We no longer need to live in fear of The Most High Yah's conditional acceptance of us (and therefore of our conditional worth). As the Apostle Paul later preached: "Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses'' (Acts 13:38-39).




The Hebrews had known about repentance (teshuvah) for a long time, of course. They understood the rituals and mitzvot that were required to "keep the law," and they even devised legal formulas for "making your defense" before the Almighty (i.e., the Kol Nidre service recited before Yom Kippur: "We exonerate ourselves for failing to keep our word..."). If Moses and the law could have saved us, we wouldn't need to be "declared righteous by The Most High Yah's grace through the redemption in Yahashua" (Rom. 3:24). If following Moses were sufficient, we wouldn't need the cross of Messiah! All we'd need to do is work harder at repentance, perform additional mitzvot, earn merit before Heaven, and so on. But clearly Yahashua meant something other than this when He made the call to "repent."




The repentance Yahashua preached was inextricably connected with the "good news" that He (alone) is The Most High Yah's answer to the problem of our sin. Yahashua was born to die as the divinely appointed Sin-bearer of the world (Heb. 10:5-7). He came to earth and emptied himself (κένωσις) of His regal glory and power in order to be the High Priest after the order of Malki-Tzedek and the Mediator of the New Covenant (Heb. 5:6; 9:15; Psalm 110:4; 1 Tim. 2:5). He came to Jerusalem (Moriah) for the explicit purpose of suffering, dying, and being raised from the dead (Matt. 16:21; Luke 9:22). Yahashua died not only for our forgiveness, but also to deliver us from "the law of sin and death", i.e., the power that sin holds in our lives. He died to set us free so that we could become the beloved children of The Most High Yah). Yahashua surely was not calling people to become followers of the scribes and Pharisees, who were blind guides and hypocrites (Matt. 23:13-36). He did not want people to become slaves to rituals or religion (1 Cor. 7:23). No, He called people to follow Him: "Take up your cross and follow Me." Turn your thinking around! Die to your religion. Be comforted because there is good news from heaven! The Most High Yah's unconditional acceptance is given to those who trust in the righteousness of Yahashua in place of any self-righteousness that might be gained by performing the "works of the law" (Gal. 2:16, Titus 3:5). Yahashua is "the goal of the law for righteousness" for all who believe (Rom. 10:4-13). Wow. Now that's a message that requires a profound "change of mind" for a "Torah observant" Hebrew to accept. Dying to the religious project of attaining self-righteousness is to admit the need for radical deliverance from the law itself.




Yahashua's message of salvation was rejected by the religious establishment of His day, just as it is likewise rejected by all other "karma-based" religions and philosophies that believe that "good deeds" are sufficient to earn you a place in heaven... After all, the religious Jews assumed they already understood the requirements for repentance and the means for finding "atonement" with The Most High Yah through the rituals and practices surrounding the High Holidays. Their religion was essentially a meritocracy based on the performance of "good works" that were thought to impart "zechut" and righteousness to the soul. But Yahashua explained to those "who trusted in themselves that they were righteous" that a person is not justified on the basis of their supposed good deeds or merits, but entirely by appealing to The Most High Yah's compassion and mercy. It was the "despised" tax collector - not the "self-righteous" Pharisee - that left the Temple justified:




Two men went up to the Temple to pray; one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed thus: 'The Most High Yah, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector over there. I fast twice a week and I give tithes of all that I possess (Amen).' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'The Most High Yah be merciful to me a sinner (Amen).'




I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for everyone that exalts himself shall be humbled; but he that humbles himself shall be exalted" (Luke 18:10-14).



During this season of teshuvah, we must always remember that the LORD is "for us" and not against us. He died while we were yet sinners (Rom. 5:8). He is the Loving Strong Man who rescued us forever. Nothing can now separate us from the love of The Most High Yah (Rom. 8:31-39). We are literally saved in this hope (Rom. 8:24). May it please the LORD to make us all like Abraham, who "did not misjudge the promise of The Most High Yah through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to The Most High Yah, because he was fully convinced that The Most High Yah was able to do what he had promised" (Rom. 4:20-21). Abraham "rejoiced to see Yahashua's day" and believed: Elohim yireh-lo haseh - "The Most High Yah Himself will provide a lamb" (Gen. 22:8; John 8:56).