Ki Tavo - "And it shall be, when you come into the land which the L-RD your G-d is giving you as an...
Ki Tavo - "And it shall be, when you come into the land which the L-RD your G-d is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the L-RD your G-d is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the L-RD your G-d chooses to make His name abide. And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, 'I declare today to the L-RD your G-d that I have come to the country which the L-RD swore to your fathers to give us.' Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the L-RD your G-d, and you shall answer and say before the L-RD, your G-d: 'My father was a Syrian, about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. But the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us and laid hard bondage on us. then we cried out to the L-RD G-d of our fathers, and the L-RD heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. So the L-RD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstreteched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He has brought us to this place and has given us the land, a land flowing with milk and honey'; and now behold I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you , L-RD have given me " This passage has become a guide in my heart and mind for what I imagine will be my confession before G-d One Day when I'm about to take physical possession of my inheritance of eternal life I'm given through my Savior. If you come before G-d with anything except the understanding of who you are, a sinner like your father in contrast to who you are in Him, saved and restored, and that all you can offer Him is that truth and the gift He Himself has given you, Yeshua, that is literally life; you can see right here in this passage, you will have nothing. You stand before him with nothing but failure as He did give you life and sustenance. Isn't that something - it's clear how He does things and our beliefs are Torah truth. Sometimes I just really need to let that sink in because of worldly confusion and constraints as a Gentile believer in Messiah Yeshua. This is the first passage that kind of shows me what I think Paul was getting at when he said there's a veil of Jewish people's eyes. "But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ."
2 Corinthians 3:14 This verse also makes it clear why they are blinded - the rejection of Yeshua. I'm kind of coming to see that Israel as a nation really fundamentally is just G-d showing the world basic Spiritual truths. If you reject Messiah Yeshua, you are making yourself blind to G-d's revelation and cutting yourself off from His presence and blessing. This is not just true for Israel and Jewish people. It's true for each individual, but G-d is basically using Israel as a witness one way or the other, as He does and will all of us in the end. This is something I love to think about. You will testify to the truth of G-d and gorify G-d. It's not a rigged game. It's a reality that if you have lived life, you have taken from Him and therefore you do and will testify of Him. You will either submit in gratitude or rebel ignorance, but that fact you have life will testify for or against you one day. The fact you have a Spirit will testify for or against you one day, and the fact you have eternity before you will testify for or against you one day. But in all situations, life, Spirit, and eternity will testify for the truth of Yeshua because all of it is through Him including you and the choice you had in Him. It's not rigged, it's just truth. You have life because G-d gave it to you, and you either acknowledged that through accepting Yeshua or you didn't. You're choosing life or death in rejecting HIm - not G-d. He chose life for you, and Yeshua is the testimony of that. You can see in this portion that eternity itself will testify to Yeshua, and this is where I find encouragement spiritually for right here and now because in this verse you can actually see how faith is taking possession of our inheritance now, in this life. We can take possession of our eternal inheritance through just believing and living a life that testifies to it. These are the spiritual battles we are fighting - just to believe and testify to it. It is so much bigger than I realized just to believe. I'm always kind of struggling to find my place in Scripture because it feels like there's this huge hole that goes unaddressed and it's where the Gentile believers are kind of falling through a gap between believing Israel and unbelieving Israel in what Scripture specifically speaks to in terms of time. Unbelieving Israel has left us a hole in Scripture it feels like sometimes. It's like we see G-d speaking to other times, past and future, but not specifically to our time as Gentiles in the some sort of gap. Now I can really see that it's our faith that fills in the gap. This is the time of faith and grace and just professing Yeshua as the beginning and the end, and the only way from the beginning to the end. It really is a time of revelation and spreading truth. We are in the Biblical line of faith through HIs grace just through believing in Him. And it's really good to see, it has never been any other way. I know this is all spoken to and said better in Scripture, but I always take the long way around to really internally understand what G-d is saying. Because faith and grace are spiritual, It's easier for me to see my place as we are fighting spiritually for this line and inheritance. We are between a lot in this world in terms of earthly revelations, but that "lot" that's between is a lot of huge spiritual significance, a lot of grace and a lot of hope and opportunity. When I see things that way, I realize how foolish it is to dismiss how significant we really are. Then realizing the rest of this passage is also convicting of how significant we are - we are literally talking about life and death, blessing and cursing. I keep looking for where are the faithful people rising up against evil. I want to see Christians crowding the streets the way we see anarchists doing. Not screaming and burning, but just standing up and against evil for the hope of good. Just reading scripture, and maybe if someone is wrongly arrested, the faithful need to step in just to protect the definition of right and wrong; innocence and guilt; justice and injustice. We are allowed to speak and protest too. Why are we griping so much over masks and gathering around a politician, but no voice is above it all to speak to the evil of injustice and confusion being imposed on our society? This is where we need to see that we cannot rely on our government or our civic leaders to speak for us. They are not speaking to the truth that G-d is G-d and He is good and available to all to make pure and holy. It makes no sense to me that for some reason the people of G-d can't get organized around Biblical truth. I guess it's just evil, but where is the Spirit of G-d moving in this nation? It has to be somewhere. I keep waiting for the voice of fasting and repentance to be called out by someone with a spiritually loud voice and big platform, but I personally don't hear it. I see people talking about G-d and occasionally see someone say we need Jesus, but somehow evil is more organized and targeted in this battle than us. Maybe it's going to take individuals being drove to dependence on the L-RD for repentance and truth, but how terribly sad that is for the vast majority of people who need truth when we have G-d's Spirit. And you know what, they are looking for it. They may not know what they are looking for, but they are looking for something true and sincere and good. Instead of sitting here scared of our own kids, we need to see they are looking for something better than what we have handed them or shown them. How terribly sad it is that we don't seem to have it together enough to even know how to fight for them. If they don't have Christian parents, L-rd have mercy and call them your own child because what other hope is there for them? Why is evil so organized and the people of G-d are left floating around barely able to get by on their own faith? I don't understand how we can accomplish anything in this world for the sake of this world if it's somehow just all about our own selves barely getting by and just fighting to go to church with other people who are likely already saved. Are we just barely clinging on to what faith we have at this point already? You know what if they kick us out of the church, time to take it to the streets. Time to go to the local park and just tread scripture and pray. Time for Christians just to gather outside then. I do think there is a congregation in California who is doing that - being somehow more public, but I'm not sure how Biblical they are. What did Ezra and Nehemiah do to turn the people's hearts - they just read Scripture. What did John the Baptist do - preach repentance and Baptism. What did Yeshua do - just taught lessons based on real life. Maybe we need to stop with the needing more and more for our own sakes, and just start giving other people what we know and we already have -strait and simple truth. Regardless, I hope the rest of the nation doesn't have to become like California for us to start fighting back. We need to be fighting for everyone's rights, not just our own rights to not wear masks and be able to gather in a building. Our kids have a right to hear the word of G-d and if so choose, embarace it or walk away from it. But where are they even hearing it from is a question I'm really starting to wonder about. Where are kids who don't have parents in church hearing the Gospel in this country? Here's the truth - the public square and schools have already stepped over the constitutional lines so why are we letting them shut us up based on them? In my mind it's all in at this point. They broke down the constitutional barriers and rights so now you either let evil take over or you take advantage of the true freedom to speak it. We could be reading Scripture and praying in the public square if they can burn our flag and scream death to America... at least it would force the truth to be seen as they try to force us to shut up. Kids would see how we are treated and it would plant a seed to consider such a difference. Let their own response reveal them for what they are -either they sincerely are seeking what's good or they are liars and deceivers who hate what's good. At least the people and kids in this nation would see the choice they have to make and the truth underneath what's happening. Its a spiritual battle and there's something more to this than I thought. Kids are very perceptive so my hope is that, those kinds of truths will mean something to them spiritually and make a spiritual impression that gives them so me hope for discernment and truth. At least they would be confronted with their own hypocrisy if they refuse it, and at least G-d would have to be part of the conversation if they hate and oppress us but love and encourage evil. Maybe this is about forcing lines on the other side, make them talk about us. There are those who are sold out to sin and evil, but there are those really looking for something meaningful and true. They are having a lot of conversations and a lot of them are seeking, but G-d is not in the conversation because for some reason Christians don't seem to know how to represent truth outside of our own church - maybe G-d is going to shut the churches down just so we actually do what we are called to do and go out. I don't know just a thought I'm having as I try to understand what's happening. Don't forsake fellowship, but fellowship is about strengthening us to do HIs will in the world. It's not about us that way, but feels like somehow we have made it so. I'm struggling on this issue as much as anyone else, so talking to myself about what is it I'm really supposed to do with what He's handed me. It scares me that I'm not doing much with it, and I just don't see the church as a whole standing up for the sake of anyone but itself at this point. That may be a wrong and unfair impression. I just think we need to see the obligation that is there in these young generation who just seem to be in rebellion as we indulge them instead of teach them. Maybe I'm missing something, but if the church doesn't stand up and step in on their behalf, I just think we are failing them yet again. Here's the hope. We see what's here now. We see this is spiritual. Don't let it just hide away. Demand that it be addressed, and pray G-d doesn't let the devil just slither around in the shadows again. Let it all be revealed - what has been going on in the institutions of this country to destroy our kids.
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