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| Sanctuary |
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you; I will take the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit inside of you and cause you to live by my laws, respect my rulings and obey them." Ezekiel 36:26,27
I'm embarking on a new adventure of sorts, something unlike anything I've ever challenged myself to do before. I'm taking a Torah tour. Yes, for the next year, I will be traversing through the Torah from Genesis to Deuteronomy, not only reading through it but copying it in my own hand! My goal is to fill one side of a notebook page per day, which takes me about twenty minutes. That sounds like a do-able goal, but at this rate I'm sure this journey will take about a-year-and-a-half to complete.....which is perfectly ok.
I was inspired by a very godly mentor, my friend Marianne, who began this Messianic journey many years ago. She, like I, was so excited to learn and study the parts of the Bible
that are often dismissed as irrelevant. The translation that I will be copying from is the Complete Jewish
Bible. I like that it uses Hebrew names for the books of the Bible and
the biblical characters and places. To me it accentuates the cultural
context in which the Bible was written. So another thing I will be
learning as I copy, will be Hebrew words and spellings. Today, after writing out my page of scripture in a notebook, I had an idea which, I believe, is what I'm going to do with my copied pages.....I will make my very own, hand-written Torah scroll! I recently discovered that each king of Israel was instructed by God to write out his very own handwritten copy of the Torah scroll! It was something that he was to keep close and read every day, so that he would learn to revere, obey and rule according to God's ways. (Deuteronomy 17:18-20)
Over this past year I have begun to learn that the Torah is truly the foundation of the entire Bible. It is a story of origins explaining the origin of sin, the creation of the world, etc.; it is a training manual for godly living; and it is a covenant and a document, like unto a marriage contract, between God and Israel. Torah reveals sin, reveals the wrath of God, and acts as a teacher to lead us to Messiah.
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| My Heart's Treasure |
Although not every part of the Torah is applicable in our current time and place, the Torah is good for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16-17). I've always especially loved Psalm 19 in which David, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, describes God's Torah as perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, pure, sure, righteous, precious, sweet and more. Another song of Torah, Psalm 119, is the longest continuous poem in the Bible, written by David to express his love for God's teachings. The painting to the left portrays, among many things, that God's commandments are My Heart's Treasure and the way of Life!
The thing so fascinating about the Old Testament, is that it is the New Testament concealed, and likewise, the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. So even though I will be focusing on these ancient books of Moses, I will be learning much about the very words which Christ came to fulfill (Matthew 5:17-20). Jesus, Yeshua, is the Word made flesh (John 1:14), therefore he is the living Torah!
Truth be told, I'm a little apprehensive about this endeavor. It's quite overwhelming to see those 241 pages of words which I've committed to write out for six days each week. At the most, this endeavor will cost me time and about ten dollars, since I estimate that I will need about eight notebooks and a couple of wooden dowels to complete my task......but I believe I will be investing in something that money can't buy. Through reading, writing, and speaking the words of scripture quietly as I copy and hear my own voice, I will be investing all five of my senses into hiding God's Word in my heart.....and that will be invaluable!
"Your word is a lamp for my foot and a light on my path." Psalms 119:105
