The Pomegranate Commandment
The Footsteps of Messiah are echoing through the earth. Yeshua is returning for the righteous, to gather them. He is coming to judge the wicked as well. But what about the "in-betweens"? From the beginning until today, there are "believers" who don't believe so much that it changes their lives significantly. What should they know about these Footsteps?
The model is found within the feasts of Israel, which culminate in the final feast, the Feast of the Nations, Sukkot (Tabernacles). Three of the seven feasts are the chagim, or "foot festivals" in which Israel was commanded to go up to Jerusalem to celebrate: Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot. Those who are expecting the Footsteps of Messiah Yeshua might also check where their own feet have trod in expectation. Have they proclaimed the Good News of Messiah and the commandments of Elohim?
There are three seasonal firstfruits contained within the foot festivals: barley (Pesach), wheat (Shavuot), and everything else (Sukkot).
At barley, Yeshua resurrected. In Egypt, the Israelites were delivered from sin and death at Pesach. There was little “Torah” to obey, they simply trusted in the lamb’s blood and followed the cloud in faith.
At the wheat harvest of Shavuot, the Israelites made a commitment to the full Torah based on their deliverance by and in the cloud so far, which was in faith. They were in the wilderness. Not yet resurrected in body, but not dead in Egypt, either.
At Sukkot of the nations, a cloud of greater resurrection would occur, one that included the nations. It is then that the Torah cycle concludes, rolling up the commandments. The Torah scrolls are re-rolled at this foot festival, and the reading begins again in Genesis 1:1. Sukkot leads to Pesach, a new beginning.
Let's return to Shavuot, which comemmorates the giving of the Torah at Sinai. Every year, Israel accepts the yoke of the Torah anew at Shavuot, firstfruits of the wheat, echoing the commitment, "We will do, and we will hear."
Oddly, the day is never celebrated as one of repentance from sin. Tradition sees the intervening weeks between Pesach and Shavuot as time to do work removing the “encrustations” of sin left over from Egypt, yet Shavuot itself has no repentance themes. In fact, the mussaf sin offering, an extra offering required on feast days, does not apply to Shavuot. It is as if the Israelites are considered sin-free when they received the Torah.
Why?
Our Footsteps text is the Song of Songs. From there, we read:
- “Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is beautiful. Your temples are like a slice of a pomegranate behind your veil.” (So 4:3)
The symbolism of the pomegranate is thus: the pips represent the individual commandments, because the number of pomegranate pips is approximately 613, the number of the commandments. The high priest wore a garment hemmed with bells and pomegranates, and these made a musical noise as he walked, creating a pleasant atmosphere. Walking in the Word should be both musical and pleasant!
Another symbol of the commandments is jewelry. When Israel sinned with the golden calf, Moses made them remove their jewelry, the ornaments of a Bride. When people removed their gold rings to make the golden calf, they already exchanged the righteousness of Adonai for an idol, and stripping them of the rest of their jewelry pointed out that if they could not remain faithful for 40 days, then they were not ready to enter the Land of Israel.
If the ornaments represent commandments, then it is easy to see that they were adorned with "commandments" on credit to await Moses' return from the mountain with the rest of the Torah. As we've established in the last few newletters, this was the righteousness of Yeshua, the Living Word, credited into their accounts before they had a chance to walk in them. This is the same righteousness the apostles assured the Gentile believers that they'd been credited when they came to faith in Messiah Yeshua. Commandments wouldn't make them more saved, but they would result as they walked faithfully in the righteousness of their salvation, Yeshua. The Ruach HaKodesh would teach them from that starting point, just as Yeshua promised, and just as was experienced in Acts Two at Shavuot. While they learned, grace would abound.
The fulness of the Torah is promised the betrothed. If we continue to walk faithfully, repenting as necessary, then Adonai makes us to stand and live in the righteousness of them before we fully realize perfection of the body. He clothes our “red” souls. The soul is associated with Esau, or Edom, the "Red One" because it is a bundle of appetites, emotions, desires, and intellect, which must be disciplined by the Ruach (Spirit) within each person, represented by Jacob in the twin analogy.
The righteousness is not our own, for we did not invent it! It is the righteousness of the Father and His son Yeshua, our salvation. Our pips are red, reflecting the salvation and redemption of our red souls. Proverbs Thirty-one is a parable of the Ruach HaKodesh. This is what the Ruach does, it clothes us in the righteousness of Yeshua, which protects us from the judgment of snow (Job 38:22-23):
- “She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet.” (Pr 31:21)
The lips like a scarlet thread is the mouth of the righteous, and the Word spoken through them in prayer and faith is a protection against judgment. The betrothed of Yeshua have slice of red pomegranate on their foreheads. Out of 613 pomegranate pips, only a small number apply to each person. It takes a full house of Israel with a functioning Temple and priesthood to observe them all. Each person, however, has his or her own slice, depending upon whether the person is son, daughter, father, mother, merchant, farmer, seller, buyer, animal herder, etc. The number may grow or shrink as the person ages or changes occupation. Just a slice of the whole.
- “Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth (speech) is beautiful”
When we confess our faith in Messiah Yeshua and make our equivalent expression to "do and hear" the commandments given by the Father through Moses, we declare our Intention to walk in the Word, which is counted as “doing well,” righteousness credited before learning and performance:
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“Go near and hear all that the LORD our God says; then speak to us all that the LORD our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.’ The LORD heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken.” (Dt 5:27-28)
When we make this declaration with true intention, it is believed that we receive two crowns of Torah:
We are welcomed into a royal priesthood nation, and we begin to learn the instructions through which we will lead others to salvation. The righteousness is awarded to us on credit, and we are clothed in scarlet against the day of judgment.
The garments of of righteousness are seen as having protective power to guard against sin, like the scarlet clothes of the Ruach HaKodesh.
When we know what sin is, then we can walk worthy of the credit in our accounts and avoid sin while learning to do good as well. Once we know what sin is, then it is easier to avoid it. When we avoid it, we avoid the judgment and consequences that follow rebellious sin.
What if it's not rebellious, just ignorant? (Nu 14:9) This is the where grace abounds while we learn. Yeshua knows our suffering and that we are still housed in a corruptible body. For this, he makes intercession. We long for the resurrection of this Old Man Chametz to be raised incorruptible so that we no longer have to live on credit.
Rebellious sin, however, is a retreat to the "in-between," or lukewarm status of the Laodiceans. But what about the person who just retreats? He or she doesn't really sin rebelliously, just passively? What if there is no attempt to know Yeshua in the fellowship of his suffering for the sake of righteousness? This, too, is rebellion. Passive aggression is still agression. Passive rebellion against doing good is still rebellion. For those who are lukewarm in redeeming their time, there are ten days between the Feast of Trumpets and Yom HaKippurim for them to repent before the Feast of the Nations at Sukkot.
As we count toward Shavuot, let us commit anew to our slice of the yoke of the Torah and the testimony of Yeshua.
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Shabbat Shalom!
