Shavuot / Pentecost
by Daniel C Juster, Restoration from Zion
I write these words as the Feast of Shavuot, known as Pentecost in the Church world, is just ending. It is the same Feast, the one emphasizing seven weeks after the First Fruits Feast of Passover week and the other Fifty Days after First Fruits or Resurrection Sunday.
The Biblical Feast is a
harvest Festival of the first large harvest of wheat. This year the date on the
Christian Western Calendar and the Jewish Calendar are the same.
The Jewish community
celebrates this Feast as the anniversary of the giving of the Torah, or the
Law, though the Word Torah is broader than law, though it includes it. It
is the instruction of God and his statutes and laws are instruction. The Bible
does not tell us to celebrate this Feast as the Feast of giving the Law or the
Ten Commandments, the Covenant of the Ten Words more precisely. Rabbinic
calculation, which is quite reasonable, calculates the time of travel to Mt.
Sinai and Moses ascending the Mount, which was at least close to this date if
not on it.
For Christians, the
celebration is the anniversary of the outpouring the Holy Spirit (Acts 2) and
the reference is explicit. The occasion of the Feast for me always brings to
mind the opposition of Law and Spirit that is so pervasive popular Christianity
today. Spirit is opposed to Law, Grace is opposed to Law and Faith is
opposed to Law. Yet, this certainly is a huge mistake in interpretation.
Actually, the Bible makes it quite clear that the benefits of the New Covenant, the grace of God, the way of faith, and the power of the Spirit all enable the fulfillment of the Torah (Law in its essence). Two verses show this clearly, Romans 8:4, “The righteous requirement of the Torah/Law is fulfilled in us who walk by the Spirit.” Romans 3:31 as well states, “Do we nullify the Law through faith? On the contrary, we establish the Torah/Law.”
What is usually not
understood in todays’ popular Christianity is that the historic Protestant
Christian teaching got this mostly right. Most taught that we are only
saved by grace, but that this grace embraced by faith enables obedience to the
Law by the power of the Spirit. Richard Hooker, who at the end of the
16th century established the foundations of Anglican teaching, argued for a
principle approach. One can ask and determine usually why a particular
law is there and can usually see the underlying principle. He opted for a
flexible application approach that does not enjoin the exact civil penalties
and particulars but does enjoin the principles with civil flexibility in
penalties for a New Covenant Age.Actually, the Bible makes it quite clear that the benefits of the New Covenant, the grace of God, the way of faith, and the power of the Spirit all enable the fulfillment of the Torah (Law in its essence). Two verses show this clearly, Romans 8:4, “The righteous requirement of the Torah/Law is fulfilled in us who walk by the Spirit.” Romans 3:31 as well states, “Do we nullify the Law through faith? On the contrary, we establish the Torah/Law.”
In this he responded to Puritan Calvinists who wanted to literally follow the whole Law as exactly as possible, including the civil penalties for violation. Calvin’s teaching in Book II Chapter 7 of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, allowed for more flexibility. It is a magnificent summary.
This approach to the continued applicability of the Law/Torah in the New Covenant was also the view of the Wesley and the Methodists, the revivalist Charles Finney and is found in the greatest statement of Baptist theology by Augustus Strong at the end of the 19th century. This approach was held by the great Old Testament Scholar at Wheaton, Samuel Schultz (my professor of dear memory) and today by Walter Kaiser, emeritus President of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. I could go on and name many more who have argued for this approach.
Messianic Jews and the growing number of Christians who share
our theology on these matters celebrate both the giving of the Torah and the
outpouring of the Spirit as the key to fulfilling the Torah on this day.
The emphasis has been shifted. Our concentration is secondarily on the Torah but
primarily on being led by the Spirit and walking in his power. However, the
Torah continues in importance and is applicable in the New Covenant.
Summarized from the Weekly
Summary of Prayer Requests Israeli Ministries by subscription only donna@israelprayer.com
As some of you learned in my Friday mailing,
the health update for Eddie Santoro is not good, but please continue to pray in
faith for God's perfect will for Eddie to manifest and pray for Jackie, the
other love of his life next to Yeshua.
As always, I am flipping the order of their ministry letter to put the
health update in first place instead of being the last mention. It is the way
they are ever since I first began to be exposed to their ministry in 2002.
Jackie Santoro writes in the June Glory
of Zion ministry letter, "We
are sad to report that Eddie's condition has deteriorated significantly in
these last few weeks. Yet as we walk through these challenging days, our heart
is overwhelmed with the love of God as he pours out his blessing upon us in so
many wonderful ways. One of the most significant was that He provided a
wonderful couple to come live with us to help with our every need. This was
truly a miraculous provision for which we are eternally grateful. Please pray for Robyn and Rodney as they give
so selflessly and with hearts of love to care for the both of us. Pray for
health, strength and endurance as we press on in Him.
Even in Eddie's current weakened condition,
his love continues to shine through and our home health workers just love us
and love coming to our home. Our doctor who is a religious young man said that
he feels like we are more like family than patients. In his words; "Eddie
has that effect on people." We thank the Lord for this witness that goes
forth in our greatest trial and in our weakness. May his name be glorified in
us and through us and may we continue to touch those with his truth and love.
Even as we walk through the "Valley of Baca", we make it a place of springs (Psalm 84:6).
Avner Boskey brings it home with this Shavuot
message: We wish you a kosher Pentecost! | "My Polish Jewish grandfather used to say,
'A goat may have a beard, but that doesn’t make him a rabbi!' In the same way,
some Jewish traditions may have beautiful beards, but that does not make every
last one of these traditions biblical or authentic. Shavuot is a good
illustration of this proverb. Let’s look at this together."
In the June Maoz Israel Report are articles about Pay it Forward - The Harvest (Katzir) Youth Camps | An Ancient People Reclaim their Ancient Heritage:
The Golan Heights | Israel Shoots For the Moon. Then in the Weekly Maoz prayer letter prayer requests for the "unprecedented
political drama" in Israel; continued fire fights against terrorist arson
fires and the laying to rest of Israel's First Lady, Nechama Rivlin - with
prayer points included.
Marianna Gol who heads the Streams in the Desert ministry to
widows and orphans lays out what their ministry does, plus gives an appeal for
coming alongside their work with financial support. Her comments are copied at
the end of this Arrows because I believe she gives voice to what a great
many of the Israeli ministries are experiencing. "I really don’t like talking about money.
I grew up in a culture where that was a definite taboo.... We need
money and I am not great at finding it."
Connect directly with the ministry to learn more or in the Weekly Summary, if
you are a subscriber
Israel Pochtar, whose congregation and
ministry are enduring religious persecution steadfastly and rarely mention it,
has a
great report about their women's conference "Accept Your
Challenge" where believer and seeker women drew together to be uplifted in
their calling as women. Watch this VIDEO. Also a mini-teaching on Shavuot & First
Fruits. If you want to help them with their many humanitarian and outreach projects where
you will find a list of projects to support under the "Projects" tab
From founder Asher Intrater's Revive Israel
Team (Director Youval Yanay) Get a taste
of the annual Shavuot Worship Event which live-streamed
connecting believers all over the world to praise the Lord as in Acts 2 when
the Spirit was poured out on the believers in Jerusalem: "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one
place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and
filled the whole house where they were sitting." This is not just
another get together of believers, but a prophetic act in expectation of
another outpouring of the Spirit in Jerusalem that will impact the salvation of
Israel and reverberate around the world with the same Spirit of revival.
Also from Revive: VIDEO To the Jew First - Really? Cody Archer and Troy Wallace | VIDEO Learn From My Mistakes Jeremiah Smilovici on overcoming fear of what
others think of you | TIKKUN PDF June Israel's Restoration newsletter| Lifted Up | Book by Eddie Santoro | Three years ago, deadly cancer exploded in
Eddie's brain. The doctors declared a certain and quick death. But God declared
life!
Orna Grinman of A Sign & Example ministry
to widows and orphans has a new blog post: As usual, the depth and beauty of
Orna's teaching article “Faces
or Mask?” truly astounds me. A woman of God, Orna is mightily anointed and
has blessed me so many times over the years reading her articles that speak
directly to my heart, my hurts, my longings and my love. God bless Orna and I
pray that more and more will come to know what a deep insight and anointed
ministry she is walking in.
The Aliyah Return Center is a village at the
Jordan River which takes in new immigrants to help them get situated in the
Land. It's not so easy, but the ARC helps greatly. Making aliyah is not just
about the travel expenses getting to Israel, it is about arriving needy and
having no support system. So many of the Israeli Messianic ministries do
humanitarian outreach among the immigrants. Learn more about this one in their latest
email online here.
Guy Cohen who leads the Harvest of Asher
congregation in Akko shares the vision God gave him 15 years ago about how to
build His house in the area of their city, it came in a passage of Luke 10:2-12
with a series of key words: Pray, go your way, if a son of peace is there,
remain eating and drinking, heal the sick there. It is the grounding vision of
their work in Akko.
Also this article from Marty Shoub about the launch of the Akko congregation in Napoleon's Park because they did not yet have a meeting space: "Guy heard the Holy Spirit answer, 'Tell them, you are the living stones. Buildings are not important; the community of believers is being "built up as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God through Yeshua the Messiah."(1 Pe 2:5)."
KehilaNews.AllIsrael.com/ Here are two more important articles on the
religious riot against the believers recently: Shelly
Greenberg's Love thy neighbor – On the attacks at the worship
concert in Jerusalem and Kehila Staff One personal experience from the violent protest at
the Messianic concert in Jerusalem
One of the portions read in synagogues
worldwide during this week is from Hosea 2 about his prophetic straying wife
and her restoration back to Hosea. This is the opening of the Intercessors for
Israel in Jerusalem Friday Prayer Points - and
surely you see the prophetic significance to Israel today? The first prayer
topic: Salvation for Israel
Dan and Patty Juster's June Restoration from Zion letter is online here. In it read about the second part of Dan's TJCII Asia trip and the Tikkun America Annual "Restore" Leadership and Family Conference which just took place in the USA. As Dan notes, "Our American efforts are supported by the Tikkun America network. However, all the overseas travel, and all of the ministry in Israel is supported by your giving. We are so blessed by you ongoing partnership with us in furthering God's kingdom through this ministry." If you read through this online email, you will begin to get a small sense of the great significance of Dan's ministry impact - and that is not even touching his great impact as a writer and his decades of contributions as a theological 'steering wheel' to the Messianic movement.
Dan and Patty Juster's June Restoration from Zion letter is online here. In it read about the second part of Dan's TJCII Asia trip and the Tikkun America Annual "Restore" Leadership and Family Conference which just took place in the USA. As Dan notes, "Our American efforts are supported by the Tikkun America network. However, all the overseas travel, and all of the ministry in Israel is supported by your giving. We are so blessed by you ongoing partnership with us in furthering God's kingdom through this ministry." If you read through this online email, you will begin to get a small sense of the great significance of Dan's ministry impact - and that is not even touching his great impact as a writer and his decades of contributions as a theological 'steering wheel' to the Messianic movement.
The Jerusalem Institute of Justice June JIJ
newsletter is online here with
positive information from the region and some things to review as we just
celebrated Israel's 72st birthday - including 5 Fun Facts to Remember
Last but not least, Ron Cantor had me going
with this video on Facebook: 3,000 Jews Come to Yeshua During Powerful Gospel
Presentation in Jerusalem! :-)
And unfortunately there is also this As thousands mark Jerusalem Day, clashes erupt on
Temple Mount. Plus Go here to see details and
videos of sites that will be covered on the Up to Zion Dec Tour with Ron & Elana Cantor
Urgent HEALING Needs: Life and Death is in the power of the
tongue
Please keep in prayer these Israeli ministry
leaders and believers with urgent health needs CONTINUE to make fervent PRAYER for the urgent healing needs of EDDIE SANTORO and Jacob Damkani | Ronit Bender is awaiting results from her heart echo test results although she has she feels so much better - but has had a persistent cough for months now. She will have to go to a lungs doctor...and the heart valve is still leaking. Please continue to pray for Ronit. She has been released to travel to Australia in Oct, and Holland in Nov despite the outstanding issues.| Martin Sarvis has undergone arthroscopic surgery and is now in the healing process. Surgery was successful and now will have physiotherapy for a couple of months. | Shlomy Abramov of Awake Israel, because of a condition where blood does not flow to his legs as it should, he was advised by a specialist in case of injuries, he could lose his leg because of the blood flow issues. Shlomy has to wrap his legs daily because of the blood flow issues. Please pray for Shlomy | Ruth Nessim has several health issues, one of the most critical is her EYES which has sent her to the hospital many times. Please pray for Ruth in Nahariya| Olga Bikas’s health condition that seems to have become chronic, with no hope from the doctors for any improvement in the future. This, no doubt, puts an additional emotional and physical burden on our family. Please pray for her acute back pain. | Albert a Messianic leader from southern Israel, has had a successful surgery and an amazing recovery but keep praying for total restoration | Rania Sayegh asks for prayer of restoration of strength, energy, and complete healing.
This is a
touching tribute to the steadfast faith of Eddie and Jackie Santoro, who we have been praying for over the
last nearly 4 years. Eitan Shishkoff has titled it Heroes of the
Faith. You can read Eddie
Santoro's own experience in his book, Lifted Up: Overcoming through the Power of
Love on Amazon.
It is
unnaturally cool out there this June-10th morning. Cool like we in Dallas would
expect in early March not in almost the middle of June. It should already be
hot 24/7. This must be in the aftermath of the severe storms yesterday. It is
the hot southern air meeting up with the cool northern air that creates tornado
weather.
The other day a friend asked me about Jeremiah 31:35-36 because there is
a promise of God to Israel in it which paraphrasing says, God GAVE the sun for
light by day, and COMMANDED the moon and the stars for a light by night, and
ONLY if those ordinances depart from before Him, the seed of Israel will cease
to be a nation "before Me forever"
No matter what anyone teaches
theologically, that word of the LORD settles it for me definitively: there is
no replacement of Israel in God's heart. His heart is big enough to include
all the nations without turning His back on Israel. No matter what Israel has
done - and if the Church were more honest with itself, it would see that it has
failed every bit as the Bible records that Israel failed. His love is bigger
than our measly human concepts of love.
But the unnatural coolness reminded me of a series of Dispensational
prophecy teachings I went to for many weeks at a church when I was 18 or so. It
was being taught from a book by Clarence Larkin. I remember that his
interpretation made something out of another promise of God from Genesis which
Larkin misinterpreted as a cataclysm in the last days where the seasons would
cease, running together, not keeping to the normal patterns of spring, summer,
fall and winter. I thought today about how some may be thinking this weather
year has been like that.
But Genesis 8:22 is not about that, it is about God's promise not to
destroy the whole earthly creation as He did with the flood. Today, the earth
absorbs the evil of mankind, that is why it groans, waiting to see the
revealing of the sons of God.
God's promise was, “I will never
again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart
is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have
done."
Leviticus 18:27 says there are abomination sins that cause the land to
"vomit" out men from itself. That vomiting is the natural disasters
and in the context of the rest of Leviticus 18, these are caused by the
"abomination" of sexual sins and child sacrifice. It isn't climate
change, friends, it is rampant sexual abominations and abortions.
Leviticus 18:27-29 "For the
men who were in the land before you committed all these abominations, and the
land has become defiled. So if you
defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you.
Therefore anyone who commits any of these abominations must be cut off from
among his people.…"
If you preach this, people think you are speaking of that alien, awful
"God of the Old Testament" but in the new Testament, the Word says
that in James 1:17, James refers back to the Genesis 8:22 verse saying, "Every good and perfect gift is from
above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change
like shifting shadows."
God is unchanging, so are His ordinances and commands. He has not
dropped the bar to accommodate us, He has given us the power of His Spirit to
rise to the bar He set before us to become like Him. — Donna Diorio
THANK YOU to
those who responded to my pressing appeal for financial support last
Friday. I greatly appreciate your
help. My husband and I are looking at an unsure financial future, so please
pray that God will help us to find creative ways to generate the remaining
income we need to support ourselves through our aging years.
Also, I want to say again that all of the Israeli ministries have been in a major decrease of funding over the past two years or so. If you will read Marianne Gol's comments on this, she expresses her own ministry needs, but she really expresses how all the Israeli ministries are feeling the pinch. It is hard to describe how when you are so finance-strapped it's like the old sailing ship term, being "dead in the water" without wind in your sails to propel you forward. It is so difficult to do anything God has put on your heart to do, so there is a fight against depression about it.
As Marianne Gol wrote: "I really don’t like talking about money. I grew up in a culture where that was a definite taboo. ... We need money, and I am not great at finding it. I believe that all of our present partners are doing their best in helping us do the work. A few of our long-term supporters had to discontinue support last year for different reasons. We are struggling. I am having a very hard time. I am battling to hold on to faith for the vision and for provision for it, and battling to not allow anxiety to grip my heart. It’s not easy. I need your help. First and foremost, I am asking you to intercede for financial breakthrough for Streams in the Desert. Please pray for God’s clear leadership in the area of finances for us. Please pray for me to stand strong under this financial burden.
Also, I want to say again that all of the Israeli ministries have been in a major decrease of funding over the past two years or so. If you will read Marianne Gol's comments on this, she expresses her own ministry needs, but she really expresses how all the Israeli ministries are feeling the pinch. It is hard to describe how when you are so finance-strapped it's like the old sailing ship term, being "dead in the water" without wind in your sails to propel you forward. It is so difficult to do anything God has put on your heart to do, so there is a fight against depression about it.
As Marianne Gol wrote: "I really don’t like talking about money. I grew up in a culture where that was a definite taboo. ... We need money, and I am not great at finding it. I believe that all of our present partners are doing their best in helping us do the work. A few of our long-term supporters had to discontinue support last year for different reasons. We are struggling. I am having a very hard time. I am battling to hold on to faith for the vision and for provision for it, and battling to not allow anxiety to grip my heart. It’s not easy. I need your help. First and foremost, I am asking you to intercede for financial breakthrough for Streams in the Desert. Please pray for God’s clear leadership in the area of finances for us. Please pray for me to stand strong under this financial burden.
Donna Diorio
donna@israelprayer.com or donna@d10r10.com
THANK YOU to those who have considered this ministry worthy of financial support.
Donations appreciated | paypal.me/DonnaDiorio
Or by postal mail make donations payable to the order of Donna Diorio
P O Box 111302 Carrollton, Texas 75006
I do not have tax exempt status.
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