Month: June 2025

The Mystery of Purity and the Rock of Our Redemption 

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

In Parsha Chukat/statute (Num. 19:1–22:1), we’re drawn into the enigma of the parah adumah, the red heifer, a command beyond logic, a “chok,” that purifies those defiled by death while rendering the purifier unclean (Numb. 19:1–10). This paradox reveals a profound spiritual principle: that cleansing and transformation often emerge through sacrificial loss.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, taught that the red heifer exemplifies the soul’s capacity to serve God beyond understanding. While some commandments align with human reason, chukim (חֻקִּים/statutes) invite us into supra-rational devotion, reflecting a relationship rooted not in comprehension, but in covenantal surrender.

This idea aligns with Paul’s exhortation in Romans 12:1, calling disciples to present themselves as “living sacrifices.” We are offered up in Messiah Yeshua/Jesus. In Him the mystery of the red heifer as both offering and purifier comes into focus. Of Messiah, Paul writes, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21). Like the red heifer, Yeshua bore the uncleanness of sin and death outside the camp on Golgotha (Heb. 13:11–12) to cleanse us by His own blood (1 Jn. 1:7; Eph. 1:7). 

Later in this portion, Moses is instructed to speak to the rock to supply water (Numb. 20:8), but instead he strikes it, disrupting a divine pattern. Paul reveals that the rock was Messiah (1 Cor. 10:4). Striking the rock in Exodus 17:6 prefigures the crucifixion. Numbers 20:8 was to mark a new mode of relationship to the Rock: provision through faith, reverence and obedience, not repeated suffering as a misguided sign of devotion. For Messiah was “offered once for all” (Heb. 10:10), and now we share in His provision by His promise of His presence.

The bronze serpent (Numb. 21:8–9) adds another layer. Yeshua applying the imagery to Himself said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14–15). Judgment becomes healing when seen through the lens of faith (Ro. 5:6-11). 

Chukat calls us beyond the reasonable and rational into redemption. Its commandments are not arbitrary, they are invitations. The red heifer, the rock, and the serpent all converge in Messiah: our purifier, our provider, and our healer. Rabbi Schneerson encouraged us to embrace the irrational commandments not with skepticism, but with faith and surrender. Yeshua shows us that the greatest mysteries of Torah are fulfilled not in the mind alone, but through lives laid down in love (Jn. 10:11; 15:13).

As leaders, shepherds, and faithful disciples we are called not only to understand these “mysteries” but to live them: to bear burdens, to speak life, and to lift up Messiah so others may live.

Maranatha. Shalom. 

Hebrews Part 3

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn podcast, Torah AudioLeave a comment
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The author of Hebrews is writing to Jewish believers in Messiah Yeshua/Jesus who are considering turning back, to what? To the angels, to the Temple, to Moses, to Aaron, to the sacrifices, to their past. In a powerful and profound way, the author is speaking not only to the hearts of Jewish disciples who are wavering under the pressure of following Yeshua, but also to people today who are wavering in faith. 

In this episode we consider Hebrews 2:1-18, and how the Son of God, Yeshua/Jesus, became a little “lower than the angels” in order to save us. 

Losing to Gain

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, Inspiration1 Comment

In Philippians 3:4–9, Paul unveils the heart of a disciple. Once proud of his pedigree, his many achievements, and religious fervor, he now counts them as loss, not because they were worthless in themselves, but because they could never measure up to the surpassing worth of knowing Messiah Yeshua/Jesus.

Paul writes, “For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Messiah.”

This is no small exchange. Paul relinquishes his identity, his status, and his self-righteousness, not in despair, but in joyful surrender to something greater. He stops striving to be found righteous by religious observance or human credentials, and instead rests in the righteousness that comes by faith.

The challenge for us today is to examine the things we hold as gain — our titles, traditions, successes — and ask whether they draw us closer to Messiah or distract us from Him.

When our worth is rooted in our achievements, we miss the liberating grace found in what Jesus has already done. But when we let go of what had defined us, when we lose to gain, we find the richness of a relationship not earned but freely given (Eph. 2:8-10).

May we, like Paul, be found in Yeshua, pressing on, not because we are perfect, but because we are loved by the One who is, as the Apostle John wrote, “We love because he first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19). 

Maranatha. Shalom.