Tag: prayer

Something Immovable

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, Inspiration1 Comment

In the midst of the plague narrative of Exodus, the Lord gives the children of Israel a continual remembrance even as He commands a yearly remembrance. How are the two, applying a physical reminder and Passover, related?

In Exodus 13:9, 16 we read, “And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt … It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

The rabbis understand this literally: a physical application of the words above upon the body. The practice of laying Tefillin, defined below, endured through Israel’s long history, to the time of Yeshua/Jesus, even to today. Perhaps some background will aid our understanding.

The word תְּפִילִּין/Tefillin is the plural of Tefillah, meaning to pray. The word “tefillin” is not found in the Bible; rather, the Torah refers to Tefillin as: ot, zikaron, or ṭoṭafot, sign, remembrance and something immovable, respectively.

When the Jewish translators of the Septuagint were searching the Greek language to translate, וְהָיוּ לְטטָפת בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ, “they shall be as frontlets between your eyes,” they settled on φυλακτήριον/phylaktērion, phylacteries, meaning: guarded post, safeguard, or security; as the Word of God is to guard, protect, and keep the people of God, something, as noted above, that is immovable. Why?

The command for תְּפִילִּין/Tefillin is found in Exodus 13:9, 13:16; Deuteronomy 6:8 and 11:18.

These four paragraphs are written on parchments inserted into the תְּפִילִּין/Tefillin – one compartment in the hand tefillin, and four compartments in the head tefillin. There is one parchment in the hand תְּפִילִּין/Tefillin, and four in the head תְּפִילִּין/Tefillin, from the singular and plural language found in the text of the Torah. As Deuteronomy 6:4-9 commands, the Word is to be applied to the head and the hand in order to demonstrate the love of God with all our heart, mind/soul and strength, more on this below.

Going a little deeper. The תְּפִילִּין/Tefillin are made from the skin, hair and sinew of kosher animals. The rabbis explain this demonstrates that the “animal nature” of man must be submitted to the will of God, or in Christian parlance: “the flesh/sin nature.”

Numbers play a symbolic role in the Tefillin as well. The boxes are each sealed with 12 stitches: for 12 months of the year. The number seven is found in the windings on the arm, as well as the Hebrew letter ש/shin found on two sides of the head תְּפִילִּין/Tefillin. The seven stems found on the two ש/shin letters may represent the patriarchs and matriarchs (7 total), the week of creation, or the perfect plan of God. The number seven in Hebrew is שָׁבַע, meaning to “to bind oneself by seven things,” also means to “make covenant,” the covenant partner being the one we are bound to. In Revelation 1:4, the Bride of Messiah, is represented by seven, as in the seven letters.

The two straps hanging from the head תְּפִילִּין/Tefillin represent love and judgment – love on the right, and judgment on the left, reaching down to creation. The three windings on the middle finger of the weaker hand represent betrothal.

As you apply the תְּפִילִּין/Tefillin, the following blessings are recited:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’. אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם. אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְותָיו. וְצִוָּנוּ לְהָנִיחַ תְּפִלִּין

“Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who sanctified us with God’s commandments and commanded us to place the tefillin.”

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם. אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְותָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל מִצְוַת תְּפִלִּין

“Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who sanctified us with God’s commandments and commanded us regarding the mitzvah of tefillin.”

בָּרוּךְ שֵׁם כְּבוד מַלְכוּתו לְעולָם וָעֶד

“Blessed is the name of the Glory of God’s Kingdom forever.”

As the hand is wrapped:

וְאֵרַשְׂתִּיךְ לִי, לְעוֹלָם

וְאֵרַשתִּיךְ לִי בְּצֶדֶק וּבְמִשְׁפָּט וּבְחֶסֶד וּבְרַחֲמִים

‘וְאֵרַשתִּיךְ לִי בֶּאֱמוּנָה. וְיָדַעְתְּ אֶת ה

“I betroth you to me forever. I betroth you to me in righteousness, justice, lovingkindness, and mercy. I betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord” (Hosea 2:21-22).

The verses from Hosea 2:21-22 brings the picture together. The donning of the טַלִּית/tallit, the Jewish prayer shawl, and the laying of the תְּפִילִּין/Tefillin is a picture of a bride preparing: a bride in identifying attire. In Hebrew bride and betrothed is כַּלָּה/kallah, from the root כָּלַל/kalal, meaning to make perfect or complete: to put a crown upon.

In the typological picture of the תְּפִילִּין/Tefillin, the head תְּפִילִּין/Tefillin is referred to as “the crown,” or “crown of righteousness,” a type Paul references. In the straps on the arm and hand, and on the boxes we find His name, identifying to whom we belong, and upon our hand, when we say the words from Hosea 2:21-22, we find a ring. All of this together טַלִּית/tallit and תְּפִילִּין/Tefillin is the bridal attire for those betrothed to Messiah to prepare for the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.

Finally:

Just as the Passover Seder as a remembrance is a living sermon meant to engage generations and the senses, Tefillin brings the head and the heart together in prayer. How?

1. Thought and Action

2. Creed and Deed.

3. Knowledge and Compassion.

The orthodoxy of mind, right thinking in learning, is taken a step higher through orthopraxy, doing what is right as an act of worship and prayer unto the covenant Lord.

Messiah Yeshua/Jesus teaches us: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock” (Matt. 7:24-25).

To hear and do the Word of Messiah, the forever settled Word of God, makes us, His disciples, a ṭoṭafot, something immovable in Him. Adorned in the garments of betrothal, no matter the plague or storm in life, we stand firmly established.

Underlying the faith life is the remembrance of deliverance as family gathering and bodily adornment. Now that we are free, how then shall we live?

Be well. Shalom.

Who Prayed for the Impossible? Someone.

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

The apostle Paul is not introduced in the New Testament history in a very flattering way. In Acts 8:1, he is giving agreement to the stoning death of Stephen, the first martyr. of messianic faith. Then, Paul takes center stage once again, as he makes his way to Damascus to arrest and bring back to Jerusalem Jewish disciples of “the way” (G-τῆς ὁδοῦ, H-הדרך).

Luke, the author of Acts, makes a rather interesting statement in Acts 9:1, “Paul, still breathing threats and murder against…” By writing “still breathing threats,” Luke is indicating that Paul’s mission of hunting down Jewish disciples of Messiah went on for a lengthy period, his anger at this Jewish movement, then called “the way,” had not cooled.

Still, as I read the conversion of Paul (Acts 9:1-9), I cannot help but what was happening in the background.

The Book of Acts is careful to record that the early messianic community was a prayerful community, often praying for hours, praying and believing that God would answer them. Praying, perhaps with the words of Yeshua/Jesus in mind, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mk. 9:23). Paul posed a significant threat to this community, and for some, he was an obstacle to faith. Yet, I cannot help but think that some Jewish believers would have applied the words of Messiah to Paul, “pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).

Nevertheless, to pray for Paul, a man so committed to wickedness, that God would save him probably seemed impossible . Still, I believe someone prayed for this, and, as we know, that prayer was answered.

There are times when we are part of a prayer group, and in a moment of weakness, react negatively to what is being prayed for: perhaps it seems impossible, perhaps we can’t see any way that it could be fulfilled; but, that’s what faith is for: to believe God, even for what seems impossible to us.

Dear reader, the Jewish disciples that Paul was pursuing had no recourse but to pray fervently to the Lord for relief regarding him. They could not go to the authorities, they could not attack Paul directly; but they could pray believing for what seemed impossible.

Many of us are facing things that seem impossible, but in faith, God makes everything probable. Someone or many someones prayed for Paul, the persecutor of messianic faith, who has been, for the last 2000 years its most prominent voice. Glory to God, prayer does wondrous things.

Maybe the Lord will use you to pray for the impossible. Perhaps He is prompting someone to pray for your impossible right now.

Be well. Shalom.

Mountain Mover

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

“And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matt. 17:14-20).

In this very well-known scene in the Apostolic Scriptures, a father brings his epileptic son to Yeshua’s disciples to be healed, but when they were unable to heal the boy, he was brought to Yeshua Himself.

Once the father and son depart, the disciple’s wonder, as to why, they were unable to cast the demon causing the seizures out of the boy. Yeshua answers, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Jesus is not literally speaking about moving mountains, rather, those metaphorical mountains: the great seemingly unmovable difficulties that we all face in this life. In our text, the boy’s father faced the mountain of his sick son, which caused great distress to his heart. The disciples faced the mountain of doubt from being unable to help the boy.

So how is the mountain moved? After all, Yeshua said the mountain would be moved. First, it is moved by a faith that causes us to pray. Second, by a faith that watches for it to be moved: either by God, or by what He provides.

As an example, several years ago I heard the testimony of a church that needed to move a mountain, actually a large dirt hill behind their building, to make room for an expanded parking lot and recreation facility. The pastor organized a special prayer time dedicated to moving that mountain by faith, and people prayed earnestly for several hours; as you might imagine, the next morning the mountain was still there. That afternoon, however, a representative from the department of transportation visited the church office explaining that the state needed the tons of fill contained in the church “hill” for a road expansion project: the mountain quickly began to move.

Dear reader, there are times when the Lord immediately answers the prayers of His people in the most dramatic and supernatural of ways, but there are also times when He provides the shovel to get the job done.

There are times when we pray for healing, and He provides the medical specialist. There are times when we need to have our personal finances improved, and He provides the job. There are times when we need love, and He provides a friend. There are limitless ways that the Lord can and will answer the earnest prayers of His people; but we must be willing to look and see how He is answering.

This faith is בטחון/bitachon, a simple unwavering confidence in the covenant Lord. Bitachon is the “refuge,” the surety and confidence we walk in on a daily basis, directing us to the agent of faith, Messiah Himself, in all circumstances (Heb. 12:2).

May you be blessed when you see His provision in your lives, and the shovels moving the seemingly immovable mountains.

Be well. Shalom.