To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com> Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 02:14:36 Subject: The Season of Teshuvah
From: Eddie Chumney To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com Subject: The Season of Teshuvah
>From Eddie: **************
THE SEASON OF TESHUVAH
A special season known as TESHUVAH which in Hebrew means "to repent or return" begins on the first day of the month of Elul and continues for 40 days ending on YOM KIPPUR. Thirty days into TESHUVAH, on Tishrei 1, begin ROSH HASHANAH. This begins a final ten-day period beginning on ROSH HASHANAH and ending on YOM KIPPUR.
These are known as the High Holy Days and as the Awesome days (Yamim Nora'im). The sabbath that falls within this ten-day period is called "Shabbat Shuvah", the Sabbath of return. The season of Teshuvah begins on Elul 1 and concludes on Tishrei 10, YOM KIPPUR. Traditionally, on each morning during the 30 days of the month of Elul, the trumpet (shofar) or ram's horn is blown to warn God's people to return or repent.
The whole month of Elul is a 30-day process of preparation through personal examination and repentance for the coming High Holy Days. In a traditional synagogue, the shofar is blown after every morning service. The message from Elul 1 to Rosh HaShanah is very clear: Repent before Rosh HaShanah. Don't wait until after Rosh HaShanah or you will find yourself in the days of Awe.
Before the shofar is blown, a blessing is said prior to blowing the shofar. The blessing is as follows:
"Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheynu Melech HaOlam Asher Kid'shanu B'mitzvotav V'tzivanu Lesh'mo Kol Shofar". Which translates:
Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us by your commandments and commanded us to HEAR the sound of the shofar.
The blessing that we are to receive is HEARING (Shema) the sound of the shofar (and knowing the SPIRITUAL MEANING of what the blowing of the shofar symbolizes) not to actually blow the shofar. In Psalm (Tehillim) 89:15, it is written:
"Blessed is the people that know (understand the spiritual message) (of) the joyful sound (the blowing of the shofar)"
GOD ALWAYS WARNS HIS PEOPLE TO REPENT BEFORE JUDGMENT
God has always desired to warn people before He proclaims judgment. He does not want anyone to receive the wrath of His judgment. In Ezekiel 18:21-23, 32 it is written:
"But if the wicked wil turn from all his sins that he has committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he has committed, that shall not be mentioned unto him: In his righteousness, that he has done (repent) he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked shall die says the Lord God: and not that he should return (repent) from his ways and live? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, says the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and you shall live"
In Zephaniah 2:1-3, God warns people to repent (Teshuvah) before His judgment comes as it is written:
"Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired, BEFORE the degree bring forth, BEFORE the day pass as the chaff, BEFORE the fierce anger fo the Lord come upon you, BEFORE the day of the Lord's anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment, seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be you shall be HID IN THE DAY OF THE LORD'S ANGER."
In II Peter 3:8-10, God warns people to REPENT BEFORE the second coming of the Messiah as it is written:
"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness: but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up"
Teshuvah (repentance) speaks to ALL people. To the unbeliever, Teshuvah (repentance) speaks of repenting of your sins and receiving Yeshua/Jesus as Messiah. To believers in Yeshua/Jesus as Messiah, it is a call to examine your lives and repent where you have departed from God.
THE READING OF PSALM 27
During the month of Elul, not only is the shofar blown to remind God's people to repent but Psalm 27 is recited at the end of the morning and evening liturgy.
The themes of Psalm 27 is God's protection and deliverance during the DAYS OF TROUBLE (an idiom for the tribulation period) and the plea to repent and trust in God for your deliverance. Psalm 27 reads as follows:
"The Lord is my light and my salvation (Yeshua): whom shall I fear: the Lord is the strength of my life: of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host shoud encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in THIS will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For IN THE TIME OF TROUBLE (a Jewish idiom for the tribulation period / Chevai Shel Mashiach (birthpangs of the Messiah) he shall HIDE me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he HIDE me, he shall set me up upon a rock (a term for the Messiah). And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy: I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me. When you say, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto you, your face, Lord will I seek. Hide not your face far from me, put not your servant away in anger: you have been my help: leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I would have fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strenthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
AWAKE From Your Spiritual Slumber
A theme associated with Rosh HaShanah is to AWAKE. Whenever the words AWAKE is mentioned in the Bible, the rabbi's would associate the passage to Rosh HaShanah. The theme of AWAKENING FROM SLEEP is used throughout the Bible. In Isaiah 51:9 it is written:
"AWAKE, AWAKE, put on strength, O arm of the Lord: AWAKE, as in the ancient of days, in the generations of old .."
In Romans 13:11 it is written:
"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to AWAKE OUT OF SLEEP: for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed"
The theme of AWAKENING FROM SLEEP is also found in Ephesians 5:14 as it is written:
"Wherefore, he says, AWAKE YOU THAT SLEEP and arise from the dead and Messiah shall give you light"
In the book, GATES OF REPENTANCE, Moses Maimonides, a famous Jewish Rabbi, iterates a call for people to awaken from spiritual slumber.
"AWAKE, you sleepers, from your sleep! Rouse yourselves, you slumberers, out of your slumber! Examine your deeds, and turn to God in repentance. Remember your creator, you who are caught up in the daily round, losing sight of eternal truth, you are wasting your years in vain pursuits that neither profit nor save. Look closely at yourselves: improve yoru ways and your deeds. Abandon your evil ways, your unworthy schemes, every one of you!" (Yad Hichot Teshuva 3:4)
THE MESSAGE AND MEANING OF REPENTANCe
Repentance is a major theme of Rosh Hashanah. The Hebrew word for repentance is TESHUVAH which means "return or repent".
True repentance is an inner change of heart which leads the sinner to TURN FROM EVIL and RETURN TO GOD. The desires to do good is constantly opposed to the desire to do evil. The desire to do evil is known in Jewish terminology as the "Evil inclination". It is called in Hebrew, "Yetzer Hara". Christians refer to the "evil inclination" as the desires of the flesh.
Man has a Freedom of Will in the choice between good and evil. This struggle within man to do good versus evil is described by the Apostle Paul (Rav Sha'ul) in Romans 7:14-25 as it is written:
"For we KNOW that the TORAH IS SPIRITUAL: but *I* am CARNAL sold under sin (the evil inclination). For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that I not: but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law (evil inclination/flesh) that is good. Now then it is no more I that do it (not my good desire) but sin (the evil inclination) that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is my flesh/evil inclination) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me: but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good (nature) that I would (want) to do; I do not: but the evil (inclination) which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin (evil inclination/flesh) that dwells in me. I find then a law (evil inclination/flesh) that, when I would do good (the) evil (inclination/flesh) is present with me. For I delight in the law (good inclination) of God after the inward man (a renewed and repentant heart). But I see another law (evil inclination) in my members, warring against the law (good inclination) of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law (evil inclination) of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death (evil inclination)? I thank God that Yeshua/Jesus HaMashiach (Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law (good inclination) of God: but with the flesh the law (evil inclination) of sin.
THE THREE LEVELS OF WRONG-DOING
The Bible describes three levels of wrong-doing. These three levels are: TRANGRESSIONS, SINS and INIQUITY.
The first of these levels is sin. Sin in Hebrew is "chattah" which means, "missing the mark or any wayward action due to carelessness, ignorance or error".
The second of these leves is iniquity. Iniquity in Hebrew is "Avon" which means "crookedness or departure from right conduct by conscious departure from doing a Divine commandment of God"
The third level is transgression. Transgression in Hebrew is "peshah" which means "rebellion or deliberate persistence of rebellion".
David proclaimed those who are blessed by God whose transgressions, sins, and iniquities are forgiven. In Psalm 32:1-2, 5 it is written:
"Blessed is he whose TRANSGRESSION is forgiven, who SIN is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not INIQUITY and in whose spirit there is no guile ... I acknowledge my SIN unto thee, and mine INIQUITY have I not hid. I said, I will confess my TRANSGRESSIONS unto the Lord: and you forgave my INIQUITY of my sin".
It is the blood which makes an atonement for the soul of man. In Leviticus 17:11 it is written:
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul"
By accepting Yeshua/Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and by trusting in His shed blood, our sins are forgiven. In Romans 3:24-25 it is written:
"Being justified freely by the GRACE through the REDEMPTION that is in Christ Jesus: which God has set forth to be a propitiation THROUGH FAITH IN HIS BLOOD, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.
THE THREE STEPS OF REPENTANCE
There are three major steps in repenting of your sins. The first step is CONFESSION.
If we confess our sins before God and trust in the shed blood of Yeshua/Jesus to forgive us of our sins, we will be cleansed. In I John 1:7, it is written:
"If walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Yeshua/Jesus cleanses us from all sin"
The second step is REMORSE.
The full realization and the seriousness of sin before God should ultimately bring sorrow and remorse from the sinner toward God.
The third step is CORRECTIVE ACTION.
Confession and remorse is not real unless it is followed by a solemn resolve not to repeat the sin. In Isaiah 55:7 it is written:
"Let the wicked FORSAKE his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him: and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
In II Timothy 2:19 it is written:
"Nevertheless, the foundation of God stand sure, having this seal, The Lord knows them that are his. And, let every one that names the name of Messiah DEPART FROM INIQUITY.:
May we examine our hearts and our lives during this 40 day season of Teshuvah and serve God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.
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