halom and welcome to [Hebrew 00:00:05], a Hebrew phrase which means you shall love Israel. We hope you’ll stay with us for the next 30 minutes as our teacher, Dr. Baruch, shares his expository teaching from the Bible. Dr. Baruch is the senior lecturer at the Zera Avraham Institute based in Israel. Although all courses are taught in Hebrew at the institute, Dr. Baruch is pleased to share this weekly address in English. To find out more about our work in Israel, please visit us on the web at loveisrael.org. That’s one word. Loveisrael.org. Now here’s Baruch with today’s lesson.

Dr. Baruch:    One very important word in the Hebrew Bible is the word [Hebrew 00:00:47], which means vessel. Now usually we think about those vessels that were in the holy of holies or in a general sense in the temple, and they were used for worship and to bring glory to God.

But today I want to focus in on another type of vessel. We learn in the new covenant that we are the vessels of the living God. And in the same way that those vessels in the temple were used to honor God and to worship him, we also are called to be used by God in order to bring him honor, to worship him as the scripture says in spirit, in truth. But the question is this. Are we in a condition to do that? And the answer to that question is, without faith, it’s impossible to do anything which is pleasing to God. Take out your Bible and look with me, if you would, to the book of Mark and chapter two. The book of Mark and chapter two.

Now, in the first section that we’re going to be looking at, we’re going to see a few examples, two examples specifically, where we learn some of the necessary characteristics that need to be applied to our life in order that we can become faithful vessels to God, useful vessels to God, whereby others can see the glory of God in our lives. So with that said, Mark chapter two and let’s begin in verse 21. Now, we talked about in our last lesson that the days are coming, and that phrase implies a change. And if we don’t understand the change and if we’re not prepared for the change, then those days are going to come to our disappointment. So what’s the change? Well, look if you would to verse 21. Some instruction. Some instructions had come through a very important example. Messiah is teaching and he says, “No one sows,” and most Bibles say, “A new patch,” but it’s really the word for one that is un-shrunk, one that has not been treated, one that is different from the garment that you’re using, that you’re wearing, that you want to fix.

So he says in this passage, and we’ve all heard this probably many times, “No one sews a new garment upon an old garment.” Why? Well, if you do, what will happen? The new will tear away. And what it’s talking about here is the piece that fulfills the whole. Now, that’s important, that word for fulfill. Many English Bibles don’t put it in, but it’s there in the Greek texts and it tells us that something’s lacking. Something’s missing. Something needs to be used to fill up that which is absent. And the truth here is that we’re talking about the message of Messiah. There’s been an emphasis in the first chapter and the second chapter, not so much upon the miracles and the signs and the wonders that Messiah did, but there’s been an emphasis upon the teaching. And unless we understand that teaching, unless we apply that teaching to our lives, we will never be the vessel that is going to be pleasing to God, that he will use in order to bring him honor and glory.

So what’s the message here? Well, look again at verse 21. It says you don’t take an absolutely new piece of garment and sew it upon a hole to patch up the old. If you do, what will happen? Well, it tells us it will tear away. The new will tear away from the old and it will bring about a schism. And that’s an important word. Some Bibles simply translate it a tear, but it uses the word schism in Greek, which means a tearing away of people. And it’s not an accident that he chooses that word.

Now, what is he alluding to? Well, he understands what’s going to happen and what is happening today. Messiah came and he taught over and over the message of Moses and the message of the prophets. He says in another place, specifically in the book of Luke, he says, “If someone doesn’t believe the law and the profits, they’re not going to believe me in my message, even if one were to rise from the dead and tell them.

So I want you to see that there is that inherent relationship between the message of the profits, the message of of Moshe Bain, Moses, our teacher, and what Messiah came to do and what he taught and what this, this principle through this example is telling us is this. When we take his teachings and we, we don’t use them and share them and teach them or demonstrate them in a way that shows the connection with the old, that is the Hebrew scriptures, what’s going to happen? There’s going to be a schism that is people are going to go in different directions. They’re going to be torn apart and that’s why today we see those are such a dichotomy between what the Christians believe followers of Messiah Showa and what Judaism teaches. To the extent that if you were to take a typical rabbi, he would say there’s basically no connection between what is said in the new covenant and what is said in the old covenant.

And now we know if we read that, that’s not the case, but he’ll make that statement based upon how he sees believers in Messiah Showa living and because there’s such a ceasing from the message, the teaching, the culture that’s express in the old covenant, he naturally consumed concludes that what is written in the new covenant must be something totally different. And what Messiah is teaching in this passage is that that ought not be, we take his teachings and we need to share them in a way that there is a connection with what the prophet said and what the law of Moses taught. There is a unity, but because we don’t, let me give you an example of that. You go into to a congregation of believers and by and large they want nothing to do with holidays such as Passover and Pentecost or Shabbat, the feast of Tabernacles, Hanukkah, all days that are mentioned in the scriptures, what we would call the appointed times of God people and what did they do?

Well, they have a whole new list of holidays that by and large has nothing to do with the scriptural revelation. They’ll do such things as this. They’ll talk about one of the most blessing days, fact the blessing and that is the resurrection of Messiah and they’ll speak of that in terms of the word Easter, a pagan God of fertility and not realize that in the Torah it tells us that that day, the very day that Messiah rose from the dead was also an day in Judaism. It’s called rashi. And unless you understand the message, the teaching of that holiday, from a biblical perspective, you’re going to miss out on a lot of truth concerning the resurrection of Messiah. So if we don’t give the truth, the teaching of Messiah in that proper connection with the old, then what’s going to happen? Just what has happened. There’s going to be a dichotomy, a tearing away from, from the old covenant people with the new covenant people and that was not God’s will.

Let’s move on to verse first to the second example and no one cast wine that is new wine in old wineskins for if they do, what’s going to happen? The wine will rip or tear the wine skins and the wine will perish and also the white and skins. Now that’s an important statement because it teaches something that on first glance seems different. We learned in the first verse of our study that we need to put a old garment, an old garment on a old garment, but we see here that new wine has to go in new wineskins. What’s the connection? Well, oftentimes we see a connection in in wine and the Holy spirit and what it’s talking about here is this. We cannot receive the Holy spirit in a unregenerated state. We have to become a new creation. Any one is in Messiah. He is a new creation.

And because of this new creation that he becomes, he’s able now to receive that new wine, the joy of the Lord, the teachings of the Lord, the Holy spirit. He’s able to receive those things and not bring about his destruction. Let me give you an example from the Torah. We read about the sons of a heroin. He had more than two sons, but 2 sons specifically in this passage from the book of Leviticus, both in Leviticus chapter, chapter 10 and also in the video cuts chapter 16 we read about [Hebrew 00:11:18] and they came before God. They drew close to God’s presence. And what happened? God slayed them. Why? Well, they were bringing that unrighteous fire. That is, they were coming before him in the wrong way, in the old way, and the way that they thought was right and what was the outcome?

Death. And in that same way, if we are not regenerated by the grace of God through the truth of the [Hebrew 00:11:47], the gospel, if the Holy spirit were to come upon a and endow, within him, that person would be slain just like it talks about here, that the new wine will destroy the the old wineskins you need to put in new wineskins verse 23. And it came about on the Sabbath that he entered into the fields, the cornfield specifically, not just he but also his disciples and they began on the way to do something. Now I want you to see here that there is an immediate change of something. We’re now talking about the Sabbath and for everything that we’re going to do in the rest of this, this teaching, we’re good to focus on Sabbath truth. Now here again, I talked about how there’s a dichotomy between a believers and those who subscribe to Judaism.

And what I want to emphasize is this, by and large believers in Messiah put no emphasis on the Sabbath, or they think the Sabbath has been changed or they think it’s simply a principle that allows them to chose any days that they want and say, well, that’s my Sabbath. It’s more convenient for me to rest and do the wisdom and the principle, the Sabbath on Tuesday than it is on the seventh day. But what we need to understand is that unless we base our theology upon the scripture, God’s blessing is not going to be upon us. So the scripture says that God sanctified one day of the week. No, he sacrificed the seventh day of the week and therefore we don’t have the freedom or the Liberty to violate scripture. And we can’t say, well, the Sabbath now is a different day, or it’s whatever day I want it to be, whenever I want it to be.

If we behave like that, then we’re living in the same way as [Hebrew 00:13:57] that thought that they could come before God, whenever they wanted to, with whatever they wanted to and how they wanted to and what was their end result. God slayed them his righteousness and holiness. So look again at verse 23 and it came about that he on the Sabbath, entered into the fields, also his disciples on the way they began to do something, they began to pluck the stocks. Now, here’s what’s important. It is the Sabbath day and the Sabbath puts certain restraints upon us and there’s the bait, in my opinion, in what they were doing was wrong or if it wasn’t wrong. Let me tell you real briefly the basis for it from my perspective, there are several different types of Sabbaths. For example, there is what’s known in the scripture.

The year of Shmita, Shmita is seen as the Sabbath year. It’s when we, we cause our fields not to be sewn and we leave them fallow and we don’t harvest. But do you realize that whatever grows up naturally, you’re able to come? You can’t harvest it, you can’t sell it, but you are free to to go on that Sabbath year and to take an eat the same day. And in essence that’s exactly what his disciples were doing. But putting aside whether it is right or wrong, what they’re doing, Messiah doesn’t deal with that. In fact, he’s going to give an example that what they did was technically wrong from the perspective of the the Pharisees. But he wants to teach a different principle and that is a proper understanding of the commandments of God. And the Sabbath is a big one. And the proper understanding is this, that God gave the law.

He gave all the commandments in order to bless us and not harm us. And if we understand that principle, we are going to be moved along in righteousness and holiness and we’re going to be used by God in a mighty way. So it says that he and his disciples, they were in the field and his disciples began to pluck the grain. And of course eight verse 24 and the Pharisees said to him, behold, what they are doing on the Sabbath this thing is not legal. now important because they don’t give a biblical citation, do they? And that leads me to conclude two things. One is that the Pharisees by and large did not make their cases based upon the scripture, but their opinion. Secondly, perhaps there was nothing in the scripture that they could base it upon. All of this was coming from the oral tradition, the tradition of the elders.

Verse 25 and Messiah responded. Now Messiah did not respond with with contempt, but rather he and notice the difference the Pharisees just spoke from, from their own thoughts. But Messiah always taught based upon a scriptural truth. Over and over he used the scripture in order to teach his revelation first verse 25 and he says to them, have you never read what David did when he had a need and was hungry? He and those who are with him now, what was the circumstances? David was being pursued by Saul saw and his men wanted to kill him. And David was on the the flee, fleeing for his life and he ran out of food. And we read in in this scripture verse verse 26 and David entered into the house of God and who was the leader? The high priest, a man by the name of Eviatar.

Now the first thing I want to say is this. It is very significant that the high priests, the one who was ruling the one who was anointed by God, he did not say anything negative to David. David you can’t do that because he rightly understood the use of the word of God, the use of the commandments. And when we look at the Torah, the purpose of the Torah is to bless. It is to give life and not to curse or to bring death if we utilize it correctly. And David’s heart was in the right place. We have already said that David was fleeing for his life, others were with him, they were hungry. And now David was looking for a blessing and God provided it in a very interesting and significant manner. So once again, verse 26 and he entered into the house of God, which the high priests Eviatar sit, that is, he was in, in control of ruling over and he ate.

He ate from the show bread, which technically was not legal for David and his men to eat from because they were not priests. But once again, the house of God is there so that we can be blessed by God. And because of the need and the absence of food from another source, the high priest permitted David to eat of that. Now we know one thing, we can also go back and turn our attentions to the book of Exodus chapter 19 and seeing verse six, that one day all of God’s people are going to be a a kingdom of priests and a Holy nation. And one is that when we draw near in redemption and David is seen as a typeology of that redemption, a man after God’s own heart. So David ate of this food, he gave it to those who are with them.

And the scripture is very clear that technically it was not legal but for the need. And even today in rabbinical Judaism, there is something known as [Hebrew 00:20:40] meaning if life is dependent upon it or even if someone’s going to suffer, it’s acceptable to to transgress the Sabbath because man is more important than the Sabbath, that’s what rabbi teach. And that’s exactly what we’re going to see in this next two verses. Look now to verse 27 Messiah is speaking and he says to them, the Sabbath on account of men came about and nut man on account of Sabbath. And I translated that literally and when it tells us here is that that man takes precedent. God did not create man to keep the Sabbath, but rather he created the Sabbath to be a blessing for man. So it would make no sense for David not to, to be blessed by something if God created it for that specific purpose.

So he’s teaching a very important principle. Look on to verse 28 now we learned that that Messiah, we read in verse 28 with the result that the son of man is the Lord of the Sabbath. Now what I want to say before we conclude is simply this. When we understand the Sabbath for what it is and we apply it, we utilize it not necessarily in the letter of the law, but the intent of the law and that’s what Paul spoke about in the book of Romans. We can see that the Sabbath can be a blessing in our life today. Let me give you an example now. Now we want to follow God’s word. We in our house, we want to apply the word of God to our life, not in order to look down upon others, not in order to try to be better than someone else.

All those things are ridiculous and one who would want that. Their heart is far removed from Hashem. But here’s the key. When one applies scriptural truth that our life even about the Sabbath, God will still bless. Here’s the example. My oldest daughter now she’s a almost 23 but when she was 15, 16, 17, the last thing that she wanted to do was spend time with her dad and sit down and talk to me. But I’m a night person. She’s a night person. Shabbat would come and during the week as most families, you know, everyone’s doing their own thing and it’s tough throughout the week to even sit down the whole family and eat a meal together. But Sabbath comes Friday night air of Shabbat and everything stops and the whole family comes together to eat a meal together. And that’s a blessing. Well, as the night goes on, the littler children, they go to sleep.

Usually my wife, she’s had a hard week. She goes to sleep and there what happens? I’m left alone with my daughter now because of Sabbath observance. There’s no television, there’s no computer, there’s no iPad, there’s nothing to do for her. Her friends are with their parents. Everything has shut down in Israel for the Sabbath. So she is left with me and God has utilized that time. Some of the best conversations that I’ve had with my eldest daughter has been on Friday night at midnight or one or two in the morning. Everyone else is asleep and we begin to talk. Why? Because of the Sabbath.

So I want to emphasize the Sabbath can still be a blessing. Sabbath. We don’t do work. We don’t talk on the phone, not because God specifically says, don’t do that. We’re under those, those restraints. No, we do it because it’s a blessing to have one day away from phone calls, text messages, emails and other things for the family to be together and to focus upon the word of God and to set aside an additional time throughout the week and additional time where we don’t have to worry about getting to a meeting, getting to a job, doing anything we can enjoy the freedom to push everything out and worship the living God.

Now in that verse, look again verse verse 28 with the result Messiah is teaching and he’s revealing to them that he, the son of man, is the Lord of the Sabbath. Now we should understand this in two specific ways. The term son of man is inherently related to the Messiah. It was an expression talking about the one whom God would send to do the work of redemption. So he tells us, and this expression, Lord of the Sabbath, it was understood in relationship to the Sabbath and the kingdom. In fact, in rabbinical Judaism and also there’s evidence of this in the New Testament, the connection between the Sabbath, that understanding of the Sabbath and the kingdom. In fact, among the writings in the rabbinical literature, sometimes the kingdom is referred to the great Sabbath. So in this passage says, and the son of man that is the Messiah is Lord of the Sabbath.

That is the kingdom. So what he was telling him to these individuals, if I’m the one who’s going to rule over the kingdom, do you really think that my disciples, that I would have them to do something that that is not permissible? See the kingdom as well as the Sabbath speaks about the the abundance.

For example, there is a requirement under Jewish law to eat three meals on the Sabbath day. And we do things. For example, one of the things that we teach about the Sabbath is when you pour that cup to sanctify the Sabbath, we pull it all the way, fill it up, all the way to the top, a cup of of abundant salvation. In the kingdom things won’t be scarce. There’s an abundance. So it goes against the whole principle of the Sabbath to be hungry, to be in need. So what the disciples did was to manifest God’s provision so that they would have their needs met. Because in the kingdom of God, no one is going to be lacking any thing whatsoever. And in our next study, we’re going to see how Messiah continues to teach us Sabbath truth as it relates to the kingdom so that we can understand who he is and what he’s going to bring about through his faithfulness in accomplishing the work of redemption. Well, we’ll close with that until next week and we begin Mark chapter three.

Speaker 1:    Well, we hope you will benefit from today’s message and share it with someone else. Please plan to join us each week at this time and on this station for the radio edition of loveisrael.org again, to find out more about us, please visit us at our website, loveisrael.org there you will find articles and several other lectures from our teacher, Dr.Baruch. These teachings are in video form. You may download them or watch them in streaming video until next week. May the Lord bless you in our Messiah [Hebrew 00:28:57]. That is Jesus. As you walk with him, Shalom from Israel.