A few years ago, we escaped to Boston in the fall, boarded Holland America's Zaandam and cruised up the coast and into Canada to view the fabulous foliage and glean from the teaching of author Joel Rosenberg and his ministry team, The Joshua Fund. Rosenberg, one of our favorite authors, has over 5 million copies of his books in print. He is a Middle East analyst, and an Evangelical leader. You have probably seen him on television if you watch Fox News. While we were aboard the Zaandam, he told the audience about meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II and United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed. Think of it...a Jewish Evangelical author meeting with senior Arab Muslim leaders! Only God!!!! Anyway, the Rosenbergs live in Jerusalem and minister to both Jews and Gentiles.
We were excited to actually meet Joel and Lynn Rosenberg during the cruise!
During one of the evening sessions during our voyage, the ministry introduced a couple who own a huge manufacturing company and use their profits to purchase ancient scrolls from impoverished Israelis and then gift the scrolls to Christian universities and seminaries, preserving God's Word written in Hebrew. They unrolled one such scroll and it reached all the way across the wide stage! We were allowed to join them onstage and take photos of the beautiful, tediously written Word on parchment. It was an amazing experience!
They told us this scroll was only a couple hundred years old. I was still impressed! If I remember correctly, this scroll is the book of Deuteronomy. One of the five books in the Torah, written by Moses when God spoke "mouth to mouth" to him.. I was trying to photograph the Shema (the core and foundation of Isra'el's faith): "Hear, Isra'el! ADONAI our ADONAI is one; and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources. ( Deuteronomy 6:4 CJB)
I remembered these photos today while I was preparing tomorrow's lesson for the preschoolers at church--I know, this could be a little heavy for preschoolers!
The lesson is based on Romans 1 and specifically teaches that Paul , the author of the letter to the Romans, "went to synagogue school and learned about God and the laws God gave to His people. Paul studied and studied the laws until he could even say the laws without thinking. But one day Paul discovered something more important. Paul learned the truth about Jesus: Jesus is God's Son, the One God had promised to send to help people. Paul learned that Jesus loved him and all people."
I grew up believing that the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) are "laws" God gave to the Israelites. And believe me, as a child growing up in the sixties and seventies, I did not like the sound of the word "law"! In fact, I kinda liked to think that laws were made to be broken. That is terrible, isn't it? Fortunately, I did not apply that philosophy to God's Top Ten (the Ten Commandments) and curfews - just to speed limits and Study Hall rules.(And yes, that can be expensive!) But I did not like to study "The Law". I preferred the Psalms and the stories about Jesus and the experiences of the disciples and the apostle Paul for my devotional readings.
Now I know that the first five books of the Bible known as the Pentateuch are called the TORAH (to-raw) in Hebrew with the definition as follows: "A feminine noun meaning instruction, direction, law, Torah, the whole Law. This noun comes from the verb yarah, which has, as one of its major meanings, to teach, to instruct." 52 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know says "...the Hebrew word for law is torah, which also means "guide"...The Bible is God's guidebook for better living. It's His way of helping you to have fewer regrets in life. Now, a guidebook sounds a lot easier to follow than a law book, am I right?"
Oh yes! I agree! I WANT to follow a Guidebook to a better life, don't you? And it gets even better: John, the beloved disciple wrote, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."
He was writing about Yeshua Jesus, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us! Torah!
This week's preschool memory verse is Romans 1:16: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." Verse 17 is key: "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith (or faith alone), as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'"
Awesome, isn't it?! The Guidebook (Torah) guides me to Yeshua Jesus, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us, then took my sins upon himself when He died on the cross and paid the penalty for my lawlessness and THEN He triumphed over death and was resurrected. He lives to make intercession for me and fills me with His Holy Spirit who is my Guide, Teacher, Comforter, and Helper in following the Guidebook!
Thank You, FATHER for TORAH!
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