Parasha Nitzavim

Me

This week we read Parasha Nitzavim, Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20. In context Nitzavim closes our the Blessings and Curses of Deuteronomy and hones in on the reality that walking in faithfulness to the Lord is a personal choice, not something HaShem requires a robotic acceptance of. More so, He specifies that honoring covenant relationship with Him is not something difficult, it does not require some sort of epic journey or feat of strength to learn what to do.

Many of you have heard me talk about my dad coming to faith. He was raised in a traditional Jewish home and when he came to faith our family disowned him. There was a long time of my early life where we, unfortunately weren’t very close with my extended family. But, no matter what, we as a family chose to walk fervently in our faith in Yeshua no matter what.

Over the years there were conversations, questions asked, even some arguments that were had between my dad and the extended family when we would come around for certain events. And the longer we maintained our trust in Yeshua the more those conversations continued to become more and more interesting questions and discussions.

Ultimately, I am now almost 39 and we have watched several in our family come to faith in Yeshua themselves. But none is more impactful to me than my own grandmother. Over the years as we would go down to Orlando for the MJAA Southeast Regional Conference my grandmother and grandfather would come to Orlando to see us and they would actually come to some of the sessions and services. She fell in love with Paul Wilbur’s music because of the conference. She asked for a Complete Jewish Bible because of the conference. And I am pretty sure for years she was a closet believer, but she had never really said anything.

Back in 2009, just after Elyana was born, my grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was given a very short period of time to live. When she was moved to hospice she was given a week to live and all our extended family came in to spend the last few days with her. A night or two after she was moved to hospice my dad and one of his older brothers (who is also a believer) stayed behind that night after everyone left to talk with her. They basically flat out told her that they did not want to see her die without knowing they’d see her again. That night she professed her faith in Yeshua as her Messiah and the next morning when we got to her room she was on the patio and asked Danielle and I to come out with her because she wanted to talk to us. She shared with us her newly professed faith and how much different she felt.

I’m not going to lie to you, when we left the hospice the night before she looked rough, but when we came back in that morning her entire countenance had changed and she looked like she could have walked out of the hospice facility that day.

I took well over twenty years for her to come to faith. There were a lot of missed opportunities to spend time with her because of our faith in Messiah. But, when it all boiled down to it, I completely believe that our faith walk no matter the adversity planted and watered a seed in her life that ultimately fostered her coming to know the Jewish Messiah. It took 72 years for her to profess faith in her Messiah, but the entire 70 years God was faithfully waiting for her repentance and salvation.

She even asked my dad to officiate her funeral and demanded he made sure he expressed to our entire family the decision she made that fateful night in hospice and why it is so important they make the same decision themselves.

We

Many of you have family and friends who do not yet know Messiah or who aren’t walking with Him currently.

Maybe you’ve spent years praying for your parents to come to faith.

Maybe you’ve spent years praying for your children.

Maybe you’ve spent years longing to see your siblings turn their lives around.

Or maybe even your own walk with the Lord has wavered in recent years and you know how desperately you need to turn your life back around rooted in Yeshua.

God

This very reality is at the core of Parasha Nitzavim. Keep in mind, this parasha is the closing of the Blessings and Curses of Deuteronomy in which the Lord tells Israel if you walk faithfully with me you I will bless you and provide for all your needs. And if Israel walked contrary to the Word of God then there would be a series of curses which were for the purpose of getting Israel’s attention, like when I have to punish my kids, so that they’d correct path. The goal of the Blessings and Curses wasn’t at all to punish for the sake of punishment, it was solely for the purpose of drawing Israel back in T’shuvah, and the Blessings and Curses show us that God’s patience for the repentance of Israel was never ending.

And this week we see a very important spiritual reality revealed in the Torah:

The Lord desires nothing more than restored relationship with us and He is patiently waiting on our T’shuvah.

(Repeat)

And here’s the thing, it doesn’t matter how far you’ve run… It doesn’t matter how much you’ve sinned… It doesn’t matter how terrible of a person you think you are… It doesn’t matter how terrible of a person others think we are… It doesn’t matter how old or how young we are…

This is clear in Parasha Nitzavim, so let’s dig into the Parasha some today beginning in Deuteronomy 30…

Deuteronomy 30:1–6 TLV

“Now when all these things come upon you—the blessing and the curse that I have set before you—and you take them to heart in all the nations where Adonai your God has banished you, and you return to Adonai your God and listen to His voice according to all that I am commanding you today—you and your children—with all your heart and with all your soul, then Adonai your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you, and He will return and gather you from all the peoples where Adonai your God has scattered you. Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the heavens, from there Adonai your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. Adonai your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, and you will possess it; and He will do you good and multiply you more than your fathers. Also Adonai your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants—to love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.

Let’s break this down a little bit...

Deuteronomy 30:1–2 TLV

“Now when all these things come upon you—the blessing and the curse that I have set before you—and you take them to heart in all the nations where Adonai your God has banished you, and you return to Adonai your God and listen to His voice according to all that I am commanding you today—you and your children—with all your heart and with all your soul,

In the Hebrew of verse 2 we read: V’shav’ta Ad-Adonai Elohecha V’Shama’ta B’Kolo K’chol Asher-Anochi M’tzav’cha Hayom

Notice two key phrases here, V’shavta Ad-Adonai Elohecha And you return to Adonai your God. The Hebrew word return is from the root word Shuv which means to turn back or return. This is where we get the idea of repentance from, and in Hebrew we’d call it T’shuvah. The concept of repentance is often underplayed in the Body of Messiah today, there’s this idea that we just throw up a random I’m sorry and we’re all good to continue as we were. But the Hebrew concept of repentance is completely difference. The Hebrew concept of repentance is a complete and total change of heart and mind, we realize we’re walking in the wrong direction, we stop dead in our tracks, we turn around and walk back to God.

Deuteronomy 30:3 TLV

then Adonai your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you, and He will return and gather you from all the peoples where Adonai your God has scattered you.

About verse 3 Rashi notes The Hebrew word used here for “he will return” is not veheishiv—which means “he will bring back”—but veshav, which literally means “he will come back.” Our sages learned from this that the Divine Presence resides among Israel, as it were, in all the misery of their exile, and when the Jews are redeemed, G‑d speaks of it as His own redemption— He Himself returns along with Israel’s exiles.

This is a very powerful realization folks, what this single word variance shows us is that no matter how far we try to run from God He will never leave us nor forsake us. This isn’t just a promise to the Jewish people, this is a promise to all creation. Messiah Yeshua came and offered His life for the sins of all mankind so that all could be restore to Him. What this simple word variance shows us is that even when we are walking contrary to HIs ways, even when we are trying to run from Him, He is always with us and He is always drawing us back to Him and as we draw close to Him He will draw close to us.

Verse 6 says that when we return to Him, when we come back He will circumcise our hearts. This is a powerful promise and one that is fulfilled when we return to Adonai through Messiah Yeshua. This is the promise of Jeremiah 31…

This is the reality of the promise of circumcision of the heart. When we return to Adonai with all our heart and all our soul then He will circumcise the flesh of our heart. He will cut off our sinful ways, our sinful ambitions in our heart and replace that with the etching His word in our hearts. He will place His Word in our hearts. What better way to hear His voice and respond to it if His Word, His voice is a part of us? One of the major complaints we see Yeshua make about the Pharisees was their tendency to strictly adhere to and obey Torah on the outside without a true heart change. In other words, their actions were solely external. But, when His Word is etched upon our hearts it becomes something we adhere to, something we listen to internally and through the transformation of the internal the external will follow suit. We will honor and obey His voice and His Torah because it is a heart matter, not a flesh matter.

To this effect, Nachmanides says From the time of the creation of the universe, man had the choice to be righteous or wicked. So it was for the entire duration of the Torah, in order that there be merit for us in choosing good and punishment for desiring evil. But in the days of Moshiach choosing good will be in our nature, and the heart will not lust for that which is not proper for it, and will have no desire for it at all. This is the “circumcision” spoken of here, as lust is a “foreskin” blocking the heart, and the “circumcision of the heart” is the removal of lust. In those times man will return to what he was before Adam’s sin, when he naturally did what is proper to do, and there were no conflicts and contradictions in his will . . .

John 1 tells us Yeshua is the Word made flesh. When we receive Salvation in the Blood of the Lamb that Word made flesh takes up residence in our hearts and lives, very literally the promise of Jeremiah 31 becomes a reality in our lives. His Word becomes written upon our hearts. And when we strive to live like Yeshua, live as disciples of Yeshua, emulate Yeshua we are doing so from our hearts and it permeates our flesh.

And this is exactly what Paul is referring to in Romans 2 when he discusses the circumcision of the heart. He wasn’t the first to reference it, Moses brings it up first in Deuteronomy 30.

As Moses says in Parasha Nitzavim, and Paul reiterates in Romans, the idea of repentance, walking faithfully in HaShem’s ways, having a deep and legitimate relationship with the Lord, hearing His voice, and living our His Word is not too difficult for us.

Deuteronomy 30:14 TLV

No, the word is very near to you—in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.

He then continues with the closing words of this weeks Parasha, which really bring the whole reality of what we’re talking today about home. The Lord didn’t create us so that we’d parish, He didn’t place His breath of life in us so that we’d be handed over to the enemy for all eternal. But, He also didn’t create us to be robots… He gave us freewill to choose to walk with Him or to walk contrary to Him. He desires nothing more than for our return, so much so that, as John 3:16 says...

John 3:16 TLV

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

And Moses really drives this home… At the tail end of Deuteronomy 30 we read

Deuteronomy 30:15–20 TLV

“See, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil. What I am commanding you today is to love Adonai your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His mitzvot, statutes and ordinances. Then you will live and multiply, and Adonai your God will bless you in the land you are going in to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away and bow down to other gods and worship them, I tell you today that you will certainly perish! You will not prolong your days on the land, where you are about to cross over the Jordan to go in to possess. “I call the heavens and the earth to witness about you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live, by loving Adonai your God, listening to His voice, and clinging to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell on the land that Adonai swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob—to give them.

The choice is ours… We can choose life and good or death and evil. The ball is in our court and the decision is totally up to us. The Lord has not only given us His Word to direct our footsteps, He has not only called us to repentance over and over and over again, but even more so, He has given us Yeshua HaMashiach who died for our sins that we could be truly and fully restored through Salvation.

As Moses says, “Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live, by loving God, listening to His voice, and clinging to HIm.”

The Lord desires nothing more than restored relationship with us and He is patiently waiting on our T’shuvah.

2 Peter 3:8–9 TLV

But don’t forget this one thing, loved ones, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some consider slowness. Rather, He is being patient toward you—not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

You

So, what are you waiting for? What is holding you back from making T’shuvah, from returning to the Lord through Messiah Yeshua?

Do you feel you’re just too far gone? Have you feel you’ve been hurt or broken too many times?

Do you see so many hypocritical believers running around that it turns you off to a relationship with God?

Do you think you’ve got nothing but time? You’re too busy living your “best life” right now and you’ll get back to God later on when you’ve experienced all that life has to offer?

I’m going to let Moses’ words cover this...

Deuteronomy 30:19 TLV

“I call the heavens and the earth to witness about you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live,

And listen to me closely and carefully when I say this, don’t give up praying for your extended family, your children, your siblings, your friends, you coworkers, whoever else to find their Messiah and make T’shuvah!!! Your prayers are not being ignored, your prayers are not being lost, He is listening and He is working. Keep praying, keep trusting, and keep living the example of Messiah before them. As long as the breath of life is in their lungs it is never too late!!!

We

If our worship team will make their way back up to the stage.

Time is of the essence… We are not promised tomorrow… All we have is the today laying right before us. Today is the day to make a change. Today is the day to stop everything and to fully surrender to the Lord. To return to Him and to listen to His voice.

I am a father, and when my children do something they know they weren’t suppose to do and I have to get on to them or punish them for, there is no more powerful a moment then when they come to me and apologize and give me a hug and I get to wrap my arms around them and reaffirm my love for them and that I only have their best interest at heart.

This is the same with the Adonai. He sees our failures, He sees all the areas of our life that we have messed up in… He is well aware of all of our sins, even the worst of them, the ones we think we can hide from everyone, the ones we think we can shove down so deep in the darkest crevices of our minds that we might even forget about them. And none of that has ever caused Him to not want restored relationship with us.

Today is the day for a life altering change through the Blood of the Lamb. If I have learned anything at all from watching my grandmother come to faith in her final days it is that it is never too late to choose life in Messiah!!!

We’re going to spend a few moments in worship, as we do I want to encourage us to seek out the Lord. If you are listening to this message today and need to return, need to repent, need restoration, today is the day. Don’t wait any longer, don’t make any more excuses.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are just a few days away, what a perfect season for T’shuvah!!! As we worship let’s ask the Lord to dig through our hearts and minds and draw out any areas of our lives in which we need to make T’shuvah.