Emor Saying

Say/Speak to the Priests

What I love about our Congregation is what God has been doing. He has been doing a wonderful thing! That is who He is!

This parsha is a very big ordeal, because we have something incredible that aligns with this day and age.

In this world we had reached a peak of such evil that has caused so much chaos and disorder.

If you saw the movie the Harbingers, you see that people have focused on themselves that there is no reverence to God’s sanctuary!

The gods of humanism, materialism, and all other -isms have risen to a point that has created such volatility.

We see it around us, and it seems that death is inevitable… Truth be told… it is not for those who’s trust is in HaShem Yeshua.

Truth be told, what we need to do here and now is to proclaim… Teshuva (Repentance)!

We will continue to talk about Repentance, but today by relieving to you what repentance is.

This parsha begins with the direction say. What does it mean to say?

It’s a command to speak, talk, tell these words. Those that were made holy through confession were to be holy as He is Holy. Parsha Kedoshim was all about living out that repentence, but we continue today with more.

This here is directed to the men of our society. God has chose to raise up men to take the lead, and it is our duty to make sure that we keep God’s Word. In this world today, we see women taking the place of men, and we see men wanting to take the place of women. This is the very thing that God tells us to abstain from, and still He continues to tell us to… stay away from the dead things!

Stay away from the dead things!

There is one exception that the priests are allowed to come close to… their direct family. I began to ponder very much on God’s Word, and relized that when Yeshua went to heal every person… every person was healed on the merit of their faith and trust! God would not draw near to a dead person simply because they were dead… No, Yeshua said it Himself....

My family are those who do the Will of My Father! (Matt. 12:50 “For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”” )

In the world, pagan practices were taking place for the dead, and God wanted to seperate the children of Israel from such practices. So this message was spoken to the priests. The priests were men chosen by God to usher in and maintain the presence of the Most High God.

So men I say to you… Keep yourself away from the dead!

There is a commentary that reads, “Anything dead is laden with the power of death, and for that reason it does, in a special way, render a thing or person “impure,” that is, incapable of dealing with the holy, the power of life itself.”

Mark F. Rooker, Leviticus, vol. 3A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 273.

This allows us to see why it is important to maintain oneself set apart. We must keep away from the dead things that cause defilement that only leads to death.

I was listening to a person that was making arrangements for a dead person. And the dead person’s wish was to be sent back to their country of origin. But the crazy things about all of this is that the the body cannot be sent back until it is certified that there is nothing that would cause death to spread. So when we read scripture it is not for us to see this as OLD.... No we practice this even today! We do not draw near to the dead when we do not know the cause of death! And when we know the cause of death we are told One of two things… Stay away or.... you can come near the body.

The reality is that more deaths have taken place than how many lives have been saved. Everything God has written is for life, and God is telling us after having cried out to Him to remove the evil from our midst… and now to abstain from drawing near to the dead.

We continue to read in Leviticus 21:18-22

Leviticus 21:18–22 TLV

Any man who has a defect is not to draw near: no one blind or lame or disfigured or deformed, or a man who has a crippled foot or crippled hand or a hunchback or dwarf, or who has an eye defect or a rash or scabs, or who has damaged testicles. None of the offspring of Aaron the kohen who has a defect shall come near to present the offerings of Adonai made by fire. Since he has a defect, he is not to come near to offer the food of his God. He may eat the food of his God, both from the most holy and the holy.

After reading what we read, what would be the cause of such defects? The High Priest is to maintain the highest level of purity within the community, but every person still has a level of puity to maintain. And when we do not keep ourselves from evil, we become blemished. Leviticus doesn’t focus on a person simply being deformed, it’s focus is on those that have done or practiced something they were not supposed to.

Most of the abnormalities that exist today are due to the sin of man, and we see that from the very beginning when Adam and Eve Sinned. We see that when everyone in the time of Noah did what was good in their own eyes. We see that when the people of Sodom wanted to lay down with the Messengers of ADONAI! And it continues even till today.

Because of Adam’s sin the ground was curse. Eve sin lead to pain at childbirth. The people during Noah cause the earth to be flooded. The sin of Sodom caused them to be blinded and for the fire of God to descend. The sin of Lot’s wife caused her to become a pillar of salt. the distrust of Abraham cause His children to be enslaved, the sin of David cause the death of almost all of His kingdom, that cause of the sin of the kings of Israel caused the kingdom of Israel to fall. This is the defilement that God is really focusing on, because truly the wages of sin is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life....

Even in all this, God has the door still open for us. He said to Moses… “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.

He gives us the Sabbath, Passover, Firstfruits, Shavuot (Feast of weeks), Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles.

Essentially, God lays it out for us… Do not do what the world is doing, rather ready yourselves for the day that I appear to you!

This is what Messianic Judaism is all about, the hope that is in Messiah Yeshua.

Messianic Judaism, in the words of Rabbi Stepakoff, “ran counter to the traditional Jewish religious establishment… triggered by the rebirth of the Jewish State and in particular the liberation of Jerusalem in 1967. It was born out of the chaos and turmoil of that season in American history. The JFK assassination, the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, MLK assassination, urban riots, Kent State, the exposure of the misdeeds of the Washington establishment, both Johnson and Nixon Administration… It was a battle between good and evil, and there were many different angles on it. Corruption and unrighteousness could be found on both sides of it.”

But God!

Mark Rooker compares the priestly duty to Romans saying… “The priests’ motivation to obey these commands is the fact that the God who lovingly gives these statutes is the same God who delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians (22:32–33). As the exodus event was the motivation for service for the Old Testament believer, so the sacrifice of Messiah and the deliverance Messiah’s death provided is the motivation for obedience and service Rom. 12:1-2

Romans 12:1–2 TLV

I urge you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice—holy, acceptable to God—which is your spiritual service. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Mark F. Rooker, Leviticus, vol. 3A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 280.

Rabbi Stepakoff continues,

“And while many movements of God’s empowerment have come and gone, the Messianic Jewish movement will remain because God gave us the Moedim! Everywhere Jews and Non-Jews all across the world in every city can be found celebrating the feast of the Lord waiting in the hope of the One to come again, and this time… in all is glory!

This is why we must remain in Him! This is why we must keep away from the dead things and/or the things that cause death. It is in this that as we live out our repentant lives, that God will draw near to us as we live repentant live and cry out to Him!

Baruch Haba BeShem Adonai! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Amen!