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The articles in this blog represent my own belief, thoughts and walk with Adonai and the things He teaches me. Do not copy or publish any of my articles without my permission.

Thank you for your understanding,
Bat Melech בת מלך

Monday, July 19, 2010

Tisha b'Av

Tisha b'Av literally means - the 9th of Av- and it's a day of fasting and mourning for the Jewish people. They mourn the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) in Yerushalayim and all the destruction that came upon the Jewish people ever since. It's a very sad day, probably the saddest day in Jewish history, a day when the Jews beg for the reconstruction of the third Temple and the coming of Mashaich. May it be HaShem's will that the Beit HaMikdash will be rebuilt soon and the redemption of the Jewish people begins. Bo Yeshua! Come Yeshua!











Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

Monday, July 12, 2010

Chabad at World Cup

Although I am not a lubavitcher (chabad) fan 100%, I do believe that they are one of the best kiruv (bringing assimilated Jews close to Judaism) oriented Jewish sect, right next to the breslov Chassidim. Aside for the fact that both sects were a bit too obsessed with their Rabbis (Menachem Sheerson and Nachman b'Uman) they have a genuine love for Judaism and yiddishkeit (Jews) and in that respect I feel close to them. They believe that joy is the cure for anything. This video is just the proof of that. Enjoy!



Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

A soldier's story

Friday, July 9, 2010

Get out of Mitzrayim!

When Israel was in Mitzrayim (Egypt), Adonai commanded them to take a perfect lamb and sacrifice it. Its blood they were supposed to put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel of their houses and they had to eat all of the lamb, without leaving any leftovers. Adonai commanded that they should remember and do this as an eternal law (Shemot/ Exod 12:14), with one small difference: they wouldn't put the blood of the lamb on the two side posts and on the lintel. The blood was a one time thing. The Jews didn't have to put the blood of the lamb on the side posts on every Pesach (Passover), they only had to eat the lamb.
We know that this is a picture of what would happen when Mashiach would come. He is the perfect Lamb of Elohim. When someone is in Mitzrayim (Egypt) and is a slave of sin, they can come out of that only covered by the blood of Mashiach. This covering is done only once because you come out of Egypt only once. If you go back there then you crucify Yeshua again (Hebrews 6:6) and that it's impossible. It was too much for Adonai to watch His Holy Son being killed by sinners and He can't go through that again. Yeshua was glorified above all things and He can't get off His throne and suffer again just because you miss the cucumbers of Egypt (Bamidbar/ Numbers 11:5). If you were set free and got out of Egypt once then it's never an option to go back no matter what! If the Jews that came out of captivity would have returned there, then Adonai would have had to bring all the plagues against Mitzrayim again, they would have had to slain a perfect lamb again, the angel of death would have had to come again, and the entire liberation process would have had to be repeated, and that was impossible. If you couldn't do that with the blood of a lamb, then even less can you do it with the blood of Mashiach.
Once you decided you don't want to be a slave anymore and you took the blood of Yeshua then you must get out of Mitzrayim and never return again. The blood of Yeshua was spilled only once and it's not necessary to be crucified every time one chooses to go back to Egypt.
After the Jews were saved by the blood of the lamb, they had to eat the lamb so they would have strength to walk a long journey out of Egypt. It wasn't enough just to put the blood of the lamb on the side posts of their homes, that was just their ticket out of captivity, but each and every one of them had to go out and start walking on this path that Adonai would show them until they would reach Eretz HaKodesh (Holy Land). If a Jew would have chosen to put the blood on the side posts but would not go out of Egypt the next day, then what would he gain that he was covered by the blood? Same thing with us, if we've been covered by the blood of Yeshua then we must be ready to walk out of Egypt, not just to sit there and thank Him for His blood. What's the point to be covered by the blood if you are still in Egypt? If you've been covered by the blood of Yeshua then you must walk out of captivity, away from sin and never return to it, then you must walk on the path that Adonai will show you. The Jews didn't know the way to Israel, but they were lead there by Adonai as a cloud by day and pillar of fire at night.
We don't know the way to our promised land either but we know the Way and if we stay on it then it can't lead anywhere else but to Adonai.
The Way s not easy so we need to feed ourselves with the Lamb of Elohim so that we won't faint on the way, but even if it happens for us to fall He will lift us up because He's merciful and He values our walk with Him. The main thing is not to go back to Egypt!


Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

An eye for an eye

Some like to use this phrase ”an eye for an eye” to 'explain' why the Law was something way too severe and it's 'expired' because now it has been replaced by love. To secure that theory, they use Yeshua's words from Matthew 5:38-41 to support their theory which claims that the Law is done with.

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, don't resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.'

We know that Yeshua came to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17), and we know that 'an eye for an eye' is in the Law' so, if Yeshua didn't come to abolish the Law, then how can you explain His words?
The Jewish people have kept this mitzvah (commandment) for 4000 years and I can promise you that they're not a blind and toothless nation. "An eye for an eye" doesn't encourage revenge nor does it encourage people to make justice for themselves.
The context in which this mitzvah was given, is 'slightly' different than most like to quote it.

But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise. "If a man strikes his servant's eye, or his maid's eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. - Shemot/ Exodus 21:21-26

Adonai has invented compensation. Up until the moment this mitzvah was given, the one that was stronger had absolute power and owed nothing to no one, specialy to someone poorer then them. One that was rich could harm a poor man without any consequence, without the poor person being comepensated in any way. Among goyim (non-Jews) a master could kill his slave if he so wanted to without being guilty of a crime because the slave was considered like an animal. In the same way if a man chose to beat his wife to death, he wasn't responsible in any way, because it was considered his right to do so. But Adonai is a loving God so He gave a loving Law, a Law that was sensitive even to the pain of a slave that normaly had no right whatsoever.
The Sanhedrin or the Beit Din (a court of law) was establishing the value of the loss and came up with an amount of money that would cover that loss.
'An eye for an eye' doesn't mean that if a man lost an eye or a tooth because of someone else, they would go and revenge their loss by doing the same thing to the other person.
What Yeshua is saying in Matthew 5:38-41 is that if somehow you were to lose an eye or a tooth don't ask for compensation, and if you are the one that left a man blind or toothless, then you shold pay even more than what they ask of you. If someone asks for compensation your coat let him take your cloak as well. And if he asks for compensation for you to walk 1 mile with him, then you should walk 2.
The verses in Matthew 5 are said in the context of the Law issued in Exodus 21, so it must be interpreted in that context and not to support a theory according to which Adonai no longer requires that which He once commanded. That would just make Him as changing as the weather and we know He's the same forever.

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

Butt Prints in the Sand


(writer unknown)

One night, I had a wondrous dream;
One set of footprints there was seen.
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore.
But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked the Lord, “What have we here?”
“Those prints are large and round and neat,
But, Lord, they are too big for feet.”
“My child,” He said in somber tones.
“For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait.
You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith you would not know.
So I got tired and fed up,
And there I dropped you on your butt,
Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave some butt prints in the sand.”

Faith in the Dark

Do you only believe when you can see with your eyes? When your prayers are answered and miracles carry you on their wings? Or do you also believe when circumstances fly in your face?
If it touches you to the core, if it is a belief you truly own, if it is as real to you as life itself, then it does not change.
And if it does not change, then you are bound up with the true essence of the One who does not change. -- Tzvi Freeman

Monday, July 5, 2010

Rack Israel - Only Israel



Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina

The Alef and the Tav

Thus says the LORD, the King of Yisra'el, and his Redeemer, the LORD of Hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God. - Yeshayahu/ Isaiah 44:6

Listen to me,
O Ya`akov, and Yisra'el my called: I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. - Yeshayahu/ Isaiah 48:12

I am the Alef and the Tav, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. - HaHitgalut/ Revelation 22:13


What does it mean that HaShem is First and Last, the Beginning and the End? If Adonai is God then He is eternal, meaning He has no beginning and no end. If HaShem is the Creator of all things that means He is not contained within the things He created, but above those things. Time is a creation of HaShem so that means HaShem is not contained within time. Eternity means absence of time and if He's Eternal then time has no meaning to Him.
When God says He's the Beginning and the End, it doesn't mean that time began with Him and it will end with Him, because His person has nothing to do in essence with time, so this must be about something else.
The only way I can understand these words is that He is The First, Highest, Greatest, First in position not in age, He's above all things while at the same time He is the Last, the End, the lowest, the servant... the One that lowered Himself lower than anyone and anything to redeem those that were too low to reach Him.
It could be hard for some to wrap their minds around it, but it's the same as believing that God is both Son and Father, both Lion and Lamb, both Water and Fire, etc.
Being First didn't stop Him to be Last, and being Last didn't stop Him to be First.
No matter what your position is, it's not higher than being the First, so that means you can also humble yourself to be last, and no matter how low you are, He went lower than that, so that means you can't let your position as being ~the last~ to stop you from trying to better yourself. Either way there is hope, that's why Yeshua came on earth> to give us hope no matter if we are first or last.

Bat Melech בת מלך
Cristina