Rumination #26: Without the Holy Temple, there is no pesach lamb. Without the pesach lamb, we cannot keep Passover. So, how can we celebrate Passover without the pesach lamb? We remember the Lamb.

Ever since the destruction of the Holy Temple in 70 CE, there has been no place for the Passover offering. As the Torah instructs us:

You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which HaShem your G-d gives you; but at the Place where HaShem your G-d chooses to make His Name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 16:5

Hence, we have been without the ability to offer the pesach [Passover] lamb. Technically speaking, for over 1900 years we have not been able to keep Passover. Like all of the Feasts of HaShem, we are left with memorializing them only. Remembering is an important part of our faith, because the Almighty is not bound by linear time and space. For Him it is always "Now" and the cycles of His calendar are points of remembrance for us. Remembering what He has done, reminds us of what He will do. Each time we celebrate His mighty acts, we prophetically speak with our lips and our deeds to what He will do in the future. His Feasts are all about Redemption. We await the Final Redemption and the return of Messiah. Each remembrance of our redemptive past as seen in the Feasts of HaShem in Leviticus 23 speak of our redemptive future.

We celebrate Passover. We remember the Lamb - Messiah. We await His glorious return to establish His Kingdom.

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the Merkavah [throne], the chayot [living beings], and the zekenim [elders]; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!" And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him Who sits on the Merkavah, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!"
Revelation 5:11-13

Every time an important decision is presented to a follower of Messiah, we of course want to know what HaShem's will is. The problem with that approach is that it is often that we forget that HaShem has revealed His ultimate will to us already. It seems somewhat trivial when we consider the Commandments of the Almighty as His will - but the Commandments of Scripture comprise the most precise and fullest measure of His will that we can know. His instructions are loving instructions for our good - that much must be clearly seen. But, often those who seek to know G-d's will have no intention of obeying His simplest of commands.
Consider that He spoke creation into existence. Consider that His will created something out of nothing. And yet, that will reveals only general knowledge of the Holy One, blessed is He. The Commandments that He gave us, on the other hand, reveal His infinite wisdom and His righteousness. That is very specific. Which takes us back to why people don't want to obey Him…
So, how much do you want to know His will?

Rumination #24: If He called, would you know His voice? 
The account of Samuel in chapter three of 1Samuel makes a nice children's story. Of course, Samuel lived in quiet times. Quiet times with regard to HaShem speaking that is. He lived in the days of the Judges, when each man did what was right in his own eyes. It was in those dark days that Samuel first heard HaShem speak. At first he did not know HaShem's Voice. After the third trip to Eli, the elderly priest helped Samuel understand that it was HaShem Himself speaking to the young boy.
It brings up an interesting question for those of us who live in dark times. How would we know HaShem's Voice if He were to break the silence and speak to us? The Scriptures tell us that in such times as this, deception is always lurking in the shadows, ready to deceive even the elect. How can we know? How can we be sure?
It is actually easy. If you have embraced the Torah of HaShem as a mark of your discipleship to Messiah then you are in a far safer place than some of our brothers and sisters. You see, you can tell HaShem's Voice by what He will not say. He will never turn you away from His loving instructions in Scripture. If you want to recognize His Voice, always remember this:

Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it. If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, "Let us go after other gods" - which you have not known - "and let us serve them," you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for HaShem your G-d is testing you to know whether you love HaShem your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after HaShem your G-d and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.
Deuteronomy 12:32-13:4

When He calls, will you know His Voice?

It is not enough to believe in "one G-d." It is not even enough to say you believe in the "G-d of the Bible" - after all, a long line of anti-Semites claim the Bible as their own and call themselves "the true Israel" (and yet despise all things Jewish). No, our faith is not shared by those opposed to Israel. The only G-d is the G-d of Abraham, the G-d of Isaac, the G-d of Jacob.

Light is not the absence of darkness - likewise righteousness is not merely the absence of sin. Righteousness is active, not passive.