Post by Mark on Dec 24, 2007 6:57:29 GMT -8
One of the things that I'm working on in our community is trying to help those coming from the gentile Church see the beauty and value of the Messianic Liturgy, as taken out of the Jewish Synagogue. I've been writing a paper each week on different prayers and thought some of you might be interested in what I've shared thus far. I'll start posting them in this area, as I go along, hoping that these generate some response of praise to Adonai our God, or stimulate questions on the Judaic perspective of our faith.
Magain Ahvote
"A shield to our fathers in His Word, giving life to the dead in His utterance,
The Holy King, that there is none like unto Him, gives rest to His people on His holy Shabbat, for He was pleased with them to grant them rest. Before Him we shall serve with reverence and fear, and we will give thanks to His name every day continually, with due blessings unto Him. God of grateful praise, Master of peace, who sanctifies the Shabbat and blesses the seventh day, and who gives rest in holiness to a people full of delight, in commemoration of His work of creation."
The analogy of Adonai being a shield to His people is a familiar theme. In Genesis 15:1, He says to Abraham, "I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward." In Deuteronomy 33:29 it is written, "Happy are you, O Israel, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help…." In 2nd Samuel 22:2-3, David declares, "The Lord is my Rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my rock; in Him will I trust: He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation…." And while He is referred to at least 16 times in the Psalms as the Shield of His people, it is in the Proverbs, that we see the peculiar nature of His protection.
Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. (Pro 30:5 KJV)
Adonai has proven Himself as a shield to our fathers… in His Word. It is in His Word that we find rest and consolation. The sanctification of the Shabbat is recognizing that we claim His protection in our observance of His Shabbat. By our obedience to His Word, we place ourselves under the shield of His protection.
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
(Isa 58:13-14 KJV)
To honor the Sabbath day is to give a vote of confidence for the God who has created all things for our good. To peek out from under His shield is to wonder if He really has the best in store for us or not. Do we really believe Him? Do we really trust Him? Is He really going to bless us in our observance or are we missing something that we believe it would be better for us to have. The Magain Ahvote is a testimony, whether we truly believe it or not, that the Sabbath rest of Adonai is the full delight of His people and in that rest we only may find fullness of joy.
Magain Ahvote
"A shield to our fathers in His Word, giving life to the dead in His utterance,
The Holy King, that there is none like unto Him, gives rest to His people on His holy Shabbat, for He was pleased with them to grant them rest. Before Him we shall serve with reverence and fear, and we will give thanks to His name every day continually, with due blessings unto Him. God of grateful praise, Master of peace, who sanctifies the Shabbat and blesses the seventh day, and who gives rest in holiness to a people full of delight, in commemoration of His work of creation."
The analogy of Adonai being a shield to His people is a familiar theme. In Genesis 15:1, He says to Abraham, "I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward." In Deuteronomy 33:29 it is written, "Happy are you, O Israel, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help…." In 2nd Samuel 22:2-3, David declares, "The Lord is my Rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my rock; in Him will I trust: He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation…." And while He is referred to at least 16 times in the Psalms as the Shield of His people, it is in the Proverbs, that we see the peculiar nature of His protection.
Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. (Pro 30:5 KJV)
Adonai has proven Himself as a shield to our fathers… in His Word. It is in His Word that we find rest and consolation. The sanctification of the Shabbat is recognizing that we claim His protection in our observance of His Shabbat. By our obedience to His Word, we place ourselves under the shield of His protection.
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
(Isa 58:13-14 KJV)
To honor the Sabbath day is to give a vote of confidence for the God who has created all things for our good. To peek out from under His shield is to wonder if He really has the best in store for us or not. Do we really believe Him? Do we really trust Him? Is He really going to bless us in our observance or are we missing something that we believe it would be better for us to have. The Magain Ahvote is a testimony, whether we truly believe it or not, that the Sabbath rest of Adonai is the full delight of His people and in that rest we only may find fullness of joy.