VaYiqra: And He Called
Leviticus 1:1 – 6:7
Isaiah 43:21 – 44:23
Matthew 5:23-30;
Hebrews 9:1 – 10:28; 13:10-16
Romans 8:1-13
Most of you wouldn’t give a chocolate Easter bunny to a loved one. But would you give that special someone Dove chocolates? Okay, so their ingredients are not so healthy. I am not advertising for Dove chocolates here, but I do wonder why they are so popular. Here’s my question:
Why do chocolate and the dove make for a token of true love?
The Satisfaction of the Bittersweet
Dark chocolate with no sugar is bitter. Most people don’t care for it.
But what Leslie and I like once in a while is a little honey on dark chocolate. Why does the combination of the bitter and the sweet taste like love?
Where do we find tasting the bitter and the sweet in the Scriptures?
Observing Passover, it’s common for Torah-observant believers to eat bitter herbs (Exo 12:8, Num 9:11) as part of remembering the suffering of our Savior.
How did He fulfill the prophecy of tasting the bitter? When a man suspected his woman had committed adultery, he was to bring her to the priest to have her drink bitter waters (Numbers 5). If she was guilty, she would become cursed.
Solomon wrote a proverb with the same theme:
‘the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb’…‘but her end is bitter as wormwood’. Proverbs 5:4a,5a
Think back to when hanging on a cruel cross, Yeshua tasted of the bitter cup:
‘They gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when He had tasted thereof, He would not drink.’ Matthew 27:34
The bitter-sweet answer is found in the sacrifice of the Son of God out of no greater love than for us. Because Yeshua tasted of the bitter cup of His adulterous bride Israel, because He took on all the curses of breaking the covenant with Him, we can take in the energizing sweetness of Salvation! The Gospel is like honey to our lips! When we understand the goal of the Torah to be the Messiah (Romans 10:4), it is truly:
‘more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.’ Psalm 19:10
Take our bitter sins to the foot of the cross and He will release His sweet Spirit!
Now what about the dove? How did the Messiah fulfill prophecies regarding the dove?
Sacrifice of the Two Doves
If he can’t afford a lamb, he is to bring as his guilt offering for the sin he committed two doves or two young pigeons for Adonai – the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. Leviticus 5:7, CJB
How does a dove picture for us the no-greater love of our Savior for the world?
Study the Hebrew word for dove, ‘Yonah,’ and how it pictures the no greater love of our Messiah. ‘Yonah,’ is spelled ‘yod, vav, nun, hey.’
Remember what the Yod and Vav pictured in the Sacred Name of YHWH? Behold the working hand, behold the clenched nail. Yes, the yod and the vav picture the hand of Yeshua nailed to the cross out of His no-greater love for us. But how do these letters picture a dove?
The nun and hey, have the believer beholding the quickening of life that the sprouting seed of the Gospel imparts by the clenched hand of the Messiah. The sprouting seed is God’s Word planted in our hearts coming alive and growing.
Other paleo pictures of the letters nun and hey are the path of a darting fish as revealed by the light shining through the window of the surface of the water. That’s akin to the motion of a dove lighting down from the sky.
Yeshua was said to be ‘as harmless as doves’ (Mat 10:16). When Yeshua laid His life down as the Lamb of God, He also came as harmless as a dove, fulfilling both sacrifices. He is the perfect example of our life of sacrifice that loves even our enemies and reviles not and will not strike back in the flesh.
For you were called to this, because Messiah also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in His footsteps:
He did not sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth. Isaiah 53:9
When He was abused, He did not return the abuse. While suffering, He made no threats. Instead, He kept entrusting Himself to the One who judges righteously. 1 Peter 2:21-23
The parents of Yeshua took their part in fulfilling the Torah after His birth as well:
When the time came for their purification according to the Torah of Moshe, they took Him up to Yerushalayim to present Him to Adonai…
And also to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons, as required by the Torah of Adonai. Luke 2:22,24 (CJB)
We just saw how the paleo-Hebrew letters of Yonah picture the Gospel’s work quickening the born-again soul by the Holy Spirit. We have seen how Yeshua fulfilled the sacrifice of the doves (Lev 5:7) during His birth and His crucifixion.
One for a sin offering, the other for a burnt offering, the two doves picture the sacrifice of the flesh consumed by the holy fire of the Spirit.
The two may also represent our spirit at one with His Spirit. The two doves hold a common thread with the paleo-Hebrew message of the Gospel.
The two slain birds represent what happens when we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to our God (Rom 12:1). The flesh no longer dominates our hearts and minds, but the spirit arises in the passion of holy fire. All the sacrifices point to ‘putting to death the deeds of the body,’ but living by the Spirit (Rom 8:10-13).
But if Messiah is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Ruach of the One who raised Yeshua from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised Messiah Yeshua from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Ruach who dwells in you. So then, brothers and sisters, we do not owe anything to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Ruach you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. Romans 8:12-13, TLV
The Sign of Jonah is Back!
Now that we see how the Messiah fulfilled the dove sacrifice, could He also be involved in the story of Jonah? Yonah, the dove, is the name of the prophet who walked through Nineveh warning the people of impending judgment.
The Creator is getting America’s attention once again with a total solar eclipse coming up on April 8th crossing over Jonah, Texas, and over two cities in Indiana and Ohio named ‘Nineveh’. What could this sign in the heavens mean (Genesis 1:14)?
This sign will occur seven years after the 2017 solar eclipse many of us witnessed in the Salem, Oregon area. That solar path, crossing with the 2024 path, forms a cross, the shape of the ancient letter Tav, the sign of the covenant.
Could the one sign that Yeshua gave the wicked generation of His day, the sign of Jonah (Luke 11:29-32), have prophetic meaning for our day?
The sign of Jonah, the dove, was the death, burial, and resurrection on the third day of the Messiah. The Gospel message must go out to America with a call to repentance, for judgment is pending on the mystery of Babylon.
The origin of Nineveh goes back to Nimrod, a type of antichrist, whose kingdom included Babel in the land of Shinar (Genesis 10:11). Nimrod went out to Assyria and built Nineveh and other cities for his kingdom.
Hebrew scholars speculate the meaning of the name has to do with the letter nun, to propagate strongly, combined with the verb (naweh), to be a seat of government. Known to be the largest city in the world, Nineveh strongly propagated the seat of the Assyrian or Babylonian government. The government had held the exiles of Israel in captivity, which may be why the city was headed for judgment. Two solar eclipses in the Nineveh area preceded Jonah’s walk through the city calling for repentance. The people of Nineveh must have had a sense of impending doom and were ripe for repentance. Do you see the parallels?
Remind you of Babylonian America’s predicament today? We are turning into a country oppressing the exiles of Israel and strongly attempting to divide the land of Israel into two states. We’ve strongly propagated America’s form of democratic government all over the world. We’re a country pushing sexual sin and abortions all over the world. I believe the warning of Yeshua regarding the preaching of Jonah to Nineveh is even more relevant than ever to America today:
“The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” Luke 11:32
America has propagated the Gospel of Yeshua and His Lordship like no other country. America must repent! What will happen if America does not repent? Not predicting anything, but I believe the fall of Babylon could be in store for the whoredoms of the Western world (Rev 14:8; 16:19; chap 18).
Praise Abba for the promise of Salvation, yea and amen to those who believe:
For God did not destine us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. 1Thessalonians 5:9, TLV
In the crosshairs of the 2017 & 2024 solar eclipse paths are two roads that tie the two eclipses together – Salem Road and Contentment Lane on the east side of Cedar Lake. The 2017 eclipse crossed seven cities named Salem in the USA, starting with Salem Oregon. The name ‘Salem’ comes from Jerusalem and Shalom. These remind us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and that we will have shalom, peace, and contentment even if we find ourselves in the crosshairs of judgment in a nation plunged into spiritual darkness. He is our Peace amid the storm! Yeshua is our shalom!
Another sign that the solar eclipse has to do with a sign to repent and come to the foot of the cross is its date. The eclipse will fall on the conjunction of the new moon with the sun. After that, the month of Aviv begins, the first month of the year of the festivals of YHWH. Two weeks later at the time of the full moon, Torah-observant believers in the Messiah will observe Passover, remembering Yeshua and His no-greater love than that He’d lay His life down for us.
Sacrifices Reveal the Heart of Yahweh
What can we learn about the character of YHWH from all those detailed instructions on sacrifices? What does that have to do with a loving relationship with an Elohim Who demands sacrifices to draw near to Him?
Nowhere in the Book of Vayikra (Leviticus) does the sacred Name YHWH appear with other titles, such as Elohim, meaning the Mighty One, when connected to a corban, a draw-near offering. Why is that?
In the Book of Leviticus, His Name is Love. Profoundly enough, His Name is connected to His gracious, merciful character. When a believer draws near to Him with a contrite and repentant heart, He graciously accepts the offering up of a living sacrifice to Him out of obedience.
On the other hand, Elohim, the Mighty One, implies His all-powerful, righteous and just character. His title as Elohim is never connected to the corban offerings in the Book of Leviticus, commonly said to be “The Book of the Law.”
When we heed the ancient call to corban, to draw near with a broken heart over our sin, YHWH will draw near to us like a dove out of a heart of mercy and love.
In its paleo-Hebrew form, the Sacred Name ‘YHWH’, Yod Hey Wow Hey, means ‘the hand extended is revealed and that the Man nailed is revealed’.
There is no greater act of love than that – that the Son of Elohim, the Mighty One, would lay His life down fulfilling the corban, draw-near offering.
The Messiah suffered for us in our place, humbly feeling and experiencing all the hurt, pain, and full force of the curse of sin for us. Our Savior was slain as an entirely innocent man for guilty, shameful sinners.
Out of a heart of love, He made the Way for us to draw near to the Lamb of God, Who is as harmless and gentle as a dove. His shed blood washes the repentant sinner clean of all stains of guilt and shame. It’s by His blood that we draw near.
No More Shame!
What did Yeshua’s crucifixion do that all the animal sacrifices could never do?
The prophet Yeshayahu (Isaiah, means YHWH saves) prophesied what Yeshua would do for us.
Yet it pleased YHWH to bruise Him; He has put Him to suffering; when You shall make His soul an asham offering for sin... Isaiah 53:10
The Hebrew word for asham is where we get our English word, ashamed. The Asham offering was mandatory to the one guilty of sin that he should be deeply ashamed of in his conscience. Offering the proper sacrifices the way YHWH instructed meant only atonement, a covering for the guilty so that the Hebrews may live.
That covering of the soulish, outward man meant the children of Israel could live, and not die, in the glorious presence of YHWH. If offering sacrifices had no effect, anyone who would have come to the Tabernacle where His glory presided would have been struck dead. He is qadosh, holy, set-apart and His commandments demand righteousness before Him. Breaking His Torah is a sin:
Everyone practicing sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is the breaking of the Torah. 1 John 3:4
The soul that sins, he shall die… Ezekiel 18:20a
The substitute of the slain animals proves that point. Flesh must die because of sin.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of Elohim is everlasting life through Yeshua the Messiah our Master. Romans 6:23
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his sacrifice Lamb, Yeshua, not only covered us, atoned for us, and paid the wages of sin, but He took away the guilt and shame of our sin in the inner conscience. YHWH substituted Yeshua as our asham offering, No offering of sacrificial animals could touch the inner sanctuary of the heart. Only Yeshua could do that. Only the Messiah could completely set us free from our sins and cleanse even the deepest stains of guilt and shame, so that we may enjoy the free gift of a new life in Messiah. HalleluYah!
No longer are we motivated by guilt to do the right thing, we are now motivated by His grace and mercy to draw near to the Father and to serve Him out of love, for He first loved us.
Have we ever tried motivating someone else by making them feel guilty and ashamed to get them to do what we wanted them to do? Or do we motivate others by showing the undeserved love of Yeshua for them? When they need the truth to straighten them out, is it accomplished by imposing guilt, or speaking the truth in love? The truth is offensive enough on its own without us making it more offensive to someone who needs to hear it.
To what degree are we willing to lay our lives down out of love for our friends? In this dark world so close to judgment, do we treat others ‘as shrewd as serpents and as gentle as doves’?
Watch the Lamb! See how He has perfectly fulfilled all the sacrifices, filling each one to their fullest meaning!
May you experience the bitter and the sweet of Yeshua this spring festival season. May His Spirit and His love, light upon you like a dove.
Shalom and blessings,
David