Tsav – Command
Leviticus 6:8 – 8:36
Jeremiah 7:21 – 8:3; 9:22 – 23; Malachi 3:4 – 4:6
Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:14-23; Hebrews 9:11 – 10:18
Couples are challenged with keeping their marital fires burning. Both man and wife need to find ways to stir up the passion they had when their marriage started. They fuel the fire with romantic dates, special gifts, selfless acts of service, surprise tokens of their love and appreciation, and other ways to rekindle by the breath of love languages. Yet whatever they do, nothing works like selfless sacrifices for the other partner. A marriage relationship takes work like keeping a fire burning in a wood stove. But oh is it worth it!
The Command to Keep Burning
Fire shall be continually burning on the altar; it shall never go out. Leviticus 6:13
Moses commanded the high priest and his sons to keep the ascending fire of the Olah, the ascending sacrifice, burning night and day, never to go out, never to be quenched. The priests had to routinely remove the ashes that could suffocate the fire. Even Shabbat was no exception; they kept bringing wood to the fire seven days a week.
When the pillar moved, the priests picked up the altar and carried its live coals. History records that the Levites kept that fire burning continually for 116 years.
How does Yeshua fulfill the first command of Tsav – to keep the fire burning continually?
The Spirit of Yeshua is Like Fire!
The fire or Spirit of Yeshua can never be quenched! His passion for His people will never die! May we never let the fire of the passion and zeal for our Messiah and His Word die within our souls!
Fire is pictured by the Hebrew letter sheen in Hebrew. The word for fire is eish, spelled – alef sheen. In Paleo Hebrew, eish pictures an ox head and a consuming fire; together meaning a strong, or powerful fire.
The fire letter, the sheen, occurs in the heart of the Name of Yeshua spelled:
Yod, sheen, vav, and ayin, from right to left. In His heart burns a passion for all of mankind.
The word and the letter for fire also occur in the two words for ‘man’ and ‘woman’ – iysh and ishah. YHWH created both man and woman with a strong fire, ruach (a spirit), burning inside the soul.
In the Scriptures, fire often represents the Spirit, the Ruach, which means breath or wind. When a man or a woman is born again by the breath of God, the deadly fire of the human spirit is ignited back to life. Yeshua is the center candle of the menorah that lights up His other branches. The Spirit of the Messiah then burns like a strong fire in the souls of His redeemed. May the sheen of Yeshua shine brightly in each one of us!
The Spirit of Yeshua together with the spirit of a man or woman are like two flames that come together. Together the fire of Yeshua united with the ignited fire of a man or woman making one powerful flame indistinguishable from one other. The two becoming one flame pictures how oneness with God and with one another is possible.
Without passion, there is no unity. It is by the burning love of the Spirit of our Messiah that the sheens of Yeshua, iysh, and ishah can become one, holy flame.
All Other Loves - Consumed!
Yeshua’s holy, set apart love for His Bride is like the burning love that a man and his wife can find for each other. When the fire is burning hot and bright, no other lover, no other idol, no material thing can stand to be close to the two fires burning together. Anything and everything that would try to come between them is completely burned up, becoming unrecognizable ashes.
But when the fire of the soul grows cold, others can come in to defile or quench the marital union of two sheens, the two fires of an iysh and his ishah. Two separate, smoldering coals don’t unite well into one flame.
What needs to happen to reignite the passion to burn bright once again?
Reigniting the Smoldering Soul...
There is good news for the smoldering soul. Our merciful Messiah came not to snuff out hearts growing cold, nor to crush the bruised heart. I love this about Yeshua!
The disciple Matthew wrote about this distinguished work of the Messiah:
This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,
“Behold, My servant whom I chose, the One I love, in whom My soul takes delight. I will put My Ruach upon Him, and He shall proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A crushed reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out until He brings forth justice to victory. And in His Name, the nations shall hope.” Isaiah 42:1-4; Matthew 12:18-20
We know Yeshua’s love will never go cold. According to Yeshua, it is you and I who become lukewarm and need to be rekindled by His passion for us. (Rev 3:16) But He didn’t come to condemn the guilty, to snuff out the smoldering soul. Our compassionate Messiah came to light us up with His Spirit like tongues of fire from Heaven (Acts 2).
Stirring up the Gift of the Spirit
Many of us need to return to our first love (Rev 2:4-5). I know I often need to. We must remember when we first loved Him because He first loved us (I John 4:19). How?
- Praising YHWH
When your fire is burning low, praise is a great way to fan the flames of holy fire. When it feels like the oppressing trials of life want to quench your fire, praise Him!
These trials are so that the true metal of your faith (far more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire) may come to light in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Messiah Yeshua, though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And even though you don’t see Him now, you trust Him and are filled with a joy that is glorious beyond words, receiving the outcome of your faith – the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:7-9
Breathing in and out His Word, breathing out praises and just loving on our wonderful and awesome God is like breath into the fire of His presence. A climate for burning more is generated around you. Throwing our whole body into praise, lifting up our hands, dancing, and resonating with our vocal cords in praise ascending to the Most High are all actions of the sacrifice of praise that add wood to the Holy Fire.
Then Yeshua will be revealed, shining in the dark night of the soul! Then His holy fire will spread from you out to dead and dry people around you to light their fires.
- Repenting
The sacrifices were of animal flesh or of grain, something of the physical, carnal nature that was offered up to YHWH. Think about that. What can I offer to Him in my physical life? Is there something unholy in my heart that I need to repent of?
Back in the beginning, the first sin, eating the forbidden fruit, had to do with a carnal appetite. What carnal appetites that would cause sin must I offer up in the holy fire? What is it of the selfish, carnal nature that must be burned up completely when I come to my Father in Heaven in prayer and praise?
When we consider how sin separates us from the One we love, and even from our loved ones, the only reasonable, logical thing to do is to repent and to offer our bodies up as living sacrifices. (Romans
12:1)
Then whatever residual thoughts or ideas about the past sin, like ashes, must be removed lest they suffocate the fire as well. We’re to leave no trace of sin.
- Keeping Passover
Remembering the greatest act of love ever demonstrated to mankind this Passover is a wonderful opportunity to return to our first love. On this Passover, we can burn with holy, set-apart fire all over again (John 15:13-14). May the Ruach breathe on our hearts as we remember our Savior’s sacrifice out of selfless love for us.
Remember how much you loved Him when He had first set you free from your slavery to sin? How about when He first set you free from an addiction to some vice of this world? Let’s testify of how the Lamb of God changed our hearts and lives.
The Most Holy Sin Offering
A revelation of the Messiah in our Torah portion that is extremely important to understand is that the sin offering is the most holy. YHWH commanded Moses to:
“Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying:
‘This is the Torah of the sin offering (chata’t). In the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, the sin offering (chata’t) is to be slaughtered before YHWH. It is qodesh ha’qodeshim (most holy). Leviticus 6:18
When Yeshua died for our sins hanging on the tree, was He not Qodesh ha’Qodeshim – the most holy offering for our sins? No other sacrifice could be so holy!
No other sacrifice was set apart as an acceptable, one-time offering for our sins. All other sacrifices had to be offered routinely and continually because they were not perfect and effective at permanently eradicating sin from the soul of man.
Therefore it was necessary for the replicas of these heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices – but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
For Messiah did not enter into Holies made with hands – counterparts of the true things – but into heaven itself, now to appear in God’s presence on our behalf.
And He did not offer Himself again and again – as the kohen gadol (high priest) enters into the Holy of Holies year after year with blood that is not his own.
For then He would have needed to suffer again and again from the foundation of the world. But as it is, He has been revealed once and for all at the close of the ages – to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Hebrews 9:23-26, TLV
Only the one-time sacrifice of Yeshua, the Lamb of God, was perfect enough and effective enough at removing our sins as far as the east is from the west. Only the blood of the Messiah could cleanse the conscience of dead works and the guilt and shame that comes with sins against YHWH (Hebrews 9:9-14). Thank Yah for that!
Now back to the most holy sin offering, some theologians teach that ‘He became sin’ or ‘made Himself sin’ is based on a mistranslation of 2 Corinthians 5:21. I find this to be one way to wrest Paul’s words (2 Pet 3:16). Many translations of the Bible read:
For He who did not know sin, for your sakes made Himself sin, that we might through Him become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
Only two translations I can find – the Tree Of Life and Orthodox Jewish Bible versions – go back to the Hebrew word chata’t – meaning ‘a sin offering,’ instead of just ‘sin.’ In Hebrew, the word for sin is also the same word – ‘chata’t.’ However, ‘chata’t’ could be translated either way – as ‘sin,’ or as ‘sin offering.’ So try this. Replace ‘sin’ with ‘sin offering’ in this verse and read it again:
He made the One who knew no sin to become a sin offering (not ‘became sin’) on our behalf so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21
Yeshua didn’t become sin, He ‘knew no sin.’ He became our sin offering in our stead. The Messiah is the sin offering; the Most Holy One – ‘Qodesh ha’Qodeshim.’
Can We Be Holy As He is Holy?
How could we ever become qadosh (holy and set apart) from the One Who became not our sin, but our sin offering for us? He is pure and holy, but mortal man is not.
The Torah says of the sin offering: All that touches its flesh shall be holy. Leviticus 6:27a
What other sacrifice can do that? Only the sin offering, chata’at, of all the offerings I find in the Torah, can make all that touches it holy – qadosh. Why is that?
Because it’s all about Yeshua’s most holy, set-apart, sinless sacrifice. The Holy One was not made sin, He bore our sins. He carried them but did not become sin in doing so. Yeshua the same yesterday, today and forever is Most Holy, Qodesh ha’Qodeshim.
So when we touch Him with hearts of faith, when we eat of His Bread and drink from His cup, He makes the believer holy, set apart, and clean in our Father’s sight.
What a wonderful, merciful Savior, and how great is His love towards us!
Interestingly enough, chata’t is the only Hebrew word for any of the seven sacrifices that has the two letters Alef and Tav in it. Yeshua is the Alef and the Tav of the chata’at – the sin offering – Who sanctifies us, and sets us apart unto the good works of keeping the Torah.
Simply put in Paleo, the Alef Tav means ‘the power of the cross.’ By the power of the cross, He redeemed the sinner and makes us holy. Believing the Gospel message and living by His Word sanctifies the soul.
Partaking of His Most Holy Nature at Passover
On Passover, we will once again partake of the Most Holy – Qodesh Ha’Qodeshim and eat of His flesh and drink of His blood. Touching Him, the Most Holy sin offering, we are set apart and made holy for He is Most Holy.
Kiss (touch with the lips) the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish along your way – since His wrath may flare up suddenly. Happy is everyone taking refuge in Him! Psalm 2:12
The chata’t, sin offering of Yeshua, is what appeased the wrath of YHWH Elohim that would have flared up and consumed us in His wrath over our sin. As our substitute, He took upon Himself the full, fiery wrath of the Almighty, so that we wouldn’t be consumed.
Remind you of the burning bush? Through the sacrifice of the Lamb, we can enter into His holy fire and become like Him without being torched by His wrath into ashes.
Let’s allow the Word to burn in our hearts with holy fire, renewing our minds.
Partaking of His Holy Nature
Remember what He said about us, for that is really who we are in Him:
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for Elohim’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9
It takes the fire of living sacrifices to generate that marvelous light!
As a royal priesthood, a qadosh nation, we will keep Torah during the Passover Seder by doing what the priests were commanded to do:
Every male among the priests is to eat of it – it is most holy (qodesh haqodeshim). Leviticus 6:22
Obeying His command when partaking of His body and blood, Yeshua fulfills this in us:
“Amen, amen I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink.
He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who eats of Me will also live because of Me.” John 6:53-57
Eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood is touching the sin offering of Yeshua which then connects us to His holiness:
All that touches its flesh shall be holy. Leviticus 6:27a
Yeshua is the Way to live as qodesh ha’qodeshim (most holy) – to be set apart from dead works and the wages of sin which is death; set apart unto eternal life and then abiding forever with Him. There in the Kingdom, the fire never ever grows cold again…
Years ago at a group Passover at a local community church, the pastor showed me sitting on the stage in the sanctuary his painting with the word ‘HOLINESS’ amid the flames of fire from the burning bush. There I saw a picture of the Spirit of Yeshua burning forever in the Body of Messiah without ever consuming wooden humanity – for His mercy endures forever!
Shining by the sheen of Yeshua,
David Klug