Moshe C.: Sivan - A Sacred Promise [2024/5784]

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Moshe C..

Shalom, my name is Moshe, and I'm part of Netivyahs leadership team here in Jerusalem. There is something special about the spring. I must admit I don't like the winter; it's too cold for me. But the spring brings not only warmer days but also the Jewish holiday that I love the most: Pesach, the Passover. And I think I'm not alone in that. Most Israelis, since they are a child, they always like to sing; "aviv hegiyah pesach ba aviv hegiyah pesach ba" What does it mean? The spring arrives, Pesach is on the way, and that's very special for us. We just celebrated Purim. Everyone is already thinking about the next holiday. We Jews are like this. We are always connected from Shabbat to Shabbat, from rosh chodesh to rosh chodesh, from hag to hag. And I feel that that's intrinsically Jewish, our connection to the dates and to the seasons. That's how we grew up as a people.

And the reason I have to be here with you today is rosh chodesh Nissan, which is a very special month in the Hebrew calendar. Nissan is a month with several biblical connections. We just mentioned Purim a minute ago. The month of Nissan was the month when the King Ahasuerus Hash Varosh decrees the destruction of the Jewish people. You can see that in the third chapter of the book of  Esther. Pesach, which is the highlight of this month is celebrated on the 15th of Nissan, which is the famous night, the famous Passover Seder. And it's a night of telling stories, singing. It's a night of drinking a lot of wine, and, of course, it's the night we celebrate Israels redemption from bondage in Egypt. In the Talmud, we read that there are four new years in the Jewish tradition. Rashash Shanah, the first of Tishri, is one of them. It is called the civil New Year, and also it's called Yum Hatruah, the day the shofar sounds. But on the detracted Rosh Hashana tonight, the first of Nissan is called by two names: the New Year of the Kings and the New Year of the Festivals. Wow, okay. New Year of the Kings sounds super exciting. It is historically the moment we start to count how many years a king is ruling over Israel.

"This month shall be your beginning of the month. It's the first month of the year to you."

This month shall be your beginning of months. It's the first month of the year to you. Beginnings have meaning. Beginnings have an intrinsic power. How can we understand what these beginnings mean? What they mean to us as believers? Let's see, for example, the example I gave before: the civil New Year. Here, Rosh Hashannah, on the first of Tishri. As we all know, the first of Tishri is preceded by a period of preparation, the month of Elul. From God's point of view, this is a time when His people have a chance to look inside, to soul search for signs of sin, for signs of transgressions against God. And then this whole month passes by, and on the first of Tishri, The Yum Hatruah, our souls are awakened. We see our corruption. We are enlightened, and we understand our human situation. Then, and only then, God's judgment on His people starts. During that, 10 days until Yum Kippor, we are under this, judgment.

And then, on Yom Kippor, we ask forgiveness as a people. And if we are sincere in our repentance, we are forgiven. This, can be understood as a mashal, as a parable of what happens in the life of every single Believer. God operates in our hearts, preparing us to see our need for forgiveness. His Spirit makes us see how God's holy and how we are not holy, how we need Him to change our hearts. And then He grants us the ability, the capacity to repent. And we do it, and then we accept Yeshua, and our lives and souls are saved by Yeshua's merits. And then, and only then, we become a new creation. But how about tonight? How about the first of Nissan? What does it represent to me as a Believer? This is the beginning of the months according to the Bible. This is the day we celebrate the beginning of the festivals according to the Bible. And that's when your time with God effectively starts. That's when your life as a believer starts. That's when your life together with the Lord begins. And as it says, in the first month of the year, what we see is that the month of Nissan comes with a very powerful teaching. It's the month when Israel was released from bondage and servitude. What does this parable means to us? How does this mashal apply to our lives? See, once we are saved, the God of Israel makes us His people. He gives us new Hearts. He gives us new life. He gives us His Spirit. And now it's the time to take us from sin, from bondage, to literally take us from the hands of the enemy and bring us to His kingdom.

How does He do it? He tells us to remove the hametz the leaven, from our houses. He commands us to sacrifice and to apply the blood of the Lamb to our doors. He asks us to prepare ourselves and wait for His miracles. The month of Nissan talks about the beginning of our lives as believers. Many, many of us, brothers and disters in Christ, remain on the surface, trusting only on dalvation. Salvation is important, but dalvation is only the first step. Hebrews 12 teaches us that without holiness no one will see the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4 tells us that we are expected to be vessels of sanctification and honor. And Galatians 2 even mentions that,

"From now on, I no longer live, but Mashiach lives in me."

For me, among other possible explanations, I guess, for me, that's why this rosh chodesh, the first Nissan, has so much meaning. Because it's time for us to mature our spiritual life within the kingdom of God. It's time to work on ourselves, to fight the flesh that still lives inside of us, to fight the flesh that still lives within these new creatures that we are. You are not the old you anymore, but parts of the old you, are still there. You have to take out the corpse. You see, and the majority of the believers I know that I had the opportunity to meet, stay in this state, this immature State, their whole lives. They keep counting only on salvation, only on mercy, mercy, mercy. And they don't grow up. They don't grow up in the, in the Messiah.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things.

You see, we need to fight. We need to fight the lust in our eyes. We need to fight the greed in our hearts. We need to fight our desires for attention, for fame, for pleasures. That's not why we were saved. That's not the objective, to be saved. That's not why, God, sent, His only Son to save us. Again, without Holiness no one will see the Lord. I don't know really how you can be saved and yet not see the Lord. Are we really saved if we don't pursue sanctification and, spiritual maturity? I don't know. That's a question that, you probably should answer, yourself. You can go to the Lord and ask Him. But what I know is I want my eyes to see the Lord. I want these eyes to see God. And I want to sit at His table, and I want to enjoy His presence one day. And, sanctification is the only chance I have for this to happen. Have a wonderful month of Nissan to all of you. Pesach kasher vasamech to all of you. Thanks for listening