"Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of Elohim (God)" (Rev.19:11-13, NKJV).

The spring festivals are over, we have celebrated the birth, death and resurrection of Messiah, and we have, I hope, better understood the importance of purification from sin in our lives. Indeed there is so much that is covered in these first three festivals that it would take an entire sermon just to summarise them!

A brother asked me yesterday to take a look at a series of lectures given by Messianic preacher, Jim Staley, on the organisational structure of the first century messianic community (church). It began very promisingly indeed as the minister pointed out that the primary organisation of the messianic community was the home. Indeed, he accurately described the first century messianic community as essentially existing on three levels:

• 1. The First Temple: our physical bodies;
• 2. The Second Temple: our individual families; and
• 3. The Third Temple: the local messianic assembly.

Today I thought I would share with you an example of how easy it is to go off the rails by going to Jewish culture for an understanding of biblical emet (truth). One of the great dangers in the messianic movement is the belief that it is possible to come to Messiah without having to abandon Jewish tradition. Indeed, this is how the modern Messianic Jewish movement got underway and has created more schism in the Body of Messiah instead of repairing the divisions. We are now being presented with two parallel Gospels instead of one.

One of the great errors of Judaism is in the promotion of the tallit or Jewish head shawl as essential equipment for the believer. As I wrote about a year-and-a-half ago:

"There is no evidence in the Torah, in the Bible as a whole, or from the history of the period, that men ever wore headcoverings for spiritual or religious reasons as was always required of women - rather, men were commanded to wear tzitzit or tassels to demonstrate their obedience and submission to Yahweh. Indeed, the New Testament positively asserts that they should not (see 1 Corinthians 2:11-16) because Yah'shua is their covering and He, who is their Head, being in Heaven, is invisible. In the same way that Yahweh hangs the earth upon nothing [visible], so the authority of Elohim over men is likewise invisible (Job 26:7)" [1].

"The prayer shawl was, as it were, the original 'prayer closet'. Jewish men would drape it over their heads at the hour of prayer, pull it together in front of their face and 'closet' themselves in with the Almighty to avoid distraction and focus all their attention on worship. A young boy received his first full size prayer shawl at his Bar Mitzvah, the ceremony marking his entrance into manhood and that garment followed him throughout life. He wore it everytime he went to synagogue, everytime he prayed wherever he may be, on the day of his marriage, and when he died, he would be buried in it.

"It is this final wrapping of a Jewish man in his tallit for burial that reveals to us a particularly meaningful understanding that pertains to the return of the Lord Yeshua in triumph and glory.

"It has long been the custom that while every Jewish man is buried wrapped in his own tallit, there is an added dimension to the burial of the murder victim. If a Jewish man is killed in war by an enemy, or is murdered in a random act of criminal violence, before wrapping him for burial in his tallit, the corner of his prayer shawl is dipped in his own blood. The ancient teaching has been that if the murderer somehow escapes detection and judgment for his crime, in the final resurrection when all men will be raised from the dead, every murdered Jewish male will arise with his blood-stained tallit as final evidence against his murderer in the Last Great Judgment before the throne of God" [2].

"When the Lord returns, riding that white horse with all the armies of heaven following Him also on white horses, He will be wearing His blood-stained prayer shawl, this robe dipped in blood. He will be carruing on His person that final evidence..." [3].

"He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood" (Rev.19:13, NKJV).

Sadly, at least one very Zionistic and pro-Judaic messianic version of the Bible 'interprets' this kaftan to be a tallit and without any manuscript warrant inserts the word tallit into the text out of thin air:

"And He was clothed with a long tallit dipped in dahm (blood); and His Name is called the Devar (Word)" (Rev.19:13, RSTNE [6]).

Therefore Richmond has got it completely wrong and the Talmudic custom, though quaint and justice-promoting, is worthless as a key to interpreting the prophetic Scriptures of the New Testament. Accepting uncritically such rabbinical practices can not only waylay the talmid (disciple) seeking after emet (truth) but contribute - at best - to promoting the long extinguished toqef (authority) and Kingdom Mandate of a tribe of Israel which has long since passed away (Judah) - and at worst, promoting the lies of the counterfeit claiming to be Judah but which is, in fact, the Synagogue of Satan [7].

We must be very careful to let Scripture speak for itself and not try to impose customs and traditions that arose later in Judaism some of which were designed to specifically oppose the Besorah (Gospel). Messianic Jews in particular must allow Yahweh to remove the blinkers from their eyes and Evangelicals must not be seduced by the whole rabbinical web of deception. This will to a great extent be accomplished once we stop deceiving ourselves into believing that the Jews are Elohim's (God's) 'chosen people' but rather those from every nation, kindred and tongue who trust in the resurrected Messiah and who obey His mitzvot (commandments) are the one and only true Israel. May I counsel you most soberly, therefore, to begin shedding more false tradition this year, whether it be Jewish or Pagan, as you work out the meaning of Chag haMatzah in your daily life. And may the shalom (peace) of our Messiah go with you as we count the omer!

Endnotes