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Compliments of First Fruits of Zion
reprinted by permission of FFOZ
B’reisheet - בראשית : “In the beginning”
Torah : Genesis 1:1–6:8
Haftarah : Isaiah 42:5–43:10
Gospel : Matthew 1, 2
The teacher debe Eliyyahu teaches, “The world is to exist six thousand years [corresponding to the six days of creation]. In the first two thousand there was desolation [ending in the flood]; in the next two thousand years the Torah flourished; and the next two thousand years is the Messianic era, but through our many iniquities all these years have been lost. (b.Sanhedrin 97a–b)
God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and on the seventh day He rested. In the Talmud, some of the Sages viewed the seven days of creation as a broad outline for human history, as it says, “For a thousand years in Your sight are like a day when it passes by.” (Psalm 90:4) Accordingly, they compared each of the six days to a millennia of history. Various constructs are offered by the Talmud. The seventh day, the day of the Sabbath, is generally understood as a picture of the 7th millennium. In the poetic words of the Sages it is “the day that is altogether Sabbath.”
In Tz’enah Ur’enah, a Yiddish collection of traditional Jewish interpretation on the Torah, it says, “Man was created on the sixth day, for within six thousand years the Messiah will come.” It seems that the Apostolic community held a similar view of redemptive history. Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 compare the age to come to the Sabbath, and speak of the Sabbath as a foretaste of final salvation. The book of Revelation speaks of a coming millennium of peace, a thousand-year reign of Messiah during which the adversary is bound in chains. The Apostle Peter reminds us that:
With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief… (2 Peter 3:8–10)
Therefore, the celebration of the weekly Sabbath is a celebration of the coming of the Messiah. The Sabbath offers a weekly foretaste of the era of peace and rest when Messiah will rule the earth. By keeping the Sabbath, we participate in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth even now. Each Sabbath may be likened unto a down payment on the Age of Messiah which is yet to come. “We rest on Shabbat to symbolize the peace that we will have in the days of the Messiah.” Perhaps this explains why Yeshua is called “Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:8)
Though He tarry, we eagerly await the coming return of Messiah who will initiate that 7th millennium, a thousand-year era “that is altogether Sabbath.” As of this eDrash, according to the traditional Jewish reckoning, 5,766 of the 6,000 allotted years have already passed. May He come quickly, soon and in our lifetimes.
This eDrash is adapted from FFOZ's new edition of
Torah Club Volume 2, Shadows of the Messiah.
Shavuah Tov! Have a Good Week!
Please consider supporting FFOZ with a financial contribution.
FFOZ's Weekly e-Drash is based on our popular Torah Study
Program,
Torah Club. For an introduction to Torah Club
click here.
First Fruits of Zion, PO Box 620099, Littleton, CO
80162-0099 USA
Telephone 303 933 2119, Toll-free 800 775 4807, Fax 303 933 0997
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