WHAT IS A "PICTURES" CONGREGATION?

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John 1:14 says, "The  Old Testament or Tenakh, became a man and lived as a Jew and a Rabbi. That person's name was not Jesus Christ -- that is both a name and a title. "Christ" is Greek for the Hebrew "Mashiach" meaning: "anointed one", or Messiah. His name was Yeshua . So He was called Yeshua ha-Mashiach: Jesus the Messiah. And in the realm of culture, and perception, these two people could not be any different! One is "Hellenized" (of the way of the Greek) - who we do not believe in or follow - and one is the Torah in flesh who did Judaism within a Jewish culture. We who believe in this man -- a man who may be very unfamiliar to you - are therefore called "Messianic Jews" and "Messianic Gentiles". That is what they were called in the first century. The Messiah Yeshua was sent by God the Father to provide us salvation. We ask Him to make our dead spirits alive; (1 Cor. 15:45) that is what being "Born Again" is; a “new covenant” in which God’s Spirit writes the “Law” or Torah on our hearts (Jer. 31:31). 

Colossians 2:16-17 says that the "kosher laws" (lit. "food & drink"), the New Moon, the Sabbath and the Festivals are "shadows" cast by Yeshua. Those 4 things are summed up in the word: "Judaism". They are shadows we can look at and see Yeshua. Why? Because He casts the shadow! Judaism is a set of shadows or Pictures of God and Yeshua. It is a set of metaphors of everything spiritual. The word in Hebrew for "Pictures" is tavniot and can be translated as model, pattern, mold, image, or form. So, we look at Judaism and let it talk to us; instruct us about other higher, spiritual things. Consider this: “On the heels of you listening to My set up things (mitzvot) which I am setting up for you today…" (Deut. 11:13). "…the blessing, if you listen to the mitzvot of the Lord…and the curse if you do not listen to the mitzvot…” (Deut. 11:27-28) Listening to the very acts of biblical Judaism – not trying to “obey” them - was God’s original intent in giving them. They are all metaphors that we can look at, listen to, and learn from as we do them.

We braid together the Old Testament (Tenakh) and the New Testament – the story and teachings of Yeshua. We believe they are one long, unbroken story. So how do we put them together? Well,  we don't "do the Law" because the word for Law - Torah - actually means instruction. And we don't try to obey God because the word mistranslated as obey - sh'ma - is actually to hear or listen. And we don't obey commandments because the word for commandment - mitzvah - means to set up or establish.  God did not want us to blindly obey Him; He wants us to understand Him; to know Him. This is why we examine, embrace and do biblical Judaism at Lev Tzion. Listening to the very acts of Judaism talk makes very complicated things simple enough for children to look at and "get it". Though this truth has been muddied up over centuries by both normative Judaism and Christianity, that was the original purpose of Judaism; not as laws to obey, but as metaphorical acts to look at and learn from as we DO them.

The Body of Messiah is turning more and more to its "Jewish roots" because God is restoring all of His ways - Judaism - to His people as the Day of the Lord approaches (Acts 3:21). Because we want to be an integral part of this move of God, that is what we are laboring to rediscover at Lev Tzion. You may be unfamiliar with a Jewish “schema” or world, we can help you with that. We use a lot of Hebrew – the language of that world. You may hear it in the praise, the worship music, the teachings and the rituals. We praise God with music and  clapping, tambourines and our hands raised to God; and above all, with Scripture. Our music often braids together with the message from the weekly Torah Portion that we study; along with teachings and prayers of the appointed times of God on the Jewish calendar. We also do “Kiddush” with bread and wine after the teaching, when we share with each other. You might hear the Jewish phenomenon of "speaking in tongues" and "singing in the spirit" and "prophesying" (Num.11-12; 1 Cor. 14) Speaking in tongues is our spirit speaking directly to God in the "language of angels" (lashon ha-shamayim) (1 Cor. 13). All of these are part of the curriculum designed by God and given directly to the Jewish people and then explained and clarified in the New Testament.