Acharei (After The Death) Leviticus 16:1-18:30 Ezekiel 22:1-19 Luke 14-15 Out of Egypt This weekend finds us in the time of Passover, the beginning of the Spring Feasts of The Lord and the beginning of the cycle of redemption. If we do not understand what the Feast of Passover is about we are not prepared to move on into the great mysteries and wonders of our redemption. The essence of Passover is about a lamb that takes our sins upon itself and gives its life, dying with our sin so that we may live. The lamb becomes our sin and dies in our place. We today understand that the blood of lambs slain through history could never truly atone for our sin, but each lamb was a shadow and picture of The Lamb, our Messiah, Yeshua. We understand especially during this special time of Passover, as did John on the bank of the Jordan River, that it was He, the Lamb of God, who came to take away the sin of all who would in repentance come to Him and cast their sin upon Him. But is that the complete message, or is there much, much more? I believe there is. The Book of Leviticus has taught and will continue to teach us not only about the sacrifices for sin, but also about the true nature of sin and its hold on our lives. In Leviticus 18:1-5 we read this week how our redemption does not leave us in our past lives nor does it cause us to take on the sin of our surroundings. Rather our redemption takes us to a new way of life, the ways of our Father. Torah teaches us not only how to be free, but how to remain free. Let's take a closer look at the words of scripture. Look specifically to chapter 18, verse 3. It states that a redeemed child of God is not to engage in the activities found in the land that made them slaves. They are also not to take on the activities of any land they are in when these activities do not line up with the Word of God. The rest of Leviticus will explain in detail what God means regarding these verses. He will not leave it for our interpretation, but will lay it out for us, verse-by-verse and line-by-line. He will begin with the subject of sexual relations, specifically those things which are not appropriate activities. Before we go further into God's list of don'ts, let us first look at a specific word in verse 3. The word is engage. Webster defines this word as, "Becoming involved in an action." Is it possible for us to be "engaged" in an action without ever being a part of the action? The answer depends on your world perspective. If you think with a Greek mind then the answer is no, but if you are learning to think like a Hebrew then the answer is a rousing, YES! Follow along with me for a moment. We can read the balance of verses in Leviticus about not having sexual relations with a close relative, a person of the same sex or the backyard pet and feel pretty good about ourselves. We can close the Book at the end of the Torah study and even go away with a bit of a self righteous and pious attitude. That is until we read the words of Yeshua and see that Torah is not only about physical actions, it is about the actions and attitudes of the heart and mind. Let me explain. Most people reading these commentaries on a weekly basis would never think of engaging in the actions we read about this week, but many will turn on a TV or watch a movie that contain such things. Because of the desensitizing of our culture many will not even give a second thought to the filth we are allowing our soul to participate in. Most would never think of having a homosexual relationship, but will allow program after program that treats these actions as normal to show freely on a weekly basis. These same people will then wonder why they are not able to break free of the life that once held them or the culture that seeks to control them. The reason is that they have not truly broken free. They do not truly understand the message of the Passover season and the Passover Lamb. The blood of the lamb was placed on the doorpost to protect the people from the judgment of the night. After that judgment had passed they were not to remain in the house, not to remain in the land of bondage, but they were to flee as fast as they could. This is why they were told to eat the meal in haste, with shoes on their feet and a staff in their hand. They were to leave the bondage of the past, never look back to the old ways, but rather look ahead to a mountain of new life and new ways in the Messiah who had delivered them. They were not to take any of the past with them nor allow themselves to be once again entangled by ways that were not of HaShem. Think about it. Do you remain enslaved by anything? Do your thoughts, ways, actions or attitudes contain any vestiges of your life before redemption? Of a secular attitude? Of departure from Torah? Of departure from Yeshua’s reiteration of Torah principles? Are you slipping around? Do you do anything that you know you should not do? Do you feel any bondage? Do any skeletons hide in your closet? Are you ready to be judged by Scripture? Do you long to feel truly free? During this Passover season, let us not only allow the blood of The Lamb to set us free, but let us allow that blood to give us passage to a new way of life, body, soul and spirit. Let us not engage spiritually, emotionally or physically in the ways from which He came to set us free.