Sabbath Thoughts And Reflections

Greetings, Saints of the Most High Ahlohim.   Beloved, when we speak of Yeshua HaMashiyach, are we considering the fullness of His calling—or only one part of the prophetic picture?   In this twelfth installment of our Melchizedek Series, I gather the threads of three Messianic profiles: Mashiyach Nagid, the Covenantal Prince; Mashiyach ben Yosef, the suffering Redeemer; and Mashiyach ben David, the righteous and conquering King. My aim is to consider how these profiles converge in our glorious Master, Yehoshua, and how the priestly dimension finds its place within the Melchizedek King-Priest framework.   You see, beloved, these are not merely titles to collect. They bring us face-to-face with questions of authority, suffering, atonement, righteous governance, and the presence of Yehovah among His people. And when we follow these threads, we are brought back to the hope of the Gospel of the Kingdom: restoration, redemption, and the righteous reign of Yah's appointed Son.   I also take time to address three h

Who is the Messiah? Is He the royal Son of David who will reign from Zion? Is He the suffering Son of Joseph who is rejected, wounded, and ultimately vindicated? Or is He the heavenly High Priest who secures atonement and brings humanity into the presence of Yehovah Most High? In this eleventh installment of our Melchizedek Series, we begin walking out one of the most profound truths in all of Scripture: these are not three unrelated messiahs, but three dimensions of one redemptive mission. Through the Davidic Covenant, the prophets of old, Jewish messianic tradition, the Gospel genealogies, and the priestly pattern of Melchizedek, we bring Yeshua into full view as Mashiach ben David, Mashiach ben Yosef, and our eternal Cohen HaGadol. Beloved, the crown, the suffering, and the priestly ministry all converge in Him.

Beloved, Torah's first recorded question is not an honest request for information. It is the serpent's strategic challenge in Genesis 3:1: "Did Elohim really say?" In this installment of the Messianic Torah Observer, we examine how that ancient question still works today—introducing uncertainty, loosening our grip on Yah's Word, and persuading the world to call evil good and good evil.  Against the backdrop of Parashat Bereshit and the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, we turn to Genesis 1:1 and Torah's opening declaration: "Beresheit bara Elohim"—"In the beginning, Elohim created." The world may be broken, violent, grieving, and filled with deception, but it still belongs to Yehovah. Creation did not begin in violence. It began with Yah speaking, ordering, blessing, and calling His work good.  From Genesis 3 and Isaiah 5:20 to John 1:5, Lamentations 3:22–23, Psalm 121:4, and Proverbs 30:5, this teaching calls Yah's Covenant people to stand firm. The darkness came, beloved, but it has

What does Shemini Atzeret reveal about Yeshua, the nations, and the heart of Yehovah? In this teaching, beloved, we bring together the grief and commanded joy of the Eighth Day, Yeshua's cry for the thirsty in John 7:37–38, Solomon's prayer for the foreigner, the seventy bulls of Sukkot, and the one remaining bull. This is the Feast nobody leaves—the intimate Moed where the King says, "Stay with Me just a little while longer."

Beloved, Sukkot is far more than a memorial of our wilderness sojourn. In this installment of The Messianic Torah Observer, we   turn to Leviticus 23, John 1:14, Zechariah 14, Revelation 7, Nehemiah 8,   Psalm 27, and Isaiah 4 to examine the Feast of Tabernacles from the ground   up, the top down, and the inside out. We consider what it means that Yeshua   tabernacled among us, why every surviving nation will go up to Yerushalayim   to keep Sukkot in the Kingdom Age, and how the fragile sukkah teaches the   people of Yehovah to live as exiles whose security is found in Him alone. The   Kingdom is coming; in the meantime, we build, remember, and rejoice.   Halleluyah!

Beloved, Ha'azinu is more than Moshe's final message to Yisra'el. It is the Song of Moshe. It is a Covenant witness deliberately placed in the mouths of our Jewish cousins by the so-called sages of old so that Yah's warning, judgment, and His promise of restoration would not be forgotten. In this installment of The Messianic Torah Observer, we walk through Deuteronomy 32 and examine why Yah chose poetry and song to preserve truth across generations. We trace the song's movement from the faithfulness of "The Rock," through Yisra'el's rebellion and scattering, to Yehovah's final vindication and atonement. We then connect Ha'azinu with Revelation 15 and the Song of the Lamb, showing how Moshe's ancient song points forward to redemption in Yeshua HaMashiyach.  In the second movement, we turn to Shabbat Shuva—the Sabbath of Return that stands between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur. Drawing from Hosea 14 and Matthew 18, we consider what teshuvah truly requires. Biblical repentance is not merely an emotion; it is a delib

This episode explores Yom Teruah (aka the Day of the Blowing of Trumpets) as the only feast in the biblical calendar given no explanation, the only feast that begins on the New Moon when the moon is dark and hidden, and the only feast whose arrival literally could not be known in advance. Drawing from Leviticus 23, Matthew 24:36, 1 Samuel 1–2, and the ancient two-witness system for declaring the new month, this teaching reveals why Yom Teruah is the most prophetically loaded day of the biblical calendar year and what it means for the return of Yeshua. The episode also explores Hannah's silent prayer as the Haftarah key to the feast's theology and unpacks the Ten Days of Awe that Yom Teruah opens.

Beloved, the traditional month of Elul carries with it one of the most beautiful pictures in all of Jewish thought: a King leaves His royal palace and walks into the field where His subjects live, labor, repent, and long to be reconciled. But as moving as that image is, the question remains: who is this field-wandering King? Well, in this teaching, we take the Elul tradition seriously, but we also bring it under the authority of Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and the testimony of the Brit Chadasha, aka the New Testament. From the love declaration of Song of Solomon 6:3 to the face-seeking cry of Psalm 27; from Isaiah's shepherd-King to Zechariah's humble King riding upon a donkey; and from Deuteronomy's promise of a circumcised heart to Yeshua's invitation in Matthew 11, the witness is clear. The King in the field is Yeshua. He has already come. He is accessible. He bids His people come, take His yoke, learn of Him, and find rest for their souls.

This installment of the Messianic Torah Observer connects the weekly Torah reading Ki Teitzei with the teachings of Yeshua in the Sermon on the Mount, showing that Moshe and Messiah are not at odds with one another. Rather, they stand as two powerful witnesses in one divine conversation that reveals the heart and intent of Torah. Through topics such as divorce, vows, retaliation, generosity, justice, and compassion, this teaching highlights how Yeshua fulfills Torah by drawing Yah's people beyond external compliance and into Kingdom righteousness that flows from a transformed heart.

Most of us were never taught to question the lens through which we read Scripture. We inherited a way of thinking from Sunday school, seminary, commentaries, hymns, and Western church tradition that many scholars identify as a Greek or Hellenistic mindset. But beloved, the Bible was not written by Greek philosophers. It was written by covenant people who thought in Hebrew, lived in covenant, told stories, kept the appointed times of Yehovah, and understood truth as something embodied, walked out, guarded, and lived before the Great I AM. In this teaching, we examine what the Greek mindset has quietly stolen from our Bible reading and what we recover when we return to the Hebraic lens of Scripture. We will consider: How Greek thinking spiritualized Torah and stripped the commandments of their concrete covenant meaning How the Hebraic reality and Jewishness of Yeshua were obscured How the biblical story was divided into law versus grace, Israel versus the Church, and Old Testament versus New Testament

Beloved, this installment of The Messianic Torah Observer takes us deep into Parashat Ki Teitzei, one of the most commandment-rich and, at first glance, challenging readings of the annual Torah cycle. But buried in the middle of its warfare ethics, family laws, property responsibilities, and moral instructions are powerful Kingdom truths that point us directly to Messiah, the nations, and Yah's covenant faithfulness. In this teaching, we will examine Deuteronomy 21:22–23 and see why Paul, in Galatians 3:13, reaches back into this very passage to explain what happened on Golgotha. Yeshua did not become a curse because of His own sin or rebellion. He became a curse for us, redeeming us from the curse that our rebellion deserved. Torah did not hide the work of Messiah from us; Torah instead pointed to it all along. We will also look at the Torah of the captive woman in Deuteronomy 21:10–14 and consider how, from a deeper spiritual reading, this passage foreshadows the nations being brought near unto Yah thro

In this installment of the Messianic Torah Observer, we discuss one of the hottest topics and subjects of the day: UFO and UAP. In this discussion, we explore the UFO/UAP phenomenom from a Messianic/Hebrew/Biblical perspective and determine how we answer a questioning world on what these things and beings are and how we are God's chosen and elect must treat them. Be prepared to have your worldview challenged and even shaken. But more so, be equipped to be a light and salt to a world that is desperately in search of answers and direction. 

In this installment of The Messianic Torah Observer, we turn our attention to Parashat Re'eh, contained in Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17, and to Moshe's opening admonishment to Yah's covenant people: "See." Re'eh is not merely an invitation to notice something with our natural eyes. It is a divine call to perceive, discern, and rightly assess what Yehovah has placed before us: blessing and curse, covenant faithfulness and covenant compromise, life and destruction. Beloved, this teaching presses into the personal and communal nature of Moshe's instruction. Re'eh begins in the singular, speaking to the individual son and daughter of Yasharal, and then immediately expands into the plural, addressing the covenant community as a whole. In other words, Yah's Torah must be seen personally, embraced intentionally, and walked out faithfully among His people. We also examine the warning of Deuteronomy 13 concerning false prophets and dreamers of dreams. The issue is not simply whether a sign or prediction comes to pass.

Beloved, this discussion is not about chasing titles, defending camps, or winning theological arguments for the sake of argument. It is about understanding where Hebrew Roots and Messianic Judaism agree, where they part company, and why that distinction matters to every Torah-honoring disciple of Yeshua Messiah. In this episode, Rod Thomas responds to the First Fruits of Zion article, "Hebrew Roots Is Not Messianic Judaism," and carefully works through the questions of identity, Torah obligation, covenant membership, Jewish distinction, Gentile discipleship, and the body of Messiah. Along the way, Rod offers his own take as a Torah-observant, covenant-keeping believer in Yeshua HaMashiyach who seeks to walk in Spirit and Truth without dismissing either side of the conversation.

Saints, Tu B'Av is one of those days on the Jewish traditional calendar that most of us in the Messianic and Hebrew Roots community have simply walked past without ever realizing it was there. And although it is not one of the mandated Feasts or Moedim of Yehovah, this 15th day of the 5th biblical month bears within it a beautiful redemptive pattern that speaks directly to the redeemed of the Most High. Coming just six days after Tisha B'Av, Tu B'Av reminds us that Yah has a way of turning the darkest seasons of judgment, exile, mourning, and loss into seasons of restoration, joy, and Kingdom expectation. In this teaching, we examine the historical and spiritual significance of Tu B'Av: the lifting of the wilderness death decree, the restoration of the tribe of Benjamin, the removal of barriers that prevented worship in Yerushalayim, and the touching image of the daughters of Jerusalem dancing in borrowed white garments. And beloved, when viewed through Messianic lenses, these elements point us right back

Beloved, accusations that Torah-honoring believers have embraced a false gospel, fallen from grace, or placed themselves back under the Law are serious and deserve a careful, Word-based response. In this installment of The Messianic Torah Observer, Rod Thomas addresses three common criticisms against the Hebrew Roots and Messianic Torah communities and shows why grace-motivated obedience is not legalism, why Acts 15 does not abolish Torah for Gentile believers, and why Yeshua remains the center and proper interpretive key of the Torah-observant walk.

Beloved, in this second installment of our brief Tisha B'Av series, we turn our attention to what should and should not matter to the modern-day Messianic, Hebrew, Netsari disciple of Yehoshua HaMashiyach. Tisha B'Av is not one of the mandated Feasts of Yehovah. We are not commanded to keep it. But that does not mean the day is spiritually irrelevant. If our Master wept over Yerushalayim and the coming destruction of the Temple, then we who belong to Him should at least understand the grief, history, prophetic weight, and covenant lessons attached to this solemn memorial day.

Greetings Saints. This is the week that pivots. There is one week in the Jewish calendar that moves from mourning to comfort in the space of just 48 hours. It begins with Tisha B'Av, the fast and memorial connected to the destruction of both Temples and other tragedies in Jewish history. But beloved, mourning is not the final word. The very next Sabbath brings Shabbat Nachamu, the Sabbath of Comfort, where Yah declares through Isaiah: "Comfort ye, comfort ye My people." In this teaching, we look at the Biblical calendar signal for the week of July 20–26, the Vaetchanan Torah portion, Isaiah 40:1–26, the Seven Weeks of Consolation, and the comfort we receive through Yeshua Messiah. Yah has not given up on Yasharal. And dear saint, He has not given up on you. Scripture references: Isaiah 40:1–26; Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11; Deuteronomy 6:4–9; Romans 11; Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23; Matthew 10:22; Matthew 24:13; Mark 13:13.  

Welcome, beloved, to this Shabbat Chazon teaching from The Messianic Torah Observer. Today, on the Sabbath of Vision, we slow our rhythm down and consider what Yah may be showing His set-apart people as we approach Tisha B'Av and sit inside Parashat Devarim — Moshe's final words to the generation preparing to enter the Land. In this discussion, we look at Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22, Isaiah 1:1–27, and John 2:19–21, asking what it means for Yah to show His people the Temple they lost — not as punishment, but as an awakening unto longing, repentance, and restoration. And for those of us who are Yeshua-focused Torah keepers, we see that Temple ultimately embodied in our Master Yehoshua Messiah, the One who was broken, buried, and raised in three days. Halleluyah. If this teaching blesses you, please take the time this Shabbat to read and meditate upon Parashat Devarim, the Haftarah of Isaiah 1, and John's witness concerning the Temple of Yeshua's body. May Yah use this Sabbath of Vision to show us what must be mourned