The Extent of God's Love

“If I could only love the most righteous person in the world as much as the Creator loves the most wicked person in the world.”  Rabbi Zusha of Hanipol

Meshulam Zusha (1718-1800) was born in Galicia and would, in modern terms, have been of the Polish nationality.  He was known for his extreme piety and his highly emotional prayer life.   He is considered to have been one of the great Hassidic rabbis along with his equally revered brother, Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk.

Many people understand that Jesus died for the sins of the world.  What they often fail to realize is that Jesus died for them individually.  The Bible says that the angels rejoice when one sinner believes.   The price paid for that one sinner was the most valuable thing in the universe. 

The Connection of the Bible Codes to Kabbalistic Thought, Part 2

It is important to us as Christians to understand the Jewish origins of our faith since Jesus and his followers were observant Jews and were, at first, recognized as such by other Jews.

One stream of Judaism is the ultra-orthodox, many of whom believe that God dictated the Torah letter by letter. This is one basis of the thought which has fostered the study of the Bible Codes phenomenon.

One Jewish school of thought, considered heretical by some Jews, developed from a mixture of mysticism and ultra-orthodoxy to become what is known as Kabbalism.  “Kaballah” in Hebrew means “receiving,” and is concerned with secret doctrines, hidden meanings, and commentaries about the relationship between an unchanging God and the ever-changing world.  The early Jewish mystics developed in the first and second centuries at the same time that the Gnostic sects were developing among the Christian community.

Kabbalism remains strong among modern Hasidic Jews.

The emphasis of the Bible Code researchers on the Torah reflects, at least in part, kabbalistic thought about the true nature of the Torah.  The Rambam (Rabbi Mosheh ben Maimon, b. 1135, Spain – d. 1204, Egypt) declared that “… the entire Torah is the names of the Holy One.”

The Zohar Yitro 87a declares, “We have already taught; The Torah in its entirety is the Holy Name, for there is no word in the Torah which is not included in the Holy Name.”  So, according to the Kabbalists, the Torah is God’s Name.

Kabbalism teaches that God created the universe by the manipulation of the letters of the Torah. In other words, He created the universe by the use of His Name.

The most that a Christian can say on this is what the Bible says. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Genesis 1: 1-3.

As to the name of God, He has answered the question:

“And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”  Exodus 3:13-14.