How Revelation Guides Us To Organize Our Lives - Jeremy Gimpel: The Land of Israel Fellowship

so now i i want to discuss this pattern because this pattern of revelation it's it's not only the story of how israel received revelation it's a map and a guide for us to receive revelation in our life and like everything in the torah it's multi-dimensional it's a pattern woven in on several different levels and today i'm going to try to unpack all of those levels and show they're all really pointing toward the same way the same structure the same way to think the same way to be in the world and hopefully bring the light of revelation into our lives because man i sure know that i need it so first let's start with the big picture this is like the first layer the outer layer of the onion and so let's see the ramban nachmanidis one of the greatest commentators philosophers mystics in jewish history he lived around the 1200s one of the greatest minds to ever walk on earth and in his introduction to the book of exodus he points out that the book of exodus really has three themes three sections three processes that happen in the book of exodus one the story of the exodus from egypt the second is the giving of the torah and the process of mount sinai and then the third section is the building of the tabernacle which we're going to get into in the next week the mishkan and that's a pretty solid overview of the book of exodus and that division is just spot on so now i just want to look at these three stages as the process that every believer is meant to go through in their own lives and then we're going to bring it down to more and more resolution so liberation from egypt we spoke about this in those weeks torah portions those were amazing sessions breaking free from the default of our reality the default the torah is teaching us we are slaves we're enslaved to something we are held back we are in maitzarim we're in constraints that's what the word egypt in hebrew means it means constraints maybe it's our fear our pride our laziness our ignorance our upbringing who knows all of us are held back by the obstacles and the first step is to break through to grow beyond ourselves to actualize ourselves that's stage one of the first stage of the book of exodus then the second the torah the revelation at sinai the torah is the covenant it's a commitment it's the responsibility it's like freedom without commitment it's aimless it's purposeless i mean in receiving the yoke of the kingdom of heaven it's like that's what happened at sinai we received the yoke of the kingdom of heaven and it's like why do we call it the yoke we could have called it the honor of the kingdom of heaven a pledge allegiance to the king no no we call it kabbalat receiving the yoke of the kingdom of heaven now what does that mean it's like a yoke to help us understand what was the purpose of sinai what was the purpose of receiving this covenant receiving the torah it's like you take an ox and he's just roaming free it's aimless it's pointless it's a waste of just so much potential but you put a yolk on its shoulders and you can take all of its energy and transform the earth you're making it productive you're giving it a focus it's like we're gonna be serving something in this world it can be aimless and purposeless we can serve our own desires our own lust you can bow down to your fears you can just live a life that has no purpose and you're just serving whatever comes to mind or you can commit to aim beyond yourself to grow to become your better self it's at sinai we committed to the ultimate good in our lives in every aspect possible we're going to try to live the and be make our best families our best selves learn as much as we can be as healthy as we can we are going to try to commit to the ultimate good in every aspect of our lives how we treat our friends how we treat our families how we treat our spouse how we treat our children it's aiming towards the ultimate good in every aspect from the first commandment all the way down to the tenth commandment which is even perfecting our inner world there's no compromises here and we may not achieve it but we definitely know we are aiming towards the ultimate good and the third stage is the building of the tabernacle bringing god into the world bringing god into our lives and that's how the book of exodus ends because that is the ultimate goal it doesn't really matter how great we get or how much weight you lose on your diet in order to be healthy in that work towards becoming a healthier person we're trying to bring god into our lives that is the goal the ultimate name that we carry the book of names shmot it's not called exodus in hebrew it's called the book of names because god chose to call his name upon us and when we walk in the world we carry his name with us the creator is known as the god of israel and the tabernacle it's the representation that god dwells among us inside us his name is called upon us now that's the macro dimension that's the pattern that you can see in the entire book of exodus but if we zoom in closer you can see the pattern more articulated it spells out the process for us because those are three huge ideas but how do we really break that down into steps that can we achieve something in our lives here and so here's how it goes let's look a little bit closer how did israel leave egypt let's look a little bit closer that's stage one the people just needed to act they needed to move they needed to just start walking they didn't know they were leaving and where they were going they didn't have all the answers they were called to make sacrifices they knew it wasn't going to be easy they were going to have to give up something that they cherished something that was dear to them they were going to have to make sacrifices in action but in the action in the walk a pillar of fire guided them along the way and from that journey in action they got inspiration in further guidance that's how it all started everyone knows that there's something that's holding them back in their own egypt something that if they were to fix if they were to overcome they know their life would be better maybe it's their diet maybe it's their relationship maybe you don't know right now and that's okay because all you need to do is ask just take a moment sit in a quiet place walk to a place where there's peace and quiet just ask yourself a question what am i doing now that's holding me back from where i need to be or what do i need to do now to take my life to the next level like what is the next step that i should be taking to make myself better the answer will come to you guaranteed it will absolutely be revealed to you a promise in the bible now you don't need a therapist to tell you that's what king david teaches us that's what he meant in psalm 145 verse 18 hashem is close to all those who call him to all those who call him in truth if you're being honest with yourself and you're asking the question sincerely you want to know what do i need to do or what do i need to stop doing hashem is right there to guide you but then when you get the answer maybe it's to sacrifice that sheep put the blood on the doorpost and start walking east if that's the answer whatever the answer is in your life just do it don't wait for inspiration don't wait for understanding act just do it it's like amazing i didn't know what ari was going to say today and here is what is he talking about he's like i don't feel i'm feeling numb i just yes exactly just do it in the act of doing you will discover understanding break free from your egypt that's holding you back just start walking and the revelation will come and we see that in scripture that's like the foundational revelation at sinai it came down as principles this revelation that they received the guidance that they got it was like 10 commandments that's the next stage i mean just like start working start doing immediately but then wait a minute i want deeper revelation now it came down as principles and the torah here is teaching us how to think how to organize our thoughts how to organize our lives what are your foundational principles who are you what are you living for what are the principles you want to reign in your family i mean these are huge questions that 95 of the world don't really ever think about how on earth are you going to create your best life your best marriage your best family without defining what your best life looks like how do you start you need your own 10 commandments now it doesn't have to be maybe it's only 7 maybe it's 13 principles i don't know years ago tahila and i took the time to articulate the principles of our family we came to 12 we we we we did it together with our kids and like our kids added a few things that were really important for them it was like a beautiful process that we did with our older kids and this is an amazing exercise to do before rosh hashanah we spoke a little bit about this before rosh hashanah as you prepare for the new year but this is something that needs to be done all the time it needs to be reviewed it needs to be worked on it needs to be crystallized it needs to be refined and when tahila and i and the kids came up with our 12 principles this was before the arugot farm it was before everything we were just a young couple trying to figure out how we wanted to live in the world but articulating those principles now it's so clear to me that would laid the foundations for our family to live where we live today to do what we do today it's a testimony that we have the ability to be co-creators of our life with god because those principles they didn't just come from us those were in prayerful moments of reflection who's helping us come to these clarities that is revelation and i printed up these principles and i until today there i put all my my kids around them from that time it's hung up in our living room but it's lower than all the other pictures so my kids can when they walk by towards their bedroom they have to walk by our family's principals and i watch them every once they sit down they kind of read them just to look at them again or look at the pictures and that's constantly there and it's like only when you have your thoughts and articulate them into words do you really have clarity of thoughts writing is one of the best forms of thinking in some ways it's the clearest form of thought and in some ways that's what this parsha is like the ten commandments they give us these principles and then moses starts to bring the principles down to earth he starts to articulate what it would look like in the real world to bring them down into reality moses is now showing us what a society would look like if we lived by these principles of justice of righteousness where god would really be our lord now that's what the verse in the torah uses this particular language look at the first verse again in parashat mishpatim exodus 21 1 and these are the ordinances that you shall place before them it's a place before them like that's just a peculiar way to phrase that language like why does the taurus say that it should have said these are the ordinances you should tell them these are the rules you should teach them these are the orders that you shall place before them like why does it say that saith the midrash has a story listen to this god comes to moses and says moses don't think you can just teach these ideas and laws over by telling the laws over a few times i wrote in the torah that you shall place the laws before them you need to spell out these rules like a table that's prepared and set to be eaten right before the guests come for shabbat the midrash is saying here's something so deep saying our principles they need to be set up organized like a like a set table articulated clarified set before us everything in order and everything in place clarity and so from these ideas it's like big principles we actually have to spell them out order them prioritize them it's like a part of our week you know i look at those principles the ones that are important to me and i schedule them into my life if i want my children to be in tune with nature well we need to like go out of our house and go hiking well that needs to be in my schedule or it's just not going to happen if torah is important for me i better learn with my kids well that needs to be in my schedule on my phone if it's not there i just know myself it's not going to happen until it's laid out articulated and then brought into reality what does it really look like in life in my life's schedule well those principles will just remain some lofty ideas parashat mishpatim is teaching us take the principles and bring it all the way down into the real world you have goals you want to accomplish it's not just enough to think about them or talk about them until you write them down set them before you like a set table for a festive shabbat meal you haven't done the proper work yet and like i've never shared these publicly before um some people from the fellowship in the earlier sessions they asked to see my family's principles so of course i sent it to them but i just think it's a good idea in this opportunity just to share with you the family principles that we came up with so maybe some of these ideas you can take for your family shalom my name is jeremy gimpel a few months ago we started an online seminar teaching life-changing biblical wisdom revealed from the original hebrew and straight from the mountains of judea with global instability on the rise more and more people are turning to god realizing now they don't exactly know where to look for guidance the bible says the guidance will come from the land of israel what started as an online seminar has grown into a global fellowship with hundreds of members from over 30 countries we are participating in fulfilling prophecy as we learn the bible through the eyes of prophecy with a focus on what it's telling about us in our lives today what you will discover is that the wisdom transmitted thousands of years ago is speaking directly to us in our time right now instead of learning the bible as a religion it's the torah of israel the living guidance of god so please join us for our next online gathering and get access to the full library of teachings that the land of israel fellowship is offering join now and get an audio series on the prophecy encoded in the book of joshua absolutely for free just click on the link below or email fellowship at the land of israel.com i don't know how you found this video or what compelled you to click on that link but i don't believe in coincidence and i would encourage you to take the next step on your journey toward the land of israel i hope to see you at the land of israel fellowship shalom