Messiah In Me

The idea that “if you are a good girl or boy then at the end of the day you will get the prize,” is primitive. That just makes us sophisticated robots. Shimona Tzukernik

When we do what we do simply for the purpose of getting a reward or to avoid judgment, we are “me” centered. We must expand our mind to incorporate the “why” of what God tells us and expects of us. We must understand that we should do what we do out of love for Him and others. This is a mindset that is “others” centered, as opposed to “me” centered.

Judaism teaches that the spirit of God IS the spirit of Moshiach (Messiah). In other words, before the whole process of physical creation began, there was a desire in the Creator for redemption. The whole purpose of creation is redemption. He takes our spirit from himself (“and God breathed into Adam”) and puts it in the physical world with the idea of redeeming it back to Himself.

This is what the New Testament Scriptures teach as well. Moshiach is the firstborn of all creation. In the beginning was the word/Moshiach. This is not an idea that is new to the New Testament but certainly was confirmed by it.

The Spirit of God hovering over the chaotic, dark waters in the very first chapter of Genesis is a metaphor for our own personal lives. We are chaotic and in darkness, and it is only the spirit of Moshiach that can bring order and meaning to our lives.

The Baal Shem Tov says “memory is the key to redemption.” We must remember that we were once connected to God and that we have been placed in this temporary darkness only for the purpose of reconnecting to Him. If we forget that, then the darkness and the chaotic waters of life will overwhelm us.

Israel is told over and over to “choose life.” None of us need to be told to do this if the choices are obvious, and that is the point. The choices in life are never obvious. Life is dark and chaotic and we do not know which choice is "life" and which choice is "death" without the light of Torah/Moshiach.

Again, going back to our Genesis illustration, eventually the waters receded and land was allowed to be seen. In each of our lives, we have an essence. It is pure. It is the essence of God Himself! This essence is what is portrayed by the metaphor of the land. In our lives, we are not really creating anything new…. We are simply revealing what already exists. Our job, with the help of the Word and the Spirit and our good deeds and our obedience to His instructions is to remove the waters and darkness from our essence so that we can emerge as dry land, and only then can we become and enjoy what we were created to be. Only then can we have true fulfillment/joy in this life.

Again, in NT jargon, only then, once we have dry ground in our lives, can we produce fruit. Fruit will never grow in the watery darkness of an unredeemed soul. (Note: When I say an "unredeemed soul" I am not talking about salvation in the Christian sense, but something much deeper that must take place over time after that initial "salvation" or "reconnection" experience.)

Therefore, on a deeper level, believing in the coming of Moshiach, is the belief that God WILL redeem me in the here and now. It is a belief that I WILL make it, and I WILL succeed in what He has placed me here to do and I must be about the business of hastening His return in my life EVERY DAY!

So “Moshiach in me” is simply looking back and forward, which is a simple way of saying that our vision is all-encompassing. It is knowing where I came from, and in THAT understanding, I can be sure of my safe arrival at my pre-ordained destination. The literal physical Moshiach HAS BEEN, and Moshiach WILL BE. And likewise, I have been and I will be. Like God, in whose image I was created, I AM.  I was perfect, I will be perfect, and I AM in the state of being perfected.

I work in this life not for rewards or to avoid punishment. Again, that is primitive. I work in this life become what I already am. I work to remove the waters and the darkness from my life so that I and everyone that I come in contact with can benefit from the essence of God Himself that He chose to place in me!

I am unique. I have a purpose that only I can accomplish and to fail to accomplish it is selfishness because the rest of the world is deprived from the benefit of receiving the essence of God that He has chosen to place in ME!

The word "Moshiach" in Hebrew is written with the letters, mem, shin, yud and chet. These letters add up to the same numerical value as the phrase “a worry in a person’s heart.” What is the lesson?

When we know where we have come from, what we have been created for and where we are going, then worry, anxiety and depression cannot exist in our heart because we have been “redeemed.” Therefore, when we find ourselves in worry, anxiety and/or depression we instantly know that we have either:

1. Forgotten who we are and where we came from, or
2. Forgotten that our safe arrival is pre-ordained and have put ourselves back on a primitive performance standard, or
3. We have failed to uncover the dark and turbulent waters of our life that are obscuring from our vision who we truly are.

Darkness and light CANNOT co-exist and Moshiach is the light in me that expels everything else. If we have worry in our hearts we know that we have more work to do on ourselves in uncovering our land from the dark chaotic waters that are obscuring who I am from ME!

Messiah is coming back literally, but also, He is coming back IN ME, and I want to do everything in my power to hasten His return.

“The level of anxiety in my life is in direct proportion to the level of the gap that exists between who I REALLY am and the way I live my life.” Shimona Tzukernik

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This teaching is based on the video teaching of Shimona Tzukernik entitled Moshiach and the Purpose of Creation.