STANDING IN THE LAST DAY

Deut.6:4-5

 For the Jews, it is a most important prayer:                                                          
The  Shema, the six Hebrew words, is a confession of faith and summary of the creed of Judaism that adherents to the faith recite each evening and morning, in every feast, in every problem, at the point of death... like the Our Father of the Christians, it is the most important prayer of a Jew... Martyrs through the ages spoke these words as they met their deaths at the hands of their enemies.
 At the very heart of Judaism lies the Shema, the fervent declaration of the Oneness of God. This is the Jewish prayer most often recited, an affirmation most insistently made by the pious from childhood until death.

 For Jesus, it is the most important commandment:
 When Jesus was asked for the most important commandment, he did not answered with the First Commandment of the Decalogue, instead, he answered with the Commandment of the Shema of Deut.6:4-5:
   ²⁸One of the teachers of the law... asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
   ²⁹"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
    ³¹The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mr.12:28-31, Mt.22:37-38).

    The Shema in Hebrew and English, Deuteronomy 6:4-5:

    4- Sh'ma Yisroel Adonoy Eloheynu Adonoy Echod
    Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.

    5- V-ohavto es Adonoy Elohecho b-chol l'vovcho u-v-chol naf'sh'cho u-v-chol m'odecho.
    And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

    The Shema in English and Hebrew, with the Ashkinazic and Sephardic Pronunciation

The Three Parts of the Shema:

    Actually the whole Shema has Three Parts:

    1- First part: Deuteronomy 6:4-9
    2- Second part of the Shema speaks of reward for doing the Mitzvos, laws of God, and punishment for violating them... Deuteronomy 7:13-21 (12-26), 11:13-21, and chapter 28.
    3- Third section of the Shema, in Numbers 15:37-41: Because five Mitzvos, laws of God, are mentioned in them.

    Most Jewish prayer of the Shema add a verse after Deut.6:4: Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.

   Here is the Whole Shema as prayed in synagogues:

    Deuteronomy 6:4-9:
    ⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever
    ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
    Deuteronomy 11:13-21:
    ¹³ So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul- ¹⁴ then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. ¹⁵ I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
   ¹⁶ Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. ¹⁷ Then the LORD's anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. ¹⁸ Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ¹⁹ Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, ²¹ so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
    Numbers 15:37-41:
    ³⁷ The LORD said to Moses, ³⁸ "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. ³⁹ You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. ⁴⁰ Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. ⁴¹ I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.' "
    "I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have put upon the Egyptians, for I Am the Lord that healeath thee' (Ex.15:26), and Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night or the arrow that flieth by day. (Ps.91:5).

"Hear", "shema", "listen" to the Lord is the first thing to do. "Hear!", we have to listen to God!...we have to read our Bible, the Word of God, and the Word is Jesus Christ Himself :
   ¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
    ²He was with God in the beginning.
    ³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
   ¹⁴The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (Jn.1:1-3,14).

    In Psalm 19 God Himself says he speaks to us mainly in two books: the Bible and nature:
   ¹ The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. ² Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. ³ There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. ⁴ Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
   ⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul... ⁸ The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. (Ps.19:1-4, 7-8).

    How God speaks to us:
    Usually in 3 ways:
    1- Through nature:  With the greatness of the universe, with the sun and moon, with the marvels of the atoms and insects and plants and animals, with the kindness and love and problems of our relatives and friends and enemies... who made the feathers of a bird and the eyes of an insect? who made the trump of an elephant and the hairs of a cat?...
    2- Thorough the church: When we don't listen to nature, God speaks us through the church, giving us the Bible, the Word of God, good sermons from the pulpit or the word of another Christian...
    3- Through sufferings: When we still don't listen to God, He sends us sufferings to purify us, they are the megaphones of God, the sound of trumpets are called in Revelation... each suffering is sent us directly from God through many circumstances, they represent the great love of God for us.
  

There is only One God:

    "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD (Deut.6:4)... Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord [the only Lord]. (AMP Bible).

    God Himself in the Bible states that God is the only one God, the only one who gives life and death, the only one who punishes and heals... he may use the parents, or a neighbor or Satan... but it is God Himself in person the only one Lord who masters every thing, praise the Lord!.   

    In Deuteronomy:
    See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no-one can deliver out of my hand (Deut.32:39-43)     

   In Job:
   ¹⁷ Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
    ¹⁸ For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal. (Job 5:17-18).

    It is well known that in Job it was Satan the one who did all the damage to Job, but by permission of God!... but in fact, when Job spoke, he attributed all his punishments to God Himself  and not to Satan, The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised... shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? (Job 1:21, 2:10).   

    In 1 Samuel and 2 Kings:
    The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. (1.Sam 2:6, 2 Kg 5:7).

    In Matthew 25:31-46:
    It is Jesus Himself, the King, who will say: Come, you who are blessed by my Father... Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire... Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

Love your God:

    LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might... and Jesus adds in Mark 12 another qualification, with all your mind:

    - "With all your heart": Yes, the heart is the first, with all your feelings, with sensible love, giving yourself to God with constant joy and thanksgiving for everything, God is always the very first in all circumstances.
    - "With all your soul": All of yourself, the honor and the glory is all for God in all occasions... to love is to give... and we must love our God with all our soul, with all our spiritual feelings, giving thanks for everything.
    - "With all your strength": Love God with all our might, with everything God has given us, using every minute and every fiber of our body and soul to praise God, always, in all circumstances, giving thanks with great joy... a sad Christian is a very bad Christian.
    - "With all your mind" , adds Jesus in Mark 12:29: Using all our "mind" also to love God. On many occasions our mind tells us things are wrong, bad people progress, good people suffers... wars, pestilence, hurricanes... yes, use your mind to acknowledge the greatness of God when He blesses and when He punishes, when He uses a cancer or a leukemia in your child to bring him to Heaven... with all our mind, giving always glory to God even in circumstances that look bad... God is the author of live and death, the only one who wounds and heals, the only one God always and in all circumstances, "See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand. (Deut.32:39)... the main thing God wants for each one of us is to bring us to eternal glorious Heaven.

Love your neighbor as yourself:

    Jesus puts together the love to God and the love to your neighbor as the second commandment, The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' ... and Jesus adds, There is no commandment greater than these." (Mr.12:31).

    The Tables of Moses were Two: The first one is commanding to love God, the second one commanding to love your neighbor, not to hurt him. The 2 Tables of Moses

    Later on, John will add a very stern warning:
     ²⁰If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1Jn.4:20-21).

    This is how the Old Testament puts it:
    And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt (Deut.10:19)
   Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD (Lev.19:18):

    To seek revenge or bear a grudge is to create a hell at home, and at work, and in the world...it is the cause and reason for most wars... we should learn this lesson in our daily lives, in the Israel-Palestine conflicts, in Ireland, in India-Pakistan... brothers fighting just revenge for bearing a grudge...
    But revenge, to bear a grudge creates specially a most serious hell in the own life of the one who keeps the grudge!... you don't need to die, you have already your hell on earth!.
    Yes, we have to love our neighbor as ourselves: Would you like your neighbor to forgive your small mistake?... do the same!... would you like your neighbor to help you in time of need, even if he is your enemy?... do the same!...

    Jesus Saves... Grace... Faith... Love   The Gospel of Grace and Faith

Always upon your heart... teach them to your children:

    6- And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart 7- and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

    Yes, the heart is the first, and always!.. and teach them to your children!... the Jews keep this 2 commandments very well.

(Go To: http://biblia.com/prayer2/shema.htm  for original article)