In my last comments on this portion, I discussed the opposite contrasts of walking by faith or walking by sight. I showed how Abram obeyed without question the directive of YHVH to "get out of your country, from your family and your father's house, to a land that I will show you". I also showed how this faithful obedience was "accounted to him for righteousness". I also wrote about Lot's concept of walking by sight, and the serious trouble he incurred.
I closed out my comments with a call to those that are still encumbered with the poisonous tentacles of modern christian ideals of men. I equated John's comments in Revelation 12: 1 with a call to abandon false western teachings and return to the Torah of Moses. Truly, Father YHVH hates mixture. The call was to "Come out of her and be separate".
Although there will be some that heed this call at the proverbial last moment, the age of grace is over and judgment is at the very door. For many still entangled within western religious circles, and even many within Messianic ranks, mixture is still the norm. They just can't separate themselves from Egypt. As Moses came down from the mountain and found his people steeped in idolatrous mixtures, I pose his words for us today.
"Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, 'Who is on the LORD'S side? Let him come unto me.'" Exodus 32: 26
After the asking of this queston, three thousand people died. The same question is asked of us today, with the cloud of the same (only far worse) judgment hanging over the heads of men. As with Noah, the final warnings are being given, with the righteous being sealed within the safety of our modern ark (camp of the righteous). The time of the end of the world as we know it is at hand. It is a time of which John wrote in Revelation.
“He who does wrong, let him do more wrong; he who is filthy, let him be more filthy; he who is righteous, let him be more righteous; he who is set-apart, let him be more set-apart. And see, I am coming speedily, and My reward is with Me, to give to each according to his work. I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Tav’, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." Revelation 22: 11-13
In the Spirit of being "more set apart", Father told us through Jeremiah He would write His Torah upon our hearts. When that is done, it is complete. There is no room for anything else to be written upon these walls. Adonai is NOT looking for those that call Him by name, yet remain steeped in baal-like mixtures. He is looking for those that will serve Him with the loyalty of a whole heart. It is as simple as Yeshua said to His disciples and recorded through John.
"If you love Me, keep My commandments (Torah)." John 14: 15
John had this to say in his first epistle.
"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily hath the love of God been perfected. Hereby we know that we are in Him." 1 John 2: 4-5
Herein is the underlying truth. Those that insist upon "playing both sides of the fence" or disregarding His Torah altogether are "liars". They are pretenders that have no part in Messiah Yeshua. Moses sinned greatly and lost his ticket to the promised land. Yet, he will still be with the remnant in the kingdom. Even so, these liars are the ones that risk hearing from Yeshua the saddest words in all of Scripture.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master, Master,’ shall enter into the reign of the heavens, but he who is doing the desire of My Father in the heavens. Many shall say to Me in that day, ‘Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and done many mighty works in Your Name?’ And then I shall declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness (Torahlessness)!'"
Matthew 7: 21-23
Matthew 7: 21-23
In this portion, we are considering Abram's walk with Adonai in its earlier stages. We see a man that was called of Elohim to leave EVERYTHING--family, home, and country--he had known to this time in his life. In obedience, he gathered up things he would need for the journey, along with those that would help him manage it, including Sarah and his nephew, Lot.
At three specific times during his trek to the land of promise, Abram was given specific promises. His promise was to be made into a great nation, become a recipient of divine blessing, given a great name, and be a blessing to others. Father was his "shield and exceeding great reward", blessing those that blessed him and cursing those that cursed him--"a blessing to all the families of the earth".
After Abram's journey had begun, YHVH appeared to Abram and extended the blessing to his descendants. Soon after that, Father told Abram his sons and daughters would be as the stars of heaven. In reconfirming his former promise concerning the possession of the land by Abram's seed, Father significantly increased the size of the land of inheritance. So much for a two state solution. The world of men may support that premise, but the Elohim of the world has different ideas. Since He owns the entire creation, I think His vote carries FAR more weight.
"On the same day Adonai made a covenant with Abram, saying, 'I have given this land to your seed, from the river of Mitsrayim (Nile) to the great river, the River Euphrates.'" Genesis 15: 18
Abram was a man specifically chosen by Adonai to be the father of the Hebrew nation. His name meant "father of many". Later, his name was changed to Abraham which means "father of nations". It is through the lineage of this man that we receive the "Seed of Abraham" Yeshua Messiah. It is as Paul wrote for the Galatians.
"But the promises were spoken to Aḇraham, and to his Seed. He does not say, 'and to seeds,' as of many, but as of One, 'and to your Seed,' Who is Messiah." Galatians 3: 16
Through Messiah Yeshua, the covenant made with Abraham was fulfilled. All of the law (Torah), given 430 years after the promise, was to be our teacher and prophetic picture of this "Seed of Abraham". It was given as our teacher and tutor, to convict us of our sin, and guide us into all righteousness. It is as Paul continued for the Galatians.
"Now this I say, Torah, that came four hundred and thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously confirmed by Elohim in Messiah, so as to do away with the promise. For if the inheritance is by Torah, it is no longer by promise, but Elohim gave it to Aḇraham through a promise. Why, then, the Torah? It was added because of transgressions, until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was ordained through messengers in the hand of a mediator." Galatians 3: 17-19
Today, we look to the "Seed of Abraham" as our Teacher, Tutor, and Advocate before the Father. As the Torah given through Moses didn't do away with the promise given to Abraham, the advent of Yeshua Messiah DID NOT do away with the Torah given through Moses. Therefore, we are all compelled by Messiah to keep His Torah, as He specifically commanded us in John 14: 15, because we love Him, not for redemption. It is as Paul continued for the Galatians.
"Is the Torah then against the promises of Elohim? Let it not be! For if a law had been given that was able to make alive, truly righteousness would have been by Torah. But the Scripture has shut up all mankind under sin, that the promise by belief in Yeshua Messiah might be given to those who believe. But before belief came, we were being guarded under Torah, having been shut up for the belief being about to be revealed. Therefore the Torah became our trainer unto Messiah, in order to be declared right by belief." Galatians 3: 21-24
The key comments by Paul in this last reference are underscored. Those hopelessly encumbered with christian heresies, do not understand a Torah that enumerates 12 different sacrifices, only some of which deal only with unintentional sin. Nowhere in Torah is there a sacrifice that deals with intentional sin. The person that committed one of these was held hopelessly under the penalty of death. For them, it was as Ezekiel said.
"Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Ezekiel 18: 4
Paul doesn't say the Torah has been abolished. Rather, he says it could never grant us redemption for our souls. That was for the prophesied work of Messiah Yeshua to accomplish. It was through Him we could be called "sons and daughters of Abraham". It is as Paul continued for the Galatians.
"And after belief has come, we are no longer under a trainer. For you are all sons of Elohim through belief in Messiah Yeshua." Galatians 3: 25-26
Through Messiah Yeshua we have become known as the "Sons and daughters of Abraham". Through an active belief in Him, we experience redemption in the same manner as did our father, Abraham. Grace is not a new covenant doctrine. Abraham served lunch to all three Parts of YHVH and became known as "the friend of YHVH". Paul concludes this chapter for the Galatians as follows.
"For as many of you as were immersed into Messiah have put on Messiah. There is not Jew nor Greek, there is not slave nor free, there is not male and female, for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua. And if you are of Messiah, then you are seed of Abraham, and heirs according to promise." Galatians 3: 27-29
What speaks to my heart and spirit most concerning this portion is the person of Abraham. I was born in the United States, which makes me an American. Abraham was called out of his homeland and away from his family to become the father of the Hebrew nation. Abraham was a Hebrew just as much as I am an American.
According to Paul, my active faith in Yeshua has caused me to become a member of that group of people called "the seed of Abraham". Whether or not I am of a bloodline that places me within one of the 12 houses of Jacob (Israel), my "putting on" of Yeshua has placed me within the ranks of what is called the "Commonwealth of Israel" (Spiritual Israel).
"Putting on" of Messiah IS NOT just a simple profession at the altar of some church. It is just the beginning of a lifestyle of divine leading. Through the last few years, I have heard some christian people say, "I'm not Hebrew, and I don't want to be Hebrew". According to Scripture, faith in Yeshua necessarily includes being a Hebrew. You CAN'T have one without the other!
What I am saying is that any person claiming inclusion in the group called the "seed of Abraham" MUST divest one's self of ALL doctrines previously learned, maybe even the concept of redemption and salvation, except the existance of YHVH. Come to grips with the concept that they ARE Hebrew. Then, open up and begin a serious and timely study of Torah, and start thinking like a Hebrew. Only then will one will rightly establish the building blocks toward becoming a true "Son or daughter of Abraham".
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