As
we stated previously, it is our
Traditions and Commandments of Men that can actually "prevent"
Messiah-in-us from being manifest. This is an important
issue — for It is Messiah-in-us who will bring us
in. We will look at several items that will help us to
discern His will, and to allow Messiah-in-us to bring us in.
Discerning His Will
Let us now look at several Scripture passages that reveal the
importance of
the whole matter. From these verses we may see the absolute
necessity of determining what the sayings of Yahushua are, and what
Yahushua’s commandments are. Let's take particular
note of the consistency and urgency of the following statements, as we
try to listen for, and discern,
His will for us.
And as you read along, remember this is the Word of
Yahushua
speaking to our hearts:
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them
that love me, and keep my
commandments. (Exodus 20:6)
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love
me
and keep my
commandments. (Deuteronomy 5:10)
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is
God, the faithful God,
which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him
and keep his
commandments to a thousand
generations; (Deuteronomy 7:9)
Therefore thou shalt love
the LORD thy God, and keep
his charge, and
his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments,
alway. (Deuteronomy 11:1)
For if ye shall diligently keep all
these commandments
which I command
you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk
in all his ways,
and to cleave unto him; (Deuteronomy 11:22)
If thou shalt keep all these commandments to
do them, which I command
thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways;
then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these
three: (Deuteronomy 19:9)
In that I command thee this day to love
the LORD
thy God, to walk in
his ways, and to keep his commandments and his
statutes and his
judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God
shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess
it. (Deuteronomy 30:16)
But take diligent heed to do the commandment
and the law, which Moses
the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the
LORD your God, and to
walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments,
and to cleave unto
him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your
soul. (Joshua 22:5)
And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of
heaven, the great and terrible
God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him
and observe
his commandments: (Nehemiah 1:5)
And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my
confession, and said, O
Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to
them that love him, and to them that keep his
commandments; (Daniel 9:4)
If ye love me, keep
my
commandments. (John 14:15)
He that hath my commandments, and
keepeth them, he
it is that loveth
me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my
Father, and I will love
him, and will manifest myself to
him. (John 14:21)
If ye keep my commandments,
ye shall abide
in my love; even as I have
kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his
love. (John 15:10)
By this we know that we love
the children of God,
when we love God, and
keep his commandments.
(1 John
5:2)
For this is the love of
God, that we keep
his commandments: and his
commandments are not grievous. (1 John 5:3)
Beloved, the above passages show the close
connection
of
"Love" with keeping Yahuweh’s commandments.
We note from the
above passages that the ultimate test of our love is based on
whether or not we keep
Yahushua's commandments. We must be absolutely sure
what those commandments of Yahushua are if we desire to "keep ourselves
in the love of Messiah," and desire to be found "loving Him, and loving
the brethren"
upon His return. In the passages above, note that the New
Testament references are to both Yahushua’s commandments and
Yahuweh’s commandments, for even the disciples of
Yahushua’s day knew that Yahushua is Yahuweh of
the Old Testament.
Likewise, Yahushua
gives us His example for
us
to follow. Notice Yahushua tells us in John 15:10, "...even
as
I have
kept my Father's commandments ...." He has given us
His example, and John reminds us in 1 John 2:6, "He
that saith he abideth
in him ought
himself also so
to walk, even as he
walked." Yahushua kept Father's
commandments, so we who desire to "abide" in Him, ought do the
same.
Entering His Rest: The Fulfillment
There
are 15 verses listed above. The number "15" speaks of "Rest." We are
then reminded that the phrase "My Sabbaths" occurs fifteen
times
in Scripture. This phrase reveals both the importance, and the means,
of entering Father's rest. The Theologians, and most of their
followers today, have dreamed up elaborate schemes to deceive their
followers, listing reasons why the "Sabbaths" of Yahuweh are not
for New Testament Believers. These Doctrines and Commandments
of
Men are not based on Scripture, and they actually turn men from the
Truth (Titus 1:14), by causing men not to practice the Truths of
Yahuweh, but to practice
substitutes of those
Truths!
We
are
exhorted to enter into His rest, and we are warned that some will not
do
so. We have been told that the Israelites in the wilderness
did not enter in, and we are told why they did not enter in.
Then we are warned not to fail to enter into His rest, and not to fall
after the same example or pattern of unbelief (disobedience) as they
did. What was their example, and the reason they failed to
enter His rest? The reason they were not allowed to enter in
to Yahuweh’s rest is related to do the
above passages. For a
detailed look at the Israelites, and why they were refused entry into
the Promised Land, see
The Way of Salvation: Part 2- Israel as Our
Example.
We
shall not go into great detail here, but the Reader is
encouraged
to look up the referenced article, outlining the Scripture passages
that tell us exactly why Israel did not enter in, and how we are warned
in the New Testament that
if we walk in disobedience
to the
Sabbaths and Commandments of Yahuweh, as the Israelites did in the
Wilderness, we too will be refused entry!
Beloved, the implications are enormous. If we
desire to be a "do-er" of Yahushua’s sayings, His
commandments,
then we must be talking about being a doer of not only the obvious ones
in the New Testament, but a do-er of Yahuweh’s
"Old Testament" commandments, including the Ten commandments, His
ordinances, and His Feasts, and
all those things
Yahushua has prepared for His people to walk in.
If there is any question about the matter we are discussing,
let us
remember that Yahushua is faithful to give us the proper meat in due
season. He has hidden various New Testament Scripture
passages for His sincere seeking ones for such a time as
this. Let us look at a few more passages, recalling the
little prophetic phrase, "from the beginning:"
Brethren, I write no new
commandment unto
you, but an old commandment
which ye had from the beginning. The old
commandment is the
word which ye have heard from the
beginning. (1 John 2:7)
And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I
wrote a new commandment
unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning,
that we love one
another. (2 John 1:5)
These passages, tell us plainly that John is talking about
the Old
commandment, or the commandments in the "Old" Testament. Notice
the following passage:
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge
against the children of thy
people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself:
I am the
LORD. (Leviticus 19:18)
Beloved, whose commandment is the one shown above?
Indeed,
even Yahushua confirms to us that the above command in Leviticus is His
commandment, although we were not taught that truth:
This is my commandment,
That ye love one
another, as I have loved
you. (John 15:12)
"Well, what about the New Commandment of Yahushua, that we
love one another. Isn’t that the only commandment
we must obey?" Let us look at the following verse:
A new commandment I give
unto you, That ye
love one another; as I have
loved you, that ye also love one
another. (John 13:34)
Notice that of the two verses shown above, they are shown in
reverse
order. In their normal order, one can easily skip over the
truth that Yahushua wants us to see, namely two things. First,
that the verse in Leviticus is
His
commandment; Secondly,
that He is giving us a
New commandment, having to
do with
how we love
one another (as He has loved us – to the point of death).
This New
commandment is much more demanding than the Old Testament command to
love. This new commandment does not
replace
everything else
He spoke, but is
in addition to everything else He
has said.
Foolish teachers have taught, however, that this new commandment
supersedes or
replaces all the Old Testament
commandments, thus they
say we need not "obey" them. What
rubbish! To the contrary, Yahushua merely summed up the
commandments into two general summary categories, however, and did not
say that the Law ("Torah") or the commandments were superseded,
replaced, or in
any way done away with.
Let us notice the following words
Yahushua spoke to those who sought to enter His Kingdom.
First, in showing how the two greatest laws summarize all the rest,
Yahushua said:
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would
that men should do to you, do
ye even so to them: for this is the law and the
prophets. (Matthew
7:12)
On these two commandments hang
all the law and the
prophets. (Matthew 22:40)
Showing how the Law and the commandments have
not
been done away with,
Yahushua said:
Think not that I am come
to destroy the law,
or the prophets: I am not
come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you,
Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or
one tittle shall in no wise pass
from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever
therefore
shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he
shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven:
but whosoever shall
do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the
kingdom of
heaven. (Matthew
5:17-19)
Moreover, we have further testimony that true love for
Yahushua (Yahuweh)
is shown by our obedience to His commandments, as John points out:
By this we know that we
love the children of
God, when we love God, and
keep his commandments. For this
is the love of God,
that we keep his commandments: and his
commandments are not
grievous. (1 John
5:2-3)
Now come to the discomforting part, where we go beyond what
we have
been taught, into seemingly uncharted waters. We could simply
deny that this is all true, and go back to our familiar and comfortable
understanding. We could take our chances that those Pastors
and
Leaders are
correct, whom we have been hearing, and
upon whose doctrines
we have staked our entire eternity. After
all, they
are such
nice gentlemen.
Beloved, search the Scriptures for yourself, and discard the
Doctrines and Commandments of Men, and lay hold of the Truth of the
Scriptures!
We could simply continue
to accept what we have been taught, thus denying Yahushua Himself, by
not loving
the Truth — for His
Word
is the Truth, and His
Torah is the Truth (Psa
119:142; Mal 2:6). Or, we could ask Yahushua to
reveal Truth of the Scriptures to us, no matter
what
it is, or
where it takes us, or no
matter how
unfamiliar it is, no matter how
uncomfortable
it seems at first. Those who are Yahushua's Disciples will follow
Yahushua "whithersoever He goeth!" Only those who fully allow
Messiah-in-them will be allowed to proceed to enter His Rest. For
it is Messiah Himself who will enter in, along with those in whom He
lives, just as Joshua and Caleb were the only ones to enter into the
Land.
A Warning
Dear Reader, you are encouraged
not to believe anything
without first
seeking Yahuweh in the Scriptures diligently as to the
truth
of a matter,
including anything in this
writing! We must be led by
His Spirit, and as
we approach maturity, or "marriageable" age as a Bride. The
Holy Spirit will lead
us
in places that we would
not desire or want to go.
However, as we put "self" to death, we will allow Him to gird
us, and we will then go
where He leads. Only then do we begin to truly follow Him
(John 21:18-19).
We
must, however, find our point of departure into
uncharted waters. We must confirm what we understand, and
what
we do not yet understand. Most find their current
understanding
is mostly "Commandments of Men" based on twisted Scripture.
We
will now review a few basics of Scripture that Yahushua's Disciples
should come to understand, by diligent seeking in the Scriptures, just
as did the Bereans, who searched the Scriptures to see whether these
things Paul was saying were true.
In
our seeking, we must do two things. First, we must come to an
unshakeable understanding of Biblical 'Grace,' in order that we
may walk in the 'mystery' of "Messiah-in-you" (Col
1:27); and
second, we must discard any Traditions of Men that do not agree
with Scripture, the Doctrines and Traditions we have
accumulated in our understanding and practice. All our focus then begins to be upon the issues of Messiah-in-you.
Messiah-In-You
Most
of the children of Yahuweh understand that by
the Blood of
the spotless Lamb of Yahuweh, who is Yahushua the son of Yahuweh, we have
been redeemed from slavery to another master, called "Sin," and also by
this shed Blood of Yahushua we have forgiveness of all Sins — our
Transgressions of the Law ("Torah") (1 John 3:4). This
forgiveness
of our Sins places us in right
standing with Yahuweh, without any works on our part
whatsoever. It is by His Grace alone that
we are forgiven, and are Born-again by the Spirit of Yahuweh. His
Blood has cleansed us, and He has given us the "Blessing of Abraham"
—
Righteousness by Faith. We have been cleansed for a purpose, however,
just as a vessel
must be cleansed before it is filled (Gal 3:14). Notice the
following passage:
Even the mystery
which hath been hid
from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory: Whom
we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom;
that we may present every man perfect in Christ
Jesus: (Colossians 1:26-28)Notice
the issue of "Messiah-in-you" is listed as a
mystery.
Not many will understand it. Second, we see
that "Messiah-in-you" is
the hope of glory.
The use of the word "the" shows exclusiveness, and tells us
that this is the
only
hope of "glory," of being counted among those called "My Glory," and
among those who will be allowed to enter in to the City of the
King. The word perfect shows that the goal of informing
others
about "Messiah-in-you" is that they become "perfect" or complete, a
term referring to the preparation of the Bride. This
perfection
entered into is simply the allowing of Messiah-in-them to
come to
fullness, so that Messiah-in-them can bring them in to the Land.
The
purpose of our cleansing is seen in several passages. We are
cleansed so that we might be filled with the
fullness of Yahushua, by His promised Spirit (Gal 3:14), so that we
might have right relationship and fellowship with Yahushua, and with His
children, and so we might bear the resulting
fruit unto Yahuweh. Just as a baby in the natural sense is the
result of
an intimate fellowship, so it is in the spiritual realm. It
is in this
way that "Messiah-in-us" is formed, and this is how He comes
forth in us, and how we grow up in Him, as we mature (Gal
4:19; Eph 4:15).
Yahuweh desires that we walk together with
Him. As we "choose" to allow ourselves to be conformed to the
image of Messiah, we begin to notice that some of the dealings of
Yahuweh are not as we expected. We go through many experiences
of what we think is death, and really is, but resurrection life is
brought
forth as a result. The Lord deals with us about yokes of
bondage, how we
are not to be yoked again, but then expects us to take on
His
yoke of
bondage in betrothal of marriage to Him.
This
last step is
very difficult for most Believers to do, since they have been trained
by their teachers and false prophets to
avoid all forms of
bondage,
including the "Bond(age)" of Love between the Lamb and His
Bride! It may be noted here that the main feature of the
Mountain
of Yahuweh’s presence — His habitation, called Mount
Zion in Scripture —
is "Bondage." Everything of Truth in
Yahuweh’s kingdom appears as "Bondage," and for that reason
only
the few, the very elect of Yahuweh, will attempt to come near, and touch
the
Mountain. This subject of New Covenant "Bondage" and the
Exchange
of Yokes is described further in
New Covenant Liberty: Freedom to Choose.
In
our next item in this series, we will look at several vivid examples of
what Scripture says, in contrast to what most of have been taught, and
we will see how this false teaching can change our behaviour, and can
thus actually disqualify us from entering His Rest.