Called great in the Kingdom of Heaven
Sorting through our characters
This paper attempts to recapitulate conclusive facts that would motivate every reader of The Scriptures, commonly known as The Bible, to deduce if his/her spiritual journey is somewhat in harmony with what is written. And as much as we live and think of our Salvation/Redemption on a daily basis, because we have heard and/or learnt about it and came to believe in it, this should be focused on.
People, especially women, like sorting through their stuff, which is even a very good habit to make : in the garage, in the basement, in the cupboards, in the drawers, in the shelves, everywhere in the house, not only for the sake of cleaning and clearing, but also and even in a rigorous manner for the sake of the environment. How much more, for the sake of the Kingdom of YHVH Elohim which we expect to inherit, do we mind to examine ourselves while searching The Scriptures ?
Did you ever think of sorting through your characters, which is crucial, in order to please YHVH Elohim ? An important thing we need to take to heart ! Yaakov (James) 3 : 2 : « For we all stumble in many things. If there is someone who does not stumble in words, this one is the perfect man able to control his whole body ».
Here is another time for all of us for a self re-examination, a time of clearing and cleasing, a time to sort through our characters, a time of repentance and a time of coming back. Let us go through it !
Unanimously : « The earth and all that is in it belong to YHVH. The world and the inhabitants in it ». If you believe that this is true, thus the following will apply one day to you too : Kohelet (Ecc.) 3 : 20b : « ... all come from dust, and all return to dust ».
I strongly believe that beyond any doubt these words make us understand that the Book The Bible is definitely true.
We should then to believe that The Word of YHVH Elohim The Creator of the universe, from Bereishit to Revelation unconditionally applies to us too.
► A land – that is Eretz Ishrael, a people – that is the House of Yaakov, and an Instruction – that is the Torah/the Law of YHVH Elohim, are the three things that dominate the Book/The Scriptures, from Bereishit to Revelation, and The Creator of the universe has chosen them to elaborate, to devise and to fulfil His Plan of Redemption.
► Abraham, the father of The Seed of Promise, cannot be separatef from His Seed of Promise Who is Yehoshua HaMashiach. To believe in Yehoshua HaMashiach requires to believe in His father of Promise, Abraham, the patriarch :
(a) who did the following : Bereishit (Gen.) 26 : 5, as it is written : « Because Abraham listened to My Voice and kept what I charged him to keep, which are My Commandments, My Statutes, and My Laws », and
(b) had to do the following, Bereishit 18 : 19, as it is written : « For I have chosen him that he may command his children and the seed after him for them to keep The Way of YHVH to do what is right and just, so that YHVH may bring to Abraham what He has promised him ».
► Circumcision is the Covenant Sign of the First Covenant to establish the messianic lineage from Abraham to The Seed of Promise, and as a generational law after uncleaness according to Vayikra /Lev.) 12 : 1-3. On the other hand, Tevilah (immersion) is the Covenant Sign of the Second Covenant for circumcision of heart, through the Blood of The Anointed One, Yehoshua Ben HaElohim.
► The messianic expectation was even a very old Hebraic spiritual reasoning as Yob the righteous man for example declared, as it is written according to Yob 19 : 25 : « But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives and that He will stand in the end upon the dust ».
It is neither a new mindset nor a new faith, and today this is also very true among the Yehudim around the world.
► YHVH Elohim made His Name known, through Moshe, to the Children of Ishrael before He freed them from the bondage of the land of Egypt, as follows, Shemot (Ex.) 3 : 14-15 : « And Elohim said to Moshe : I AM Who I AM from eternity and forever. And He also said : This, you will say to the Children of Ishrael : I AM has sent me to you. YHVH, The Elohim of your ancestors, Elohei Abraham and Elohei Itzhak and Elohei Yaakov, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My Memorial throughout the succeeding generations ».
► YHVH Elohim had formed one nation through Abraham, Ithzak and Yaakov/Ishrael, to be a light to the other nations of the earth and through this chosen nation He made known His Name, His Way, which are through His Torah which is His Instruction, which are His Statutes, His Commandments and His Judgments.
►YHVH Elohim had contracted a Marriage based on His Voice/His Instruction with the House of Yaakov at Har Sinai who had accepted the Contract. YHVH Elohim made Himself as their Elohim and they as His people.
► The Word of YHVH Elohim is a Covenant-based relationship between Him and the House of Yaakov built on a conditional clause « If you then I will ».
► The entire Book of The Scriptures, from Bereishit to Revelation, in any way cannot be divided into two Books, as two distinct Books, with two distinct spiritual ways, since YHVH Elohim had only anointed One to fulfil His Plan of Redemption, His Plan of Salvation, and that is Yehoshua Ben HaElohim. There was and still is only One Way, and this Way is the same Way spoken also by the Apostle Shaul in the Book of Acts.
► YHVH Elohim Elohei Ishrael made it clear that the Blessings of Devarim 28 have been formulated to reward those who obey His Voice, and on the other hand He made it also clear that the curses have been devised to punish those who do not listen to His Voice.
► YHVH Elohim gave His Torah to His people, the House of Yaakov, to set them apart from the peoples of the nations, but instructed that the same is to be kept by the strangers who sojourned among them. He said, as it is written, according to the following scriptures, for example :
Shemot (Ex.) 12 : 49 : « One Law will apply to both the natives of the land and the strangers who sojourn among you ».
Bamidbar (Num.) 9 : 14 : « And if there are strangers among you and want to keep the Pesach to YHVH, then they will do it only according to the Statute and the customs of the Pesach. Only one Law applies to both of you, whether sojourners or natives of the land »
Bamidbar 15 : 15 : « And for the Congregation, only one Statute and one Custom are for you and for the foreigners who sojourn with you too, thus an eternal Statute throughout your succeeding generations : There will be no difference before YHVH neither you nor the foreigners ».
► YHVH Elohim did not intend His Voice to be heard nor His Torah to be kept by them only for a period of time, in the wilderness. A fifteen hundred years later, He still spoke through His Prophet Zechariyah, as it is written under the chapter 1 : 5 - 6a saying : « Your ancestors, where are they now ? And the Nevi'im, do they live forever ? But My Words and My Statutes, which I commanded My Servants the Nevi'im, did they not overtake your ancestors ? »
► YHVH Elohim, almost two thousands years later, still made His Words and His Statutes alive and true. Revelation 14 : 12 : « Here is the patience of the saints, those who keep the Commandments of YHVH Elohim and the faith of Yehoshua HaMashiach ».
► YHVH Elohim is One and He is The Elohim of the entire Book of The Scriptures.
►Yehoshua HaMashiach Ben HaElohim is HaMashiach of Ishrael Who proclaimed the following according to the Letters to the Hebrews chapter 10 : 7 « In the Scroll it had been written of Me », a direct quote from Tehillah (Ps.) 40 : 7 as prophesied by His father king David.
► YHVH Elohim did not send His Anointed One to nuliffy His Covenant, His Torah. He did not send His Mashiach to nail His Words on the cross [By the way, historically the cross was also used by the Romans to execute The Anointed One of YHVH Elohim to demonstrate that He had committed a capital punishment eligible for death penalty. He was not a criminal. Definitely, not a divine symbol to wear on.]. He sent Yehoshua Ben HaElohim to preach repentance and to cause His people Ishrael to return to Him, to come back to The Covenant He made with their ancestors at Har Sinai.
►The First part of The Bible, commonly known as The Old Testament, contains various Covenants. A testament is not a covenant. This First part, known as The Tanakh, is composed of the Torah (known as the first five books or simply as 'Moshe'), the Prophets and the Writings.
►The Second Part of The Bible, commonly known as The New Testament, aimed to renew the Covenant made at Har Sinai through the Blood of Yehoshua HaMashiach. Yirmeyah 31 : 31-34 // Hebrews 8 : 8-11 // Luke 22 : 20b. The terms of the Covenant remain the same : The Ten Words, also called The Testimony.
► YHVH Elohim did not free the House of Yaakov from bondage to enslave them into another bondage. In other words, YHVH Elohim freed them from the physical and the spiritual bondage of pagan pharaoh and brought them to Him to give them freedom through His Instruction.
► YHVH Elohim did not intend not even a bit to annul The terms of Covenant He once made at Har Sinai with the House of Yaakov when He sent His Anointed One a fifteen hundred years later to save His people, the seed of Yaakov, from their sins.
► YHVH Elohim absolutely did not send His Anointed One to establish and build a new congregation based on a new system of beliefs and worship with pagan laws and customs. He had and still has one Desire : to restore back to Him the Congregation He once established at Har Sinai with the House of Yaakov under the same Terms of Covenant.
► Those of the other nations have to join Him, so that He may become their Elohim and they as His people, too.
► YHVH Elohim made and gave a Sign of worship between Him and His people. He gave them His Shabbatot, they are the weekly Shabbat and the Festival Shabbatot, and decreed the weekly Shabbat as His Fourth Commandment. His Shabbatot are an integral part of the entire Book, from Bereishit to Revelation.
Again, One Instruction for the native-born of the land and for the foreigners :
« And the foreigners who join themselves to YHVH to serve Him and to love the Name of YHVH to be His Servants, all who keep the Shabbat without profaning it and who keep My Covenant » - Ieshayah 56 : 6.
« And set My Shabbatot apart that they may be a Sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am YHVH your Elohim » - Echezkel 20 : 20
► The House of Yaakov, Ishrael, will remain YHVH Elohei Ishrael's people forever. He will never forsake the seed of Ishrael. Yirmeyah 31 : 35-36. « Thus says YHVH, Who gives the sun for light by day and the order of the moon and stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea and its waves roar, YHVH Tzeva'ot is His Name : If these orders change before Me says YHVH, then the seed of Ishrael will cease from being a nation before Me forever ».
► The Covenant YHVH Elohim made with the House of Yaakov at Har Sinai will never change and the seed of Ishrael will be His people forever. The Congregation of old in the wilderness refers in the New Testament to the Congregation of YHVH, what is His Way, and they are what is called « Ishrael of Elohim ».
► The first Celebration on the 50th Day after the counting of the 7 Shabbatot (traditionally referred to as Shavuot – the Hebrew for weeks - and translated from the greek Pentekoste – the 50th) in Yerushalem, according to the chapters 1, 2 and 3 of Acts, gathered there together in the City Yehudim and Ishraelites to come to celebrate this Day. There was no question of establishing or of starting another way of worship under a new denomination.
►The Yehudim and Ishraelites, the seed of Yaakov, who came to believe in Yehoshua of Natzaret as The Prophet, as the Son of David, as their Long-awaited Mashiach after His Death, Resurrection and Ascension, had never changed their cultural dietary law. Let us recall Acts chapter 10. Let us take this opportunity and also recall the story of Daniel in exile along with his three friends according to Daniel 1 : 8a, as it is written : « And Daniel purposed in his heart to not defile himself from the portion from the king’s food, nor with the wine that he drank ». According to YHVH The Creator of the universe, food is food, and He did not speak of unclean food.
► Calling To repent dominates the message preached throughout the Book of The Scriptures. The very first Call ot repentance ever recorded came from the Mouth of YHVH Elohim Himself when the first murder took place. ... But throughout the story of the House of Yaakov who rebelled against YHVH their Elohim, the act of repentance seemed a hard statement to their heart and ears. YHVH Elohim said, as it is written, according to Echezkel 2 : 5, 7 : « And whether they listen or do not (for they are a rebellious House), that they will know that a Prophet has been among them ... And you will still tell them concerning Me, whether they will hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious House ».
► YHVH Elohim, opened the womb of aging Elisheva, the wife of aging Zechariyah the priest, in order to fulfil His Plan and a boy was born unto them. Yehochanan, the prophetic son, was born to prepare the Coming of Yehoshua Ben HaElohim and preached the Tevilah of repentance to the House of Ishrael. The core Message of Yehoshua HaMashiach was to call His people To repent. In the similar way as Yehochanan did, He preached these Words : « Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near ».
Turning to YHVH Elohim, our Creator
As sure as YHVH Elohim asked Abram to leave pagan Haran, to make a Covenant with Him in another land He had chosen, likewise He wants us to leave our pagan lifestyle too to serve Him and to walk with Him through His Covenant Way. How ? Through this Book, The Scriptures, He had made available in our hands. Let us recall :
Romans 6 : 16 : « Do you not know that if you offer yourselves to be servants to whoever, then you are servants of whom you follow, either of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness ? ».
Here are three more conclusive facts concerning The Covenant Way of YHVH :
► Recalling the beautiful story of king Yoshiyah of Yehudah, who happened to read The Book of The Covenant that was found, then he repented and shared it with his people who repented too :
2 Melakhim 22 : 13 : « Go you and inquire of YHVH for me and for the people and for all Yehudah concerning the Words of this Book that is found, for great is the Wrath of YHVH that burns against us because our ancestors have not listened to the Words of this Book to do according unto all that is written for us ».
2 Melakhim 23 : 2b -3 : « And he read in their ears all the Words of the Book of The Covenant which was found in The House of YHVH. And the king stood on the royal platform and made a covenant before YHVH to walk after Him and to keep His Commandments and His Testimonies and His Statutes with all his heart and all his soul to obey the Words of the Covenant and that were written in this Book. And all the people also joined in the Covenant ».
2 Melakhim 23 : 25 « And there was no king like him before him, who turned to YHVH with all his heart and with all his soul, and with all his might according to the whole Law of Moshe ; nor did any like him arise after him »
To end the oral laws, not the written Laws
► Recalling, why The Sent One of YHVH Elohim, Yehoshua HaMashiach, had at every turn to confront with the pharisees, the sadducees and the Torah writers in His days during His Ministry ?
Because He did not come to end or to annul the Torah of His Father, but TO END the oral laws of the pharisaic judaism, known also as the doctrine of the elders, all of that He called the leaven of the pharisees and the sadducees who had added to the written Torah of YHVH a very huge collection of vain rules, that made the Torah of no effect.
And very badly, this situation did not change because the Torah seems not to be the constitution of Eretz Ishrael.
People who attend today Jewish messianic services should be prudent because the teachings of their rabbis aim at, little by little, drop by drop, converting their people to a new doctrine called rabbinic judaism, whose teachings in fact are still rooted and oriented to the pharisaic judaism.
Matthyahu 15 :.3 : « And he answered and said to them : Why do you instead transgress the Commandments of YHVH Elohim for the sake of the tradition that has been given to you ? »
► Recalling who was Shaul of Tarsus, who became a defender of The Way :
Acts 24 : 14 : « But this I admit to you that according to The Way which they call a heresy I serve The Elohim of my ancestors, also believe all that is written in the Torah and in the Prophets »
► Recalling the Covenant part of His Follower : « If you then you ». Yehoshua HaMashiach once said to His Disciples, as it is written according to Matthyahu 14 : 15 : « If you love Me, then you will keep My Commandments».
So the challenge is still for us today : if we love Him, then we will. There seemed no mandatory part to keep, only if we love.
Be called « great in the Kingdom of Heaven » !
The fiollowing is even another high challenge for us while we are seeking to walk with YHVH Elohim Elohei Ishrael. Yehoshua HaMashiach said, according to Matthyahu 5 : 19, as it is written : « So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these Commandments and teaches the people the same, then he will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in The Kingdom of Heaven »
The Word of His Father, YHVH Elohim, in His Mouth
Yehochanan 12 : 49 : « For I have not spoken on My own, but The Father Who sent Me, He has commanded Me what I shall say and what I shall preach ».
There seems to be two conclusive ways in order to be saved, and that is according to Revelation 14 : 12, as it is written : « Behold the patience of the saints, those who keep the Commandments of YHVH Elohim and the faith of Yehoshua HaMashiach »
After all, it appears that the Word, or the Instruction of YHVH Elohim, does not seem to be hard to understand and even to assimilate. Who is the responsible to make His Word twisted ? The adversary, satan the devil, the one who does his utmost to cause destruction among people.
If He had ordained that the 7th day is the day of rest for Ishrael, His people, why the other people have the audacity to change the Mind of The Creator of the universe and ordain another day to rest, or another way to nullify His Command ?
?? Are you anxious, apprehensive, disturbed ? Find rest in His Sent One, in Yehoshua HaMashiach ! Sit under His Feet and do like Miriam, the sister of Martha !
?? Are you worn out after laborious five or six days ? Find rest in YHVH Elohim by keeping His Command and have fellowship with Him on the 7th day, the day that was made for men !
« Tell your children of it, and then let your children tell their children,
and then their children to the generation after them ! »
Yoel 1 : 3
Reveal to your people in Yerushalem and throughout Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth how You had carried out Your Plan of Redemption O YHVH Elohim El Olam, that they do not keep twisting Your Word
nor wrongly teaching false doctrine among this generation !