Watch: Parasha Va’etchanan 2022: Does HE Matter to Us?
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 3:23-7:11, Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 40, Luqa (Luke) 22
This is one of those parashiot where we are really saying the same thing over and over again because the problem is that most of us already know a lot, but we are not necessarily doing what we know and that is a big problem. That is not going to work in these End Times, and we are going to see a lot of witnesses to this in this parasha.
A simple case in point is in Devarim (Deuteronomy) chapter 4 and verse 2. Yahweh tells us not to add anything at all to the word which He commands us to keep and not to take anything at all away from it. We have to take care not to change it in order that we might keep (the word in Hebrew is shomar, to guard), we might keep or guard the Commandments which He commands us.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:2
2 “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your Elohim which I command you.”
What that means is, if we change His Commandments in any way (we add fence laws, we forget to do stuff, or we are just not going to do it because we do not want to), they are no longer His Commandments but now they have become our commandments. That is what this passage says in this verse.
He does not like that so if we think about it, we would get fired for changing our company’s policies right? If we did not follow what the boss said to do and did not follow his rules, would we not get fired right away? If that is the case, then how much more the Commandments of our King? There are many other witnesses to this all throughout Scripture.
For example, we will also see later in Devarim chapter 12 and verse 32. Yahweh says, “Whatever I command you, be careful to guard that. That is what I want you to do, and I do not want you to add anything to it. I do not want you to take anything away from it. I want you to do what I tell you to do.” This is very interesting because at the start of His Ministry (the Beatitudes), Yeshua says the exact same thing.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 12:32
32 “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.”
In Mattityahu (Matthew) Chapter 5 and verse 17. This is what the whole Christian world misses and most of the Messianics forget, is that Yeshua says “do not think (do not think, DO NOT THINK!) In the start of His Ministry He says DO NOT THINK that I came to destroy or change or alter or do away with the Torah (law of Moshe) or the prophets”. He said “I did not come to do that. I did not come to destroy any part of the Torah. I only came to fulfill the first parts of the prophecies that are contained in the Torah”.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:17
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”
There are many prophecies contained in the Torah and some of them speak of Yeshua’s return. So what are we trying to do? What is Rome trying to do? They are trying to do away with Yeshua’s return by doing away with the prophecies and the law? We are not looking out for Yeshua’s return because we do not know those prophecies contained in the Torah? We do not know how we are supposed to behave because we are no longer following the bridal covenant? He did not come to take away our bridal covenant? He is our husband, and we are His bride. He did not come to take away, or destroy, or alter, or change the bridal covenant. It is like a legally binding contract except that It is a lawfully binding contract, and we have to keep it under the penalty of death.
In Verse 18, Yeshua says to us, “Until Heaven and Earth pass away [those two were invoked as Witnesses against us], until Heaven and Earth pass away, not one jot, not one tittle, [no accent mark, no diacritical marks, nothing… nothing is going to change or] pass away from the Torah until all of the prophecies in the Torah are fulfilled.” We are talking about a lot of prophecies, and we are talking about a lot more than just keeping Sabbath and Feasts.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:18
18 “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”
I know in Judaism (in the land of Israel), the rabbis complain about what they call “Sabbath Judaism” which is where people think, “Well, we just keep the Sabbath, and we are good; we just keep the Sabbath and Feasts, and we are good”. Then in Ephraim, it is pretty much the same problem. It is the “Sabbath Ephraimism” is what goes around. Elite Judah understands that there is a spiritual war and most of Ephraim are clueless. They do not have a wartime mentality; they have a peacetime mentality. They do not understand that we are called to war and that we are a war bride, and this is the war bride’s bridal covenant contract (this is her Ketubah). He did not come to change or alter or do away with the Ketubah.
In verse 19 he says because (Ketubah is still in effect) you want to be my bride, here is what it is. He says whoever breaks therefore one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, he shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. That means taryag-mitzvot, or 613 mitzvot, or whatever you want to say, right? If we do not do the whole of the Torah with a whole heart, turn to love Him, doing it in love for Him, we will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:19
19 “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
This is something for the book salesmen and the Saturday Night Live merchants and all that kind of stuff but He says, “But whoever does and teaches them he shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven” for Yeshua says to us that “unless our righteousness…” That is a Hebraic idiom for obedience to Yahweh’s commandments or obedience to the Torah. That is what most of Ephraim misses (and a lot of Judah misses it too. “Unless our righteousness, unless our obedience to the Torah exceeds the obedience to the Torah that is done by the scribes (which are the Karaites) or the Pharisees (meaning the Orthodox rabbis) you will by no means enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Why are so many in Ephraim looking to the scribes and the Pharisees for their doctrinal materials or their understanding of how to follow scripture? What is that about? If we call ourselves Nazarenes, do we believe this and do we make an effort daily (moment by moment) to walk this out? If we do, then why are so many in Ephraim and Judah not keeping Yahweh’s instructions?
How many in Ephraim and Judah are just picking? “Well the Sabbath is easy, and the Feasts are easy; these are the ones I get to rest and read; I get to eat His spiritual food, and I do not even have to give anything back to him. Nah, I did not sign up for work, I just signed up for the retirement paycheck.”
For those of us who believe on Yeshua, do we think we are special just because we said the John 3:16 prayer? Is it because we claim to believe on Yeshua, and we are resting on Sabbath and Feasts? We think we love Him because we are taking from Him? We think we love Him because He is always there for us, but we are never there for him? How many of us in Ephraim and Judah and how many of us Nazarenes think in our hearts that we are already chosen even though we have not chosen to respond and obey Him? Is that not kind of a little meshugar there? For brother Judah, why do you always seem to want to add fence laws to Yahweh’s Commandments? What is with that? Is adding fence laws not exactly adding to Yahweh’s Commandments?
Is that not exactly what Devarim 4 and verse 2 says we are not supposed to do? why are we doing things that are exactly prohibited rabbis? What sense does that make? And then, when we take a look at the body of Yeshua, the whole thing starts to enter the realm of the absurd. How many of us believers (Ephraimites) whatever, want to ignore Yahweh’s commandments (except for the ones that are convenient for us) just because we claim to believe.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:2
2 “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your Elohim which I command you.”
Yahweh sent Yeshua to lead us to the Promised Land. He is the one who gave us the commandments at Mount Sinai. So, how does it work to ignore the Commandments that Yahweh sent Yeshua to give us at Mount Sinai just because we claim to believe on the one who gave us the Commandments at Mount Sinai? Does that make any sense at all? What do we think? Do we think that the Father sent His Son to give us a get out of jail free card just because we speak His name aloud? It is like, what are we thinking? Do we think we are somehow Yahweh’s chosen, privileged, special children who have a license now to do whatever we want for our own benefit just because we speak the magical name of Yeshua?
What sense does that make and especially what sense does it make when that is the exact opposite of what Yeshua says in Mattityahu 5 and verse 17. And for that matter, why does Orthodox Judah feel that they can change everything about the Torah to suit themselves just because they call themselves by the magical name of rabbi (even though this word rabbi appears nowhere in the Tanakh)? Who are we loyal to? Are we loyal to the one who gave the Torah or are we loyal to ourselves as the ones who feel we have the authority to change the Torah, just because we call ourselves rabbi or the pope for that matter. Is that not what the pope does? Does he not sort of feel that he is a demigod, so he is given the power to change the law?
Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:17
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”
If the pope feels that he is a demigod, then what about brother Judah? I mean equal weights and measures. The pope changes the Torah to suit himself, the rabbi has changed Torah, generation by generation, to suit themselves.
For those of us who have ears to hear, in Devarim chapter 4 and verse 4, Yahweh tells us that every single one of our forefathers who did their best to hold fast to His Commandments; every single one of them survived the wilderness. What we are saying here is that every one of our ancestors who showed that it was their deepest desire to serve Yahweh (according to His Word); every one of them survived. They were the ones that were able to go into the land (them and their children).
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:4
4 “But you who held fast to Yahweh your Elohim are alive today, every one of you.”
So brothers and sisters, as we come into these End Times, what about us? Will we also show Yahweh that it is our deepest desire to obey His Commandments? To serve Him and to build His Son’s Kingdom according to His Word so that we and our children might enter into the land? So that we and our children might survive what is coming up? Or are we going to keep doing more of the same thing that does not make sense, knowing that when we get to the judgment, those who do not make sense according to His book will not enter His kingdom?
If we are willing to receive it, Devarim chapter 4, starting in verse 4, shows us how it was those of our ancestors who showed that it was their deepest heartfelt desire to serve Yahweh by keeping His Commandments and His ways. They are the ones who were able to go into the land of Israel. Those who SHEMA-ed (those who heard and obeyed) (SHEMA-ed being a past tense), they were the ones who were able to go into the land of Canaan. What are we talking about? We are talking about Joshua, we are talking about Caleb, we are talking about Pinchas who were all those who made it their deepest heartfelt desire to serve Yahweh according to His Word and to please Him in this, knowing that it is not what the flesh wants because our flesh wants to go back to Egypt. We love Yahweh so we want to serve Him according to His Word.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:4
4 “But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.”
But how strange, if we think about it, is this not basically the same thing as Mattityahu (Matthew) chapter 6 and verse 33 where Yeshua tells us that we should “seek first the kingdom of Elohim and His righteousness”, meaning His manner of Commandment keeping, and “then everything else will be added unto us” If we would just obey Yahweh, just do the things that He says to do (knowing that Yeshua is the one who gave us the covenant at Mount Sinai anyway), that everything else will be added unto us. Is that not the same thing if we think about it?
Mattityahu (Matthew) 6:33
33 “But seek first the kingdom of Elohim and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
The principle that runs all throughout Scripture is that, if we just keep our focus on Elohim, keep our eyes on him, seek his face, listen for Yeshua’s voice, and seek to build Yeshua’s Kingdom (seek to build a Kingdom for the Father) and we seek to do things His way (letting the Spirit lead), it does not matter that we are slave waifs’ out of Egypt. It does not matter that we are half Egyptian for those of us on the Ephraimite side. He promises to retrain us to help us become pure good Hebrews, a worthy bride for Yeshua. The difference is, once we start obeying Him, He just starts pouring out His blessings on us.
It is like that verse in Malachi chapter 3 and verse 10 where Yahweh tells us that if we will just do the things that He says to do, He will open the windows of Heaven on us. It is like He is going to open the clouds and it is going to start raining so much blessings on us that there is not going to be enough room to receive it all.
Malachi 3:10
10 “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Yahweh of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.”
One of the things that I think many of us do not get in the body of Yeshua is that the ability to keep His Commandments is one of the blessings. That is one of the main things we get so sadly, that is one of the main things so many in the church, in the Messianic movement, and Ephraimite movement in general (in the body of belief in Yeshua), just seems to be one of the main things that we do not get. We do not get that it is a privilege to keep all of His Commandments. That is one of the blessings, it is a privilege to keep all of the Commandments taryag-mitvot, 613 mitzvot if you want to go there. Not just part of them.
Again, in Judaism they have the principle of “Sabbath Judaism” and I think a lot of us have “Sabbath Nazarianism” or something like that. It is like what we do not get is that it is a privilege to build Yeshua’s Kingdom. It is a privilege to be chosen. That is why it is a privilege to tithe, it is a privilege to serve, it is a privilege to have it in our heart that this is our hobby. This is what we love to do and when we get a spare moment, we are working on this. We are trying to build Yeshua’s Kingdom because we love Him. We know that He is building the kingdom for His Father, what could be better or what could be more perfect than that?
I do not know, I grew up in the Christian church. So I can just speak from my experiences and those of brother Judah that I have spoken with. And just meeting people everywhere. But I think maybe part of the problem made by believers, I think one of the things is that we tend to get lazy about this. We figure that we are doing part of His Commandments, so we get a partial blessing right now, right? We say “well look, see I have been blessed. I am keeping part of Yahweh’s Commandments so that must be enough or else why is He blessing me”? Then we get all smug because we do not want the fullness of His blessings. We figure we are doing part of His blessings. We are going to take a lukewarm approach and now we are all smug because now we are just mouthing our love for our Elohim. Now we are mouthing obedience to the Creator’s Commandments, but we are not really going to keep them, not with a whole heart.
Do we realize and get that this is the very definition of hypocrisy is (to mouth one thing and then to do another)? Do we get that? And also, if Yeshua came down the Karaites and the Orthodox rabbis, then what about us? In Ezekiel 8, judgment starts at the altar and works its way out from there so those of us who are trying to draw close to Elohim (and knowing we are heading into a time of refinement) what are we thinking brothers and sisters?
This whole thing, is this not why Yeshua tells us that many others will come from the east and west and sit down in the Kingdom with Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov while the sons of the Kingdom will be cast into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth because we did not care enough about the blood of His Son Yeshua to keep all of his Commandments just because we said the John 3:16 prayer.
Brothers and sisters what is wrong with us? Why, why, why, do so many of us seem to feel that giving him partial obedience is going to count for something? Why do we seem to believe that lukewarm obedience is going to do us any better than our forefathers in the wilderness?
It is difficult that when we read the prophecies and we know that “though your children O Israel shall be as the stars of the heavens and the sand of the seashore yet only a remnant shall be saved. The destruction decreed shall be overflowing with righteousness”. This is how much Yahweh hates lukewarm. This is how much Yahweh hates it when He chooses us for His people, and we do not respond. We choose to receive the blessing, but we are never there for Him. Do we want to do the things that will glorify Elohim? Do we want to do the things that will bring glory to His name? Do we want to build His Son’s Kingdom now that He died for us and now that we are bought with a price?
Romim (Romans) 9:27-28
27 “Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved.
28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because Yahweh will make a short work upon the earth.”
Let us take a special look at verse seven in Deuteronomy 4. Here, Yahweh asks us, “What other nation is there that has an Elohim that is so near to it as Yahweh is to us? We can go to Him anytime for any need that we have. For anything, we just go to Him. We just ask Him. We have that ability now. So He does all this for us. Does any other nation out there have an Elohim like that? Do we want to share that with other people? And what other nation has such righteous statutes and laws like Yahweh’s statutes and laws? We should be glorifying His name by living according to all of His statutes and laws”.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:7
7 “For what great nation is there that has Elohim so near to it, as Yaweh our Elohim is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?”
Do we do that? Or do we just take all of that for granted? Why would we take it for granted? Why would we not want to glorify His name by earnestly desiring to live according to all of His laws and all of His ways? Why do we want to be double-minded and have one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom? Why is that?
In verse 9, Yahweh warns us. He says to “take heed to ourselves and diligently guard ourselves lest we forget about Him and His Commandments once He begins pouring out His blessings”. I think this might be a big problem for most of us and I think it is because time and again all throughout Scripture, Yahweh blesses our forefathers and then they fall away. Then it takes punishment to bring us back. He is there and He loves us but we are coming into the End Times and it is going to be a different deal now.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:9
9 “Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren,”
I think maybe part of the root of the problem is that we are not really focused on Him. I think maybe some of us are more focused on our blessings and receiving His blessings because we are not really in it for Him, we are in it for the blessings, right? And is that not why once Yahweh starts pouring out His blessings on us and our people, we tend to forget about Him because we already have the blessing? We did not want Him; we just wanted the blessing just like “gold diggers” that kind of a thing. We are not Yahweh’s faithful war bride; we are His “gold diggers”. Kind of something like that?
Again, because it is not really Him, we want, we want the gold. We want the blessings. We want the positions of power and authority, but we do not want to do things His way. And we think Yahweh does not know that. We think Yahweh is stupid or something? We think He cannot tell the difference? These are those who say in their hearts “Yahweh does not see; Yahweh does not know”. Then we forget to teach our children the importance of our history as a nation. Everything starts to go off the rails from there because if you do not know who you are, and you do not know where you are going, and you do not know what you are called to do, then you are for all practical purposes lost in any case.
We need to pay attention to verse 15 because here, Yahweh also warns us not to make any statue or any carved image of Him. Yahweh says, “and guard yourselves in this matter”. If that is not a warning… He says “and guard yourselves for you saw no form when Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb (Sinai) out of the midst of the fire”. We saw a mountain full of smoke, but we did not see any form, so why do we want to make something formed to worship?
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:15
15 “Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,”
In verse 16 “lest you act corruptly and make yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure (ANY FIGURE!)” I am here in Latin America, and we are on Mission. We are doing the Great Commission in the southern Colombian Andean highlands, and we appreciate your support. The Catholic church has done an amazing half a job here. They have statues in honor of Semiramis (Queen of Heaven and also known as Miriam) everywhere. He says the likeness of male or female like Semiramis, like the Queen of Heaven, like Miriam, or like any of the idols they have in the church is here, male, or female or the likeness of any animal that is on the earth. They have animals sometimes in the Catholic churches here. You could also think about your high school mascots. We will talk about paying attention to things in just a moment. The likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air like a phoenix or like an American Eagle perhaps. The likeness of anything that creeps on the ground (we can make jokes about politicians here) or the likeness of any fish (let us think about the Philistine god Dagon). Any fish that is in the water beneath the Earth and we could think about the pope’s hat. We need to spend a little special time here on verse 19 because that is where most people both houses, both Ephraim and Judah, inside the body and outside the body falls down.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:16
16 “lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female,”
We cannot afford to fall down like that, so in verse 19 He says, “and take heed to yourselves”. I mean you can go off the rails easy here. You can have a crack up really easy; you have to be careful on this one. This one is tricky. “And take heed lest you lift your eyes to heaven when you see the Sun (whose sign is the cross), when you see the Moon (we think about the lunar Sabbath people here), and the Stars (including the hexagram which we will talk about in a bit; that is the star of the false god Remphan, also called the star of the false god kyuns mentioned in Acts). He says “all the host of the heaven (we are talking about the zodiac here and what we need to know about the zodiac in the language of Scripture), all the hosts of the heaven (when we see zodiac the constellations and the stars), these can be symbolic of heavenly beings.” They can be thought of as Heavenly beings in Scripture. They are “the elohim” in the greater overall sense. We speak of Yahweh as “the Elohim” because He is the only one that matters. He has the final word in everything, but the stars overall can be thought of as “elohim”.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:19
19 “And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which Yahweh your Elohim has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.”
If you can remember that a third of the messengers fell. It says, “And when you feel driven to worship them and serve them” which when we will talk about that, to just pay attention to them, that is serving them. Just to think about them, to factor them into your thoughts, factor them into your life, factor them into anything. When you feel driven to worship them and serve them in any capacity or in any way. You are serving these false gods that Yahweh your Elohim has given to all the other people under the whole Heaven as a heritage, not to Israel, not to His people.
Here is a very important thing that seems like almost no one in Ephraim or Judah gets. In the back of The Torah Calendar study we have a very important chapter called “About Service” which everyone needs to understand that material. We also we have a study in Nazarene Scripture Studies, Volume One which is called “Forbidden Images”. That is also a very good study if you want a technical aspect and in the chapter “About Service”, we talk about the heart behind the whole thing. Yahweh tells us that if we just want to make Him really angry, because I think we have a disconnect. We have a hard time seeing ourselves as our forefathers in Scripture, but we have to remember we are the same group of people. So if we just want to make Yahweh really angry, all we need to do is to pay attention to these other false elohim or we pay attention to any other thing and factor it into our decision-making process.
Yahweh does not like that. It is like putting a branch to His nose, it makes Him really angry. Why? Why would He get so angry just because they worship a cross or worship a star or something like that? What Yahweh says is that He “is a jealous Elohim” and what He is jealous of is our intentions. What we pay attention to, is what we serve. He wants to be the only thing we base our decisions off. He wants to be the only one that we factor into our decision-making process because what we see with our eyes is going to be different than what Scripture says (we have to walk by faith not by sight).
Realistically, we have all kinds of incentives to justify the worship of these false gods; they have spiritual power. Constantine conquered in the sign of the cross; there is conquering power in the cross. We also have brother Judah who has the hexagram (star of Remphan or Kyun) We do not talk about the Star of David (we cover that in our study on “Forbidden Images”). We have all kinds of reasons (in the flesh and in the natural) to worship the sun. To call the first day of the week by the name Sunday, in honor of the sun, and it is not just the Ephraimite side. We also have brother Judah. Brother, what do you have? You have the Birkhat HaChama or the blessing of the sun and you say it once every 28 years right?
I looked up this Birkhat HaChama and Wikipedia gives a pretty good rundown on it. The Talmud says there is a 28-year solar cycle that is known as the machzor gadol (the great cycle). It does not correspond to anything astronomically. It does not correspond to anything as far as the physical bodies moving around in the heavens. So every 28 years, what is this blessing that you say? “Baruch atah ‘HaShem’ Eloheinu Melech HaOlam’“. I guess Hashem might be your Elohim, “oseh Ma’asei B’reisheet”. “Blessed are you Hashem our Elohim, King of the universe (he is not), maker of the works of creation (no he is not).” The maker of the works of creation He tells us His name is Yahweh.
So you say this blessing but where does Yahweh command it? Is that not just something you added? that is not just something you made up? Is that not what they call syncretism which is a big fancy word that means mixing? Is this not some pure Pagan sun worship practice you brought inside the faith for the power of it? Then the Talmud gives the counter argument and says, “Well the Talmud explains that when the Spring Equinox is in Saturn, that is when you say this purely Pagan blessing”.
Well one question brother, does Yahweh say to say this purely Pagan sun worship blessing and, if not, then why are you adding days of worship based on the Spring Equinox and Saturn? Is that not worshiping the Spring Equinox and Saturn? Is that not worshiping and serving the sun, the moon, and the stars just like Yahweh says not to do in Deuteronomy 4 and verse 2? Just like where He says to guard ourselves and not to do that here?
Do not get me started on Sunday, Christmas, and Easter. We do not need to talk about Bacchanalia and Ashtoreth here, but this is really a big problem for both Ephraim and Judah and the problem is ego. The problem is self-idolatry. The problem is pride. Pretty much every sin we ever commit is self-idolatry, pretty much because no matter what sin we make, the reason we make it, is because we forgot our place. Yahweh says to do this and then we just choose to do that. We figure that we can do what we want and still have Yahweh’s partial blessings. We will still have Yahweh’s partial protection here in these End Times, right? And partial protection seems good enough for us even though Yahweh is not happy with it. Even though Yahweh promises to destroy those who are lukewarm toward Him, and we want to be double-minded. We want to have one foot in the world and one-foot worshiping demons, crosses, and hexagrams, and we want Yahweh’s blessings and protections on the other end.
Read the prophecies for yourself and see what really happens in these End Times. You know, we cannot have our cake and eat it too so to speak. Either you are going to have your cake, or you are going to eat it. We have to figure out what we want. We have to choose one or the other and not be halting between two opinions because Yahweh does not like that. What He is saying here is not to put any other elohim ahead of Him, not to put any other factor ahead of Him, not to change His word, not to add fence laws, not to add blessings of the sun every 28-year machzor gadol. He says not to do those things here. We think we are not lining ourselves up for punishment?
Hear the rod. If we are going to get egotistical like that and we are going to put ourselves above Him or perhaps we are pretending to be equal to Him, so we figure well, we are equal to Yahweh, we can change calendars, we can add equinoxes, we can add Saturn (Satan actually) to His calendar, right? Or for Ephraim, we can add Sunday in honor of the sun, we can add Saturnalia or Bachanalia for Christmas? Then we turn around and add Ishtar, or Asterath, for Easter in the spring, which is also a term not found in Scripture, but we wait until after the vernal equinox which is also something not considered in Scripture. We want to do all these things. We want to keep the calendar that we want to keep (do not even get me started on the wave sheath). If you want to know why all of these things are wrong, I encourage you to please check out The Torah Calendar study, especially the chapter “About Service”.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 7:6
6 “For you are a holy people to Yahweh your Elohim; Yahweh your Elohim has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.”
Yahweh tells us that we are His specially chosen people from all nations on earth, but He wants us to choose to obey Him. Elohim allows all the other nations and all the other goyim to go after strange elohim and worship the Sun, take the vernal equinox into account, think about Saturn (Satan basically). Yahweh allows all the other nations to change their calendars to add whatever days of worship to their calendars they want in honor of the sun, the moon, the stars, equinox, you pick it, but He wants His people Israel to obey Him. He wants us to obey him. He wants us to be faithful war brides. He wants us to remember that we are on mission with him. We are on campaign with Him. He owns us. We were bought with a price, but we want to “have our cake and eat it too!” We want to be double-minded. We want to have one foot in Egypt and one foot in His blessings.
We love being the people who can go to Yahweh for any reason. We love being the people that have His righteous laws and judgments. We love it when He is always there for us. Question is, are we there for Him? We love being His people, but do we love His house rules? Why do we not love His ground rules? What we are saying then is there is something that we want that is more important than what our Master and King wants. Is that loyalty or is that egotism? Is that faithfulness or is that pride? And is pride not the sin that Satan made by lifting himself up to Elohim’s level and being above Elohim’s level? He figures that he can do what he wants? Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law in the satanic world. Ephraim, are we going to do as we wilt? Then we are going to wilt in these End Times. Not good. Judah, are we going to make whatever laws we wilt? Do not be wilting, we just need to be obeying.
Now we come to chapter five and Moshe is retelling the Ten Commandments (the ten words or the ten things). Let us consider when Yeshua was asked which is the greatest of all the Commandments, He said to love Yahweh our Elohim with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our strength. He says and the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. These two are a summation of the 10 and the 10 are effectively a summation of the whole thing altogether because you cannot love someone and not keep their commandments. Is there not a devotion component to this as well? How are we realistically going to love Yahweh our Elohim with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our strength if we are not even devoted to Him enough to keep His Commandments? That does not even make sense.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 5:1
1 “And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them.”
If we want examples, let us take a look perhaps at the fourth commandment. We can debate about when Shabbat begins, how long it lasts, and how we are supposed to guard it, but apart from the question of when Shabbat is and how we should celebrate it, if we are not even willing to set Yahweh’s special day apart unto Him and guard it the way He says to guard it, then how can we consider that we are part of His covenant people if we are not obeying His whole covenant? How can we even consider to be part of the remnant if we are not willing to obey Him? It does not even make any sense.
I think (at least for Ephraim) that part of the problem might be something that we find in first Timothy chapter 6 and verse 20. This is where Shaliach Shaul (Apostle Paul) warns Shaliach Timothy against what he calls gnosis (knowledge) and gnosis was the concept that because of what we know (we know who Yeshua is), that we are special. We do not really need to obey Him because we are extra special just because of what we know and we know special things, so we do not have to do.
Timotheus Aleph (1 Timothy) 6:20
20 “O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.”
Is that not exactly Christianity in the greater overall sense? Is that not like a lot of Messianics and Ephraimites as well? Is that not also exactly Orthodox Judaism? What gets in our heads that we think that we do not need to obey what Yahweh says because of what we know? “Oh no! (Especially for Ephraim.) You know we are Ephraimites. We are special; we said the John 3:16 prayer. You have to understand, now we rest on Shabbat and Feast, and we read His good spiritual Word. We know stuff. We do not have to obey Him. We do not have to actually walk out all the points of the Torah.” Is that not gnosis in the modern day?
You know, the same spirits that existed in the first century are still here. They look different, but they are the same spirits on the loose. Talking about egotism and pride, we need to remember (each and every one of us) each and every day that we are not the Creator. We do not get to make the rules. He is the boss; we are not. Rather, the reality is, we are created beings whose function is to humble ourselves and overcome our flesh through Messiah Yeshua’s spirit, so we can then turn away from the world, and the lusts and the pleasures of the world, in favor of serving Him. That is what we are called to do.
To turn away from the things that we want. To humble ourselves in order to serve Him and do things what He wants His way. We need to remember that Yahweh is a Man of war, and we are His spiritual war bride. We are called to spiritual war, but how many of us still have a peacetime mentality even after immersion? We do not have a spiritual wartime mentality; we have a spiritual peacetime mentality. Maybe we will serve Him, but then the rest of our life, it is about us. The concept of stewardship, that is just out the door. That is out the window.
How many of us forget that in war (just like our forefathers forgot) we follow the orders our commander gives us and obey them unto the death. We do not question His orders. We do not try to add things to His orders, or take things away from His orders, or create fence laws around His orders. We do not do those kind of things because we are being faithful and loyal.
Let us come to Devarim chapter 5 and verse 22. It says, “These words, these words Yahweh spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire the cloud and the thick darkness with a loud voice and He added no more. Then He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.” Well, if Yahweh added no more than what was written, then where does the Talmud come from? Because the Torah says it did not come from Him, it did not come from Yahweh, so where did it come from?
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 5:22
22 “These words the Yahweh spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.”
Now let us come to Devarim chapter 6 starting in verse 4. Let us hear the first great commandment. Shema O Israel. it means hear with an intention to obey. It does not just mean hear it, it means hear it and be diligent to do it. Shema O Israel Yahweh our Elohim. Yahweh is one. For all of you anti-missionary (rabbi types and Karaites), we know you are watching because why else did they contact me for Mashiach Ben Yosef? The word in Hebrew is echad and it means united just like a father and son are united. It means unified just like a family is unified. It is one single family with more than one person in it. It cannot possibly mean one single solitary one because how else can Yahweh on earth call down fire from Yahweh in heaven in B’reisheet (Genesis) chapter 19 and verse 24?
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:4
4 “Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our Elohim, Yahweh is one!”
B’reisheet (Genesis) 19:24
24 “Then Yahweh rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from Yahweh out of the heavens.”
Can we count? How many Yahwehs in that Passage? One. One Yahweh in heaven. Ah, ah, ah! Two. A Yahweh on earth! Ah, ah, ah! Two Yahwehs. Ah, ah, ah! Can we see two Yahwehs right there on the page? Do we have eyes to see that we can see that there are two Yahwehs (two distinct beings) right there on the page? Yet they are united as one single family, one single person. We explain that in our study on “Yeshua: Manifestation of Yahweh “. It is in Nazarene Scripture Studies, Volume One. But you know, that is what it says right there on the page. Are we willing to submit to Yahweh’s word or are we going to run to the Talmud to hear some verse that explains things away?
And who is our Elohim? Is Yahweh our Elohim and we are going to believe His word in the Tanakh? Or perhaps are the ancient rabbis our Elohim such that we are going to default to the Talmud? It just boggles the mind.
Now, let us bring it all down in verse 5. This is where it all comes together. It says you shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your might, all of your strength. That means are we doing what it takes to help Him win the spiritual war? Our husband is at war and not that He cannot do it Himself because He can easily. He can raise up children to Avraham, even from these stones, but do we really want Him to do it without us? Let us think carefully.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:5
5 “You shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”
Brother Judah does not have a problem winning a spiritual war, he just does not know what it is supposed to look like. We know what it is supposed to look like but for some reason we are not doing it. We hit on this topic every week because it just does not seem to gel yet. There just seems to be so many of us that just do not seem to understand the heart condition required. When we love someone, do we not want to see them get what they want? Does it not bug us if they do not get what they want because we love them. We want them happy, but is Yahweh getting what He wants from us? Do you know what I am saying? What? Are we just going to say this stuff and not act it out? We are going to mouth a bunch of woof and we are not going do anything? We are not even going to go through the motions of loving Yahweh? We are not even going to step through all of the Commandments perfunctorily?
Just mouthing devotion, mouthing true love for Him. We are not even going to do that? We are going to do the easy commandments (we are going to rest and read). That is all we are going to do right? We are not going to make an effort to do everything so He can truly get the kingdom He deserves, that He died for, but we are going to pretend to love Him with all that?
Let us talk about our relationship with Yahweh. Is our relationship good? How do we know? Yeshua says if you love me then keep My Commandments because He is the one who gave us the Commandments on Mount Sinai. How are we going to call on Yeshua’s name as a justification and excuse not to have to keep all of His Commandments? Talking to the brothers just for a minute, how do we feel when our spouse treats us like we treat Yahweh? How do you feel when your wife only comes to you when she wants something? And you ask her please, can we do things a certain way and you try and reason together with her. You try to explain the reasons of why it is all so necessary, and she treats it as a strange thing and she blows you off basically.
We come to Yahweh whenever we want something. But do we ever come to Yahweh when He wants something from us? Do we ask Him “Father, can you please help me help You get what You want because I love you?” How do we like it when our spouse only comes to us when they want something from us? They want protection, they want money, they want something good, but they do not care about what we want. Other than that they pretty much take us for granted. They either give us a half effort or no effort, a lukewarm effort, and hopping between two opinions effort. Does it not kind of make you wonder if they truly love us rather than just the things that we do for them? We are there for her, but she is never there for us? This is a hypothetical example only. Kind of like our ancestors were never really there for Yahweh though. Is there any possibility? You know an apple does not generally fall too far from the tree and if our ancestors were unfaithful to Yahweh, brothers, then what about us?
Are we leading our households in the true way of Yahweh? Are we having family reunions around the service of Yeshua or are we doing something else for family reunions? How many of us are spending our time pining for quail, we are whining, because we do not get the things that we want. “Yahweh you are supposed to give me the things that I want. You are supposed to help me with prosperity. You are supposed to make my life easy”. When are we going to spend our lives trying to help Him get what He wants? That is our job as a helper bride, right? So, if we want to please our Father who is in heaven, then why is that not our approach? Why do we not come to Him to see “Father how can I help You get what You want because of the sacrifice of Your Son”? It all comes down to love.
It all comes down to sincerity, honesty, Integrity. It comes down to not being a hypocrite basically. Is it not the goyim who are supposed to be the ones to say, “Ohhh, what shall we eat and what shall our children eat? What shall we and our children drink? What shall we wear? What shall our children wear? What if they do not have the latest clothes and their self-esteem is impacted? Oh mercy me, what about my child’s self-esteem? They cannot play sports on Sabbath in the secular public schools. How will my child’s self-esteem be impacted if we actually obey Yahweh and hold our family reunions around the Shabbat service instead of just going to the park and movies or showing up for a couple of hours and then enjoying the food and then walking off? Yahweh, how come You do not understand how I feel inside if I do not get to live the dreams that I have for myself in my life?”
We forget that we were bought with a price. We forget that we are slaves. We forget that we are war brides, and our job is to help Him win the spiritual war and nothing else. He is a jealous Elohim. He is jealous of our attentions; He is jealous of what we spend time and money on. I still know Ephraimites that are still donating to Babylonian political parties. They are giving to the Republican Party. What I mean to say is that they are still wasting time and money that they could be investing in Yeshua’s Kingdom. Instead, they are investing it in Satan’s kingdom. I even know Ephraimites with airplanes (two of them). They have airplanes, but they have no time and no money for Yahweh. I do not know how many Ephraimites that they have vacation homes, nice cars, big houses, all sorts of extras, and horses but they do not have any money for Yahweh.
The thing that we have to remember is that Yahweh is not mocked. It means He is not stupid. What do we think? Yeshua tells us that many are going to come from east and west and sit down in the Kingdom with Avraham, Yitzak, and Ya’akov and yet the sons of the Kingdom (oh who’s that? hint, hint, hint!) and yet the sons of the Kingdom will be cast into the outer darkness so they will be weeping and gnashing of teeth because they are lukewarm. He tells us right out if we are lukewarm in our worship and our love of Him, He is going to vomit us out of His mouth. Why does He want to marry us for? He wants to spend the rest of eternity with someone that does not love Him with everything they have?
We can say we could love Him with everything that we have but what does that really mean if we are not actively helping Him to get what He wants? Yeshua talks more about money than He talks about love. Why does He do that? It is because maybe, just possibly, it is because the fruits of our love manifest through our actions or not. So what are our fruits, brothers, sisters?
Yeshua says behold I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me to give to everyone according to his work. We are told that those who love Him and serve Him, they will be preserved just like our forefathers were in the wilderness when Yahweh said that every one of our forefathers who truly loved Him and made it their hearts deepest desire to serve Him. They were the ones to stay alive and enter the land of Israel. What about us brothers? He who has ears, let him hear.
Shabbat Shalom.