Leviticus 1-5; Jeremiah 7, Hosea 8; Romans 6, Hebrews 10
In this Parasha we are going to ask: Are we truly good servants? Meaning, do we delight to do His will?
In last week’s Parasha, Vayakhel/Pekudei we asked the question: Do we love Yahweh? Because if we love Yahweh, then are not we eager to obey His voice and to shomer (or guard) or do everything His voice says, including His written commandments? And that is without any need for punishment, or any need for encouragement really either. We just have that relationship with Him so we act out of it; it is because our allegiance is to Him. So, should we not also be delighted to do what is pleasing to Him? He says that what He wants, is for us to do the things that are pleasing to Him. Well, the answer to these rhetorical questions is clearly, yes. But as we look at this week’s Parasha, we are going to see that our ancestors did not desire to do the will of Yahweh our Elohim.
Shemote (Exodus) 16:2
2 Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moshe and Aharon in the wilderness.
They did not desire to do His will, even when Yahweh instituted the Levitical order and instituted the animal sacrificial system to give them some kind of punishment system, so they would think deeply about the gravity of sin and take it to heart because they had to give their prize, stud male bull, or they had to pay to buy a high quality animal to give the sacrifice because of their sin (that is expensive). So, we were not doing what Yahweh said which is to listen carefully for His voice and then to do, diligently, everything He says to do.
Shemote (Exodus) 15:26
26 and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of Yahweh your Elohim and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am Yahweh who heals [Yahweh Rapha] you.”
He says it several times in Shemote, the chapter book, but our forefathers misunderstood. So, it was a punishment; we did not have that relationship with Yahweh. So, Moshe was gone for forty days and forty nights. And we do not have a relationship with Yahweh, not a real one not one that is going to keep us from sin. So, Yahweh had to punish us; He had to give us this Levitical system as a punishment, but our forefathers completely misunderstood what the whole purpose of the system was. They turned it into a ritual barbecue that is pleasing to Yahweh, instead of understanding that these are punishments for sin. These are punishments for us being separated from Him.
Well, still our forefathers refused to listen to His voice. They were not listening to His voice. How are they going to obey it if they also refuse to walk in His ways, even when His ways were explained to him? But what does He want, He wants to restore and re-establish that lost and severed connection that was broken in the Garden of Eden, when we again disobeyed His voice.
Luqa (Luke) 19:9-10
9 And Yeshua said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Avraham;
10 for the Son of Adam has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
We heard His voice; we just did not obey His voice; we did not do things the way He said. We are in His House. Well, instead our forefathers counted Yahweh-Yeshua’s commandments as a strange thing.
Hoshea (Hosea) 8:12
12 I have written for him the great things of My Torah, but they were considered a strange thing.
He spoke to us great things of His Torah, myriads of things of His Torah. Our forefathers counted them as strange. In so doing, (effectively) what they did is they made the sacrifices but they were giving of no effect because they were not even trying to listen to His voice. They figured, “Well we are giving sacrifices, we are already sanctified. You see, we love this Temple!” See, it is kind of like indulgences; you just give money for an animal and there you go you pay your sin sacrifice, and you never really change, and you never really seek Yahweh’s face.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 1:11
11 “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” says Yahweh.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats.
Even some people who are tithing, they are not really seeking Yahweh’s face. And we just want to say (you know) this is what the whole thing is about, is if we were truly seek truth, the commandments that He gives are commandments. He probably would have given them to us anyway, because these are things that He desires. But the manner of imposing them was because our forefathers sinned; because we turned our focus off the fact that this was a sin, a punishment for sin. We just started having a set-apart barbecue with Dad; we made the whole purpose of the sacrifices to be of no effect, so we were no longer doing His will.
Well, brothers, sisters, was it only our ancestors who walked disobedient to Yahweh? I know quite a few Messianics, quite a few Ephraimites, (not sure what they call themselves), Two House people – if you think of yourself as a Nazarene, are we doing the commandments that we know? Are we keeping everything we know? Are we hastening to keep His commandments?
And if we are not, how do we truly know that He is pleased with us today? Because our forefathers just assumed these things; they just assumed that they were pleasing to Yahweh. How do we know that we are walking correctly before Him and that everything is going to be okay when we get to the day of judgment?
Parasha Vayiqra 2022
It is currently 2022 and we in the House of Ephraim (also called the House of Israel or the House of Joseph in Scripture), we are slowly waking up to our identity as the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel which Scripture prophecy speaks about.
To learn more, check out the Nazarene Israel study, but we are waking up as sort of the House of rip-van Ephraim (you might say). We are waking up to our identity. And we are outside the land of Israel, we are in the Assyrian dispersion because our forefathers left Rome. We began reading Scripture as our guide and following the interpretation and the leading and guiding of the Spirit instead of following the leading and guiding of our Pastors, or a Pope, or a Priest, or a Rabbi, or anything like that.
And we find ourselves coming to ourselves under what is called the Melchizedekian Order.
Ivrim (Hebrews) 7:17
17 For He testifies: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
Right now there is no cleansed Levitical Order, there is a temple in the works. Orthodox Judah (brother Judah), they have got a temple that they are working on, they are getting ready to build; that is not Ezekiel’s millennial Temple. The temple they are getting ready to build next is the anti-Yeshua temple (or the anti-messiah temple).
Mattityahu (Matthew) 24:15
15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the set-apart [holy] place” (whoever reads, let him understand),
And as we show in our study on Revelation and The End Times (it is also called Revelation Simplified on YouTube). We are not going to have another cleansed Temple until after the Tribulation in Armageddon. So, the House of Ephraim (the House of Israel, that is us, the House of Joseph), when we come home after Armageddon, that is when there will be the merging in Isaiah chapter 66; that is when the unification is going to take place between the Melchizedekian Order and the Levitical Order.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 66:20-21
20 Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to Yahweh out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My set-apart mountain Jerusalem,” says Yahweh, “as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of Yahweh.
21 And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites,” says Yahweh.
They are enemies for our sake until that point in time. I spent a lot of years trying to work unification with brother Judah. And when I went to meet with them in 2017 as their Mashiach Ben Yosef character, I tried to speak with their leadership, and they do not want to hear from Nazarene; they said “La-la-la-la,” they did not like that.
So, from that experience I began to realize (or perhaps remember) some advice I had been given one time before in a prophetic meeting, in a (how do you say) divine appointment. And what he understood was he said, “There will never be a time that the Rabbis do not need to oppose you.” this was a Rabbi, so he knew who we were in the House of Israel (the House of Ephraim); he knew who we were. He wants us to come home; he wants us to come home without Yeshua. No deal.
So, our job, our mission right now is to continue establishing Yeshua’s kingdom in the dispersion, that is what we are supposed to do under the Melchizedekian Order (the Great Commission).
Mattityahu (Matthew) 6:10
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
There is also the fivefold ministry and the foundation of apostles and prophets. We talk about that in a study called Acts chapter 15 Order. If you want the top-level theory, then go for a study called Torah Government. Father willing, someday we will get those all on video. Acts chapter 15 Order is on video in a series, we talk about Set-apart Communities.
But the thing is, regarding the End Times, we do not know the day or the hour that things are going to take place, but we do know the sequence that things are going to take place, from those studies.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 24:36
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.
Check out Revelation and The End Times book study, or Revelation Simplified on YouTube.
Once you understand the timeline, then you can decode the news; it is all very plain, takes all the fear out of it. It turns it into something where, “Wow! Now we understand what is going on in the news; where everything fits on the timeline; where we are on the timeline.” We do not know the day or the hour, but we know what we are supposed to do.
[You must log into the website to see that page, but please visit Revelation News.]
But the point is, as we see in the Revelation study, we are not going to have a cleansed Levitical Temple for a long time, not until after the Tribulation, not until after Armageddon, not until after the half hour of silence in heaven (not necessarily in that order). I might see it in my lifetime (I do not know). So, but then the question that some people are probably wondering is: Why are we going to talk about animal sacrifices?
I do not know if this is your first time reading us. But a lot of people I know were raised in the Christian church and they say, Were not all those things done away with at the cross? Did not Messiah come to nail the Law to His cross? So what I would invite you to do, if this is your first study with Nazarene Israel, I would invite you to talk to your Pastor, but read your Scriptures, first. Talk with your Rabbi, but read your Scriptures, first.
And if you want to know why the apostles continued to offer animal sacrifices in the Levitical Temple as long as it stood, please read our study on “About Animal Sacrifices for Sin”, it is the fourth chapter in the Nazarene Israel study, and that is a primer. If you read that study, you are going to know more about your Scriptures than literally more than ninety-nine percent of Christians, worldwide. If you read and understand that study, you will be miles ahead of most believers.
If you are also coming out of the Christian church, you might wonder: “Why are we reading Leviticus?” Because to most Christians, Leviticus is kind of a joke. I have heard Christian pastors make all kinds of jokes about Leviticus.
But as we see in that study, Leviticus was not a joke to Yeshua; the Torah was not a joke to Yeshua, and it was not a joke to His disciples either.
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 Torah till all is fulfilled.
In fact, in that study, we see that the apostle Yaakov (or James) who was the Nasi (or the leader, the prince) of our nation at that time, asked the apostle Shaul (or shaliach Shaul) to prove he still believed in the Torah. And in that study, we talk About Animal Sacrifices for Sin. We show how he paid fifteen animal sacrifices (five of which were for sin), in Acts chapter 21, which is near the end of his ministry.
Maasei (Acts) 21:24-26
24 Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the Torah.
25 But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.”
26 Then Shaul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.
And the purpose of all this, you think about the cost of 15 animals, the purpose all this was to prove that he, Shaul, also walked orderly obeying (or guarding) the Torah. So, Shaul paid those animal sacrifices in Acts chapter 21.
So, that is fifteen animal sacrifices, five of which are for sin; this is near the very end of Shaul’s ministry. And the purpose (as we explained in that study), the purpose was to make a public clarification of his writings and his ministry for all to see; that all that could see, that the apostle Shaul (or shaliach Shaul) paid fifteen animal sacrifices, five of which were for sin. And this proved that he also still believed in animal sacrifices. He also walked orderly, keeping the Torah and the prophets.
So, why do the Christians not know this? Do they not read Acts chapter 21 perhaps? Or perhaps they do not read it with an intent to understand what the true communication was going on in Acts chapter 21?
So, why are the same things that were important to the disciples in the first century a joke to Christians today? These are things that the disciples took seriously in the first century, was to offer animal sacrifices. Why is that a joke to Christians today?
Well, there is great significance in all the animal sacrifices, and sometime (Father willing), when we get time, we want to do more on the animal sacrifices themselves. But this week we want to focus more on the Haftera prophetic portion of Yermiyahu (or Jeremiah) chapter seven. We are also going to cover Hoshea (or Hosea) chapter 8. And then we are going to visit our Brit Chadasha portion (or a Renewed Covenant portion) of Romim (or Romans) chapter 6 and in Ivrim (or Hebrews) chapter 10.
So, if you are a Christian and you think that the Law (or the Torah) was nailed to the cross, right, and yet you still claim Yeshua as your sacrificial Lamb, He is your example, and you walk even as He walked?
Let us take a look at this Parasha and let us see what might still apply to us, shall we?
Starting in Yermiyahu (or Jeremiah) chapter 7 and verse 22. Now, if you do not get anything else from this presentation, understand what Yahweh is saying here. This is the most important thing that we need to understand for the Melchizedekian Order.
In other words, we want to make it back home, to the land of Israel alive; us and our children (our families). This is the thing we need to understand. This is the thing every Messianic I have ever met, they misunderstand this, and even a lot of Nazarenes (or so-called Nazarenes) they do not understand this. So, get this. If you do not understand anything else about the Torah, the whole Levitical Torah, get this, okay?
So, Yermiyahu chapter 7 verse 22, we see that Yahweh did not command our ancestors to give Him burnt offerings and sacrifices when He first brought them out of the land of Egypt. And then people say, “What? Why did He not? Well, what did He command them then?”
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:22
22 For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.
If we get one thing from Scripture, okay; what Yahweh commanded our forefathers, meaning us to do is to shema. This means hear (basically) to translate it (to kind of give an amplified version); the word shema means to hear, but not just to hear it.
These are the words of your Savior and King; hear His voice, memorize what He said, take it to heart, and then diligently obey everything He says to do. Whether He speaks it- hopefully, if we have the gift of prophecy like Scripture encourages us (we will talk more about that in some other time and place), but we all must pray for the gift of prophecy. There are two kinds of prophetic gifts, but both depend upon hearing Yahweh’s voice and being able to communicate according to it.
So, we talk about that in our study on The Two Types of Prophecy, but the biggest thing Yahweh wants from us, the first and greatest commandment is for us to “Hear, O Israel (to shema).” The term means, (basically) to hear with an intent to memorize and to take it to heart; to diligently obey what He says to do. Because it is a big difference, if we do the easy parts of His Torah, or if we do the whole Torah and then walk in all the ways that He has commanded us, so that it will be well with us.
If you are Christian, that is bad? “No! No! No! No! We do not want any of those commandments where Yahweh is telling us to do stuff that is good for us, so that it might go well for us. Praise Yahweh! Woohoo! Now, Jesus came to die; He died to set me free from all these things that were good for us. Yahweh, what were You thinking? And who do you think You are? But we are so glad that You sent Your Son to free us from Your house rules.”
“And we are going to be Your bride and we are going to go back to Your Son’s House. We are only going to keep part of Your rules; we are going to keep part of Your intent. We are not going to help build a truly unified global kingdom like He says. What do you mean Yahweh commanding us to do stuff that is good for us? So, they would be well with us?”
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 30:19
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
“It is an outrage! It is an outrage, I tell you, that Yahweh Elohim would command us to do something that is good for us. We should sue! I am so glad that His Son came to release us from a bunch of commandments that are good for us, and our community, and our families.”
Wait! Except, the only thing is, it was Yeshua who was the Messenger (or the Angel) that Yahweh sent ahead of us and with our forefathers in the wilderness. And it was Yahweh-Yeshua who gave us the Torah at Mount Sinai, and which serves as our bridal Covenant. So, if we want to be His bride, we might as well… Forever is a long, long, long time we might as well do everything the bridal Covenant says. “Hmm… Oh! No! Good thing He came to release us from that bridal Covenant! No, no, no. We hated that thing.”
Did anyone ever have an upbringing where their earthly dad sat him down and said, “Son (or daughter), no matter what else you do, okay? Make sure you are always listening for Yahweh’s voice, no matter what is going on, okay? And no matter what you are doing, make sure that you are diligent to take it to heart (and children, we will talk about that later), being diligent to do all that He says.”
But we must be working on our gifts. Either you have got your prophetic gift where you can hear His voice and speak according to His voice or communicate according to His voice, or you are following someone who does.
Why do we not train our children like that at every meal? Why do we not ask Him for His help? If we do not hear His voice, why do we not ask Him for His help in hearing and obeying His voice?
Tehillim (Psalms) 119:18-19
18 Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your Torah.
19 I am a stranger in the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me.
Because the number one thing He wants, that is His will, that is what Yahweh wants. There is this whole thing, we are discussing here, the whole Levitical Torah is a punishment that was given because our forefathers did not want to listen for His voice and did not want to do what it said. And they would not even obey the written Commandments. Because why? Because they do not truly love Yahweh (basically).
So, then what about us? Are we truly doing everything that we know how to do?
Well, as we go through the portion, we are going to see that we really need to pay close attention to this because our forefathers did not obey, and our forefathers did not incline their ears to hear Yahweh. They were not trying to hear His voice and take it to heart and do everything diligently. But our forefathers stiffened their necks and did worse than their forefathers. That is our forefathers, okay? They did not shema the voice of Yahweh our Elohim nor did they receive correction, but they chose to do their own thing.
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:26
26 Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.
So, ultimately, over time unclean things crept in to where now they were worshiping all kinds of foreign gods. Brother Judah, we have HaShem, and Adoni. Those are not His name. We are worshiping all kinds of foreign gods and then we are crediting everything we are doing to Yahweh? Oh, very interesting. The orthodox, our Orthodox brethren, they are crediting everything they do to Yahweh – or even the Papal order does this – is there perhaps a relation of some kind?
They believe everything they are doing is for Yahweh, it looks completely different. Protestant, Christians, Messianics, same thing (basically); a different extension, but they are not quite done yet. Okay, we credit everything to Yahweh but, notice we are setting up all these alternate kingdoms instead of setting up the one singular kingdom He commands us to build in Ephesians chapter 4. Also, chapter 2, the single foundation of apostles and prophets; the fivefold ministry.
Ephesim (Ephesians) 2:20
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yeshua Messiah Himself being the chief cornerstone,
Ephesim (Ephesians) 4:11
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
He is trying to help us get this thing. We have had His Spirit (allegedly) for 2,000 years and here we are we are still setting up alternate kingdoms because we are not doing everything He says to do.
Talk about patience. Have we thanked Him for His patience with us?
Now, last week we talked about how our forefathers have disobeyed Yahweh, up until this very day (this is our forefathers).
Well, first we did not want to hear Yahweh’s voice, we did not want to obey it in the Garden of Eden. Well, okay so you are not going to listen to Dad, cannot live in His House, can no longer live in His land, and that special connection with Him was broken and lost.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 3:23
23 therefore Yahweh Elohim sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.
What do you do when you have a Son, he wants to keep living at home, he wants to remain as part of the family, but he will not listen to your instructions, he will not listen to your voice, he does not have that relationship with you? He does not care, he does not want to hear dad’s voice, because then he would have to obey it. He does not want to hear.
Well, what about us?
Our ancestors did not want to hear Yahweh’s voice with an intention to memorize it, and take it to heart, and do it diligently; being doers of the word not hearers only, deceiving ourselves. Like the people sitting in living rooms and not doing anything.
Hoshea (Hosea) 6:7
7 “But like men they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt treacherously with Me.
So, what Yahweh wanted was a restored relationship. We fell from His favor (or grace) in the Garden of Eden. Why? Same thing. If you get one thing from this whole Parasha series, we need to hear His voice, take it to heart, do everything He says, diligently with all our might and hasten to do it.
It is that simple. It is just like, “Be in relationship with Me! I want to take you as My bridal nation. I want to take you unto Me.” We are like this poor, orphaned wife. We are like slaves, back in Egypt. It must be like, worse than juvenile detention; like growing up in an orphanage, or juvie. He springs us from prison and He is like, “I will train you to be My queen. You will be a slave queen, but you will be My queen. I will train you to be My queen. All I need you to do, I just need you to hear My voice, listen.”
A lot of people cannot hear His voice. I am like… Well, are you making a discipline? Are you actively listening 24/7? Are you actively listening in your inner ear? Are you, I mean are you trying to abide in the vine, or is it only sometimes? Because anytime we are not in the vine, we are cut off; we cannot do anything for Him. All we can do is set up an alternate kingdom. That is bad. He considers that treasonous. We think we are doing something good; we think we are setting up a church (or a synagogue or whatever).
It is that we are doing or sitting in someone’s living room. Whatever it is that we are doing. We have got a Bible and a camera and all of a sudden we are in ministry. We have no idea about the single foundation of apostles and prophets. No idea about the five-fold ministry of Ephesians chapter four. We are just causing confusion, we are not gathering with Him, we are scattering abroad.
Because why? Because we do not want to do the things it takes to unify and unite to build His Son a literal kingdom. Why do we not want to do that? Because it is not easy?
It is not a broad easy road. It is not like watching Saturday Night Live or anything like that, okay? He wants a restored relationship with His (how should I say), His Proverbs 31 bride who loves Him and is so thankful they got sprung from prison, they were all excited to build His kingdom. Oh! Until there was work involved. No, they could not handle that. And then when Moshe was gone, they are supposed to be learning to hear Him, they are supposed to be tuning in to Him. Now, they are not into that. They are tearing off their earrings and making the golden calf.
Just too easy, right? All the way from the Garden, right? We know the end from the beginning, right? It is just too easy. No, we could not just hear what He said, commit everything to memory, take everything to heart, drill ourselves in it and be diligent to hasten to do everything He says.
Shemote (Exodus) 15:26
26 and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of Yahweh your Elohim and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am Yahweh who heals [Yahweh Rapha] you.”
It is like paint by numbers. It is like, how can you miss; how can you go wrong? It is like there are those little feet that they paint on the floor to show us the way to the kingdom of heaven, we just have to let Him lead us; to hand Him the steering wheel.
It is this old saying, if Yahweh is your co-pilot, switch seats. Let Him lead; that is what we need to do. We need to become emptied vessels for Him so that His Spirit can pour through us, and we become His hands and His feet here on earth; we become part of His body. It is so wonderful; it is so beautiful when it happens. And you get a group of people, disciples, together and everyone is tuned into the Spirit, everyone is there because they love Yeshua, and they want to serve Him. You got to know that is a sweet-smelling aroma to Yahweh because it is literally a living sacrifice to live like that.
Well, our forefathers could not handle it. If you remember one thing, our forefathers could not handle it. So, basically what Yahweh did is He used that as an opportunity to give them (basically) a paint by numbers version that, hopefully, someday we and our forefathers would learn to grow into.
But the whole point of the thing was to give our forefathers a graphic, a gruesome, a bloody example that the wages of sin is death and the punishment for sin is death.
Romim (Romans) 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of Elohim is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Master.
And bear in mind, when you brought your animal to the Temple, you are the one who sacrificed it. The priest would take some of the blood. You were not there to have a Happy Meal, okay? This is an animal that must die because you did wrong; that is what this is. Ideally, if you are a farmer (or rancher), this is your very best stud male. Because what you are there for, is you are there to learn, this is costly.
We have an opportunity here to serve the Son of Elohim. We have an opportunity, there has never been a time like this one in Scripture; never will happen again. We have a unique opportunity to serve Him, and if we do not do it, that is sin and the punishment for sin is death.
So, we reject Him – we will see later, when we get to Hebrews 10 – if we reject Him in the terms of His proposal, “Dad she would not even walk paint by- she would not even walk according to little feet. That is not the bride I want. We spelled everything out for her; everything. We tried to paint by numbers; walk according to little feet, she did not want to do it. I am not vouching for that one Dad. This one I will vouch for because this one worked hard. This one, it was always asking ‘What more can I do? How can I serve my Love, my Husband, my King.’”
When you love someone, you will stand out in the rain, you will do anything. When children go to the hospital and parents, they will do anything (this kind of thing). But it is that love, that is the motivation. And it is that love that is supposed to be having us hear and obey His voice.
What we are supposed to be learning from the whole sacrificial system, the whole point is, “You are not going to hear and obey My voice? Now you get the sacrificial system as a punishment.” So, what we are supposed to be learning is, if we are not listening for what Yahweh is telling us to do, we cannot hear and obey what He is telling us to do and we are not listening to someone who is telling us what Yahweh is telling us to do (we are not listening to one of the prophets who is hearing and speaking according to his voice), basically we are going to die.
Because, as we explained earlier in the Parasha series, we are coming out of Egypt, Yahweh is cleaning us up, we have got to be clean before we can come to the promised Land. But the difference this time is, the first time we came out of Egypt our forefathers did come into the promised land even though their hearts were not correct, and clean, and pure. As we show earlier in this Parasha series, this time is different. This time, if you are not clean, you do not make it back to the land. If your children are not clean, they are not doing things the right way, they will not make it back to the land.
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 16:14-15
14 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says Yahweh, “that it shall no more be said, ‘Yahweh lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’
15 but, ‘Yahweh lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.
So, here is this Temple that brother Judah is taking all this pride in. So, “Well, here is this Temple, it was given to us as a punishment! Yes, that is how we know we are Yahweh’s people and that is why we are going to keep making fence laws; we are going to keep changing the Torah. We are going to keep having majority rulings of the Rabbis that are considered more important than Yahweh’s Word. We are not going to do like the Levites. The Levites said, ‘This is Yahweh’s Torah. It is our job to teach it and guard it.’” The Rabbis do not do that, the Rabbis say, “That was interesting. That was the Torah back then; back in Moshe’s day.” But HaShem, or Adoni (not Yahweh) gave him the authority to establish Torah. That is the difference. It is like the papacy.
So, they think they have the authority to establish Torah in each generation by the majority ruling of the Rabbis; it is democracy; basically Babylon.
So, this was right before Babylon, but still look at the tendency to disobey. And we in Ephraim have our own problems, but what did our brothers in Judah do in the southern kingdom? They became proud of the fact that Yahweh had given them a Tabernacle and then later a Temple to remind them that the penalty, the punishment for failing to shema (to guard, to keep) His voice, to hear and obey His voice and to keep His commandments; that something is supposed to be living with us, that is something supposed to be active with us.
Well, and Judah thought that this punishment of being given a Tabernacle (and then later a Temple) made him special; though that was enough to save him from punishment. He had the Temple; they are paying their sacrifices that they are paying for their set-apart Happy Meal.
It is like a criminal thinking he cannot get punished for another crime because he is giving one of those locking leg ankle bracelets to follow around with so they can track him around. That is how smart we and our ancestors are, okay? Yahweh gives us a punishment, we start to take pride in it. “Yes, we have a Tabernacle. Oh! Oh! Now, a Temple! Oh! Yes! Yes, we are just going to offer up those sacrifices and that makes us special! Oh, yes!”
Then verse 30 tells us that Judah even went as far as to pollute the Temple with all kinds of abominations.
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:30
30 For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says Yahweh. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it.
Brother Judah likes hexagrams. And no it is not called the Star of David. You cannot find that term anywhere in Scripture. In Scripture it is called the star of your god, Remphan (or Kiyoon) the star of your elohim, Remphan, in Acts chapter 7 in verse 43, right?
Maasei (Acts) 7:43
43 You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, images which you made to worship; and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
Okay, but you do not worship the sun, or the moon, or the stars in Judah right? You have a day once every 17 years (or something) in honor of the sun, but that is not sun worship, right? There is no Torah commandment, but that is not sun worship on that day you worship the sun every 17 years, right?
Oh! And you do not worship the host of the heavens with the Rabbinical calendar, right? Well, I mean that is why the Rabbis say whoever’s calendar you keep that is who you worship, right; that is what the Rabbis say? And is that why they married their own calendar, the Hillel II, Rabbinic calendar in which they decide they are going to start their year based on the fall equinox or (excuse me) the spring equinox?
Because you start the year in the fall, but your Passover is determined by the spring equinox, right? And then your fall feasts – another term that does not exist in Scripture (fall) – your fall feasts happen in the fall. Now, the term does not exist in Scripture. In Scripture you have summer, and you have winter; equinoxes are never mentioned (we cover that in The Torah Calendar).
And the spring equinox is determined by the movements of the earth as it travels around the sun in orbit, right? So, we know that Yahweh says to start the new year with the barley, right? Like He says in Exodus. Okay, but brother, you are starting your calendar when the sun says to start your calendar, right? I mean, the equinox. You are starting your calendar because some Rabbi said to do something different than what Scripture said to do. So why are you defaulting to the Rabbinical commandment?
Okay, do you get the fact that following the traditions and teachings of the Rabbis, following the fence laws, following the town wood, is not the same as what Yahweh our Elohim said to do? Do you get that?
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:26
26 Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.
Okay, because you start your Rabbinic Hillel II calendar year when the earth is in certain relationship to the sun, right? And that is not worshiping the sun, right? Okay. Oh, no! Excuse me! You set the timing of the Pesach according to the spring equinox, instead of what Yahweh commanded, right? But you do not worth-ship (worship) the spring equinox, right?
“No, no, no! The hexagram is not sun worship, and it is not a hexagram, it is a Star of David.”
Yeah, Okay… There are all kinds of people who believe all kinds of things that do not exist in Yahweh’s Word. Book of Mormon, Talmud, Christian, the Baptist church (they have a book called What Baptists Believe, you do not even need a Bible, you have already got dogma), they are not always pointing you to Scripture, they are pointing you to some other source.
It is like the Rabbis say, “Whoever’s calendar you keep, that is who you worship.” Are we keeping Yahweh’s calendar. Keeping the Rabbi’s calendar. Were we keeping the Karaites calendar?
Well, someone will say (we get this every year), “What is the problem? I mean, what is the big deal? We are faithful to change Yahweh’s commandments the way we like and then we are faithful to enforce our version of His commandments in the Rabbinical Order, thank you. Is not that being faithful to Yahweh? What do you say is wrong with that?”
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? All right. What? Is not being faithful to obey the Rabbis the same as being faithful to do what Yahweh commands us? Oh, no. Wait… okay, no. The Rabbis tell us that we are just supposed to have a barbecue Happy Meal with our gods HaShem and Adoni and then we are just going to kill some innocent animal and burn it all up. Yes, it is good, right? A pleasing aroma.”
“We have paid our license for sin now, right? Okay, we have paid our indulgences, right? Now, we are very different than the papacy; we do not do the same things, the same way. Oh, no. No, we just killed some innocent animal and we just said, ‘Kol Nidre’ and now we can keep right on sinning until next year, right?”
“Everything is good, right? Just so long as we kill animals and say, ‘Kol Nidre’ we do not need to do things the way Yahweh says, right? Because our Rabbis outnumber Him and He gave our Rabbis the authority to rewrite Scripture, whatever they want. See?”
Oh, no. Wait… Are we talking about the southern kingdom and second Temple period times like in Jeremiah? Are we talking about our forefathers in Ephraim, in the wilderness? Or are we talking about the people who are getting ready to set up a temple to Satan on the Temple Mount? A temple to Adoni and HaShem? Well, you know what I mean.
Sorry, I am getting all confused because does it not seem like the behavior of our ancestors in the wilderness? Does it not seem like there are parallels to what goes on today? Does it not seem like some of the behavior is exactly the same? It is the same fruit of disobedience; a different flavor (maybe) of Babylon, but it is all Babylonian disobedience.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 1:15
15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob
Because now we decide we are going to be the ones to establish the Torah. Oh, no! We cannot possibly teach and enforce Yahweh’s Torah, right? First, we could not hear and obey His voice, now we are not going to keep His commandments. We have our own commands. Yes, of course, our own commandments to keep.
Shemuel Aleph (1 Samuel) 15:22
22 So Samuel said: “Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Yahweh? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.
Brothers, why was Yahweh not pleased with our ancestors’ sacrifices and offerings? Because it was never the blood of bulls and goats that Yahweh wanted in the first place.
If you get one thing, what Yahweh wanted was that we would listen to His voice, including His written commandments because that is where someone heard His voice and just wrote it down. So, we are responsible basically for everything Yahweh ever said or everything that is written down, plus everything He says to us.
And whether we know it or not, He is always trying to communicate with us. And you hear people say, “Well I do not hear His voice.” It is like, are you listening? Are you trying to hear His voice day by day? Most people, when they say, “I cannot hear His voice” it is like, are you trying? That is all – would that be important?
What Yahweh wanted was a bridal nation who would listen and obey; would order themselves to help Him build His kingdom as His body, as His hands and His feet.
So, listening and obeying (to shema), to hear and obey would be the first step would it not; in restoring the lost and severed relationship that our forefathers destroyed in the Garden of Eden and which our forefathers also destroyed the trust again with the sin of the golden calf?
Oh! Oh! And we just think He wants to have a barbecue Happy Meal with us, right? And brother Judah is like, “What you mean we cannot pick and choose which of Yahweh’s commandments we want to shomer, and which ones we want to throw away? What? We cannot make fence laws? What? Not even by majority rule? Oy vavoy! What is a Babylonian Rabbi to do?”
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Everything is good now. We just need to spill some innocent animals’ blood and burn up its flesh. We just need a big temple on the Temple Mount by hidden means and then Yahweh will be happy with us. Yes, because we built a kingdom for the anti-messiah. Oh, yes!”
Oh no. Wait… No, that was also the attitude back in the second Temple period, okay? And that is the attitude today. They are getting ready to build the anti-Yeshua temple today. So, is anyone truly stopping to ask themselves if that is really Yahweh’s will and are we truly doing things the way He wants us to do them? Because is it not possible to do (perhaps), all the right things like a checklist and still end up doing the wrong thing?
Yahweh says, “Be careful, be diligent to do everything as according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.” What about Yeshua’s commandments?
Shemote (Exodus) 26:30
30 And you shall raise up the tabernacle according to its pattern which you were shown on the mountain.
Well, as shaliach (or the apostle) Paul will tell us in Ivrim (or Hebrews) chapter 10, the animal sacrifices were never intended to take away sins. The blood of goats and bulls could never take sins away.
Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:11
11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
Again, the whole point of the animal sacrifices was to wake Israel up, okay? It was to exact a heavy cost for not hearing and obeying His voice. And all the Messianics are like, “Wow, cannot wait till we get a Temple!” Okay, it was never what Yahweh wanted in the first place.
Again, He is using it for a further purpose. He does want the Ezekiel Temple after the anti-Yeshua temple. There will be another Temple after Armageddon, after the Ingathering.
But brothers, we need to understand; we need to remember the Temple sacrificial system was always meant as a punishment. It was meant as a teaching tool that was simultaneously a chastisement for not hearing His voice; was never a license to sin like they are trying to turn it into today.
Romim (Romans) 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of Elohim is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Master.
Well, brother Judah is older, so he went first and now it is Ephraim’s turn; now it is our turn. So, in Hoshea (or Hosea) chapter 8 starting in verse 11 Yahweh tells us that our ancestors’ altars had become (and I quote) “altars for sinning.”
Hoshea (Hosea) 8:11
11 “Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin, they have become for him altars for sinning.
What that means is, the people thought they had a get-out-of-jail-free-card. That is where indulgences come from. Oy vavoy! Not Ephraim, also? Oy, Ephraim also.
Verse 12, Yahweh says that, although He has written Ephraim great things from His Torah (or myriads of things from His Torah, or the bridal covenant), our forefathers and Ephraim rejected these things (the bridal covenant); they rejected the bridal covenant as a strange thing.
Hoshea (Hosea) 8:12
12 I have written for him the great things of My Torah, but they were considered a strange thing.
Well, apparently our ancestors did not have any real regrets about their sins. They were never, really, truly what you might call “convicted of sin.”
What that means is they may or may not have been convicted of their sins, but if you are never truly convicted of our sin nature, then there is something lacking in that.
And I know Messianics and Ephraimites, they are not convicted of their sin nature, they do not believe the need to obey Elohim’s laws and His ways, out of brokenness, because they are not yet convicted that their nature is sinful and that we need transcendence; we need to overcome through a renewed relationship with Elohim, through His Son Yeshua. That is what it is all about.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 64:6
6 But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
So, that is how that lost and severed connection can be restored, is by restoring, renewing our relationship with Yeshua each moment. There should never be a moment when we are not in connection.
When I lived in Israel from I think 2003 to 2005 and it was very, very interesting; a very educational experience. And one time I watched this French and Jewish couple, they were working in a store in the Old Quarter. And they had a very busy store; it is noisy; a lot of things were going on. And I just watched how, even when and they were opposite ends of the store with a lot of things going on – this man’s wife was on the far end of the store, and she just looked up and with a very soft voice she said, “Shimon” and he looked up because he heard his wife’s voice; he was attuned to his wife’s voice.
And King David talks about how Yahweh is attuned to our voice, how He hears our voice when we cry. But in order to walk in His Spirit, in order to walk after that voice, we need to kill our flesh because our flesh is evil. It is one of the hardest lessons to learn; we need to die to our flesh. We need to kill our flesh and we need to kill our own independent decision making.
Qolossim (Colossians) 3:5-7
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these things the wrath of Elohim is coming upon the sons of disobedience,
7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
He gives us brains, He wants us to use them, but He wants us to use them in concert with His body of other converts from the world system. But there is nothing left for them in the world. They are dead to the flesh. They do not like their old life in the world. There is no relationship with Yahweh in the world.
Well, the problem with a lot of people is they do not have a relationship with Yahweh anyway, so they are following their own thoughts. They are thinking every thought comes from Elohim. They are thinking all kinds of crazy things. They are not taking their thoughts into captivity.
What they need to do is, they need to realize we need to die to our independent thoughts. We need to die to the lust of our eyes, the lusts of our flesh, and our pride (pride is the hard one). But we need to die, we need to kill – we take every thought into captivity to the obedience of Messiah Yeshua. We need to kill our flesh because we are immersed into His death so that we, like Him, can be raised in newness of life in His Father, through Messiah Yeshua.
Qorintim Bet (2 Corinthians) 10:5-6
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of Elohim, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Messiah,
6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
All that takes effort; you cannot keep Torah on accident. It does not happen if you are just resting on Sabbath and Feasts, and you are reading a little Scripture here and there, and it is a broad easy road like that. If you are not walking a narrow and afflicted path, something is wrong. Because all those who walk righteously in Messiah Yeshua will suffer persecution; I mean real persecution.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 24:9
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.
So, our forefathers never truly showed true fruits of repentance to Yahweh, they never truly began to listen diligently for His voice and do everything He said.
Instead, they took the sacrifices that were meant to cause them to repent and have broken hearts and went a totally different way.
Here is this dead animal. What did its sacrifice do? So, they slaughter the animal, and they think they have a get-out-of-jail-free-card. That is where indulgences come from; same spirit.
So, then our forefathers multiplied their altars so they would have more places to sacrifice animals, thinking it would cover their sins. And, but they continued to sin because they continued to reject doing what Yahweh commanded in favor of their version of what Yahweh commanded. If you change Yahweh’s words, it is no longer Yahweh’s words, now it is your words.
And our ancestors are doing the happy dance. “Hey! Yay! More altars for sin! More altars for sin! Yay! Yay! More altars for sin! We do not want His ways. We do not want to have to obey. If we have more altars, then we need to obey Yahweh. No way! Yay! Hey! We are so happy Yeshua died to set us free, right?” Is that from a church hymn or something?
Well, anyway, but our ancestors were doing a modification of what Yahweh said to do. Just like the Rabbis today keep a modification of what Yahweh said to do. Just like the papacy keeps a modification of what Yahweh says to do. These are not building His kingdom. These are setting up alternate kingdoms. They are all going for it, they are attempting to establish those kingdoms. It is only the white horse; it is only Ephraim. We need to wake up, brothers.
We have more power than they do because Yeshua is on our side. So, we are working for Him. His will is going to be accomplished. We are going to succeed, and He will reward those who are on His team. It is a little red hen situation; it definitely is a little red hen situation.
But we must do everything He says to do, exactly the way He says to do it.
It is like Uzzi learned with the ark, it is not enough to mean well, okay? We must do things His way. It is like Ananias and Sapphira learned in Acts chapter 5; do not lie to the Spirit, okay?
Maasei (Acts) 5:9
9 Then Kepha said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of Yahweh? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”
Our forefathers thought that they were doing what Yahweh said to do. Just like in the churches today, just like in the Messianic movement today, just like the Ephraimites.
The Ephraimites, they are eager to do the part of the commandments that they like, right? And that is keeping Torah, right? That is diligently obeying everything Yahweh said to do, is when we do part of it, yes? And there are no parallels with our forefathers coming out of Egypt?
“No, no, no, no, no, no. We are going to keep the parts of the Torah we like. Let us see… We are going to rest and read, we are going to eat Yahweh’s spiritual food, and we are going to sleep and laze around and rest, but doing some actual work? No, no. You got to be kidding me, now. We do not want to be a living sacrifice. You want us to make – lay down our lives a living sacrifice? Are you kidding?”
Any similarities, maybe? Perhaps? You think?
Or why was Yahweh not pleased with our ancestors? What? He does not like, disobedience? What is the matter with you? He is not satisfied with the blood of bulls and goats? Wow! He wants us to listen to Him? Why? He wants us to do everything He says, the way He says? Not us – you mean we do not just get a pick and choose what parts of the Torah we like? We do not get to cherry pick versus out of context?
Is that not kind of how it went? Oh! And there is a lot of Ephraim today, a lot of Ephraimites, I do not know how many I have met… I say, “Do not eat that, it is pork.” He says, “Well, I am a sinner that is Messianic.”
Okay, well, is there not still something kind of like Ephraim; he has still got half one foot in the church and the other foot is kind of halfway in Hebrew Roots, but is not there (kind of) that greasy grace thing of the church? That assumption that He is not really serious? It is kind of like, we can just do the parts we want, He cut our ancestors a break, coming out of Egypt. Not really. They all died in the wilderness.
And so, He will cut us breaks on our way to the land of Israel too? No. He will not because He is purifying. The wood, hay and stubble stays out; only the refined goods come to the land this time.
So, are we claiming the blood of Yeshua HaMashiach and we are giving the same attitudes as in the church? I do not know how many Messianics – I do not know how many Ephraimites I have seen – it is like our forefathers, you can bring them out of Egypt, but can you take the Egypt out of our forefathers? You can take our forefathers out of the church, is any part of the church still in our Messianics and Ephraimites today? Maybe just a little bit.
Oh! Hey! And let us not forget verses 13 and 14, they promise us that Yahweh will completely forget our sins; wipe the slate clean. All we have to do is kill some animals for Him, right? “Check! Hey! We killed some innocent animals for Yahweh! Yay! Because we would not listen! Yay! Hey! We shed an innocent animal’s blood and then we burned him all up! Yay! Hey! Yahweh is really happy with us now, right? We did Yahweh’s will, right?”
“Yay! Hey! We built a Masonic Lodge, Illuminati temple! Hey, Sabbatean-Frankists. Wow! They really got it going on this! This is it! Yes!”
Oh, no. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, that is not what it says is it? No, no. It says, Yahweh did not accept our ancestors’ sacrifices and that He would remember our iniquities and He would punish us for our sins.
Hoshea (Hosea) 8:13
13 For the sacrifices of My offerings they sacrifice flesh and eat it, but Yahweh does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. They shall return to Egypt.
That is a get-out-of-jail-free-card, right?
Yes, the great irony of all this is that King David wrote in Tehillim (or Psalms) chapter 40 in verse 8, speaking by the Spirit, He tells us that Yeshua delights to do His Father’s will and that His Father’s Torah is in His heart.
Tehillim (Psalms) 40:8
8 I delight to do Your will, O my Elohim, and Your Torah is within my heart.”
So then, the question, brothers, sisters, is, if we also claim Yeshua’s sacrifice, if we claim His blood, we claim His covering, and if we have His Spirit, then do we also delight to do His will? And is His Torah truly written on our hearts? Or not so much?
We know that our ancestors did not delight to do the will of our Father, Yahweh; they thought they did. They thought they were doing great. But, hey! But things are surely different now today, right? We are not walking like our ancestors, right? “Hard times are over! Yoo-hoo! We have Yeshua to cover for our debts!”
“See, our forefathers, they were so dumb. They did not have Yeshua, but see, now we have Yeshua, so now we must obey the Torah now. Do we, a little greasy grace? Oh, that does not exist in the Messianic movement, does it? Oh, no. Ephraimites, people who call themselves Nazarenes? No.”
“No. Now we are automatically pleasing to Yahweh by default. And what a blessing it is to have Yeshua because otherwise we might be held accountable for hearing and obeying Yahweh’s voice, just like our ancestors. Oh! But now we get to be Yahweh’s people without ever having to obey Him! Yay! Just call the name of Jesus and we shall be delivered from obedience to the Father, and we will get to go back and live in the Father’s House, and we do not even have to obey Him, then!”
“And all that is because the Son did keep the Father’s Torah! He did keep the Father’s ways. He did keep the Father’s laws; it was His delight to do His Father’s will in bringing the earth into subjection to a spiritual kingdom ruled by love! Oh! And that is why the Son came to do away with the bridal contract, right? Yay! Celebrate! Celebrate! Party!”
“Oy vey gevalt! Wait a minute. You mean it is serious, this Torah thing? We have got to keep it?”
Yes! It might sound ridiculous that way, but if we think about it, is that not how our forefathers have behaved all throughout recorded history? Really the way Yahweh looks at things. And we are happy to be called Yahweh’s people? We love to be given His blessings. Do we expect to receive His blessings and His protection no matter whether we are doing what He says or not?
We will be His people as long as we do not have to be an obedient bride for Him, as long as we do not have to actually do anything, as long as we have to give Him anything? Just so long as we rest and read on Sabbath and “call on the name of Jesus and we shall be saved”? But only if we obey (we explain that in the Nazarene Israel study).
And that also brings us to our Brit Chadasha (or Renewed Covenant) portion. Here we need to stop and ask ourselves the 64 million mina a question. And that is if Yahweh was not pleased with the way our forefathers misunderstood and then trampled upon the intent of the Levitical sacrificial system.
They trampled the Levitical sacrificial system underfoot because they misunderstood the whole purpose of the sacrifices.
How much more will Yahweh be displeased with us if we also trample on His Son’s sacrifice by continuing to sin, and continuing not to hear and obey His voice?
Romim (Romans) 6:1-2
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace [or favor] may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
That is what He wanted when our forefathers came out of the land of Egypt. One thing He said, “Hear My voice and diligently do everything I say, including My written commandments.”
Shemote (Exodus) 15:26
26 and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of Yahweh your Elohim and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am Yahweh who heals you.”
So, that is it; we are responsible, that is His will, that is what He wants. Do we delight in what He wants if we have His Spirit?
Because if Yahweh held our ancestors accountable for making the Levitical Torah of no effect, how much more is Yahweh going to hold us accountable for making His Son’s sacrifice of no effect? Hello?
Well, in Romim (or Romans) chapter six the apostle Shaul (or Paul), he is telling us what it means to live as a renewed creature in Yeshua. And this whole chapter is so powerful. The whole thing. He tries to break it down so simply for us. And then people come along and they cherry pick, and they take this verse, or they attack that verse, they take the whole thing out of context.
But if we read it in context, right there, in verse one, Shaul tells us, we are not to continue in sin, because if we are going to walk in the salvation that Yeshua gives, it means we no longer live as a captive (or a slave) to sin. Because if we are dead to sin, then how can we continue in sin? And if we continue in sin, then are we dead to sin?
Romim (Romans) 6:1-2
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace [or favor] may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
If we continue in sin, we are resting and reading and that is all we are doing, we are not really helping Him build His kingdom, then are we truly saved? Because if we are not doing the same exact things that Yeshua’s Spirit is doing, then how can His Spirit be in us?
Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 2:4
4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
If His Spirit is in us, then we are doing the same things His Spirit is doing, which is to build His Son’s unified global kingdom.
Kepha Aleph (1 Peter) 2:21
21 For to this you were called, because Messiah also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
Let me see if I understand. Okay, we understand, right? We get it okay that Yeshua was the Angel (or the Messenger) that Yahweh sent to lead His bridal nation out of Egypt, right?
Shemote (Exodus) 23:20
20 “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
Okay, we understand that it was Yeshua who gave us the Torah at Mount Sinai, right?
Shemote (Exodus) 31:18
18 And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moshe two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of Elohim.
And we know that it is a sin not to do all He says, right? Because it is an indication that we do not truly love Him, right? So, are we doing all that He says or are we not doing all?
Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 3:4
4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness [Torah-lessness], and sin is lawlessness [Torah-lessness].
Shaul tells us we cannot, we must not allow sin to reign in our mortal bodies. We cannot continue in sin and claim Yeshua as our covering, it does not work like that; it does not work that way.
Romim (Romans) 6:12
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
He says, if we claim Him as our covering and yet we continue in sin, we deceive ourselves; just inviting the devil in. We are saying, we are entering Mystery Babylon; we deceive ourselves and say, “You know what? I am not going to do the things that Yahweh says, but I am still going to be pleasing to Him.”
Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 1:7
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Yeshua Messiah His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Whether it is on brother Judah’s side or whether it is on Ephraim’s side, does not matter. Then it does not matter the way. If you are Christian, it does not matter the way in which we do not do things His way.
As you can imagine, we have been out from under kingship for so long now, perhaps we have forgotten what it is all about. But in a kingship, you have a leader of the country and Yahweh, hopefully they are listening to Yahweh, and they lead the nation. If they do not lead the nation in the way of righteousness, what happens to that nation? If we do not lead our homes and our households in the way of righteousness, what happens to us; our homes and our households?
Do we perhaps believe that we are covered by Yeshua’s blood, so it is not necessary to keep the Torah, even though Yeshua said in His very first sermon, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy them. I did not come to do away with even the least, smallest, tiniest part; not one jot, not one title”?
Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:17
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
But is that not the ethic in the church? Because sin does not really matter much so long as we have Yeshua’s blood? And here it says, if we continue to claim Yeshua’s blood even though we are not diligent to do all that He says, we deceive ourselves.
And this is rough message for those of the Messianics, instead of that live crowd, okay? Because they are maybe learning some very interesting things about the real Torah, and they are talking all about the Torah, and they are having a good time of friendship (there is no true fellowship, but they are having a good time of friendship about the Torah; about Scripture), but they are only doing the easy parts of Scripture. They are only resting and reading. That is not good enough.
“Hey! Are you saying that there is more to the Torah than resting and reading? Hey!” Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. I am saying you cannot keep Torah on accident. That is the broad easy road, if you are just resting and reading and you are not helping to build and establish Yeshua’s unified global kingdom. How are we doing His will if we are not doing what He said? How are we delighting to do His will?
And we know that Yahweh is watching, right? We know that everything we do and fail to do is being recorded in a book and one day we are going to go stand before His throne.
Well, verse 16, Shaul tells us that we are slaves of whoever we serve, and that is very, very true. So, logically if we continue in sin then are we not effectively slaves of sin rather than being slaves or servants of our King, Messiah Yeshua?
Romim (Romans) 6:16
16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
And notice that, if that is our focus (to continue in sin), can we see this – the decision to continue (continue in sin) is a sin that is leading to death. Can we see that? Let us say that again. The decision to continue in sin is a sin that leads to death. Because, especially in these End Times, if you are sinning you do not get to go home, you will die in the dispersion. We talk about it again, and again, and again in our Haftara prophetic portions.
And the reason is, Yahweh is looking for perfection. And if we are not doing what He said, we do not care; we are continuing in sin. We know what we are doing. We may not think we are doing anything bad. We are just resting and reading; we are just benefiting from Yahweh, but we are not helping Him build His Son’s kingdom. How is that His Spirit? How is it leading to eternal life in Messiah Yeshua when we are not doing what – He died so that we would do it. It does not make any sense.
Then in verse 23, Shaul tells us that the wages of sin is death. That is the whole message of the Levitical-Tabernacle/Levitical-Temple system, okay?
Romim (Romans) 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of Elohim is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Master.
So, if we are slaves to sin, we are literally slaves unto death; we are chained to death. We may not even know it. It is like John chapter 3 in verse 36 tells us, that unless we obey the Son, (we have a study on that in Nazarene Israel) what it really says is, unless we obey the Son, we shall not see that eternal life, but the wrath of Elohim remains on us.
Yochanan (John) 3:16
16 For Elohim so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Because why? Because we trampled the sacrifice of Yeshua under foot; we counted it as a profane thing. You cannot serve two masters. How can we be slaves unto death and slaves unto life at the same time? Does not make any sense. The Messianic position does not make any sense.
Either we are going to do the whole thing with zeal or do not do it. What is the point? You might as well live your life. And if we are not going to build His kingdom, we might as well live our lives in the world. Because our Master gave us marching orders before He left. And when He comes back, it says He is going to require an accounting of every man. It says that in the parable of the minas; says that in several places.
Romim (Romans) 14:11-12
11 For it is written: “As I live, says Yahweh, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to Elohim.”
12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to Elohim.
So, what was Shaul really trying to tell us in this passage? Is it maybe (perhaps) something like most Christians take it as ‘greasy grace’? Maybe Shaul was saying something like: My dearly beloved brothers and sisters in Ephraim, Yeshua died an excruciatingly painful and agonizing death for all of us. And because of His death, we can now live care-free lives and disobey the Father, Yahweh, in everything.
Yeshua worked hard and I am working hard. And you are supposed to imitate me as I am working hard for the kingdom. But that does not matter; that only applies to me? It does not apply to you? Now, you can trample on Yeshua’s blood just as your ancestors, in Ephraim did in the wilderness when they set up golden calves and made many altars for sin?
Just like our ancestors in the days of Yaravam (or Jeroboam), who set up many altars in Dan and Bait El (or Bethel). Oh! And just like our ancestors in the Christian churches who set up many altars for sin. And it is sinful what they teach because they are teaching that the bridal covenant (the bridal contract) has been done away with.
Well, you tell people there are no responsibilities, just say a prayer and you are done. Well, hey, some people get happy, some people give tithes, sacrifices, offerings, but if we think about it from Yahweh’s perspective, is not that kind of like thinking that Yahweh can be paid off? Maybe some indulgences (this kind of thing)? Maybe we are kind of going to deceive ourselves so that we can continue in sin, so that we can give some sacrifices like they did in the Temple, and now we are covered because Yeshua has us covered.
He is going to make all the excuses to our Father that we need? He is going to take care of us, to take care of everything because He died so that we could disobey His Father’s commandments? Do you not know that He died so that His Father’s people could continue in disobedience and sin, and never need to obey His Father ever again? At last! Yay! At last! We are free from obedience to Yahweh! It is like the Tower of Bavel all over again.
Do you think that is what Shaul meant, here? Maybe… Oh! Or perhaps this: My dear beloved brothers and sisters in Ephraim, we all barely escaped Yahweh’s righteous judgment. And for us, it is a very near miss this time; much too close for comfort. Thankfully Yahweh was merciful to us; He is giving us another chance yet again. But after we ignored His servants the prophets, now He gives us Yeshua His Son to help us correct a wretched, disobedient, filthy, behavior.
Now, if we decide to show Him by our actions, by our fruits, that we have defected away from Satan and his kingdom and now we are giving our eternal allegiance to Yahweh and His Son Yeshua – and the fruit of that is that, instead of participating in and helping to build Satan’s kingdom, now we are doing all we can to help our Husband build His kingdom; with Him as our head and us as His hands and His feet, working together as directed by the Spirit.
If we do what He says, is that not when He is going to intercede for us in that day? Because what He wants is a faithful bride that does what He says, that refines herself to help Him in His mission of bringing the earth into subjection to the love of His Father, Yahweh, through His Son’s sacrifice. How does that get equated as a ticket to continue sinning? How does it get equated into a get-out-of-jail-free-card?
And the Messianics, let us not forget, how does that equate to resting and reading on the Shabbat and Feasts and ignoring any command that is not either easy or free to do?
Hmm… What do we think? Okay, let us see a show of hands. Who thought it was the first one? I hope nobody here thought it was the first one…
Brother, sister, if we claim Yeshua’s blood, if we claim Yeshua as our sacrifice, if we claim Yeshua as our atoning sacrifice and yet we continue to break the marital covenant, after we accepted Yeshua’s painful, gruesome, awful sacrifice as our covering, then what makes us any different from our ancestors?
Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 1:7
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Yeshua Messiah His Son cleanses us from all sin.
They abused Yahweh’s animal sacrificial system, they set up multiple (basically) meaningless altars so they could pay some money to sacrifice an animal and keep right on sinning like before without any regret.
Tehillim (Psalm) 78:40-41
40 How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert!
41 Yes, again and again they tempted Elohim, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
Is it not the same thing? Is it not still one way or another taking Yahweh’s patience and long-suffering, completely for granted? And continuing to disobey even after we are told again, and again, and again by Yahweh’s servants, the prophets, that we needed to change. Our forefathers needed to change.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 23:37
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!
Our forefathers never truly repented of not hearing and obeying Yahweh’s voice; the very first thing He said He wanted. That is all He wants. He wants to restore and re-establish the lost and severed relationship that our forefathers messed up in the Garden of Eden.
What did they do wrong? They did not listen to His voice and do everything He said, diligently. That is it. That is all we have to do wrong. Satan wins, we lose, we die; we will not make it through the Tribulation that way.
So, when Yeshua says, do not think He came to do away with the Torah or any part of the prophecies that speak of His return, why do we not believe that? Why do we not want that? Why do we want a situation in which the Messiah comes to destroy the bride’s covenant? What sense does that make?
Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:17
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
Yeshua came to fill us with the love for Him and love for our Elohim, so that we will be motivated and show fruits of love for Him. How many of us take that as an excuse; we have other priorities with our free time?
Well, our ancestors never really repented of not listening for Yahweh’s voice; not shema-ing. They thought it was all covered by the animal sacrifices. And they continued to believe that they could continue to do things the way they wanted, even after Yahweh made it abundantly clear, again, and again, and again, He was not pleased with that.
Yahweh said He would not blot out their sins and iniquities; our sins, iniquities, because they did not bear fruits of repentance. Repentance means changing our behavior. Repentance means remembering.
Mishle (Proverbs) 28:13
13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
Have you ever, brother, sister, have you ever had one of those times when you just really felt close to Him; You really, truly felt humble, you really knew He is in charge, we are not in charge? And do we know that we are supposed to live there? That is where we are supposed to live. Every morning when we wake up, first thing is to arrive at that place; restore that connection with Yeshua. Got to have it; got to have that.
And the fruit of having that connection with Yeshua is that we do the works Yeshua commands us to do. That is the fruit; that is the fruit of walking and repentance. It means changing our behavior.
So, brothers, sisters, if we value our lives, if we value our salvation in Messiah Yeshua, then have we sat down and truly counted the cost? Have we seen the days that are coming in the news? Do we know what Scripture says we are supposed to do?
And finally, let us look at Ivrim (or Hebrews) chapter 10. And here we are going to see the writer of Ivrim (or Hebrews) whom most believe to be shaliach Shaul (or the apostle Paul), he is describing the real purpose of the animal sacrifices. What we see is that the animal sacrifices never could take away our sins. Shaul is very clear. He says it right there. He says, because if we could be made perfect through an animal’s blood, then why would you need to continue the animal sacrifices long term, year by year?
Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:1
1 For the Torah, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.
If an animal sacrifice makes one perfect from sin would you not just offer a single sacrifice and then no sin would remain? Why would you have to carry it through year after year, after year, after year? What is the purpose? What are we trying to learn here? We are just having a set apart barbecue with our daddy?
Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:2
2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.
Okay, what was Yahweh’s real purpose for the animal sacrifices? Once again, in verses 3 and 4 Shaul explains that the sacrifices were only ever intended as a reminder of sins year, by year, by year. It was never possible – it was never suggested that the blood of bulls and goats was there to take sins away (Yahweh forbid).
Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:3-4
3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
The thing is, animal sacrifices are expensive. They are expensive today; back in ancient times they were really expensive. So, today a lot of families, they look at their budget, they are asking themselves if they can even afford to buy a steak. So, if families today are thinking “How can we afford a steak?” And how can you afford to buy the whole cow? Okay, the cost of buying the whole cow. Or if you were a rancher, you were supposed to take your best stud male bull. And the purpose was to hurt. We are talking the spanking level already, so the fact we were given a Tabernacle (later a Temple) that is already a spanking, okay? Yahweh has His ultimate purposes for it.
Father willing, if we ever get to Revelation the End Time Part Two, we will talk all about that. But it is expensive to buy a whole cow, or a lamb, or a goat. But the cost of buying the whole animal like that was meant to cause a remembrance of the fact that sin is very expensive. The wage of sin is death; sin is expensive. If ever anything was expensive, sin was expensive.
Romim (Romans) 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of Elohim is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Master.
There was a purpose to this. The point was to cause us to regret our sins, realizing that they are so expensive, we cannot afford. I do not know; can you afford to pay for a cow every day? No. No. Not only are they expensive, not only do they cost a lot of money, but they also cost a life. The innocent animals, they did not do anything. That is why Yeshua’s our Passover Lamb (innocent, spotless, blemish-less) He did not do anything.
So, if you would like to know more about animal sacrifices, again we recommend the study, “About Animal Sacrifices”. It is the fourth chapter in the Nazarene Israel study. You can read or download that for free from the Nazarene Israel website. Long term, we encourage you to download everything from the Nazarene Israel website because the End Times are coming.
But let us keep going here because now Shaul (Paul) is going to tell us something crucial. Now, let us see something very, very important here in verse 26. And I do not know if people read, by this I do not know if people do not pay attention to this, I am not sure what happens. Maybe they think it does not apply to us. Have you ever thought, “Well, it does not apply to me.” Any of us?
Starting in verse 26 Shaul says that, if we sin willfully (that means, basically, if we ignore His commandments). So, if we ignore His commandments and we sin willfully after we receive the knowledge of the truth of Messiah Yeshua and what He wants, there no longer remains any sacrifice for our sins.
Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:26
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
Why? Because we know we are supposed to be obeying our King one hundred percent. But how many of us are truly obeying Him one hundred percent? How many of us literally tremble at His Word? How many of us truthfully hasten to do all that we know He wants us to do? How many of us have defected from Satan’s team and now we are helping to build our Messiah and Husband’s kingdom?
How many of us are doing what we know? How many of us are bringing our A-game? How many of us are bringing everything we have got to the fight? How many of us care that Yeshua was sent to bring the earth into subjection? Right now, it is the phase where we are supposed to be doing that in the dispersion with Him as our head, us serving as His hands and His feet. We have got to be unified to be a single body. Because He does not want many kingdoms, He wants one kingdom over all the earth. He wants us to build it for Him.
How many of us eagerly desire to do our Father’s will like Yeshua? And how many of us are just like our ancestors thinking that we are doing more than we really are?
We know that, if we stop and sit down and we are straight with ourselves, and we are listening to His voice, we know Yahweh wants us to be doing more. We know He wants us to be dedicating ourselves. We know Yahweh wants us to be setting ourselves apart. We know what He wants us to do. Do we not? Really? Kind of? But how many of us do not think it is really all that important to do what He says to do, just like our forefathers in the wilderness did not think it was necessary to do all that He said to do?
Why is it a hard thing for some of us to pay our tithes, to work together to build the kingdom? Yeshua died that we would build for Him. Why is it a hard thing to be doing something practical to help Yeshua’s cause?
Qolossim (Colossians) 3:23-24
23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to Yahweh and not to men,
24 knowing that from Yahweh you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Master, Messiah.
You know, if your significant other does not want to support you in what you are doing, how do you feel? How do we think Yeshua feels, if we want to be His bride? We took the vow; we made the public announcement at Shavuot (at Pentecost); we are bound by the vow. That He will never push us. He will never make us. If we listen, we will know. And if we obey, then we will know concerning the doctrine.
How many of us are serving Yahweh, being the kinds of people; walking humbly before Him, making sure we stay in connection with Yeshua, making sure we are helping Yeshua to get the kingdom that He wants?
Do we have other priorities perhaps? We have priorities in life other than Yeshua; helping Him build His kingdom to please His Father, so we can be His bride. We have other priorities in life, other than that.
So, we expect to be on Yeshua’s priority list. We go stand before His Father, and His Father asks us what we have done to help His Son build His kingdom. What did we do? Did we do anything? Since we are, after all, His slaves. And we were bought, after all, with the price of His blood.
He is not asking us to die. He is asking us to live for Him and to humble ourselves to work together to build His unified kingdom in His absence. That is what He is asking us to do.
And okay, so we only have so much time and so much money, so guess what? Putting Him first means we pay our tithes first, then we have money for other things. Putting Him first means that building His Son’s kingdom comes first.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 6:33
33 But seek first the kingdom of Elohim and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
When we go to plan our family time, also looking at our checkbook, we are looking at our calendar time, and money, that is what we have. Are we putting Him first, truly? Or are we perhaps planning family outings? We are going to go camping, we are going to go rafting, we are going to go here, we are going to go there, we are going to do this, we are going to do that. We do not have time to put Yahweh and His Son first?
We are dead to the flesh, right? But we do not have time. We have other priorities than Him. We are filled with His Spirit, right? We have other priorities. We have other things to do.
Oh! Maybe the children have to go to t-ball, or perhaps the children’s social standing might be damaged if they do not make the social functions, or the soccer team plays on Sabbath and well, we do not want to damage our child’s self-esteem by having his peers in the world think poorly of him?
I have met disciples who, they have time and money for camping in Colorado, but they do not have time or money for Yahweh’s Feasts. They have time and money to buy a house and fix it up, but they do not have time and money for Yahweh.
Well, just like our ancestors did not have time or money for Yahweh. So, what is the difference? Being like our ancestors who do not really make things a priority for Yeshua, or (basically) bringing our best, bringing our A-game to our Husband’s fight, seeing how much we can do for Him because we love Him.
There is a spiritual war going on. It is not with guns, and bullets, and knives, but it is nonetheless a very real war. Do we have a wartime mentality, or do we perhaps have a pina-colada and a peacetime mentality? Are we doing all we can to win the spiritual war for Yeshua, or are we perhaps not really? We have other things going on. There is Disney World, there is Disneyland.
The children have their arts and crafts, and these kinds of things. It is very important for child self-esteem and their self-development, yes. So, we do not really have time to bring our best to the war effort for Yeshua. We love Him; He is our Husband and we are His servant, we are His slave. We love Him. He is our Master. We want to serve Him; we just do not have time for Him; we have other things going on. You understand.
Oh! Yes! And you have the Spirit, right? Oh, yes! Yes, we are walking in the Spirit, but we do not have time for the things that Yeshua is doing? You are walking according to the Spirit and not after the flesh? You are not chasing after the desires and aimless ways of your forefathers, nothing like that?
We are not doing the same things that Yeshua Himself did once He was here. We are not doing the things that Yeshua tells us to do in the five-fold ministry foundation of apostles and prophets. Hmm… Wisecrack to the wise is sufficient, right?
Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 2:6
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
Well, verse 27 tells us what happens if we sin willfully, after we know who Yeshua is, after we know what He did for us, and we know what He wants (or we should know what He wants if we are listening for His voice).
Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:26-27
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
Oh! But our forefathers did not want to listen to Him – Oh! That is right! Yes! No. That is right. That is right. Yes!
And so, the thing is Shaul is very clear here. Yeshua is here doing His Father’s will, He delights to do his Father’s will, and if we are filled with His Spirit, do we delight to do our Father’s will? Or are we doing our own thing? Are we like our forefathers, not making haste to do everything and yet we still think Yeshua serves as a covering for our sins?
What He says, very clearly is that, if we do not do what Yeshua says He wants, then there is no longer a covering for our sins, okay?
Shemote (Exodus) 23:21
21 Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.
So, let us hit that again. If we sin willfully after we already know who Yeshua is, and what He suffered for us, and what He did for us, now – He took our sins upon Him – and what He wants now is for us to die to ourselves; He wants us to kill our flesh.
Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:26-27
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
And He wants us to care about establishing His kingdom for Him. Again, that is the parable of the minas.
And if we care about our Husband, do we understand that what we are really talking about here is establishing a spiritual global government that will establish Yeshua’s kingdom here on earth? And our families will be the ones to rule and reign over this government. All we have to do is, finally after 2,000 years of having Yeshua’s Spirit, all we have to do is finally hear Yeshua’s voice and walk according to it.
That is all He wants. He wants to reestablish that connection, 24/7. Us in Yeshua and Yeshua in us; Him in the Father and the Father in Him. Restoring that connection. Are we giving that to Him? What is the fruit that we are giving to Him?
Yochanan (John) 17:21
21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
If we call Yeshua our Master, if we call Him Adon, we know He died for us, and we know that He owns us now; He paid the price for us with His blood; we are owned by Him. But we are not going to obey Him? We are not going to keep, we are not going to guard, we are not going to shomer His Father’s Torah? Oh, no!
If we are going to disobey Yeshua, and then we are going to go to the judgment, and now we are going to depend on Yeshua to bail us out – I do not know exactly how it is going to go, but the Father is going to play the DVD of our lives (so to speak), the books are going to be opened; everything we did is going to be read. Everything for good, everything for evil (for Satan, his kingdom). We are going to have to answer for everything that we did wrong and that includes me, that includes all of us. We are all going to stand before that awesome throne.
And if we did not do what Yeshua told us to do – we are going to depend on Him to stick up for us before His Dad – what are we thinking? Are we thinking Yeshua is going to give us an example of how to keep the Torah perfectly, so we do not have to?
Are we thinking that the apostles, the disciples, did all that stuff in the first century so we do not have to? Are we thinking the Great Commission is optional?
We are dead to the flesh, and we are filled with His Spirit, and we are delighting to do His will and the Great Commission is optional?
Romim (Romans) 8:13
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Brothers, sisters, what are we thinking? It is the same mistake as our forefathers. Now, we are thinking the disciples did everything in the first century so we can sit around in living rooms and watch Saturday Night Live. We can read about what we should be doing, and the fact that we are reading about what we should be doing means that we do not actually have to do it? Reading about it, knowing what we are supposed to do, that counts is actually doing it, right?
Because to him who knows to do good and does not, to him it is sin. But just because we know what we are supposed to do and we do not do it, is that not sin?
Verse 28 and 29 tell us that those of us who abuse Yeshua’s sacrifice like that… (and there are more of us who trample on His sacrifice than do not). Yeshua is giving us instructions how to establish the millennial kingdom, that is all. He just wants us to hear His voice, “Do what I said to do.” “Yes, King.” What do you say to do? Read it, study it, learn about it.
Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:28-29
28 Anyone who has rejected Moshe’s Torah dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of Elohim underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
We talk about in Acts chapter 15 Order. Also, the high level in Torah Government. We have a series on Set-apart Communities.
If we know what He says to do, we are not busy doing it, how are we like King David who hastened to keep all His commandments?
Here is the thing, here is what people forget: Even if we think we are taking Yeshua’s sacrifice seriously, if Yahweh does not think we are taking His Son’s sacrifice seriously, are we not going to have a big problem?
Because if He thinks that we are not taking His Son’s sacrifice, seriously – I mean, no more covering for sin.
This is something that is never really sunk in with the majority of Christians, or Messianics (same thing), or Ephraimites, or some who call themselves Nazarenes, is the gravity of this sin; this sin right here.
If you take two things away from this presentation, the first one: Hear and obey. The second one is right here. Let us appreciate the gravity of this sin, all right?
Verse 28 reminds us that anyone who fails to follow (which is the same), or ignores, or rejects, in Yahweh’s sight. We are just like, “Oh! I just forgot to do it!” That is rejecting. “Well, I did not want to do it.” That is rejecting. “Well, we just think lunar Sabbath is the way to go.” That is rejecting. “Well, we just think you need to see the equinox.” That is adding; that is also rejecting.
Verse 28: Shaul was sent as a shaliach (as an apostle) to us (to the gentiles). He says that anybody, any one of us who fails to follow (meaning rejects) the Torah of Moshe, dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:28
28 Anyone who has rejected Moshe’s Torah dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Okay, do we know what without mercy means? What part of without mercy do we not understand? What he is saying is that Elohim will have a pure, clean camp; let us not doubt it. He says we will know His name is Yahweh. He will not be mocked. He will have His will done. We pray for His will to be done. We pray for His kingdom to come down to earth. Do we know we are the ones who are supposed to set it up?
That is our mission, to work together in order to set it up. Things got taken off track in the first century. We went outside the land of Israel; people did not know what the Torah was. We ended up with Christians. We talked more about that in the Nazarene Israel study. But Yahweh will not be mocked, okay? This is the Renewed Covenant. This is Shaul; he was sent to us to explain things to us, to help us get it, okay?
He is saying that we will die without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses because we are breaking Moshe’s covenant, okay? We blew the punishment system, okay? We did not want to listen to Yahweh in the Garden, we did not want to listen to Yahweh after we sprung from juvie. We are sprung from prison in Egypt. We do not want to listen to Yahweh, but we are up for a kingdom? “Hey! We are not up for work; we are not up for punishment.”
So, but finally, as we saw last week, finally our forefathers said, “Okay. We will do it,” okay? That was a punishment system and if we break the punishment system, we die on the witness of two or three.
So, how much more do we suppose the punishment will be for those of us who have been handed the opportunity to defect from Satan’s kingdom, and join Yeshua’s kingdom, and help build His kingdom over which we and our children will rule? Do we understand even what we are being given here; this opportunity? Can we understand why Yahweh would be so upset if we choose not to take Him up on His offer? Or worse, we take Him up on His offer and then we do not do it. That is where the majority of the Messianic movement and Ephraim live.
He is just asking us to die to Satan, his kingdom, leave all that behind and then just turn and give our lives in humble service, and gratitude, and love for Him, for all He has done for us; that is all He wants. And then, if we will let ourselves be filled with His Spirit, we will naturally delight to keep our Husbands commandments and to keep His Father’s commandments.
Romim (Romans) 6:13
13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to Elohim as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to Elohim.
But are we giving ourselves in humble service like that? Are we being renewed? Are we making a living sacrifice? Because if we do not do what Yeshua says to do, we know what judgment will be coming upon us.
Yeshua died to buy us and then we are not doing all that we can to serve and please our King and that is going to be okay? Is it because in verse 30, Yahweh says, “Vengeance is mine. I will repay”? He is not saying, “Okay, do not you punish him, because I am going to punish him.” He is saying, “Do not mess up, okay? Vengeance is mine. I will repay good for those who do good. And for those who do evil or neglect their duties, they will be cut in two, and be thrown and appointed their portion in the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:30
30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says Yahweh. And again, “Yahweh will judge His people.”
It says, and again, Yahweh will judge His people. Have we forgotten the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom?
Tehillim (Psalms) 111:10
10 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living Elohim. Because Yahweh will bring us into judgment, He will require an account of what we have done with our mina, what we have done with our saved lives. Are we working faithfully for our King? Is our allegiance for our King?
We have other things to do. We have to catch the movies (you know), our tv show comes on at a certain hour, we do not want to miss that.
He is asking us, “Do you want to stop being slaves in the world? You want to stop being slaves to the world system? It is vanities, it is insanities, its inanities.”
And do you want to be a servant? Do you want to be a door keeper in the House of our Elohim? And if the answer is yes, eye has not seen, and ear has not heard the wonderful things that await those of us who truly take that to heart.
And, brothers, what if we no longer are covered by Yeshua’s blood? Because we have trampled on His sacrifice and made it of no effect. Do we know what it means; no effect? Brothers, sisters, hinne (behold) now is the accepted time. Hinne (behold) now today is the day of salvation.
Qorintim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 6:2
2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
And we know that Yahweh winks at ignorance of times past, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent and to walk in repentance.
Ma’asei (Acts) 17:30
30 Truly, these times of ignorance Elohim overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
Well, this is what our forefathers, in Ephraim did not want to do was to walk in repentance. So, what is our excuse?
Oy vey! We have had Yeshua’s blood for some 2,000 years now. We have allegedly been following His example for some 2,000 years now.
I suppose (maybe) it is time we ought to follow His example the right way? Oy vavoy! You know, we are supposed to be purifying ourselves as a bridal nation for Yeshua.
Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 2:6
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
We leave the world system, leave Satan’s kingdom behind, purify ourselves, wash ourselves, make ourselves clean. We receive His commandments, we receive the Ketubah, we say “I do.” The people said, “All that Yahweh has commanded, we will do.” Our forefathers took the vow and now we are not doing it. Or, if we are doing it, our numbers are small, but they will continue to grow.
Shemote (Exodus) 19:5, 8
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.
8 Then all the people answered together and said, “All that Yahweh has spoken we will do.” So Moshe brought back the words of the people to Yahweh.
The question is: Are we seeking what is on His heart? Are we seeking after what we want? Listen to our prayers, what do we pray for? “Dear Yahweh, thank you for giving me a bunch of things I wanted, here is another list of things that I want.”
Or when do we come and say, “Father, Yahweh, would you please show me what You want? Like King David, I want to be a man (or a woman) – I want to be a brother (or a sister) after Your own heart (means I want to seek after the things that You find important).”
Yes, it is just so ironic. Yahweh sent His Son to establish a kingdom there, that we are going to rule over His kingdom with a rod of iron. First He wants us to build it then, He wants us and our children to rule and reign over it. He is going to serve as our head, we are going to serve as His body; as His earthly hands and feet here on earth.
So, if we are truly saved, and if we are truly dead to our flesh, and if we truly have His Spirit, are we seeking Him? If we truly love Him, do we want the same things that He wants? Do we realize we are going to leave our father, Satan’s house, we are going to leave behind all his old ways, we must learn His Father’s ways; that the way His Father does things in His House that are very different from the things that seem good and right in our eyes.
Tehillim (Psalms) 119:44-45
44 So shall I keep Your law continually, forever and ever.
45 And I will walk at liberty, for I seek Your precepts.
So, do we love Him? Do we delight in the same things that He delights in which is to do His Father’s will?
Tehillim (Psalms) 119:46-47
46 I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.
47 And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love.
Speaking according to the Spirit, in Tehillim (or Psalms) the first internal Melchizedekian Priest, King David, prophesied that one day the Messiah would come and He would say, “I delight to do your will, O My Elohim, and Your Torah is in My heart.”
Tehillim (Psalms) 119:8
8 I will keep Your statutes; oh, do not forsake me utterly!
Well, what is Yahweh’s will for Yeshua?
As we see in our study on Torah Government, Yahweh’s will for Yeshua is actually to establish a global government that will conquer the earth through His love. The manner of doing it is by establishing a renewed Melchizedekian Priesthood, a set-apart Melchizedekian Priesthood, after the order of Yeshua. Because, as we see in that study and in other places, Yeshua Himself is the one who commanded the five-fold ministry of Ephesians chapter four.
Ephesim (Ephesians) 4:11
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
We also know from our studies in Torah Government that Yeshua was the one who commanded the single foundation of apostles and prophets.
Ephesim (Ephesians) 2:20
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yeshua Messiah Himself being the chief cornerstone,
The disciples are just doing what He trained them to do. So, if the disciples in the first century were keeping the faith that Yeshua taught them to keep, then when we go to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered for all the saints, does it not make sense that it should look like the faith that is written about in the book of Acts?
Yehudah (Jude) 1:3
3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
I have spoken to Messianic leaders and teachers (I do not know how many times) and I asked them this basic question: If we are going to keep the faith once delivered to the saints, do we not think it should look like the book of Acts and not like Saturday Night Live or not like a Messianic fair, Messianic marketplace? Should it not look like Scripture? It is just a question I am asking.
Yeshua had specific reasons for telling us to do the things that He told us, commanded us to do. He did it so that there would be order and structure within His army. We are His spiritual army. That is the same thing as His Temple, that is the same thing as His body (which is us). But if we are His spiritual army, we are not doing the things our Commander, our Field-Marshal, our Tsar-Shalom, our Field-Marshal of Peace says to do. How is that going to go for us? Anybody ever think of that?
Luqa (Luke) 6:46
46 “But why do you call Me ‘Master, Master,’ and not do the things which I say?
We are in a spiritual war, whether we like to realize it or not. You are in the army, and you are in wartime. You are going to treat it like peace time, or you are going to ignore certain of your commanding officer’s rules? How is that going to go for you?
Well, if we would not ignore the commandments of an earthly field marshal, if we would not ignore the commandments of a King David, what makes us think that we are going to be able to ignore the commandments of the Commander of Yahweh’s armies, Yeshua HaMashiach?
Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 19:31
31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and those who escape from Mount Tsion. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.’
How is that going to go? I am going to put the boxing gloves on and what is going to happen next? Okay, does it not just make a whole lot more sense just simply to humble ourselves, and break, and just fall on the stone and be broken, and then stay that way?
Tehillim (Psalms) 51:17
17 The sacrifices of Elohim are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart— these, O Elohim, You will not despise.
Does it not just make much more sense to do what Yeshua would do? Does it not make more sense for Yeshua’s bride to seek after Yeshua’s heart?
So, if our Groom says, “I delight to do My Father’s will,” then what should we want if we are His helpmeet? If we are a faithful Proverbs 31 bride, what should we want? Should we not also delight to do His Father’s will? And should His Torah not also be on our hearts (all of it)? How many of us can honestly say though that we actually do that?
May Yahweh our Elohim please lead all of us to delight to do His will, and to lay down our lives, and our activities, and our priorities in the world, so that we might then delight and do His will, as our husband Yeshua did, so we might know what it means to serve His Father Yahweh in truth.
In Yeshua’s name, Amein.
Shabbat Shalom.