Parasha Tetzaveh 2022: Keeping HIS Commandments!

Video: Watch Parasha Tetzaveh Here!

Exodus 27:20-30:10; 1 Samuel 15 (all); Mark 4:35-5:43

In last week’s Parasha study, Parasha Terumah 2022, we talked about how Yahweh wants His Tabernacle to be one single unified Tabernacle. We also saw how Yahweh commanded 50 clasps per curtain of the Tabernacle to hold the Tabernacle together so that it might be one single unified Tabernacle.

We saw how the point of the clasps was simply the action of holding the Tabernacle together. It is a valuable function. And the thing is, the Tabernacle is only one of many different analogies that we use for Yeshua’s body (or His bride).

Now, depending upon the analogy, we can be referred to as the Tabernacle of David, which we see in other studies is a global spiritual government. Ultimately, we can be stones in a living Temple, or we can be various parts of His body, or we can be branches in an olive tree. But no matter what analogy we use, the point is that we are all supposed to be one. We are all supposed to be together.

Yochanan (John) 17:21-22
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.
22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:

All the analogies call for unity, and order, and connection, and organization. If we are part of the Vine, do we not need to be in connection with the Vine? If we are stones in a living Temple, then do we not need to be ordered, and organized, and stacked, and fitted together properly?

You cannot just have a bunch of stones in a heap in the middle of a field. That is not a temple. In order to become a temple, they must be ordered, stacked, and placed in relationship to each other for proper relationship, right relationship. The stones need to be properly stacked in order to create a space for worship inside. And the stronger ones need to carry more weight.

So, if we are branches of the Olive Tree, we must be grafted into the Root, we must be in connection with the Vine. If we are not in connection with the Root and with the other parts of the Tree, then, for all practical intents and purposes, we are cut off and become withered as a branch of the Living Tree, and that is no good. There are a lot of people who think it is enough just to learn but not that they must do. That is backwards. It is not just what we know, it is what we do for Him with what we know.

So, last week we also saw how important it is to hear Yahweh’s voice; diligently listen to what He says and to do everything that He says. Not just listen to the still small voice, but also to keep all His written commandments.

Shemote (Exodus) 25:9
9 According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.

Yehoshua (Joshua) 1:8
8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you[a] shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

And we saw in the wilderness, our forefathers thought they were just doing this great, stellar, fabulous job of serving Yahweh when really, they were not. And the thing is, they did not make it to the promised land and that is because they were not really loving Yahweh; they were not really trying to serve Yahweh with all their hearts, and with all their souls, and with all their strength.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:5
5 You shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

They were not really listening because they did not really love Him. And so, they were not really obeying because they did not really care. They were not really trying to help Yahweh set up His kingdom here on earth. And Yahweh knows the difference. He knows who is truly setting their heart on His heart. He knows who truly wants to make Him happy by helping Him establish His kingdom here on earth and who just sort of is along for the ride; whatever they can get out of it.

Well, as bad as our forefathers were and even though they all died and that their bones all dropped in the wilderness, is there not something…I mean, do not we still kind of laugh it off, at least just a little bit? Because at least their children survived to make it into the land of Israel. Because they had to in the early times, make it into the land of Israel so that the prophecies of the latter times could be played out.

And we know that it will be as it was in the days of Noah, when people will be marrying and giving in marriage. Having a good time partying, not really focusing on Yahweh day to day. “Will be as in the days of Noah.” If we think about that, only eight people survived, and there is more than one witness to that in the Renewed Covenant.

But when we think about our forefathers in the wilderness, does it not just kind of seem okay? Because at least the children got to go on into the promised land. Well, the thing is, in this second exodus, if you do not raise your children right and they do not qualify to go back to the land, they will not make it back to the land.

It is different this time. This time it is not the same as it was, we read in the first five books the Torah. This time, if we do not obey, our children will not make it in either because they will not be raised the right way; they will not make the qualification standards.

So, to me it is a subject of life and death seriousness. If we love our children and we want them to make it back to the land of Israel alive, then we need to watch this Parasha because we talk about the vital importance of keeping all His commandments. and Yahweh’s promises to save those who keep all His commandments. And He does not make any promises for those who do not. So, please join us for this Parasha.

Earlier in this series we saw how it was Yeshua, the manifestation of His Father, Yahweh, who is the one who led our forefathers out of the land of Mitzrayim and in the land of Canaan. In Shemote (or Exodus) chapter 23 starting in verse 20, Yahweh said that He would send His Angel (or His Messenger) to keep us in the way and to bring us to the place that He had prepared for us.

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.

Verse 21 warns us to beware of Yeshua and to obey His voice and to do all that. Yahweh would speak through Him and that we should not provoke Yeshua, because (Get this! Are you ready for this!?) Yeshua would not pardon our transgressions because His Father’s name is in Him.

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.

However, if we would indeed obey Yeshua’s voice and do all that His Father, Yahweh, was speaking through Him, then and only then, Yahweh would be an enemy to our enemies and an adversary to our adversaries, and He would cut them off.

Shemote (Exodus) 23:22
22 But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

And we know that this can only be Yeshua because there is no other angel or messenger who has Yahweh’s name in him; that is only Yeshua. And we also know that the Father, Yahweh, has never left the throne room in heaven. So, we see Yahweh on earth. As we have seen in the past, it is a manifestation of the Father who has never left the throne room.

So, in this light, what then should it say to us? What meaning should we take from the fact that Yeshua told us in His very first sermon, in the Beatitudes, in Matthew Chapter 5 starting in verse 17, not to think that He had come to do away with the Torah or with the Prophets, right? Even the least part of them, because these things are the bridal contract; they are the bride’s Ketubah.

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.

He says He did not come to destroy the bride’s Ketubah. So, if we think about this, what then does Yeshua really mean in Yochanan (or John) chapter 14 and verse 15 when He says, “If you love Me, then keep My commandments”?

Yochanan (John) 14:15
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

Are we only talking about the so-called Renewed Covenant commandments? Yeshua is the one who gave the Torah at Mount Sinai to start with. So, when Yeshua says, “If you love Me, My bride, keep My commandments. I am your spouse, if you love Me, if you want the wedding to go through, you do not want your bones to drop in the wilderness, what should you do? Keep My commandments.”

And then in last week’s Parashah, Terumah, we also saw how Yahweh commanded us to put 50 golden clasps per curtain of the Tabernacle and their purpose was to hold the curtains of the Tabernacle together so the Tabernacle could be one Tabernacle.

Shemote (Exodus) 26:6
6 And you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains together with the clasps, so that it may be one Tabernacle.

And we know that the Tabernacle really is another analogy for Yeshua’s body. We talk about type and shadow, prophetic shadow pictures. So, it seems of interest (or of note to mention) that the role of the Melchizedekian Priesthood is to hold all the assemblies together worldwide and to unify us as one Tabernacle.

So now, this week in Parasha Tetzaveh, with that background, we are going to see more evidence that is going to show us how important it is to obey not just some, but all of Yahweh’s commandments. And if we will obey all of Yahweh’s commandments, not only will we survive the Tribulation, but it will also effectively bring unity to our body. And it will make Him happy with us, He will be pleased with us, and we will survive the Tribulation.

So, we are going to see a lot of evidence this week that (this is not a small thing) – we are going to see evidence that this is effectively a life-or-death issue, and we need to face into it. Because most of the Messianics and most of the Ephraimites I have met, they are sleepwalking off the cliff; they do not know what they are doing, just like our forefathers in the wilderness did not know what they were doing wrong, and their bones dropped in the wilderness. In the future, we are coming to a time of purification, brothers and sisters.

So, let us remember how Yahweh tells us He wants us to do everything according to the pattern which He shows to us on the Mountain; He says it several times. Yahweh says (effectively), “Follow My blueprint. I am the Architect; you are My building crew. You are going to build Me a Temple (or Tabernacle) according to My specifications. I am in charge here. This is My blueprint. These are the instructions. This is what I want you to do.” You take the job. You are liable.

So, the thing is that we need to ask people in the Ephraimite movement: What are you going to do if you do not follow the blueprint exactly? What if you have 7,000 different subcontractors (or 28,000 different subcontractors in the case of the church) and they all have different ideas of how to build the building. If you have 10, or 12, or 7 different subcontractors and they all have different ideas about how to assemble the building, how is that going to work?

Or, what if you have one blueprint, but the subcontractors do not really bother to check it all that well? They are going to check the blueprint, go away, and not do exactly what it says, how is that going to work?

And how are those subcontractors going to get paid? Because Yahweh only pays for work that is done according to His specifications. And in this Parashah, we are going to see Yahweh has some exacting specifications for us all to follow.

Shemote (Exodus) 25:9
9 According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.

Well, Brothers, the thing is, serving Yahweh is not easy. However, it could not be any simpler. Elohim says (basically), if there is one commandment that Yahweh wants us to take more than any other commandment – we know this because this was the commandment given under the Firstborn Priesthood time frame – Elohim says, “Now, look, I just want you to listen carefully to My voice, okay? Listen diligently to what I am saying, and then I want you to do it. I know you are an apprentice- I am training you for the job, okay? This is OJT (on job training), okay? You want to be my bride, this is what you have got to do. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, keep going, okay? But I want you to do exactly what I tell you to do and I want you to obey all of My written commandments. Both a still small voice that you hear in the ear and what you read. Just do that.”

That is not easy, but it is very simple; could not be simpler. Just hear His voice and do what He says, including His written commandments, because those are just what He spoke earlier that was faithfully recorded and written down.

So, He is saying, “I am going to train you on the job to be zealous, to set up My Son’s kingdom. And if you will do that, and you will do what I say (you will listen to instructions and eagerly earnestly do what I want you to do), and I will take you as a bride unto My Son forever.”

“You do not need to be a brain surgeon; you do not need to be super smart. You do not need to be rich. You do not need to have a college degree. You do not need a certain look. A fisherman or a carpenter certainly works. We do not care what your socio-economic status is. We do not care what color you are. We just want to see a 100 percent commitment to leaving Satan’s kingdom behind; leaving Egypt and helping Me set up My kingdom for My Son.”

“If you will help Me build My Son’s kingdom faithfully; if you will do that with all of your heart, all of your soul because you love My Son, well, if you love My Son and we see the fruits of it” then eyes have not seen nor have ears heard nor have we even considered in our hearts all the wonderful things which Yahweh Elohim has prepared for those of us who love Him enough to help His Son establish His kingdom.

Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 5:3
3 For this is the love of Elohim, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

Qorintim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 2:9
9 But as it is written:“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which Elohim has prepared for those who love Him.”

So, do you understand what I am saying? So, it is so easy to say that we love Elohim, but where is the fruit of it? He wants to see the fruit. Wisdom is known by Her children. Or rather, Wisdom is known by Her fruits; when you show fruit of repentance. He wants us to be doers of His Word and not just hearers only, deceiving ourselves. Maybe, realistically like 99 percent plus of the Messianic, Christian, Ephraimite (or whatever) worlds.

Yaakov (James) 1:22
22 But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

But if Yeshua was the Angel (or the Messenger) who was with our forefathers leaving Egypt and all through the wilderness, and if He was the One to show Moshe the pattern on the mountain for the physical Tabernacle, and if Yeshua emphasized several times that we are to build everything according to the pattern that He showed us, then what about the spiritual Tabernacle of David?

Shemote (Exodus) 25:40
40 And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.

Well, we know from our studies on Torah Government (and other places) that the Tabernacle of David is effectively both a global, spiritual government and it is also a means for the returning Gentile Ephraimites to come back into the Commonwealth of Israel. It is also the faith that we practice. And we also know that it is our job to set this structure up.

It is only going to be a global, spiritual government. Suppose there might be any specifics, any protocols, any particular ways that it would work? Or do we just get to build it however we want? Do you not really need to study the pages of Scripture and see how things were done and recorded in Scripture even though all Scripture that is inspired is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, etc.?

Okay, well, again in Mattityahu (or Matthew) Chapter 5 and verse, 17 this was Yeshua’s very first sermon, okay? The Beatitudes. Yeshua tells us not to think that He came to destroy the Torah or any of the prophecies. He said He did NOT come to destroy them but only to fulfill the parts of the prophecies which pertained at the time of His first coming; not to do away with the rest of it because it prophesies over His return. If He would do away with the Torah, He is doing away with His return. We do not want that. Why does the church want that?

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.

Well, Yeshua tells us that surely, until heaven and earth pass away (and heaven, and earth are still here), not the least, tiniest thing, would pass from the Torah until all the prophecies had been fulfilled. Because He is coming back for His bride.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:18
18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

Therefore, whoever should break the least of these Torah commandments, the bride’s contract and teach others so, he would be called least in the kingdom of heaven. That is if he does not have a millstone tied around his neck and have him drowned in the depths of the sea…

Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:19
19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

He says, “But whoever does and teaches them, He shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” But here is the kicker, and this is what most Messianics and Ephraimites, they miss this completely, check this out: In verse 20, Yeshua says that, unless our righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and the Pharisees, we will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:20
20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Do we believe that? Do we believe what He is saying here? Do we believe Him? Do we know this is a manifestation of Yahweh, and this matches His pattern in Scripture perfectly, okay?

He says that, unless our righteousness (meaning our commandment keeping) exceeds that of the Karaites and the Orthodox Rabbis, we are going to, by no means, enter the kingdom of heaven. But that is not a low standard, brothers and sisters.

So, but let us think about this. Do we believe what Yeshua said? Do we find it important? This is how He opened His very first sermon.

Do we believe that we need to keep the Torah better than the Orthodox Rabbis and the Karaites? Do we believe that? Yeshua said it, but do we live it? That is the question. Do we realize what Yeshua is saying here?

So, Matthew chapter 23 in verse 23 tells us that the Orthodox and the Karaites pay tithes.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 23:23
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

Well, brothers and sisters, do we all pay tithes? And if not, then how – I ask you in all seriousness – how are we keeping the Torah better than the Orthodox Rabbis and the Karaites if we do not even do the same things that they do?

Of course, someone always protests, “Well, our Torah obedience is so much better than the Torah obedience of the Karaites and the Orthodox because we have Yeshua.” Okay, well, fair enough, but does belief in Yeshua lead us to obey the whole bridal contract, or do we think we get to get out of the bridal contract because we believe, quote unquote, in Yeshua?

Does our faith lead us to be doers of the Word and not hearers only? Is what we do help to build Him a unified, global kingdom that He seeks, perhaps?

There are a lot of people who believe they do not need to keep all the Torah because they believe on Yeshua. They believe it is fine just to rest on Shabbat and read. There are other people that believe they do not need to do everything that Torah says. They get to pick the parts that they want.

Well, brother and sister, if that is how you believe then, really, what is the difference between that and the greasy grace of the Mystery Babylonian church system? In fact, we are going to see things in this Parasha that speak to this.

Brothers, the message we are going to take from this Parasha is that, if we do not do His commandments such that we end up building Him a unified global kingdom; using our mina according to His specifications to do everything that is according to the pattern that He showed us on the mountain, okay? If we are not up for that; if we are not up for leaving Egypt and helping Him build His kingdom, then, really, what are we doing? And why are we here (so to speak)?

And who do we think we are fooling? Would be another good question to ask.

Yochanan Aleph (or First John) chapter 5 starting in verse 2 says:

Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 5:2
2 By this we know that we love the children of Elohim, when we love Elohim and keep His commandments.

All of His Commandments? Oh, or just part of His Commandments? Just the ones we like? Although, oh, they only do that in the church, right? That does not happen in the House of Ephraim. Oh, no.

All right. Verse three, “For this is the love of Elohim, that we keep all of His commandments.” It does not say we keep part of His commandments. It says, “And His commandments are not burdensome.” It does not bother us to keep His commandments. It does not bother us to tithe. It does not bother us to organize. It does not bother us to help build the assembly.

Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 5:3
3 For this is the love of Elohim, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

So, brothers, is the tithe burdensome to you? Or (perhaps) is the thought of leadership, and congregational accountability, and building Yeshua His literal, spiritual kingdom; is that burdensome to you? Even though your children will rule over it for a thousand years? Is that burdensome to you?

Scripture tells us that the decision to keep all His commandments is a life-or-death decision for us. We are going to see it all through this Parasha and it is very plain.

However, look in Devarim (or Deuteronomy) chapter 30 starting in verse 15, Yahweh says, “I have set before you today, life and good if you are eager to obey Me, and death and evil if you do not change. It is your pick!”

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 30:15
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,

But, “Today I command you to love Yahweh your Elohim with everything you have and to quit down- just lay down, get rid of, flush, throw away your old life in Satan’s kingdom. Throw away your old life in the world. It is not worth it; there is no eternal reward to it. And then wash yourselves. Immerse yourselves in the new life as servants, helping to build Yahweh’s Son’s kingdom.”

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 30:16
16 in that I command you today to love Yahweh your Elohim, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and Yahweh your Elohim will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

It just takes learning what He wants and keeping all His commandments. And then we just must do the things that He says. That is all we must do. Keep His judgments, walk in His ways, obey His statutes, His Commandments. If we will just do the things that He tells us to do, we are going to live. Oh, and we are going to multiply. And Yahweh our Elohim will bless us in the land which we go to possess.

But you know how Yahweh is. He does not just want us to talk the talk, He wants us to walk the walk. He wants us to do it and not just do it at the level of our forefathers; leaving the wilderness and griping and complaining and not wanting to obey, not wanting to do the things that Yahweh says to do the way Yahweh says He wants them to be done.

But to do it at the level of a Moshe, or a Joshua, or a Caleb, or a Miriam, or any one of our forefathers who applied his or herself to furthering Yahweh’s kingdom. Someone that was excited to leave Egypt, even though they knew it meant work

I mean, let us look at things from Yahweh’s perspective. If you are a great King like that, do you not think you can tell who is really pulling hard for your kingdom? Who is trying to help you build your kingdom, who is really doing things for you and who’s just kind of there?

If you are a boss, can you tell when someone is really trying to do their best work to help you, versus others who are just kind of punching the time clock and bringing home a paycheck?

Even if you are not a boss, can you tell when someone is really trying to help you, genuinely out of goodwill, for whatever reason?

Or if you are a parent, can you tell when your child does something nice for you because they are trying to make you happy? They did something, they went out of their way. They took out the garbage without being asked. They mowed the lawn. Or they cleaned up the house. Or they washed all the dishes. They helped clean something out. You did not ask them, they just did it because they knew it would make you happy.

Well, if we as people can tell that, then do we not think Yahweh can tell the difference? And what about all those prophecies and all those parts of Scripture where Yahweh says He only plans to keep alive the ones who obey Him with zeal; happily. That they want to do is serve Him out of love for Him and His Son.

Yehezkel (Ezekiel) 18:21
21 “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

I mean help Me out here. Are His commandments. Righteous for all generations or not? Yes, or no? And if yes, then are we one of those generations? Yes, or no? So, if Yahweh’s commandments are righteous for all generations and we are one of those generations then are we keeping all His righteous commandments?

Or, if we are not keeping all His righteous commandments, what are we doing? Do we believe Yahweh? Do we believe Yahweh is who He says He is?

Ephraim, brother, if you are listening, may I please ask you something? Why were our forefathers taken into the Assyrian captivity to begin with again? I mean is it not because our forefathers were not zealous for Yahweh’s Torah? Is it not because they were kind of lukewarm in a sense and Yahweh had to vomit our forefathers out of the land?

So, if our forefathers got vomited out of our homeland for being lukewarm, is He going to let us come back home in the same lukewarm state that got us thrown out?

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 18:21
21 “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

What are some people thinking? Are some people just taking a lot of things for granted? Some people are assuming a lot of things written in Scripture do not apply to them because they do not really take the time to see if it applies to them.

Forgive me for nosing, but when you care about people, you want them to survive the Tribulation that is coming, you need to say things in a serious way. And the difference between the first exodus and the second exodus is, in the first exodus, if you were sinful, you died in the wilderness, your bones dropped in the wilderness, but your children still had an opportunity to inherit in His kingdom.

As we mentioned in this coming second exodus, if we are not doing all His commandments, we do not qualify, we never enter the land (probably) we do not survive the Tribulation. Father willing, someday we will get time to do Revelation and The End Times part two. Got some things I would love to share with people if we can get the time.

But what we need to know is that the early is in the latter; there are mirror images. You did not make it in the early if you were not walking right. And you will not make it in the latter either, and neither will your children, that is the difference.

So, if we are lukewarm, we die in the dispersion because Yahweh is not taking us like that. Yahweh is going to take a lukewarm bride? Would He take Himself a lukewarm bride forever? Boy, lukewarm makes Him sick. Lukewarm makes Him puke.

Brothers, just like our forefathers left Egypt, but Egypt did not really leave them. Is it possible (perhaps) that maybe we have left the church, but is there any part of the church system of greasy grace that is still with us? Perhaps, maybe just a little bit?

I mean, because if you people would never admit to this, but when you look at the way people behave, it is like they are quoting from the Drunkards of Ephraim volume six chapter six and verse 66 (or something).

Therefore, thus says Yahweh, “You shall keep My statutes and My commandments which I command you this day. That you act now, it is for a limited time only! After that you no longer must spend any time thinking or praying about what your Elohim wants. Now, it is going to be all about you!”

Drunkards of Ephraim 6:6-8
6 Therefore, thus says Yahweh:
7 You shall keep My commandments which I command you this day for a limited time only!
8 After that you no longer have to spend any time thinking or praying about what your Elohim’s wants! Now it is all about you!

“It is about you! Yeshua is going to have to decrease so you could increase. Oh! oh! And the best part is, after your forefathers drop dead in the wilderness for the exact same offenses, I decided to send My Son to die a horrific death so that you could commit the exact same kinds of offenses as your forefathers. But now you get to think you are better than your forefathers, just because you say you believe in Yeshua. Just call on the name of Jesus and you shall be saved!”

Drunkards of Ephraim 6:9
9 After your forefathers dropped dead for the exact same offenses, I decided to send My Son to die so you could commit the exact same offences as your forefathers and think you are better than them, just because you say you believe in Yeshua, when you do not want to do what His Word says to do!

“Oh! Oh! Except, the only problem is, you do not do what His Word says to do. Well, but that is okay because it is no longer about becoming pleasing to Yahweh our Elohim. Because My Son died so that you could disobey Me! Oh! And, after you just confess belief with your lips you no longer have to do anything.”

Drunkards of Ephraim 6:10-13
10 But that is ok! Because it is no longer about what is pleasing to Yahweh your Elohim, because My Son died so you could disobey Me!
11 After you confess belief with your lips, you no longer have to do anything!
12 You no longer have to listen diligently for My voice or do everything I say!
13 And you no longer need to guard My written commands!

“You no longer have to listen diligently for my voice. You do not have to do anything I say. You no longer have to pay attention to My written commandments. You can just kind of do away with that or you can pick and choose the ones you like. Well, now you and your children, you are free to do whatever would be pleasing to you and your flesh (you know). You could have a whole smorgasbord of choices. You just show up for church, or synagogue, or a home fellowship perhaps, or you can even do home study, and you can use that as your excuse for why you do not need to organize and help Me build My Son’s kingdom. Even though He is building it for Me, at My command.”

Drunkards of Ephraim 6:14-15
14 Now you and your children are free to do whatever is pleasing to you and your flesh.
15 Just show up for church or synagogue or home fellowship or do home study and use that as your excuse for why you do not need to help build My Son’s kingdom, which He is building for Me, at My command.

Okay, so let us see. “Do what you want, and you may prolong your days in Satan’s kingdom and die outside the land which Yahweh your Elohim is giving you and your people to inherit for all time.”

Drunkards of Ephraim 6:16
16 So do what you want, and you may prolong your days in Satan’s kingdom, and die outside the land which Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you and your people for all time!

I have not seen that passage anywhere and I hope I never do, but the way some people behave, they do not understand. Just like our forefathers did not understand what the problems were in the wilderness.

But it is a real question: Why are some Messianics, Christians, Jews, why are they assembling, and they are doing something other than what the Scriptures say to do?

Why do they think ignoring the Spirit and disobeying the Father’s written words is going to get them into the Father’s good graces? And for Orthodox Judah, why do you think rewriting Yahweh’s commandments, changing them and altering them according to your majority opinion of the Rabbis, why do you think that is going to get you in His good graces? Because there is more of you than Him?

Yes, there is a whole lot of wishful thinking in the flesh going on. Brother, sister, can I ask you, why does it seem like so many of the brethren, so many Ephraimites, they live their entire lives as if Yahweh’s instructions do not even exist? Like Yahweh never really gave commandments. Or they do not apply to us. Or we have some exception to policy; we have some exception to the rule. We have a hall pass. We have a note from our mom; note from our dad.

If we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and brains to think, can we see that we also have hands and feet to do the things that Yahweh commands us to do for Him?

And it says that, to abide in His love means obeying all of His commandments, does it not?

Yochanan (John) 14:15
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

We do have freedom in the Spirit, but that means that we are following the principle, or the precept, rather than following the letter. Because there is something that needs doing that is not covered by the letter. So, we can walk at liberty according to the principle and the precept if that will help build Yeshua’s kingdom. Because Wisdom is known by Her fruits or by Her children.

So, if we can follow the principle or the precept, then we can walk at liberty, because that is when we can walk at liberty is when we are following His Spirit. We are following His voice.

Tehillim (Psalm) 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

If the fruits are wise and if the fruits are of the right Spirit because we are listening to the Spirit, we are seeking constantly to build His kingdom, then we need to do what the Spirit tells us to do, and we need to follow all the written commandments. Because if we do not do that, are we being rebellious? Are we being lazy?

It does not matter, being rebellious or lazy is not covered. Those servants who begin to get drunk and beat the other servants, they end up cut in two, in the outer darkness. Yahweh did not send His Son to die so that we could receive His Spirit so that we could ignore the primary directive of building a unified kingdom for His Son, Yeshua. That is what we are supposed to do.

I am not Yahweh, but my understanding is that in the day of judgment, everything will be judged as to what we did with our time. Did we help Yeshua get what He wanted, which was the same thing as His father sent Him for? Did we help Yeshua with His mission? Did we turn coat on Satan’s kingdom? He effectively wants traitors from Satan’s kingdom, our forefathers, Adam and Hava (or Eve), fell.

If you are not going to listen to Him, it is a different deal out there. So, the kingdom of heaven is offered, it is right there. He tells us what He wants us to do. All we have to do is choose to do it. That is what He wants. It is the same thing as what His Father wants, and that is what the commandments are all about; is building the nation of Nazarene Israel.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 4:17
17 From that time Yeshua began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

These are not rhetorical issues. These are not rhetorical questions we are dealing with. These are not things that any one of us can afford to ignore if we want to survive the Tribulation.

So, may Elohim please cause us all to take these things to heart and to think about them, ruminate on them, reflect about them and ask Him: “Father, what do you want us to do? How do you want us to obey your commandments?”

Well, now let us look at some examples in Parashah Tetzaveh about how important it is to obey Yahweh’s commandments exactly as He says. So, let us begin with Shemote (or Exodus) chapter 27, verse 20 through chapter 30 and verse 10, and the thing is, we are going to see the same themes crop up in our Haftara prophetic portion of First Samuel chapter 15. And our Brit Chadasha (or our Renewed Covenant) portion of Mark chapter 4 and verse 35 going through chapter 5 and verse 43.

Now, tetzaveh means, you shall command. So, Yahweh is telling Moshe, He shall command the children of Israel. And let us remember how tight space is in Scripture. Scrolls were expensive, you had to have specially trained scribes to pass them along. Whole centuries, nothing is recorded because nothing was considered noteworthy.

So, then why does Yahweh spend so much time going into the specific details of how He wants His Tabernacle to be built? Why does He spend so much time going into such detail about the things He wants His people to do for Him? Even if it is a prophetic Shadow picture, why does He emphasize it so much? Why does He say it again, and again? What He wants more than anything else is that relationship with us restored that we had in the Garden, before our forefathers threw it away.

To where we listen constantly for His voice and then when we hear what He says, we reflect on it, ruminate on it; that becomes primary to us. And then we do everything He says to do.

Shemote (Exodus) 19:5
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.

So, are we following His words as if He truly means it? Or are we not doing that? And if that is what He wants the most, is that we listen constantly for His voice and are diligent to do everything He says to do and why do we not do that?

It just comes down to a very basic question of obedience and discipleship. Either we choose to make serving Yahweh our very top priority in life, such that we truly serve Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength, or we do not? It is just that simple.

Marqaus (Mark) 12:30
30 And you shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.

Now, I do not know any parent who takes the time to try to train their children. And then they just accept that the children are going to obey them only, whenever they want. I do not know any families like that. Are only parents that would sit still for that and yet look at how we treat Yahweh. We call ourselves His children; we call ourselves His servants; we call on Him as our Father and our King.

We were bought with a price. So, what is with this attitude when people are only willing to rest and read, we are willing to eat His spiritual food, but we do not want to do any actual work for Him. We want to accept His training, His food, His guidance, His love, we do not actually want to work for Him? What kind of a servant is that? And we only want to obey the commandments that we want to keep, what kind of a disciple is that? Is that the kind that gets cut in two and cast into the outer darkness where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth? Or what kind of servant?

Well, in this whole Parasha, Yahweh gives us very specific instructions about how He wanted us to make His physical Tabernacle. Sometimes we just read the details like, “Who cares?” But we need to see and understand that the details were life and death.

So, let us jump to chapter 28 and verse 35. Here Yahweh is giving Moshe instructions on how to make the high priestly garments for Aharon (or Aaron) and for those who would fill the high priest’s position after him.

But in verse 35 we see a very important detail concerning the high priest’s garments; zoom in on that. Verse 35 tells us that Aharon was to have bells on his garment so the sound of the bells would be heard when coming in and going out of the most set-apart place and that the reason for the sound of the bells was to keep him from dying.

Shemote (Exodus) 28:35
35 And it shall be upon Aharon when he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he goes into the set-apart place before Yahweh and when he comes out, that he may not die.

So, what happens if we forget a little detail like that? What happens if we do not want to follow the blueprint like that? Seems like a little detail, little bells. Who cares?

Yahweh is emphatic, Yeshua is emphatic several times that we are to- I do not know how many, but something like six or seven times, but we are to do everything just exactly as He wants throughout the Parasha series – more than that.

But the command for the bells on the high priest garments, that is just one example. That is one small detail of the instructions Yahweh gives for the Levitical Order.

So, when a commandment comes with a life-or-death warning, I would say it is an important detail, would you not?

When we get the Parasha, Shemini, we are going to see other examples of people dying because they do not follow Yahweh’s instructions to the letter. We are going to see this with Aharon’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 10:1-2
1 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aharon, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before Yahweh, which He had not commanded them.
2 So fire went out from Yahweh and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh.

We are also going to see it in the case of Uzzah who thought he was trying to do a good thing by steadying the ark, but he got killed anyway. Because why? Because he broke Yahweh’s commandments; He broke Yahweh’s instructions. And notice, he may not have even known. Ignorance of the Torah is no excuse.

Well, there are countless other examples of our forefathers, either ignoring or breaking Yahweh’s commandments, or picking and choosing what they want to do. It is not a rare thing; it is a very common thing. And this is one of Yahweh’s chief complaints. Is that it is a daily thing for most of His people and most of His people, they do not seem to care.

So, most of His people are going to keep the parts of His commandments that they like or that they find convenient. And if it is not convenient or they do not want to do it, they just do not do it. Well, and how many Messianics do we know, say, “We are keeping the Torah!” as if they are keeping the whole Torah. So, are they keeping instruction, or are they keeping part of Yahweh’s instructions?

Are they keeping the bridal contract or are they keeping not enough of the bridal contract?

We are going to see this thing repeat itself. We know the end from the beginning because we see the patterns established in the beginning. We are going to see the same patterns re-emerge as we continue to the Haftara prophetic portion.

So, now let us come to Shemuel Aleph (or First Samuel) chapter 15. And here we are going to see one of the more drastic examples of what happens when we think we are obeying Yahweh’s instructions, but really, we are not.

So, for some background, our forefathers made a big mistake when they asked Yahweh for a king like all the nations. Now it was not wrong, there was no problem for our forefathers to ask for a king because Yahweh had already told them that they would have a king.

For example, Devarim (or Deuteronomy) chapter 17 and verse 14 tells us that Israel would have a king. Only, Yahweh said that we are not supposed to do that. We are not supposed to want to be like all the other Goy (Gentile) nations. We are not supposed to want to set a king over us like all the nations that are around us, because all of them are effectively part of Satan’s kingdom.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 17:14
14 “When you come to the land which Yahweh your Elohim is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’

So, Yahweh wanted us to come out of Egypt; to come out of the world; to come out from under Satan’s control so that we could then give our lives over to Him. Out of love, helping Him build His Son’s kingdom. Over which we ourselves and our children would rule.

The whole point is, whose kingdom are we building? Who has our loyalty? Are we continuing to be loyal to Satan after the fall? Or are we being redeemed through Yahweh’s love, and we are blossoming in love returning His love for Him by, why? By how? By keeping His commandments. And Yeshua is the one who gave us the commandments in the wilderness, so we need to keep all of His commandments.

And it means that we are also not supposed to elect, or select, or vote for our own king. Very fine shade of distinction, but critical. Here He says, rather we are supposed to let Yahweh select our king for us, like Yahweh did with David.

Shemuel Aleph (1 Samuel) 16:1
1 Now Yahweh said to Shemuel, “How long will you mourn for Shaul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Yishai the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.”

Notice the distinction. We are supposed to pray and listen and see whom Yahweh indicates should be the leader of our people. That is a very different thing: The anointing from Yahweh. Most people do not pay attention to that when they go to the voting booth, do they?

But we did not do what Yahweh wanted did we? We did not ask Him for His selection of king. We said we wanted a king like all the other nations which do not obey Yahweh’s commandments.

In Shemuel Aleph (or First Samuel) chapter 8 and verse 5, our elders asked for a king to judge them like all the nations.

Shemuel Aleph (1 Samuel) 8:5
5 and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

That was the problem right there. It means we did not want to be different. We did not want to be set apart from the world. We did not want to let Yahweh be the one to select our king so that He could lead us in setting up His kingdom. Rather, no, we wanted to be like the nations all around us even though they were still building Satan’s reign.

Oh! Oh! And hey! While we are here, is that not really what most of us are doing when we place our trust in voting and then the democratic process? Can anyone show me the democratic process anywhere in Scripture? That originates in Babylon; was made more well known by the Greeks, then by the Romans. Those are all part of the Babylonian system.

So, the question here is, are we seeking the king that we want or are we seeking the anointed leader that Yahweh wants us to have? Those are two separate things.

Anyway, we are going to talk all about democracy and voting in some other place, but here in Shemuel Aleph, the people got their wish, they got a king to rule over them like all the nations. If you do not love Yahweh, you do not want to serve Yahweh, that is fine. He will hand you over. He will give you a king like all the nations. He will let you see. That is what you said you wanted.

Okay, well, what kind of king did Shaul turn out to be? Did he listen carefully for Yahweh’s voice and do everything Yahweh’s voice said to do including His written commandments?

In verse 3 we see Yahweh give Shaul a very specific command; a pinpoint command through the prophet Shemuel, very simple. Yahweh commanded King Shaul to go out and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they had and not to spare them. So, Yahweh said to kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, even the camels and the donkeys.

Shemuel Aleph (1 Samuel) 15:3
3 Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

So, what did king Shaul do? Did he hear what Yahweh said and obey it 100 percent? Was he careful to perform all the commandments of Yahweh? No.

In verse 8 it says that Shaul took Agag, king of the Amalekites, alive and utterly destroyed the rest of the people with the edge of the sword.

We can speculate as to why king Shaul would have spared king Agag. Maybe they did it in royal courtesy, because one king does not always want to start slaying other kings. Or maybe he felt it was an advantage to have a royal prisoner. Sometimes kings would do that. They would show off their captors because it would show their power. Or maybe he did it for ransom. Or for some other reasons. We do not know why he did it. It does not really matter why he did it. That is the point, it is not important why king Shaul did not do what Yahweh said to do, the point is that King Shaul was not careful to do everything that Yahweh had commanded him to do.

Ouch! So, Saul and the people, they spared king Agag. Oh! Oh! Oh! Along with the best of the sheep! Hey, and the best of the oxen! Hey, and the fowling’s, and the lambs and… Oh! Oh! Everything that was good, right?

Well, our forefathers were unwilling to destroy the good stuff. Well, everything despised and worthless, sure. Yes, they destroyed that no problem because there was nothing they wanted in that. There was nothing in it for them.

So… Oh! Oh! Yahweh wanted something? Yahweh had commandments? Yahweh is Elohim with the power of life and death?

So, Yahweh is a great King. Do we suppose Yahweh was perhaps gentle with king Shaul? Did Yahweh maybe give king Shaul a break because king Shaul had a good excuse for not doing exactly what Yahweh said to do?

I mean the Torah says we must be careful to build the Tabernacle exactly according to the pattern that is shown to us on the mountain. Oh, but king Shaul can do whatever he wants because he is king, right? Yahweh made him king so now he can do what he wants.

It is like our Orthodox, Rabbinical Brethren. They believe Yahweh gave them the authority to set the Torah in each generation. In each generation you have new a new Moshe who can set the Torah for that generation. It is just all variations on the theme any way you go. It is not keeping Yahweh’s commandments while giving the appearance of keeping Yahweh’s commandments. Mystery Babylon (we talk about that in the Nazarene Israel study).

Well, in verse 11 Yahweh said He greatly regretted having set Shaul up as king because Shaul had turned back from following Him 100 percent and he had not performed all that Yahweh had commanded. Shaul got the idea that somehow, he could pick and choose which ones of Yahweh’s commandments he wanted to fulfill, and the rest it does not matter.

I do not know. Did King Shaul go to Baptist Seminary or something? Yes, I mean, we are just going to make up our own doctrine, right? Oh, we know what Yahweh said to do, but king Shaul only obeyed that part of Yahweh’s Word that he wanted to do.

He did what he wanted, right? Is that not the rule in Satanism, is “Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the Torah (of the whole of the law)”?

So, are we going to obey? Yahweh is trying to step us through to success. We are walking through Satan’s mind field. Yahweh is going to step us to victory. He is going to lead us by the right hand and then take us up in glory. We have got to obey Him, so we do not step on any landmines.

But king Shaul thought he could do what he wanted, right? Well, Yahweh did not think so. And He was especially not pleased with king Shaul’s excuses, or his lies (or whatever).

That was because, in verse 13, here we have Shaul claiming that, yes, he had performed the commandment of Yahweh!

Shemuel Aleph (1 Samuel) 15:13
13 Then Shemuel went to Shaul, and Shaul said to him, “Blessed are you of Yahweh! I have performed the commandment of Yahweh.”

Kind of – sort of – not really – part of it? Right? I mean, is not doing part of the job the same thing as doing the whole thing? I mean, like if someone does a really good job with 85-95 percent of what you pay him for, that is good, right?

So, like, you are going to get like 85-90 percent of a heart surgery, or brain surgery, or a motor rebuild, right? And that is good, right? Right? Oh! Oh! No?

Okay, well, then here comes Shemuel. He calls out king Shaul on his lie. He says, “Well, excuse me! If you have utterly destroyed Amalek such that you even put all the animals to death as it was commanded, then why is he hearing the bleating of sheep and the lowing of oxen? What is with that king Shaul?”

Shemuel Aleph (1 Samuel) 15:14
14 But Shemuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”

Right? Well, so what does king Shaul do when it is pointed out he has not obeyed the whole commandment of Yahweh? He learned from the Messianics; he makes excuses.

Verse 15, king Shaul said:

Shemuel Aleph (1 Samuel) 15:15
15 And Shaul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to Yahweh your Elohim; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”

It is like the Messianic saying, “I am resting and reading on Shabbat, right? So, I am eating Yahweh spiritual food, I am learning things from Yahweh, I am getting education, I am getting meals, and I have friendship and fellowship at my friend’s house each week. That means I have kept all of Yahweh’s Torah, right?”

Oh, what can you do for king Shaul? You can pray for him. Yes, you kind of have to feel sorry for him because it is like he just still does not get it, you know? He is arguing with Yahweh’s Prophet. He is saying, No, no, no. I did everything exactly the way Yahweh said to do it. When he knows in his heart he did not. He denies he has done anything wrong. “Oh, no! Not me. No, I- I did everything right. I am righteous.”

So, instead of repenting, he claims he faithfully completed the mission just like Yahweh said. Did not change a thing.

In verse 20, Shaul insists, “But I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh! I went on the mission which Yahweh sent me!” Okay, that part is good. He said, “But even though I brought back Agag, king of Amalek, I have utterly destroyed the rest of the Amalekites! Hey, I mean, I know you sent me out to do a specific job… Oh! Oh! Oh! But the people. Yes, it was the people! Yes, the people took of the plunder. Yes. Yes, that is- yes. And the sheep and the oxen. Yes, they started taking everything. They took the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed.”

Shemuel Aleph (1 Samuel) 15:20-21
20 And Shaul said to Shemuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh, and gone on the mission on which Yahweh sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to Yahweh your Elohim in Gilgal.”

So, he knows they should have been utterly destroyed. To sacrifice to Yahweh our Elohim in Gilgal is not that great. “I am a super obedient king! I even improved on Yahweh’s plans! Now, look! There are all these animal sacrifices! We brought the best of what they had to sacrifice to Yahweh your Elohim in Gilgal!”

“I mostly did what Yahweh said to do – kind of, sort of… That is the same as doing His Word to the letter, right? Following His commandment to the letter, yes? But the people! Yes, it was the people! Yes, the people, they were the reason I did not kill Agag and the livestock. Yes, because it was the people, they did not want to obey Yahweh.”

“And even though I am their king and yes You gave me the authority to rule over them, You gave me the authority and the responsibility to stop them, no I did not command them to obey Your commandment.”

“Well, and see, the reason is because it would be popular, you see, with the people, because they wanted to give the best to You, to Yahweh your Elohim. That way they could make sacrifices to Yahweh for the victory Yahweh gave them without having to sacrifice any of their own livestock. See? So now the people have plenty of barbecue happy meals! They have plenty of free animals so they can make free sacrifices to Yahweh.”

“So, that Yahweh will forgive them for breaking His commandment, because He really wants the people to have a barbecue happy time meal with Him, right? That is more important than keeping what He said to do, right? That is more important than keeping His commandments!”

Well, if you are a boss and you tell your employee how you want a project done so it will work because you are the design engineer – this is the man you want to do the job for you, okay? Are you happy if he disobeys and does things his own way?

You are going to pay them, right? You are happy because he did maybe 75-80-90 percent of what you said to do? No.

Even if he does 99 percent of what you tell him to do, he knows you want the hundred percent. He is not going to give you a hundred, he is going to give you ninety-nine because that is all he wants to do, you are going to be happy with him? You are going to pay him? Are you going to be unhappy with him because he did not do what you asked him to do? Or he only did part of what you asked him to do.

Ah, well, verse 22 and Shemuel asks, “Hello? Let us make the connection. Knock, knock… Has Yahweh has great a delight in burnt offerings, and happy meals, and sacrifices and barbecues, as in obeying the voice of Yahweh; actually doing what He says? You think He is happier that you make a sin sacrifice barbecue than that you do what He says to do?”

“Hello? Hello? Behold, to obey His voice is better than sacrifice. And to heed His voice is better than the fat of rams. Do not break what He says to do and think you are going to atone your way out of it.”

Shemuel Aleph (1 Samuel) 15:22
22 So Shemuel 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.

This is Yahweh. Not doing exactly what He says to do, that is considered rebellion. If you know what He says to do, but you do not want to do it, that is rebellion. And rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, it warrants the death penalty.

Shemuel Aleph (1 Samuel) 15:23
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the Word of Yahweh, He also has rejected you from being king.”

You and your children will not enter the land of Israel, not once it has been cleansed. What has been cleansed, it is going to stay cleansed. And any kind of a stubborn refusal to do what Yahweh says to do, that is as evil as any other iniquity or any other idolatry.

Because what is idolatry? Idolatry is when you put some idol between you and obeying the voice of Yahweh. It does not matter what it is. Could be a golden calf, it can be your vacation plans, it can be your house, your dreams, it can be your spouse, it can be your children, it can be your job, it can be anything. It can be your hobby if you have time for it and not Yahweh. Yahweh wants our fervent devotion. He wants our full attention. He is jealous for our attentions.

So, you put some idol in between you and obeying the voice of Yahweh. Anything that comes in between you and obeying the voice of Yahweh, that is an idol, okay? Is there something you want more than obeying Yahweh’s Word? Okay, that is an idol. Or perhaps it is self-idolatry, okay?

So, rebellion, self-idolatry, these are not good traits. These are not good characteristics. These are fruits of Satan’s kingdom. These are fruits of allegiance to Satan, and they have got to go. They have got to be replaced with Yeshua’s Spirit. You must pray over things like that, you know?

But Yahweh says, “You did not want to obey the Word. You want to do what you wanted and pretend that it was My Word.” He says, “Because you have rejected the Word of Yahweh, Yahweh also has rejected you from being king.”

Well, the people thought they could bring more sacrifices and burnt offerings so Yahweh would be happy, right? Is not that like the guy, he thinks he is going to go ahead and work on Shabbat and work through the Feast because he is going to make more money so he can tithe more? Pastor says, “Oh yes do that!” No. Do not do that. Obey the Shabbat first!

Now, if you want to learn more about the true purpose of the animal sacrifices, we have a study on that in Nazarene Scripture Studies, Volume One called “About Sacrifices”. I recommend that study to anyone who wants to understand the animal sacrificial system. Because many Ephraimites and also Jews misunderstand the purpose of the animal sacrifices.

In ancient times, it cost an Israelite dearly to make an animal sacrifice. It was a huge expense, and that was the whole idea. The idea is that the sacrifice could never atone for your sin, or it would never pay for your sin. There was an atonement in the fact that there was an obedience to the commandment.

The idea was that it would be so expensive to sin, that was designed to remind us just how costly sin is, because the wages of sin is death. And because the wages of sin is death, if we do not correct our ways, it can really cost us our lives. That is not a joke, and it is not an exaggeration, especially in these End Times.

And that is why Ivrim (or Hebrews) chapter 10 starting in verse 3 tells us that the purpose of the offerings was only to provide a reminder of the true cost of sins year by year. It was there to provide a reminder that the wages of sin is death.

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.

So, that is the best an animal sacrifice could do because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, but they can serve as a reminder that the wages of sin is death and if you make a sin here on this earth, it is going to cost you a whole lot of money. And that you are getting off cheap.

But now, here is the problem, okay? If we think about it, if we really stop and think about it, do many of us not treat Yeshua’s sacrifice about the same way king Shaul treated Yahweh’s commandments?

Yahweh said to utterly destroy Amalek. And when Yahweh said to utterly destroy them, somehow that did not translate in king Shaul’s mind to I need to hear Yahweh’s voice and do everything He said; being careful to get the details right.

Somehow it translated into the message that he could pick and choose what parts the Torah he liked. He could pick and choose what part of Yahweh’s commandments he liked, such that he and the people they could obey the parts that they liked, and they could ignore the other parts, and everything is good.

So, if we think about it, what about us today? Now, I do not know about you, but what the Messianics, and the Ephraimites, and the Two-House people I have met… Now, I do not know if people are aware that we are in the End Times. I do not know. It is like with our forefathers; and you can bring the Israelites out of Egypt but you have a hard time getting Egypt out of the Israelites.

So, I mean, some of us in Ephraim today, we think we are so much better because we have Yeshua, but where is the fruit? So, I do not know if this is a holdover from the church or what it is, but am I the only one? Is there anyone else who seems to feel that? Or they have met Ephraimites who seem to think that they can pick and choose what parts of the Torah they want to keep, and they can ignore the other parts. So, they can rest, and read, and learn, and glean, but they are not actually going to build a kingdom.

So, really is that not the same thing? Because we are only performing part of the commandment of Elohim. How much love leads a person to commit part of the commandment of Elohim?

Well, it is like do we not get it? Do we not believe that Elohim is going to give us favor or grace? We know we are supposed to be keeping the whole Torah. We know we are supposed to be keeping all the commandments. And we know that Yeshua is our example, and He kept the commandments perfectly. And is there some internal disconnect going on?

We know what the standard is, but like king Shaul, we do not want to do it?

So, when we think about it, is that not really the same thing, and we are taking our salvation and Yeshua for granted? Because we know what Yeshua wants. We understand the commandments in the wilderness came from Yeshua, yes? And the overall gist – the overall thrust is that Yeshua wants us to make building His kingdom (basically) our number one priority in life.

That is what He wants. Do we know that? Yes? Okay. Do we give it to Him?

If we seek to be His helper, are we seeking to help Him as much as we can? Since, on the one hand, we will be the bride of the Son of the King of the universe. And on the other hand we are thrown into the outer darkness where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth for the disobedient servants.

Yochanan Aleph (or First John) chapter 3 starting in verse 4 tells us that sin is the transgression of the Torah. Meaning, sin is the transgression of the bridal contract. Well, verse 4 tells us that whoever commits sin also commits Torah-lessness (or lawlessness) because sin is Torah-lessness; Torah-lessness is sin.

Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 3:4
4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

If you are not following the overall Torah of helping Yeshua establish His kingdom at His Father’s commandment, how are you His bride if you are not helping Him? How are you His helpmeet? It is very simple. It is not easy; it is very simple. And if we are not doing that, we are without Torah, Torah-lessness is sin.

It says in verse 5:

Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 3:5
5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.

That is the solution right there. That is how we get our sins taken away is to let Him manifest through us. Like give His Spirit free reign; to hand Him the steering wheel. If Yahweh is your co-pilot, switch seats. Put Him in the driver’s seat; let Him take over.

Because in Him there is no Torah-lessness; there is no lawlessness in Him. He kept the Torah perfectly, that is what He does; He obeys His Father’s commandments. So, if we are filled with His Spirit, then are we not also going to obey His commandments? Because that is His Spirit manifesting through us?

But if we are not showing that good fruit, then is His Spirit truly at work in us? Are we allowing His Spirit to work in us? Or perhaps have we quenched the Spirit?

Thessaloniquim Aleph (1 Thessalonians) 5:19
19 Do not quench the Spirit.

Verse 6 tells us, “Whoever abides in Him and in His Spirit all the time, does not sin.”

Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 3:6
6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

Because when you submit to the Spirit and the Spirit guides you, She guides you to do the right thing; She guides you to build His kingdom. But if we sin, we are not in connection with Him, and we do not truly see Him because we do not truly know Him because His Spirit is not correcting us. That is how we can know.

If we are showing wrong fruit, we are connected to a wrong tree. Yeshua is a good Olive Tree, so if we are connected to Yeshua, we are going to show goodly fruit. But we are showing wrong fruit, something is wrong with the connection.

Verse 7, “We take care to let no one deceive us. And they will certainly try to deceive us.” He says, “He who practices righteousness”, that is Jewish idiom for obeying all of Yahweh’s commandments.

Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 3:7
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.

So, tzadik, they call you tzadik, it is, you are a righteous man, you are trying to obey all of Yahweh’s commandments, in their understanding. But that is a Hebrew idiom for it. Tzadik is someone who keeps Yahweh’s commandments.

It says, “He who practices righteousness is righteous.” He practices keeping the Torah is righteous just as He is righteous and just as He keeps the Torah.

Verse 8, in contrast, “He who sins (meaning he who does not keep all of the Torah) is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.”

Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 3:8
8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of Elohim was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

Wow! Do we get that? He says, “For this purpose was the Son of Elohim manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil,” meaning lawlessness; meaning Torah-lessness; meaning people who do not want to leave Satan’s world. People who do not want to renounce allegiance to Satan because it is easy, it is free, you can do what you want. Ultimately it is going to cost you everything, but for now you can do what you want.

It is easy, it is free, it is a broad easy road. The wise will turn to Elohim and do what they can for His Son. That is why the Son of Elohim was manifested, was to put the desire for His kingdom in our hearts. That is why we pray for it.

So, we no longer need to serve Satan and his kingdom. Now, we and our children and their children, now we can serve Elohim in His kingdom. And in fact, we are going to rule and reign over the nations for a thousand years.

Verse 9, here is the thing, it said:

Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 3:9
9 Whoever has been born of Elohim does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of Elohim.

He is letting Elohim run the show. He submitted to Elohim’s Spirit. He is handing the steering wheel over to the Spirit. That is how we know he has been born of Elohim. That connection with Elohim that was lost in the Garden of Eden, that is restored. Us in Yeshua and Yeshua in us, Yeshua in the Father and the Father in Him; restoring that lost and broken connection.

Yochanan (John) 17:23
23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

But we must stay in connection. And if we stay in connection, the proof of that is going to be that we are going to be doing the kinds of things that helped build His kingdom.

So, if Elohim’s Seed is in us like that and we are submitting to the Spirit like that, we are no longer submitted to the devil and we are no longer submitted to the desires of our flesh. Now, we are seeking, “What does Elohim want?” Before we are seeking, “What do we want?”

Because we are slaves, we have been bought with a price if we are submitted to Yeshua’s Spirit and Yeshua’s Spirit is guiding us away from Satan’s kingdom and doing His kingdom.

Verse 10 says, “In this the children of Elohim and the children of the devil are manifest. One seeks to obey everything Elohim says so as to set up His Son’s Kingdom correctly; to be useful to his Master; try to help his Love. I must try to be a good subject and obey the King’s command. And the other one does not care.”

Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 3:10
10 In this the children of Elohim and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of Elohim, nor is he who does not love his brother.

There are people who are actively against the kingdom, but I think what most people do not understand is that lukewarm is not of His kingdom. Lukewarm – the way most people in the Messianic and Ephraimites worlds practice and Christian worlds – the way most people practice is very lukewarm.

Reform (or Reconstructionist) Judaism, very lukewarm. They will create whatever; whatever they make, they make things up. They make stuff that is brand new. So, one listens carefully for Elohim’s voice and does everything He says, plus everything written. The other one does not. And it is clear. Whoever does not practice keeping all of Yahweh’s instruction (or Yahweh’s Torah) is not of Elohim.

Do we get what Yochanan is trying to tell us here? The wisdom? The message? We must seek to do everything Yahweh says, or it does not count. We must be running, trying to do our best to serve our Love, our King, our Husband, our Master.

If all we do is rest and read on Shabbat, that is not lukewarm in His sight…? Brothers, do we read anywhere that Yeshua’s love does away with the requirement to keep Elohim’s commandments which He, Himself gave to us in the wilderness?

Or does it not say instead that we need to keep all of Elohim’s commandments if we love Him? “If you love Me, then keep all My commandments. I am the One who gave them to you in Mount Sinai.”

Yochanan (John) 14:15
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

I do not know. Help me with this. Like, imagine with a child; we call Him our Father and we consider that we are His children. So, we approach Him for a Father’s love, and guidance, and help. Can you imagine?

Knock, knock, knock! “Dear Dad, I love You. That is why I am only going to obey the part of Your commandments that I like. That is because I love and respect You so very much. That is why I am going to rest and read. That is why I am not going to tithe. That is why I am not going to congregate. I am not going to see what I can do to help build Your Son’s kingdom. Because I love You and I care about You. Are You happy with me yet?”

And the thing is, it is really like lying because it is just not honest, is it? No? Yes? King Shaul thought he could play fast and loose with Yahweh’s commandments because he did not really respect Yahweh. If we know who Yahweh was, he did not really know this is Elohim we are dealing with here. And from the very beginning that is what it has been all about: hearing His voice, doing what He said whether you heard it in your ear or obeying the written commandments.

That is what it is; part of the test. Because it is hard to do. So, king Shaul thought he could just play fast and loose and everything would be great. So, he wanted to build the Tabernacle his way (so to speak). So, just do what is expedient. Do what is politically popular. Make excuses and everything will be okay…not.

And the punishment was that Yahweh was going to take away the kingdom and give it to Shaul’s neighbor who was better than him, okay? So, and why was his neighbor David better? Because David strove to keep all of Yahweh’s commandments.

Shemuel Aleph (1 Samuel) 15:28
28 So Shemuel said to him, “Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.

Have you ever noticed, as we read Scripture, Yahweh gives us a tremendous contrast between king Shaul and King David; Shaul did what he wanted to do, but he thought he was keeping Torah, he thought he obeyed the Commandments of Yahweh.

Is that not just like a lot of Ephraimites? It is not like a lot of our people? I mean, contrast: Yahweh called David, “A man after My own heart” because David was humble, and he sought after what Yahweh wanted. He wanted to build Yahweh’s kingdom.

David was not like Shaul, thinking only of what he wanted in his own heart. David cared about what Yahweh wanted in His heart, that is why it says David was a man after Yahweh’s own heart. He wanted what Yahweh wanted which we know is a kingdom for His Son. He wants us to organize, that is what the fivefold ministry is all about.

But how many of us who know that are actively getting involved in helping Yeshua build His kingdom in a unified way?

I mean, if any of you have been a boss, you know when an employee is not really paying attention, because you ask him to do certain things for you and you tell them, “Hey, this is really important you do just exactly this way or the project is not going to work; we are going to lose a lot of money.” Or “I have a big lawsuit against us (or something)” and you tell him to do things exactly this way and he does not do them.

Versus, if you have an employee who is attentive, they listen carefully, they are not daydreaming, they are not thinking of other things while they are listening to you speak. Because they are paying attention and listening carefully to what you say. And they are doing this because, whether they respect you or as a minimum, they respect your position or they respect what you are doing for the company. And this person wants to do their best job for you because that is what they do, and because they want to please you as their boss.

So, if we can tell that kind of thing then cannot Yahweh tell who is really striving to help Him build His Son’s kingdom and who is not?

So, king Shaul is unrepentant. Disobedience not only cost him his own life, but it also cost the life of his son Jonathan. And if we can understand it cost him the kingdom, so it also cost his son the kingdom and the son that he would have had. So, if you hear what we are saying, Jonathan died because of king Shaul’s disobedience. Jonathan could have been king. Then his child could have sat on the throne and been king. But they were not listening to the Spirit. And Yahweh is not going to give the kingdom to a family line where the man of the house is not really listening. It is the same thing every time. He was not listening to Yahweh’s voice. He was not taking care to do everything Yahweh said to do.

It is just so simple. I mean, Ephraim, brother, if you are there, do you hear what I am saying? Is Yahweh giving you ears to hear?

So, who did Yahweh give the kingdom to? Melachim Alef (or First Kings) chapter 11 in verse 34 says, Yahweh chose David to serve Him because David kept Yahweh’s commandments and Yahweh statutes.

Melachim Aleph (1 Kings) 11:34
34 However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes.

Yahweh chose David to lead His kingdom because David listened diligently for the voice of Yahweh, and he obeyed it just like Yahweh says again and again and again. The relationship was restored with David. David loved Yahweh. He was willing to be purified and refined no matter what it took. He placed his trust and his faith in Yahweh. Why would a king not want a bride like that?

So, let us ask ourselves: Have we ever stopped to think about what kind of a bride does Yeshua want to help Him rule His kingdom? Does He want a bride who is doing like a Proverbs 31 bride; doing everything she can for Him?

Well, finally, in our Brit Chadasha portion for this week, we read from Mark chapter 4 in verse 35 through chapter 5 in verse 43. And in this portion, Yeshua casts the demons out of the demon-possessed man and he sends them into the swine.

So, let us ask ourselves: Do the demons not obey Yeshua? And then Marqaus (or Mark) chapter 4 in verse 41 we see that even the wind and the waves obey Yeshua.

Marqaus (Mark) 4:41
41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

So, brothers, what about us? Are we obeying Yeshua knowing Yeshua is the One who gave the Torah in the wilderness? What about us?

Do we truly understand who Yeshua is? Do we truly know what He wants? Do we understand the mission His Father sent Him on and do we want to help Him with it?

Have we perhaps heard or read that He wants us (hint, hint) to diligently listen for the sound of His voice and then do everything He says? And if we cannot do that, then to listen to someone who can do that? And that becomes a unifying factor of the body; is the desire to follow His voice and to do everything that He says.

Well, we need to obey His written commandments also, but again, Yahweh speaking, we are hearing, someone wrote them down. One way or another we are all hearing Yahweh’s voice and obeying it. He is stepping us through to victory, if we will go; if we will obey.

You join a military, that is what it is like. They need you to move exactly this way because that is how it works best.

So, just like in the military, we know that Yahweh is not pleased with partial obedience. “Sir! I did part of your commandment, sir!” Because partial obedience signals partial loyalty; partial respect. In the case of Yahweh-Yeshua, partial love.

So, can we really afford to be showing Yahweh the fruit of partial love?

Mattityahu (Matthew) 13:9
9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Shabbat Shalom.