Import jQuery

יהוה The Never-Changing

God's faithful.

That means you can rely on, put faith in, trust the plan of, God.

God doesn't change, even though the moral and ethical systems of men continue to change; continue to devolve into lawlessness, anarchy, immorality; continue to devolve into immorality.

Even though God doesn't change, some theologians suggest that God has reversed his agreements with his loved ones. What was sin yesterday is now perfectly acceptable today. What was righteous instruction for our ancestors is now outdated mubmo-jumbo from the Bronze Age. What was healthy for the Hall of Faith is nonsense for Joe Christian today. That's what they'll tell you.

And almost every Christian believes it, on some levels. What was sin yesterday is not sin today: homosexuality. What was righteous instruction for our ancestors is now outdated mumbo-jumbo from the Bronze Age: honor God's Sabbath. What was healthy for the Hall of Faith is nonsense for Joe Christian: don't eat shellfish or pork.

(I'm making generalizations, not all Christians promote the normalization of homosexuality, not all dishonor God's sabbath, not all eat the foods we're commanded abstain from.)

Secular folks take it a step further and throw the whole thing out, more or less, discarding the possibility of God inspiring Scripture, throwing out Torah, prophets, gospels -- the whole bit -- as religious mumbo-jumbo from dumb ancients who didn't know any better. The only kind thing they have to say of our religion is, at least our Messiah was a "good moral teacher" with nice teachings about peace and love and tolerance. At least Jesus wasn't like that intolerant, mean God of the Old Testament, they'll say.

These stances denigrate the faithfulness of God: maybe you can't truly _rely_ on God, after all, he's changed the standard of right and wrong so many times!

First Fruits of Zion commentary on this week's Torah portion comments on this phenomenon,

A Question to Ponder

Thought for the Week

Just as He promised to scatter them, He has also promised to re-gather them. Although Israel failed as a nation to perform the stipulations of the covenant, the other partner of the agreement—God—remains faithful to His promises. In the end, He will reverse all of Israel's sorrows on account of His faithfulness, mercy and grace.

Commentary

So keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. (Deuteronomy 29:9)

All through the book of Deuteronomy, Moses drives home the message: "Keep God's Torah." When Israel failed to keep the Torah, God sent prophets warning them to repent and turn back to Torah. When they repented, they were rewarded and blessed. When they did not, they suffered the maledictions threatened in the Torah. God continuously told His people for 1,400 years to walk in His commandments, keep His Torah and His covenant.

Does it make sense to imagine that after 1,400 years, God suddenly changed His mind? Would it make sense to suppose that after all the pain and suffering of invasion, exile, re-gathering and so on, God would suddenly change the program and announce to His people, "From now on, don't keep the commandments of the Torah," and then punish them when they did?

That could be compared to a father who warned his son not to play ball in the house. Every time the boy played ball in the house, his father would spank him and send him to his room. This went on for three years. Then one day, his father seized him and spanked him. The boy cried out, "Why are you spanking me?" "Because you weren't playing ball in the house," the father explained. "From now on, you must play ball in the house, and if you do not, I will beat you."

We would call a father like that capricious and deranged. Yet many theologians claim that this is what God has done to Israel. For 1,400 years He punished them when they did not keep the Torah. Then when Jesus came, He cancelled the Torah and henceforth punished them for keeping it.

Obviously God is not a capricious and deranged father. Rather He is the Unchanging One, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He has not cancelled the words of His Torah. Even today, He longs for His people—all of His people—to repent, turn away from sin and come back to the good and beautiful commandments of His Torah, just as His holy Son, Yeshua, has shown us. In Yeshua His people will find forgiveness for sins, and through His Spirit we find the strength and joy to serve God with gladness.

For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice. (Psalm 95:7)

17 comments:

  1. Woke up this morning with a song from the Spirit. The lyrics went something like this “Whatever is Good, Pure and Righteous”.

    Then I saw this today on Digg. It's amazing how far the Church is from Torah and a righteous mindset.

    "The pastor who clashed with Palin"

    http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/15/bess/index.html

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  2. It is true that the church has become licenteous and live according to the world's mrality rather than that given by God. It is also true that the Law is only a shadow of what we have in Christ. That is hard for people to understand and many will come down on the side of Law or of Grace as they don't see how the two work together without contradiction. If we choose to live by the Law then we are obligated to keep the whole Law a thing that is impossible to do and we all die according to the Law for we are all sinners. When we accept Jesus or Yeshua, the Law can no longer put us to death for we are reborn in the spirit by the Spirit through faith that is a gift of God. Our flesh still sins and the Law continues to condemn it and put it to death but in our spirit we are renewed daily and in Christ we will live eternally because of His righteousness and the blood He sacrificed to cover all of our sins. When we walk according to the Spirit, the Law is fulfilled through us and there is no contradiction. If we claim to walk according to the Spirit and are law breakers we are liars. If we take it upon ourselves to keep the Law through our own fleshly effort, we deny Christ.

    There is never any contradiction in God or His Word. Contradiction is only in the confused minds of men and women who fool themselves into believing that they can grasp the whole mind of God. We cannot but He is faithful go give us to know what we need to know and that He gives us for all time. Knowing Jesus is enough for me.

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  3. Pam,

    Can we talk about this? I'm thinking one of us is very wrong in our theology. (Or more likely, we both are.)

    If a person obeys God's instructions, he is obeying. If he's not, he's disobeying.

    I don't see a middle ground where a person is disregarding God's commandments like His Sabbath, and yet is still somehow obedient to the commandment.

    It's like a child saying, "My father told me to clean up today. I'm not going to do it, but it's OK, I'm still obedient because I love him."

    Non sequitur.

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  4. Lou,

    A pastor who is pro-abortion and in favor of the agenda to normalize homosexuality.

    Why does this not surprise me?

    No Torah, no foundation, no moral base, everything spiritualized away into airy, relative morality. Epic Fail.

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  5. Lou, had to comment again with this quote, which sums up part of the pastor's theology:

    In his book, Bess suggests that gays have a divine mission. "Look back at the life of our Lord Jesus. He was misunderstood, deserted, unjustly accused, and cruelly killed. Yet we all confess that it was the will of God, for by his wounds we are healed ... Could it be that the homosexual, obedient to the will of God, might be the church's modern day healer-messiah?"

    If one is unrepentantly homosexual, that person is not obedient to God's will. Hasn't he read Torah lately? Heck, even Timothy or Romans would do.

    The wisdom of this culture and of this age is beyond foolishness, dipping into cover-my-ears lunacy.

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  6. Pam, this is a great example of why I don't want to spiritualize God's commandments.

    That is, saying God's commandments can be kept entirely as a spiritual thing (e.g. knowing Messiah, walking in his Spirit) is too opened for abuse. People abuse this, disregard God's clear and righteous instructions by abstracting them into airy spiritual meanings.

    (Sure they have spiritual meaning, but they are foremost practical!)

    Without the practical, applicable guidelines of Torah, you end up with people like this pastor and their airy fluff religions.

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  7. Judah,

    No, that isn't what I meant. The Spirit won't lead one to break God's Laws. However, the NT tells us that we shouldn't judge each other over feast days and Sabbaths as they are but a shadow of the reality we have in Christ. Paul also did not require Gentiles to become Jews and I don't think Jews should become Gentiles.

    Your point of view is very logical but I still have to come back to what Paul instructs Gentile believers to do in His letters. I truly believe that God has His reasons and will be glorified in both Jews and Gentiles.

    If Jesus had never come into my life, I would have no desire to obey God but since Jesus that is my chief desire. I was a sinner who never sought after God but He did seek me out.

    It is hard also for me to see how someone can say they are keeping the sabbath when they miss the spirit of it and what it means to literally enter God's rest. For a Christian, that should be a daily reality and not just a weekly remembrance. Whether we eat, drink, or whatever we do, it should be done as unto the Lord. Anything that does not come from faith is sin. We have been bought with a price and no longer belong to ourselves to work for ourselves. We have been set apart that Jesus Who lives in us might also live through us. That is only accomplished when we surrender our own ambitions to Him. God's rest is not a ceasing of activity but a return to a personal relationship that includes God's direction in every area of our lives.

    That doesn't mean that I don't rest on Saturday. As much a women are aloud to rest anyway.;0)

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  8. Judah,

    I just now read your second comment and I would doubt that the pastor mentioned in this post even knows Jesus Christ. Pastors from the more 'liberal' churches view scripture as mere allegory. They have no literal basis for their faith and it changes with the culture.

    Jesus unveiled the spiritual nature of the scriptures. He is the second Adam a life giving spirit. God is Spirit. It is impossible to over spiritualize the scriptures but it is quite possible for nonbelievers to strip them of their power and consider them as only stories with a moral. They deny both Spirit and Truth. Don't confuse them with a bonafide, born again, believer in Jesus Christ.

    Pastors of this ilk also view man as being above scripture and able to interpret it in ways that are most useful to man. They do not view them as an authority over man. Their form of spirituality is also of man's spirit which is a vain spirituality as man withers as the grass and his spirit with him when he is apart from God.

    Pam

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  9. Hi Judah,

    Me again. I was in the midst of another conversation and had a flash of insight that led me back to this conversation. This isn't the first time you and I have tussled a bit over this but I think I understand why it is so important for Gentile believers to remain Gentiles and not become Jews. God chose us to have mercy upon so that by having mercy upon those who don't deserve it, He can also have mercy upon the Jews who don't derserve mercy and save all of Israel. That is why we are made holy apart from the Law. If not then the Law would have condemned us already and put us in the same boat as the Jews who had been condemned.

    In Christ there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile but we do serve very different purposes and even the way we view Jesus is not entirely the same though He is the same person. He is a light to the Gentiles who until His appearing lived in great darkness. He is the long awaited Messiah of the Jews who will also usher in the Kingdom promised to them long ago.

    When I think of my life before Jesus, I think of darkness and when He came into my life, everything became alive and new. It were as if I couldn't see and then suddenly, I noticed everything and how full of life the world was. I've never gone back to that darkness again even though I have lived through some very dark times. Jesus rescued me from that great all consuming darkness and the Holy Spirit guides me closer to Him each day. My desires have changed drastically. Before Jesus, I enjoyed sinning but after Jesus, I have no peace with sin. The Holy Spirit never leads me to break God's Laws but has changed my heart in such a way that I desire what God desires even when my flesh leads me astray and I do otherwise. Before Jesus, my only fear in sinning was in getting caught. After Jesus, my sin causes me to grieve because I have not carried out God's desires.

    I hope this helps you understand.

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  10. Pam,

    In your last comment you wrote this: "That is why we are made holy apart from the Law."

    This is one of the reasons it is sometimes hard for Christians to understand why Jews say some of the things they do. Why they seem so rigid in their thinking. Perhaps I can explain.

    Your statement is based in both a misunderstanding of the meanings of and the difference between the words "righteous" and "holy".

    Messiah can impart a righteous standing before YHVH for a person who puts their trust in Him. Note that this is a righteousness "apart" from Torah, not "separate" from Torah. As you have correctly said, we cannot obtain this on our own. For this righteous standing to be truly "separate" from His instructions it would have to mean that His instructions were never able to impart life to those who followed them. We know from scripture that this simply is not true. Therefore we can rightly conclude that the righteousness we receive from trusting in Messiah Yeshua is "in addition to" obeying Torah. "Apart" from does not mean "without".

    The word "holy" comes from I don't where, but it is supposed to represent the Hebrew concept of being "set-apart". This is what Torah did for Israel when they left Egypt. By faithfully carrying out the instructions of YHVH they were "set-apart" from the rest of the nations. In other words, they were made to be different in how they thought, spoke and acted through obedience.

    We here today are "set-apart" in Messiah because of His selection process, a reality that exists in the heavenly realms. On earth we are only "set-apart" by keeping His instructions. Otherwise we would look just like the world around us because our behavior would not be considered different.

    And as you pointed out, there are many who attend church and yet do not have a relationship with Messiah Yeshua. In fact, it is quite easy to attend almost any church these days without anyone even asking you what you believe.

    But if you keep Torah, you will be marked as someone who does not follow the world and its ways.

    Granted, there are portions of Torah that cannot and should not be kept today. But much of that is obvious to anyone who takes the time to study it for themselves.

    To sum up: we cannot obtain the required righteousness to enter into eternal life without trust in Messiah Yeshua. And we cannot obtain "holiness", being "set-apart" without obeying Torah. To try and be righteous without Torah would be to deny Messiah. For He and Torah are one and the same.

    Shalom,

    Efrayim

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  11. The thing that we must all understand, this “Hebraic” thing is not about becoming Jewish or not becoming Jewish. It’s about aligning ourselves with what is happening in Heaven.

    Heaven runs on a Hebraic calendar. Like it or not. God always calls us out of the place we are to take us to a land you know not. (Father Abraham). I know it’s hard to leave everything we know and hold dear, but its part of learning to trust.

    Look if we want to know Jesus, really know Jesus, then why wouldn’t we, “as a Gentile believer”, want to know Him in the feasts. If we don’t observe them, (feasts), then we can never know that which is being revealed about God in them.

    It works like this. We encounter an issue in life. If we know the Word, then we know how to react. If we don’t know the Word, we are setup for a fall. So to with God’s feasts. If we know the timing then we will be aligned with Heaven and bring change to ourselves and the earth (Tikkun HaOlam). However if we don’t know God’s appointed times, and don’t observe them, we are missing strategic times in the heavenlies.

    I have observed over the years that Gentiles that don’t observe God’s feasts tend, not always but tend to observe something pagan in content.

    The attitude in the Didache sums it up perfectly. “For if you are able to bear the entire yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect; but if you are not able to do this, do what you are able.”

    The feasts are far from a burden. They are a blessing and an honor to meet God when He wants me to. Holy Spirit said it to me this way one day, “God is so passionate about meeting His people that He sets the most Holy feast each week (Sabbath).”

    With much love,

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  12. Efraim,

    Yes, I would agree with that.

    These are spiritually confusing times. Or perhaps spiritually parched times. True believers are few and far between and many who do believe are sleeping. The church in America could be best described as luke warm. I don't subcribe to a luke warm one size fitts all Christianity.

    I cannot help but go by my experience of Christ in my life and that is of a changed desire that made it important to me to obey God. I can't imagine trying to keep all of those laws on my own without Jesus, without faith.

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  13. Isquez,

    I have never heard anything like that before. I've never thought about celebrating things so that I am lined up with heaven.

    I've read about what is celebrated during those special days and I am amazed at their fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

    I'm not a religious person in the sense of rituals or holidays. I was glad to give up pagan holidays as I never really enjoyed them that much. I like having family together but the extra work and expense always seemed to stressful to be enjoyable. As far as celebrating Jewish holidays, I've never had it come up as a subject of conversation until lately online. Where I live there is one Jewish synagogue for a radius of about 4 to 5 hundred miles. I don't know any practicing Jews and only a couple non-practicing. None of this would even be a part of my awareness if it were not for Judah and a few others. It is a lot to think about and I really don't know how to start observing anything beyond the Sabbath. I am thankful that I have the fulfillment of those things in Christ.

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  14. Pam,

    I have heard for the last thirty eight years or so that "all" had been "fulfilled" in Christ and those things which had been "fulfilled" were no longer needed or even wanted.

    Jesus had "fulfilled" the law with all of its difficulties, and had relieved all future believers of both its weight and consequences.

    But is that really what the word "fulfilled" means?

    Let's take a brief look and see if that logic holds true all the time. Please bear with me, analogies can sometimes miss the mark while making the point.

    The role of a parent is a good place to start:

    A man and a woman get married and have children together. The relationship changes from them being a couple to being parents. A family is born. After many years of parenting, the children leave home and begin their own lives. At that time the role of parenting would be considered to have been "fulfilled".

    So,

    Are the original couple no longer parents? Is there no longer a family? Did the children stop being the children of their former parents, seeing as their role of parents had been "fulfilled"?

    I'm sure most of us would say that the relationships were still valid and would continue on until all parties were no longer around to be a part of them. In fact, I would think that those relationships would only become deeper and more meaningful as time went on.

    Let's try another one, one that is quite a bit simpler than a family. How about cooking. I like to cook. So here goes:

    You come across a recipe that you think will produce a fine culinary delight. A dish that will be appreciated and enjoyed by many of your friends and family.

    You follow the recipe carefully, measuring each ingredient, mixing according to the detailed instructions, heating this, cooling that, and so on.

    The dish is done. It's fabulous. When your friends and family ask where you came up with such a fantastic taste experience you tell them it came from a recipe you came across in your searching for unique ideas. They ask, "can I get a copy of that recipe. I would love to share this with people I know."

    Oh, no, you say, I threw it away.

    "Why on earth would you do that?" they ask with eyes wide in wonder at such unusual behavior.

    Well, you say quite certainly, I had "fulfilled" the requirements of the recipe and so it was no longer needed. I have the finished dish, why would I need to keep the instructions on how to make it again?

    Sorry for the dramatics. But I'm sure you get my point.

    Torah was not a great, though temporary, idea. It is the foundation of our faith in Messiah Yeshua. Contained within those often confusing statements of what to do and not do is the wisdom of the eternal Creator.

    His feasts are not given to us to do with them as we please. They remain His, forever. They are no more an option for us to participate in than the command that we are to love one another.

    Yes, the Jews have been busily excavating His Torah for many centuries. And they have discovered a multitude of wonderful truths for us to live with and do. But those truths are not just for Jews.

    But you may want to ask yourself this question:

    If I am not of the true nation of Israel through birth by the Spirit of YHVH, then just what am I a part of? (If you are thinking, "I am a part of the body of Christ", remember that Yeshua is the King and what Christians call His "body" is Israel. We can do the scriptures later.)

    And if you find that you are a part of the true nation of Israel, His people, His Body, then what is your relationship now to those things you thought were set aside?

    As you have said, you "know" Jesus. Have you asked Him what He thinks about all this? That would be a good place to start.

    Because either we are all crazy and are spouting some kind of heresy, or what we are saying is true. For me it had to be Yeshua who told me what was true. I believe you would accept nothing less for yourself. And you shouldn't.

    I look forward to your response.

    Shalom,

    Efrayim

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  15. Efraim,

    Honestly, I've been praying about the Sabbath and seeking God's guidance but the rest is kind of overwhelming right now. If God wants me to do this, I believe He will also make a way for me to do so. I've been walking with Him long enough to know that I best not force any door ahead of me open but wait for Him to open it for me.

    Your parent analogy is a good one and I would like to build on it a bit. My children are grown and yes, we are still their parents but our relationship has changed greatly. They still depend upon us to remain a constant in their lives but we no longer rule over them and tell them what to do. They do come to us for advise. My youngest has also married and I consider her my daughter but I have never and will never mother her the way I did my boys. She is grafted into our family and does not share the entire history of our family but has become one of us. That is how I view myself being grafted into Israel. I am a small branch that enjoys the life from the root and support of the trunk but I do not share the history of the tree that now supports me. Through Jesus I have become a part of that tree without being of it. If I don't continue in obedience the Bible says I will be cut out but obedience doesn't mean that I try to become as the tree. I am only a small branch and my obedience continues as it began in Christ. Just as my daughter-in-law is joined to my family through my son so too am I joined to the family of God through God's son. If my daughter-in-law should divorce my son, she will no longer be a part of our family. If I should purposefully deny Christ, I could no longer be a part of God's family. The good news is that I can't free myself from Christ because nothing can separate me from Him so you guys are stuck with me too.;0) I very much admire God's work and the tree He has nurtured over thousands of years that He has chosen to graft me into but I know fully who I am. I am a wild branch grafted into a prized, domesticated tree.

    I do not hate the Law nor have I ever thought it should be thrown out. God's Laws are only good. It is man who is evil, who falls under condemnation by that Law. If it were not for the Law that condemns all men, there would be no Grace. If there were no Grace, I would still be a branch on a wild olive tree. Believe me, wild olive trees enjoy their wildness and have no desire to be grafted into domesticated olive trees. God sought me out and drew me to Christ Jesus by the power of His Holy Spirit. By that same Spirit, He will show me what He wants me to do and no matter what I think, I will do what He directs because I love Him so much for loving me and saving me. He has numbered all of my days and has appointed a purpose to my life. I live it as He unfolds it before me. If the Lord Wills then I will begin to celebrate these Jewish holy days and He will show me how.

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  16. Pam,

    I appreciate your expanded parenting analogy. It works well. Our relationship to Torah has changed as well. Through faith in Messiah Yeshua the condemnation of Torah has been removed so that we may walk in the newness of life described in the present covenant.

    It seems now that how we walk is what the fuss is all about.

    Thank you for your response. May you find all His will for you.

    Shalom,

    Efrayim

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  17. Pam,

    You are absolutely on the right track. Allow Holy Spirit to lead you into what He wants you to observe. If we do it because we think we have to, we deceive ourselves and it becomes work.

    If we do it because we love Him and only want to have Him, then it becomes a joy and we enter into who He is.

    Everything we do, EVERYTHING, must be lead by the Spirit, balanced by the word.

    John 4:23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

    I observe the feasts because I am passionately in love.

    BTW, even though I have Jewish blood, I was not raised Jewish. My observance came as a revelation and part of my discovered heritage. But mostly out of love.

    Blessings in Messiah,

    Lou

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