We are walking in today: Let Scripture Interpret Scripture!!!! ENCORE!!!
Witness do throughout the Bible: H935 bow--to go in, enter, come, go, come in, to bring to pass, do
Genesis 18:19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring H935 upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
The Torah ..................…
Exodus 24:3 And Moses came H935 and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.
The prophets ...............…
Isaiah 10:3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come H935 from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?
The writings .............
2 Chronicles 19:10 And what cause soever shall come H935 to you of your brethren that dwell in
their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the LORD, and so wrath come upon you, and upon your brethren: this do, and ye shall not trespass.
Nehemiah 1:9 But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there
were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring H935 them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.
First Obey and Do — And Then We Will Know and Understand
Although somewhat obscure, this 'hidden' Bible principle — that we must first obey and do, even before we fully know or understand — is one of the most important principles we can learn.
This principle is the most basic expression of Biblical Faith!
We not only see this principle spoken clearly and revealed in many Scripture passages, but we see it set forth by example in the lives of many Bible characters.
Let’s see this Guideline, as we look at a few of the Scripture passages:
Yeshua answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. (John 7:16-17)
In the above passage, we see that if we will do [make, produce, bring forth] Father's will, then we shall know [perceive, understand] the doctrine [teaching, instruction].
From here we must proceed to seek out Father's will:
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:40)
Here we see Father's will is two-fold: to see the Son; and then to believe on Him. The word 'believe' as used in Scripture is from the Hebrew perspective, as opposed to the Greek perspective.
The Greek perspective says, "What I 'think' is what I believe." This is merely a mental agreement of certain facts being true, and is not Biblical belief.
The Hebrew perspective, on the other hand, says, "What I 'do' proves what I believe." To 'believe' in the Scriptural sense, therefore, is an action that we take, that reveals what we think.
From this we see that to 'believe' Yahushua is to 'obey' Him, just as if His Words were true. That is the Hebrew way — and the Biblical way — of understanding the word 'believe.'
But in order to obey Messiah's Words, His sayings, we must know what they are.
As the WORD of The Most High, Messiah spoke all the Words of Scripture, including the commandments He gave to Moses, as we see throughout the 'old' Testament writings.
So in order to know Messiah's Words, we must then read all of Messiah's Words.
But in order to read all of Messiah's Words, all of His sayings, we must read all of the Scriptures.
We then find that as we begin to truly obey Messiah and walk with Him, He then begins to open our spiritual eyes further. He enables us to 'see' more clearly, and to have to a greater understanding of His Word. He also begins to give us Wisdom, and a greater 'Knowing' of Himself.
To further illustrate this principle of "first obey and do, then know and understand," let's look at a few more passages:
Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. (Deuteronomy 4:5-6)
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. 3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 4 So shalt thou find favour ['Grace'] and good understanding in the sight of God and man. (Proverbs 3:1-4)
I understand more than the ancients, because I keep [guard, watch; obey] thy precepts. (Psalms 119:100)
The above passages vividly show the Biblical principle of "first obey and do, then know and understand" — which is the essence of Biblical faith!
In the last passage above, the Psalmist gives us a clear picture of the cause-and-effect principle of 'keeping' [to keep: to guard, watch; obey] Father's precepts — with the result of having greater understanding, discernment and wisdom.
Daniel, who was great in understanding, discernment, and wisdom, must have understood this principle:
As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. (Daniel 9:13)
In the above passage, Daniel tells us the same truths as we saw above in John 7:16-17 and in Psalms 119:100. Here Daniel tells us that 'turn from our iniquities' comes before 'understand thy truth.' We see that this order is significant, for it reveals again the cause-and-effect principle of first doing, then knowing!
But one might ask, "What does it mean to turn from our iniquities?" It simply means to cease our disobedience to Messiah's commandments of Torah [the definition of 'sin' as stated in 1John 3:4]. We cease our disobedience when we begin to obey Messiah's Commandments in Torah.
When we realize it was Messiah Himself who gave the Words to Moses, we then realize that Messiah has spoken Father's Words to Moses, and to us, for the purpose of our obedience.
According to this Biblical Guideline, when we, as Born-again Believers, begin to obey more of Messiah's Words in the Ten Commandments, He will then open our eyes to give us more understanding of His Word!
Likewise, when we realize it was Messiah Himself who gave His 'sayings' to Moses, we begin to have a better understanding of the following passages:
If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15)
He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. (John 14:24)
For years we have not understood the above passages. Today there are many who are beginning to see and understand that Messiah is the WORD of The Most High, who spoke all the Commandments written in the Law of Moses!
Those who understand who Messiah is, are beginning to turn from their iniquities, by obedience to Torah. As a result they are showing their love for Messiah, and they are beginning to understand His truth!
Let's see an example of this Guideline:
In this example, we will see why some of the apostle Paul's writings were hard to understand in Paul's day (2Peter 3:15-16), and why they are hard to understand in our day.
We saw in the previous example of Guideline #4 above, that the apostle Paul exhorts all of Messiah's followers [including us today] to be 'imitators' of him, as he is [an imitator] of Messiah.
We then saw that the apostle Paul himself observed all the Law [Torah] (Acts 21:24; Acts 24:14), including the Biblical Feasts (Acts 18:21; 1Co 5:7-8). This is important information for us, considering that Paul tells us repeatedly that he is an example for us to follow (1 Co 4:16; 1 Co 11:1; Php 3:17).
Thus we see that Paul exhorts us to do as he did, in observing The Most High's Sabbath Days and Feast Days, and by walking orderly and keeping the Law [Torah], according to Paul's own example.
Why is it that we do we not hear the above information about Paul from today's popular Bible Teachers?
Scripture tells us in detail why this is, and illustrates this Guideline in action today!
We recall that in a Biblical sense, to 'know' something is to experience that something. With this in mind, we can understand the following words of Paul in Romans 7:1:
"Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law)..." (Romans 7:1)
In this passage, Paul tells us he speaks [writes] to those who 'know' the Torah — that is, to those who experience or practice Torah.
So from a Biblical standpoint, we 'know' Torah, not by higher education or head-knowledge, but by experiencing and practicing Torah.
But notice that Peter goes further, to give us more details:
"...even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest [twist], as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." (2 Peter 3:15-16)
Now we can see this Guideline coming into view, through Peter's words in the above passage. Those who read Paul's letters without first knowing [practicing] Torah, are unlearned in Torah — and they will not understand Paul's message.
And so we see that those Bible Teachers today who do not 'know' and practice Torah, do not 'understand' that Paul's letters are all based on Torah, and that Paul advocates obedience to Torah. They have not understood that all of Paul's teachings reveal his prophetic insight into the Everlasting [new] Covenant provisions seen throughout the Tanak [the 'old' Testament writings].
Thus Peter tells us that, from a Biblical standpoint, those who do not 'know' Torah by practicing Torah, do not 'understand' — they are 'unlearned' and unstable. They will simply 'wrest' or twist the apostle Paul's words, just as Peter warned us in 2 Peter 3:16. They have walked away from keeping and doing the Commandments in the Law [Torah], and the final result is, that they do not understand the Commandments in the Torah.
According to this Bible Principle, we can say in this example:
"The Words of Scripture we do not obey, are the Words of Scripture we will not understand."
And so today we see the result. Those who do not practice Torah, are those who twist Paul's writings. They do not understand Paul's words, because Paul is not writing to them. Paul is writing to those who 'know' the Torah.
And so we see why a great many popular Bible Teachers of today are themselves in error, and how they are leading multitudes astray with their error. This error of twisting Paul's words is rampant today, and has contributed to the Great Falling Away that has occurred over the past two thousand years.
This principle is true on every level. Those who do not first obey the Gospel, to become Born-Again, will not understand what it means to be Born-Again.
Now, notice what Paul tells us:
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools [foolish], but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise [foolish], but understanding what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:15-17)
In the above passage, Paul focuses on our walk — what we do — and it is here that Paul reveals that the 'wise' and 'foolish' both begin by what they do — and their 'understanding' is the result of what they do!
Perhaps this is why the apostle Paul exhorts us to do as he does, as he believes [is a "DO-er" of] all things which are written in the law and in the Prophets!
The above example is but one of many throughout the Scriptures, to illustrate that The Most High gives Wisdom and Understanding to all who see the Son, and who truly 'believe' on Him from a Biblical perspective.
Those who truly 'believe' on Him are they who become Born-again, and then choose to follow Messiah, by learning to become "DO-ers" of all of His words!
Thus we see that those to whom The Most High gives Wisdom and Understanding, are they who are learning to become "DO-ers" of all of His words!
From this Guideline, and from the many examples in Scripture, we can see that Father expects His children to obey His Word, even before we understand why we are to obey. As any parent knows, the ultimate reason for a parent's important directive is 'Because I said so.'
Some may consider this type of obedience a 'blind' obedience to the Word. Yes, a lack of understanding is a form of blindness. But as we see throughout the Scriptures, Father sometimes gives this 'blindness' to His children for a purpose, and then removes the blindness to fulfill His purposes.
Father is looking for those who have Faith — those who see Messiah, and who choose to 'believe' on Him — that is, who choose to obey and do, even though they do not yet know or understand.
Shema Selah we have to know that the scriptures we follow are the scriptures we will understand!!
No comments:
Post a Comment