Exodus chapter 20
Today we are walking in: Understanding the Kingdom Concept of Law Part 2!!!
Today we look to the word LAW- H8451 towrah- a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch:—law.
The Torah testifies.........……
Exodus 12:49
One law H8451 shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
The prophets proclaim..................
Amos 2:4
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law H8451 of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:
The writings bear witness............
Psalms 1:2
But his delight is in the law H8451 of the LORD; and in his law H8451 doth he meditate day and night.
THE KING’S WORDS OF LAW
As I said before, laws are built into the very fabric of creation. Everything in the natural realm operates according to inherent principles. The same is true of the spiritual realm. The Kingdom of Heaven is like any other government in the sense that it has laws to protect it and assure that it operates according to The Most High Yah’s intent. Laws establish The Most High Yah’s Kingdom. And these laws were put in place long before the first human being arrived. And yet so often, we have the arrogance and the presumption to question The Most High Yah or challenge Him about His laws and the way He runs things.
The biblical character Job tried this, and it earned him a stern rebuke from the King. Afflicted by boils, grieving over the untimely deaths of all his children, and criticized mercilessly by his best “friends,” who urged him to confess his sins to The Most High Yah, Job held out, demanding to put his case before The Most High Yah Himself. Job knew he was innocent of any wrongdoing and could not understand why he was suffering. In his pain and indignation, Job ended up trying to tell The Most High Yah a few things. That is when The Most High Yah spoke up and adjusted Job’s thinking:
Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm. He said: “Who is this that darkens My counsel without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell Me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!...Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up The Most High Yah’s dominion over the earth? (Job 38:1-5a,33).
In other words, The Most High Yah was saying, “Job, how dare you ask Me about My laws? You weren’t even around when I made them! Who are you to challenge Me?” It does no good for a product to challenge the manufacturer: “Why did you make things thus and so?” That is the manufacturer’s prerogative. When you buy a car with an internal combustion engine, you have to accept the “law” that it requires gasoline to operate. It was the manufacturer’s decision, not yours. No matter how hard you might try or how much you wish it otherwise, that car will not run on any other kind of fuel. That’s why it is foolish to challenge The Most High Yah and useless to try to change His laws. The Most High Yah’s laws were here long before we were, and they will still be here long after we are gone.
Laws are built into creation. And laws always carry consequences for violation. If you try to defy the law of gravity by stepping out of a second-story window, you are in for a painful shock—if you survive the fall! When we violate the law, we receive the due penalty. The Most High Yah doesn’t have to judge us; the law carries its own built-in “judgment.”
Remember, the king’s word is law in his kingdom. When it is written down, it is called a testament, and when repeated verbally, constitutes a commandment:
When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said (Exodus 24:3-4).
The “words and laws” Moses spoke to the people were the Ten Commandments and related laws that are recorded in the preceding chapters of Exodus. Like all of The Most High Yah’s laws, the Ten Commandments are not religious dictates. They are laws established by the King of creation to determine how all the natural realm should function and how human beings should relate to The Most High Yah and to each other.
THE MEANING OF LAW
What exactly is “law”? The most basic Hebrew word for “law” is torah, which also means, in addition to “law,” direction and instruction. In time, the word torah was used to refer to the entire body of law that Moses received from The Most High Yah on Mt. Sinai and passed along to the Israelites. In this usage, torah means “the law,” “the direction,” and even “the Law of the Lord.”1 In the New Testament we find two basic Greek words used for “law.” The first of these is nomos, which means “to divide out, distribute” and also “that which is assigned.” It gradually came to mean “usage” and “custom” and, eventually, “law as prescribed by custom, or by statute.”2 This is the word from which we get our English word norm.
Whatever becomes accepted as a norm in our society eventually becomes a law of our society. If we are exposed to a certain unaccustomed idea or behavior long enough, we eventually become so used to it that we start to accept it. Once we accept it, we begin to think of it as “normal,” or as a “norm.” And once we see it as a norm, we start to expect it. Once we come to expect it, it becomes in practical terms no different from a law, even if it is never formally established as a legal statute.
Depending on the nature of the idea or behavior, this process could be very dangerous because we as a society could end up endorsing and normalizing evil or immorality. This is precisely what has happened and is happening in western culture with regard to such issues as homosexual rights, homosexual marriage, abortion rights, assisted suicide, embryonic stem cell research, and the like.
The Most High Yah’s laws are designed to prevent us from accepting and normalizing evil and assigning it the force of law in our society. This is the protective nature of laws. They prevent ideas and behaviors that are contrary to the constitution and the good of the state and the people from becoming a dominant influence. In other words, The Most High Yah’s laws are designed to protect the whole community.
This is why sin and violation of the law never affect only the person or persons directly involved, but many others as well. It is like a ripple effect. Our actions, good or bad, affect those around us in ways we may never know. When the Israelites were attacking the city of Ai during their conquest of the land of Canaan, the sin of one man, Achan, led to the defeat of the entire community. Only after the Israelite community dealt with Achan’s sin were they able to achieve victory (see Joshua chapters 7–8). The Most High Yah’s laws have personal application with national ramifications.
Another meaning of nomos is that of a decreed law established by a state. This definition applies perfectly to the Kingdom of
Heaven because that Kingdom is a state; it is a country. For citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Bible is the nomos, the decreed established law of the Kingdom that we are pledged and obligated to obey. It is a mistake to think of the Bible as a religious book. It is not. The Bible is a legal book, a book of laws that The Most High Yah has established and set forth in written form to define and protect His Kingdom as well as to protect, preserve, and deliver the entire community of mankind.
The second Greek word for “law” in the New Testament is ethos, which means “custom.” Whenever we speak of something as being “customary,” we are speaking of ethos. The Most High Yah’s laws are supposed to be customary for us. It is supposed to be customary for us not to lie or steal or covet. It is supposed to be customary for us to forgive and to love our enemies as well as each other. Ethos is less formal than nomos. In fact, whereas nomos came to mean decreed, established law, ethos was used to describe unwritten law. The most powerful laws of all are the unwritten laws. In any culture, customs generally carry the social force of law even without formal legal establishment. And customs quite often have a greater influence on people’s behavior than any formal laws that are on the books.
The Most High Yah never intended to write down any of His laws for us. He did not want us to have to read in order to live. There was no written law in the garden of Eden, no written law for Abraham, no written law at all for The Most High Yah’s covenant people until the days of Moses. The King of Heaven’s intention was to write His laws on our hearts and in our minds so that no one would have to teach us. It was humanity’s rebellion and separation from The Most High Yah that made written law necessary. We needed something to restrain our baser nature and instincts and prevent us from destroying ourselves by uncontrolled selfishness, passion, and violence.
The King’s goal has never changed. Despite mankind’s rebellion, His original purpose still stands:
“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their The Most High Yah, and they will be My people” (Jeremiah 31:33).
This unchanging purpose of the King was fulfilled in the new covenant through Yahashua Hamachiach.
NATURAL LAW VERSUS WRITTEN LAW
The Most High Yah intended law to be natural. To understand the Kingdom of Heaven, it is important also to understand the distinction between natural law and written law.
First of all, written law is necessary only when natural law is absent. If we human beings were all law-abiding by nature, there would be no need for written law. But as we saw above, our rebellion against The Most High Yah destroyed the rule of natural law in our lives and made written law (as well as human government) necessary to protect society and restrain evil.
Second, the purpose for written law is to restore natural law to the conscience. Because of our rebellion against The Most High Yah, we lost our instinctive knowledge and understanding of natural law. Our consciences became corrupt and our likeness to our Maker became tarnished and distorted. Things that were natural in the beginning now became “unnatural.” For example, we consider generosity to be a virtue, a positive quality we admire in others and aspire to in ourselves. Why? Because it is not a “natural” human trait, at least not anymore. The Most High Yah never commanded Adam to be generous and giving. Why not? Because giving came naturally to Adam. A generous spirit was inherent in him because he was made in the image of The Most High Yah, his Creator, and The Most High Yah is generous by nature. But after the rebellion, mankind became greedy, obnoxious, abusive, mean, stingy, and hoarding. We needed a law to restore to our conscience the concept of giving.
Third, natural law is sometimes referred to as the “spirit of the law.” This reflects The Most High Yah’s desire for His laws, the standards of His Kingdom, to become the norms of our society. Remember, earth is a colony of Heaven, and the laws of the King of heaven should apply here as much as they do there. Laws produce society because they determine social relationships.
There is a difference between the law and the spirit of the law. The spirit of the law refers to original intent—the purpose that was in the mind of the Lawmaker in the beginning. Therefore, the spirit of the law is the inherent essence of the original purpose and intent of that law. As such, the spirit of the law is always higher and broader than the letter of the law. For this reason, the greatest form of law is unwritten law. Unwritten law is a product of the spirit of the law. When law has to be written, it is because the people are disobedient. Written law is a sign that the people have lost sight of the spirit of the law—the original intent. So where the spirit of the law is, there is no need for written law.
Any nation is only as good as the laws it enacts. Laws produce society, so whatever kind of society we want is determined by the laws we make. The worse the laws, the worse the nation. However, bad laws do not cause a nation’s social, moral, and spiritual decline. They merely reflect a decline that is already underway. Laws mirror the condition of the nation.
This is why it is so important for we who are Kingdom citizens to regain our understanding of the “spirit of the law”—natural law. Natural law is the fundamental operating principle of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The laws of the King protect and preserve not only His Kingdom but also the benefits and privileges of the Kingdom that are reserved for Kingdom citizens. But learning to appropriate them involves more than just knowing what they are. We must learn also the keys of the Kingdom that unlock our benefits and privileges and make them active in our lives.
PRINCIPLES
Every kingdom is governed by laws.
The Bible is the law book of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Kingdom of heaven has laws to protect it and assure that it operates according to The Most High Yah’s intent.
Laws are built into creation.
Whatever becomes accepted as a norm in our society
eventually becomes a law of our society.
The Most High Yah’s laws are designed to prevent us from accepting and normalizing evil and assigning it the force of law in our society.
The Most High Yah’s laws have personal application with national ramifications.
Written law is necessary only when natural law is absent.
The purpose for written law is to restore natural law to the conscience.
Natural law is sometimes referred to as the “spirit of the law.”
Laws produce society because they determine social relationships.
The spirit of the law is the inherent essence of the original purpose and intent of that law.
Any nation is only as good as the laws it enacts.
Natural law is the fundamental operating principle of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Divine destiny connection, the chain that links us together.
Friday, July 31, 2020
Thursday, July 30, 2020
KINGDOM CONCEPT #5: UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOM CONCEPT OF LAW (TORAH)
Exodus chapter 20
Today we are walking in: Kingdom Concept #5: Understanding The Kingdom Concept of Law (TORAH)
Today we look to the word LAW- H8451 towrah- a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch:—law.
The Torah testifies.........……
Exodus 12:49
One law H8451 shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
The prophets proclaim..................
Amos 2:4
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law H8451 of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:
The writings bear witness............
Psalms 1:2
But his delight is in the law H8451 of the LORD; and in his law H8451 doth he meditate day and night.
KINGDOM CONCEPT #5: UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOM CONCEPT OF LAW
In any civil society the “rule of law” is the bedrock of order and social justice. As noted in the previous teaching, a constitution is the documented aspirations, desires, and hopes of the people for themselves (in the case of a democratic republic), and in a kingdom, the king’s aspirations and desires for his citizens. Law is produced to protect the constitution and to secure the rights of the citizens to what the constitution promises and guarantees them.
No human society can survive long without laws. This is just as true for a kingdom as for any other system of government. Human nature being what it is, laws are necessary to keep man’s baser instincts and drives in check, protect public safety and decency, and preserve the moral order. Every kingdom is governed by laws. Laws enforce and protect the standards by which the kingdom operates.
As we saw in the previous teaching, the standards of operation for any government, a kingdom included, are codified in a document called the constitution. This contract spells out what the government expects from the people and what the people can expect from the government. It also delineates the rights of the people. These rights and expectations need to be protected, and that is the purpose of laws. A country’s laws always reflect its constitution because they are derived from its tenets. They not only protect the standards and ensure their fulfillment, but also prescribe penalties for any who violate the standards.
In order to develop a better understanding of the overall kingdom concept, it is important to have knowledge of the origin, nature, and function of laws in a kingdom. And as I have throughout this series, I will continue to use the Kingdom of Heaven as the primary model. The Bible, the Kingdom of Heaven’s constitution, establishes the standards for life in the Kingdom. Unlike other constitutions, however, it also lays out the penalties for noncompliance. In addition to being a constitution, then, the Bible is also the law book of the Kingdom of Heaven.
We often think of laws as unpleasant and inconvenient demands that restrict our freedom and limit our options. In reality, laws are designed to free us to pursue unlimited options by providing a safe environment where we can live in peace, security, and confidence. True freedom is always circumscribed by boundaries, and laws define those boundaries. Within those boundaries we are free to thrive, prosper, and reach our full potential.
For example, looking again at a passage we examined in a different context earlier in this series, consider some of the positive benefits we derive from the laws of the King:
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward (Psalm 19:7-11).
What does the “law of the Lord” do for us? It revives our spirit, gives us wisdom, and fills us with joy. It enlightens our minds and emboldens us with confidence because of its permanence and uprightness. It enriches us with wealth much greater than earthly riches and leaves a sweet taste in our mouths. It warns us against danger and foolishness that could destroy our lives and places us on the path to “great reward.”
If we allow it, the “law of the Lord” will nourish us thoroughly body, soul, and spirit. Yahashua said:
It is written: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of The Most High Yah” (Matthew 4:4).
This means there is more to life than food. We need solid, dependable, unchanging standards to live by; standards founded on truth. Many people today question or out-and-out reject the idea of absolute truth. Well, regardless of what they think, the Bible is absolutely true, and everything in it will work for our good if we obey it. There is no law in the Bible that is not good for humanity’s overall welfare. In fact, the Bible is the best regulator of civic society, yet most of global society rejects its wisdom and insists on choosing its own path. That goes a long way in explaining the mess our world is in today. We need to take a closer look at the kingdom concept of law.
SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF LAW
1. All creation was designed to function by inherent principles. Inherent means “built-in”; existent from the beginning. In other words, the laws of the King of Heaven are built into the very structure of creation and determine precisely how all of creation functions. Scientists speak of the laws of nature, the laws of physics, the laws of gravitation, the laws of thermodynamics, and many other laws to explain how nature works. In this sense, laws are observable, measurable, and repeatable because they never change. Everything that The Most High Yah created was designed to function by certain built-in or inherent principles.
These principles are called “natural law.” Natural law has to do with laws concerning the nature of a thing. For example, birds do not have to be taught to fly; that ability is inherent in them as a natural law. In the same way, fish are not taught to swim; they possess swimming ability as an inherent law. The same principle applies to plants when they produce seeds that reproduce new plants that are just like the original.
Natural law is the standard for effective function of everything that The Most High Yah has created. If birds follow the law of nature, they live and reproduce. If plants follow the laws of nature, they grow and produce fruit. The Most High Yah built these laws into nature, and as long as plants and animals follow those laws, they prosper and flourish. Violation of natural law, on the other hand, leads to dysfunction. Take a fish out of water and it will malfunction. It will die because a fish is designed to live and breathe in the water, not out of it. So natural law is very important; it is the standard for determining effective function.
Laws are the key to successful existence and a guarantee of fulfillment of purpose. Obedience to laws promotes prosperity and ensures success. All a bird has to do to fulfill its purpose is fly and reproduce; both of these functions are governed by natural laws. Every plant and creature on earth will succeed and fulfill its purpose simply by obeying the natural law inherent within them. It is no different with us. As long as we acknowledge the laws of The Most High Yah and submit ourselves willingly to living by and obeying them, we too will succeed and fulfill our purpose in The Most High Yah’s design. We will realize our full potential.
5. Laws protect purpose. When we obey laws, we protect the purpose for which we were born. As long as a fish stays in water, it will be able to survive and prosper. As long as a seed stays in the soil, it will sprout, grow, and prosper. As long as a bird stays in the air and there is space to fly, it will fulfill its purpose and prosper. As long as we obey the laws of The Most High Yah, we too will live and grow and prosper.
Please understand that when I talk about obeying The Most High Yah’s laws in order to live and prosper, I am not suggesting that we can “earn” right standing with The Most High Yah by doing good works or by strictly observing some code of rules or statutes. The only way to be rightly aligned with The Most High Yah is by changing our mind and turning away from our rebellion against Him (which the Bible calls “repentance”), placing our trust in Yahashua’ death to remove the guilt of our rebellion (giving up our self-reliance), and acknowledging Him as Lord (Owner) of our lives. By obeying The Most High Yah’s laws, I mean living in willing submission to Him as King and Lord and honoring His Word as the unchanging standard of reference for our lives.
So then, what laws of The Most High Yah are we to obey? All of them, of course, and there are many. But here are the two most important:
Love the Lord your The Most High Yah with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5).
Love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18b).
Yahashua Himself identified these as the two most important commandments in the law of The Most High Yah. Kingdom ambassador Paul, in context with a discussion about the responsibility of Kingdom citizens toward civic earthly authority, commented on this second verse, saying:
Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10).
Obey the law and it protects you. Disobey the law and you risk sacrificing your purpose.
6. The purpose for law is to protect the constitutional covenant. Laws exist to make sure that the provisions of the constitution are carried out consistently, equitably, and without prejudice for all citizens. For example, the constitution guarantees every citizen the right not to be convicted of a crime until proven guilty. Trial by jury is a law designed to protect that constitutional right for every citizen. In the Kingdom of Heaven, the laws of The Most High Yah are designed to protect and ensure the fulfillment of all terms of the covenant that The Most High Yah has with His creation. Typically, cutting a covenant involved the swearing of an oath of fidelity between the parties entering into the covenant. Because The Most High Yah’s covenant with man is unilateral (meaning that we enter freely into a covenant He has already established), He alone can swear faithfulness. And the Bible says that this, indeed, is what He has done:
When The Most High Yah made His promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for Him to swear by, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised....Because The Most High Yah wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath (Hebrews 6:13-15,17).
The constitutional covenant of the Kingdom of Heaven is backed up by the laws of The Most High Yah, which are the expressions of His unshakeable and unchanging Word.
7. Laws are the conditions of covenant. They are the terms under which, if followed, the covenant will operate. Virtually everything we buy these days comes with a covenant of laws and conditions called a “warranty.” The manufacturer guarantees that if the product is used in accordance with the specified terms and conditions of operation or function, it will perform as designed. If those terms and conditions are violated, the warranty “covenant” is nullified, and if the product then malfunctions, the manufacturer is free of responsibility.
It is no different in the Kingdom of Heaven. The King’s covenant with us specifies blessings and benefits for compliance as well as consequences and penalties for noncompliance. As long as we observe the conditions of the covenant, all the blessings and benefits of the covenant are operative in our lives. If we violate the covenant, the “blessings clause” shuts down and the “consequences clause” kicks in.
Today we are walking in: Kingdom Concept #5: Understanding The Kingdom Concept of Law (TORAH)
Today we look to the word LAW- H8451 towrah- a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch:—law.
The Torah testifies.........……
Exodus 12:49
One law H8451 shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
The prophets proclaim..................
Amos 2:4
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law H8451 of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:
The writings bear witness............
Psalms 1:2
But his delight is in the law H8451 of the LORD; and in his law H8451 doth he meditate day and night.
KINGDOM CONCEPT #5: UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOM CONCEPT OF LAW
In any civil society the “rule of law” is the bedrock of order and social justice. As noted in the previous teaching, a constitution is the documented aspirations, desires, and hopes of the people for themselves (in the case of a democratic republic), and in a kingdom, the king’s aspirations and desires for his citizens. Law is produced to protect the constitution and to secure the rights of the citizens to what the constitution promises and guarantees them.
No human society can survive long without laws. This is just as true for a kingdom as for any other system of government. Human nature being what it is, laws are necessary to keep man’s baser instincts and drives in check, protect public safety and decency, and preserve the moral order. Every kingdom is governed by laws. Laws enforce and protect the standards by which the kingdom operates.
As we saw in the previous teaching, the standards of operation for any government, a kingdom included, are codified in a document called the constitution. This contract spells out what the government expects from the people and what the people can expect from the government. It also delineates the rights of the people. These rights and expectations need to be protected, and that is the purpose of laws. A country’s laws always reflect its constitution because they are derived from its tenets. They not only protect the standards and ensure their fulfillment, but also prescribe penalties for any who violate the standards.
In order to develop a better understanding of the overall kingdom concept, it is important to have knowledge of the origin, nature, and function of laws in a kingdom. And as I have throughout this series, I will continue to use the Kingdom of Heaven as the primary model. The Bible, the Kingdom of Heaven’s constitution, establishes the standards for life in the Kingdom. Unlike other constitutions, however, it also lays out the penalties for noncompliance. In addition to being a constitution, then, the Bible is also the law book of the Kingdom of Heaven.
We often think of laws as unpleasant and inconvenient demands that restrict our freedom and limit our options. In reality, laws are designed to free us to pursue unlimited options by providing a safe environment where we can live in peace, security, and confidence. True freedom is always circumscribed by boundaries, and laws define those boundaries. Within those boundaries we are free to thrive, prosper, and reach our full potential.
For example, looking again at a passage we examined in a different context earlier in this series, consider some of the positive benefits we derive from the laws of the King:
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward (Psalm 19:7-11).
What does the “law of the Lord” do for us? It revives our spirit, gives us wisdom, and fills us with joy. It enlightens our minds and emboldens us with confidence because of its permanence and uprightness. It enriches us with wealth much greater than earthly riches and leaves a sweet taste in our mouths. It warns us against danger and foolishness that could destroy our lives and places us on the path to “great reward.”
If we allow it, the “law of the Lord” will nourish us thoroughly body, soul, and spirit. Yahashua said:
It is written: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of The Most High Yah” (Matthew 4:4).
This means there is more to life than food. We need solid, dependable, unchanging standards to live by; standards founded on truth. Many people today question or out-and-out reject the idea of absolute truth. Well, regardless of what they think, the Bible is absolutely true, and everything in it will work for our good if we obey it. There is no law in the Bible that is not good for humanity’s overall welfare. In fact, the Bible is the best regulator of civic society, yet most of global society rejects its wisdom and insists on choosing its own path. That goes a long way in explaining the mess our world is in today. We need to take a closer look at the kingdom concept of law.
SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF LAW
1. All creation was designed to function by inherent principles. Inherent means “built-in”; existent from the beginning. In other words, the laws of the King of Heaven are built into the very structure of creation and determine precisely how all of creation functions. Scientists speak of the laws of nature, the laws of physics, the laws of gravitation, the laws of thermodynamics, and many other laws to explain how nature works. In this sense, laws are observable, measurable, and repeatable because they never change. Everything that The Most High Yah created was designed to function by certain built-in or inherent principles.
These principles are called “natural law.” Natural law has to do with laws concerning the nature of a thing. For example, birds do not have to be taught to fly; that ability is inherent in them as a natural law. In the same way, fish are not taught to swim; they possess swimming ability as an inherent law. The same principle applies to plants when they produce seeds that reproduce new plants that are just like the original.
Natural law is the standard for effective function of everything that The Most High Yah has created. If birds follow the law of nature, they live and reproduce. If plants follow the laws of nature, they grow and produce fruit. The Most High Yah built these laws into nature, and as long as plants and animals follow those laws, they prosper and flourish. Violation of natural law, on the other hand, leads to dysfunction. Take a fish out of water and it will malfunction. It will die because a fish is designed to live and breathe in the water, not out of it. So natural law is very important; it is the standard for determining effective function.
Laws are the key to successful existence and a guarantee of fulfillment of purpose. Obedience to laws promotes prosperity and ensures success. All a bird has to do to fulfill its purpose is fly and reproduce; both of these functions are governed by natural laws. Every plant and creature on earth will succeed and fulfill its purpose simply by obeying the natural law inherent within them. It is no different with us. As long as we acknowledge the laws of The Most High Yah and submit ourselves willingly to living by and obeying them, we too will succeed and fulfill our purpose in The Most High Yah’s design. We will realize our full potential.
5. Laws protect purpose. When we obey laws, we protect the purpose for which we were born. As long as a fish stays in water, it will be able to survive and prosper. As long as a seed stays in the soil, it will sprout, grow, and prosper. As long as a bird stays in the air and there is space to fly, it will fulfill its purpose and prosper. As long as we obey the laws of The Most High Yah, we too will live and grow and prosper.
Please understand that when I talk about obeying The Most High Yah’s laws in order to live and prosper, I am not suggesting that we can “earn” right standing with The Most High Yah by doing good works or by strictly observing some code of rules or statutes. The only way to be rightly aligned with The Most High Yah is by changing our mind and turning away from our rebellion against Him (which the Bible calls “repentance”), placing our trust in Yahashua’ death to remove the guilt of our rebellion (giving up our self-reliance), and acknowledging Him as Lord (Owner) of our lives. By obeying The Most High Yah’s laws, I mean living in willing submission to Him as King and Lord and honoring His Word as the unchanging standard of reference for our lives.
So then, what laws of The Most High Yah are we to obey? All of them, of course, and there are many. But here are the two most important:
Love the Lord your The Most High Yah with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5).
Love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18b).
Yahashua Himself identified these as the two most important commandments in the law of The Most High Yah. Kingdom ambassador Paul, in context with a discussion about the responsibility of Kingdom citizens toward civic earthly authority, commented on this second verse, saying:
Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10).
Obey the law and it protects you. Disobey the law and you risk sacrificing your purpose.
6. The purpose for law is to protect the constitutional covenant. Laws exist to make sure that the provisions of the constitution are carried out consistently, equitably, and without prejudice for all citizens. For example, the constitution guarantees every citizen the right not to be convicted of a crime until proven guilty. Trial by jury is a law designed to protect that constitutional right for every citizen. In the Kingdom of Heaven, the laws of The Most High Yah are designed to protect and ensure the fulfillment of all terms of the covenant that The Most High Yah has with His creation. Typically, cutting a covenant involved the swearing of an oath of fidelity between the parties entering into the covenant. Because The Most High Yah’s covenant with man is unilateral (meaning that we enter freely into a covenant He has already established), He alone can swear faithfulness. And the Bible says that this, indeed, is what He has done:
When The Most High Yah made His promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for Him to swear by, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised....Because The Most High Yah wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath (Hebrews 6:13-15,17).
The constitutional covenant of the Kingdom of Heaven is backed up by the laws of The Most High Yah, which are the expressions of His unshakeable and unchanging Word.
7. Laws are the conditions of covenant. They are the terms under which, if followed, the covenant will operate. Virtually everything we buy these days comes with a covenant of laws and conditions called a “warranty.” The manufacturer guarantees that if the product is used in accordance with the specified terms and conditions of operation or function, it will perform as designed. If those terms and conditions are violated, the warranty “covenant” is nullified, and if the product then malfunctions, the manufacturer is free of responsibility.
It is no different in the Kingdom of Heaven. The King’s covenant with us specifies blessings and benefits for compliance as well as consequences and penalties for noncompliance. As long as we observe the conditions of the covenant, all the blessings and benefits of the covenant are operative in our lives. If we violate the covenant, the “blessings clause” shuts down and the “consequences clause” kicks in.
https://youtu.be/Pz1BCQr4DRE
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
KINGDOM CONCEPT #3: UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOM CONCEPT OF TERRITORY!!! PART 2!!!
Exodus chapter 20
Today we are walking in: Kingdom Concept #3: Understanding The Kingdom Concept of Territory!! Part 2!!!
Today we look to the word DOMINION- H4474 memshâlâh- rule; also (concretely in plural) a realm or a ruler:—dominion, government, power, to rule.
The Torah testifies.........……
Numbers 24:19
Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion H4474, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.
The prophets proclaim..................
Nehemiah 9:28
But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion H4474 over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;
The writings bear witness............
Judges 5:13
Then he made him that remaineth have dominion H4474 over the nobles among the people: the LORD made me have dominion H4474 over the mighty.
BINDING AND LOOSING
This transfer of ruling authority over the earth from The Most High Yah to man has major implications for all of us regarding our daily circumstances and our relationship to our society and culture. Therefore, it is important that we understand it. The Most High Yah has given us authority over the earth. That means we’re in charge. Whatever we say goes. This gives us a lot of freedom to do what we please within our domain. But it also means that we can’t blame The Most High Yah for everything that goes wrong, yet that is exactly what we do. “Why does The Most High Yah allow so much suffering in the world? Why doesn’t The Most High Yah do away with evil? Why does He allow sickness to continue? Doesn’t He care? Why doesn’t The Most High Yah do something?”
Why doesn’t The Most High Yah intervene? Because this is not His domain. He will not intervene in the affairs of this earthly domain without the permission of those who hold dominion authority here. And who holds dominion authority? Every human being on earth who is a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Most High Yah is not to blame for human evil and suffering. We brought these things on ourselves by our own selfishness and rebellious spirit. The Most High Yah wants to help but won’t intervene unless invited to do so by Kingdom citizens who know their dominion authority. Through prayer we invite The Most High Yah to act in our domain.
This is what Yahashua meant when He said:
I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Matthew 18:18).
Many believers have been taught that this verse deals with binding and loosing demonic spirits. It has nothing to do with demons. Yahashua is using Kingdom language. To “bind” means to lock up or prohibit; to “loose” means to unlock or permit. On earth we have dominion authority. Yahashua is saying that what we prohibit on earth, heaven will prohibit, and what we permit on earth, Heaven will permit. Consider the implications of this. Whatever we allow in society, Heaven will not stop, and whatever we disallow in society, Heaven will make sure it does not happen.
Do you understand how serious this is? The management of the earth is totally up to us. We are responsible for the evil, ills, and suffering in our world. These things are reflections of the nature and quality of our management. That is why The Most High Yah needs us to pray. He cannot interfere on earth unless we release Him to do so because He has given us sovereignty here. When we do, Heaven invades our territory on our behalf.
The King of Heaven has given us dominion authority here on earth, and He will not violate it without our permission.
This truth holds a critical key to how we should live as Kingdom citizens on earth. Having been raised in one or another of the various human systems of government, we all have been “programmed” to think of life and society in terms of the “have’s” and the “have not’s,” of periodic economic upheavals and downturns, chronic shortages of commodities, corruption, despotism, and the strong preying on the weak. We look at these things, sigh, and then say, “Oh well, that’s life.”
Not in the Kingdom of Heaven!
As I said before, in the Kingdom of heaven, there is no economic crisis and there are no shortages because heaven’s resources are infinite. And because all Kingdom citizens are equal, there are no “have’s” and “have not’s”; everyone is a “have.” There is no corruption or despotism because our King is a righteous and benevolent ruler. The strong do not prey on the weak because there are no weak.
Everyone is strong in the strength and presence and influence of the King and in the secure knowledge of their place and privilege as equal citizens of the Kingdom.
Seeing life from this perspective will require a major change of mind-set for most people. We have to learn, we have to train, we have to be taught to think this way. A change of mind is what the Bible calls “repentance (Teshuvah).” So now the words of Yahashua become much clearer when He says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matt. 4:17). He is saying, “Change your mind! Stop thinking like the world with its inadequacies and inequities, and start thinking like a Kingdom citizen! Stop operating from a worldly mind-set of “never enough” and start operating from a Kingdom mind-set of “more than enough”! The Kingdom of Heaven is here and everything has changed!”
TEN PRINCIPLES OF THE POWER OF LAND
I hope that by now it is becoming clear how important territory is to the kingdom concept. With this in mind, I want to conclude this chapter with a brief discussion of ten principles of the power of land. In this context, land, territory, and domain mean the same thing.
The first thing The Most High Yah gave man was land. We have already discussed this. The Most High Yah created the earth and then created man to rule it. Specifically, The Most High Yah placed Adam in a lush, beautiful garden and gave him the responsibility of caring for it and all its inhabitants. The King of Heaven gave the king of earth a physical domain—land—over which to exercise dominion.
The first thing man lost was land. When Adam and Eve rebelled against the king, He drove them out of the garden. They lost the property The Most High Yah had given them. Having lost their dominion, they discovered that the earthly environment was now hostile to them.
3. The first thing The Most High Yah promised Abraham was land, not heaven. The first thing The Most High Yah promised Moses was land, not heaven. Our big dream is to go to Heaven, while The Most High Yah’s big dream is for us to possess land because He created us to be kings, and all kings own property.
4. Real wealth is in the land. That’s why it’s called real estate. All other estates aren’t “real.” So many people expend all their resources acquiring “wealth” that never lasts—commodities that dissipate through consumption or are wiped out by economic depression or natural disaster. Land never loses its value regardless of what the economy does. In fact, land almost always grows in value even during difficult times. If you want to help ensure prosperity for yourself as well as future generations, focus on acquiring real estate. There is power in land, which leads us to the next principle.
He who owns the land controls the wealth. Smart people— Kingdom-minded people—go after land. Why?
True wealth is in the land. It never loses its value and, in fact, almost always increases in value the longer you own it. True wealth lies in real estate.
The meek will inherit the earth. And Yahashua said that is a blessing: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5). “Meek” means “gentle,” but it also means “disciplined.” The Greek word refers to the demeanor of a horse that has been broken for riding. A horse is a very strong animal. After it is broken it is still strong, but that strength is now under control. It is under discipline. These kind of people—the meek—Yahashua says, are the ones who will inherit the earth—not Heaven.
Land is the only estate that is real. Real estate is the only property of truly lasting value that we can pass on to our children. Everything else fades away too easily. The Bible says: “A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children” (Prov. 13:22a).
The Most High Yah considers the loss of land a curse. This is very important in the Bible. Every time The Most High Yah cursed the Israelites for their rebellion and disobedience, He took land from them. When they repented, He blessed them by restoring their land. The Most High Yah uses land to measure blessing or cursing. Therefore...
10. The restoration of land is a blessing. Land is important. Land has power because without land there is no domain and without domain there is no king.
KINGS OF A NEW EARTH
Many Kingdom citizens have been taught so thoroughly to anticipate and look forward to Heaven as the ultimate “reward” for the life to come that talk of an earthly inheritance makes them uncomfortable. But this is what the Bible says. Isaiah, an ancient and early spokesman for the Kingdom of Heaven, recorded:
For this is what the Lord says—He who created the heavens, He is The Most High Yah; He who fashioned and made the earth, He founded it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited—He says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:18).
The Most High Yah created the earth for people to live on it. He is so committed to this planet that even when it passes away He will recreate it:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away....And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of The Most High Yah is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and The Most High Yah Himself will be with them and be their The Most High Yah...for the old order of things has passed away.”He Who Was Seated On The Throne Said,“I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:1,3,4b-5a).
The Most High Yah’s program never changes. He is committed to His plan for earth, and for earth dwellers, which is why we can’t stay in Heaven. The Bible promises a full resurrection in which all Kingdom citizens will have a new body, a physical body of some sort, and will reign in the earth forever, just as The Most High Yah intended from the beginning. In the meantime, He wants us to practice—to learn how to take up rulership and exercise wise dominion over this territory called earth that He has given us. The Kingdom of Heaven is here now. We are its citizens, representatives of its colonial government, and we possess the authority right now to act in the name of our King and bring the influence of His will and desires over this earthly domain.
PRINCIPLES
Every kingdom has territory.
Heaven is a real Kingdom with a real government.
A king is not a king unless he has territory over which to rule.
The Son of The Most High Yah came to get the Kingdom back for man.
Without territory no kingdom can exist.
A king is only as wealthy as his domain.
Our destiny as human beings is wrapped up in land.
We were made for the earth, and that is where our place of dominion will be in the life to come.
We are kings by delegation, not by creation.
The Most High Yah will not intervene in the affairs of this earthly domain without the permission of those who hold dominion authority here.
Through prayer we invite The Most High Yah to act in our domain.
In the Kingdom of Heaven there are no “have’s” and “have not’s”; everyone is a “have.”
The meek will inherit the earth, not Heaven.
https://youtu.be/Ll0K4vkdYdI
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Kingdom Concept of Binding And Loosing
Exodus chapter 20
Today we are walking in: The Kingdom Concept of Binding and Loosing
Today we look to the word- BIND- H7194 'qashar--to bind, tie, bind together, league together, conspire
The Torah testifies...............
Deuteronomy 11:18
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind H7194 them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
The prophets proclaim..................
Isaiah 49:18
Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind H7194 them on thee, as a bride doeth.
The writings bear witness...........................
Proverbs 6:21
Bind H7194 them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
Binding, Loosing, Torah & Power
When Yahashua spoke of binding and loosing, He wasn’t talking about spiritual warfare. The people to whom He spoke understood that He was talking about what was consistent with Torah and what wasn’t. This matter of binding and loosing wasn’t unique to Yahashua. It was entirely familiar to them all because it was how the rabbis would sanction something or ban it according to the teachings in Torah. Here’s one of those areas where knowledge of Hebrew as a language and of the culture in which Yahashua lived are now bringing clarity to some Scriptures we haven’t understood properly for centuries. This provides a deeper revelation of Yahashua Himself as well as further insight into how He intended for His followers to function.
Had the translators of our English Bibles used words that more correctly conveyed the meaning of certain passages we would see how they fit like puzzle pieces into a Hebrew mindset. With all due respect to the men who translated the KJV Bible, they knew nothing of the science of linguistics at that time nor did they have any insight into Hebrew culture. They just basically translated it word for word from Greek to English which introduces concepts that were never intended. For example, our English bibles quote Yahashua as saying, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). When He said, “I did not come” or elsewhere “I have come,” have you interpreted that as meaning He was referring to His incarnation? That is not what He meant. “I have come” is an idiom meaning intent or purpose. “It is my purpose” is what He was saying in Matthew 5:17. He is not referring to His coming from heaven but His intent and purpose was to fulfill Torah by raising it to The Most High Yah’s intention for it. It is a major part of His messianic purpose to elevate Torah to the fullest significance and meaning.
Centuries of misinterpretations are only now being corrected. When the Greek text is translated back into Hebrew….voila! Some very interesting adjustments in our understanding of Yahashua and consequently of our roles as His followers emerge. It’s almost as if The Most High Yah is doing again what Yahashua did in the beginning, bringing truth to people’s misunderstanding of Torah so that our understanding of The Most High Yah is correct. The implication of that is incredible. The church has not had the power it did in the first century since those days. Seeing Torah properly is just liable to be the “key” to unlocking what has been imprisoned for centuries. Let me mention here that Torah can mean the first five books of the Bible which The Most High Yah gave to Moses, but it can also mean the entire Hebrew Scriptures. The prophets were all about getting Israel to keep the Torah so they weren’t a separate issue. How many of you have regarded the New Testament as the “real” Bible and the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old Testament as less important. When I ask that question many of you will say, Of course not. But there has been for millennia, since Constantine, that sense that The Most High Yah’s real message is in the New Testament and the Old Testment is just that “old.” It’s unfortunate that it got that label altogether. The Most High Yah doesn’t see it as old.
People often use the passage to “bind the devil.” Yahashua did say that the strong man needed to be bound, and we assume He meant the devil (Matthew 12:39; Mark 3:27). Some think that Yahashua bound the strong man (the devil), when He was resurrected from the dead. When we come to Yahashua and are born from above, we become new persons in Him and we are empowered by The Most High Yah to no longer sin. Now we can see sin for what it is which we couldn’t see before we were indwelt by the Holy Spirit. In that sense, the strong man has been bound in the lives of believers and we are free from satan’s power because Yahashua has given us authority over him and his ways. As long as we believe that, and live it out by faith, we are loosed from his grip. It is also true that we have been given the authority in Yahashua’s name to command demons to cease their influence and to leave.
But that’s not what these particular verses are about. Let’s see what we find out as we eavesdrop on a conversation between Yahashua and Peter though all the disciples were present. Peter has just responded to Yahashua’s question, “Who do you say that I am?” to which Peter replies, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living The Most High Yah.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, (son of Jona), because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades (Hell) will not overpower it” (Matthew 16:16-18).
This scene has some pretty significant things going on. I would even say this conversation is a pivotal one in history. Peter was blessed by The Most High Yah with the revelation of who Yahashua really is. Up until that moment, no one “got it.” It’s finally out — Immanuel! The Most High Yah is with us!! When Yahashua then says, “Upon this rock…,” He means that His Kingdom would be built on the revelation which Peter received of who Yahashua is — Messiah, Son of The Most High Yah, not built upon Peter himself. He was not making a statement of “apostolic succession” or making Peter the head of the church. If The Most High Yah had intended for Peter to be the head of the church, He would have given Peter and not John or Paul the increased revelations they received, revelations which far exceeded what the apostles knew even at the time of the Resurrection. Nor would Paul have had to rebuke Peter when Peter erred in judgment over a significant issue (see Galatians 2:11-14). He was saying that those who receive from Father The Most High Yah the revelation of who He is and surrender their lives to His Lordship are those with whom He will build His kingdom. What He says next confirms this is what He meant.
He continued to say, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven” (:19). What does having these keys to the kingdom mean? First you need to understand that the translation that says, “the Kingdom is at hand” (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; Mark 1:15) gives us the impression that it’s on its way but not here yet. The Hebrew word karav means it’s here now. This was a statement by Yahashua not of some future event but His present kingdom. Christians often have the sense that the real Kingdom is in the sweet bye and bye, but not really now. No, when He spoke of His Kingdom He wasn’t talking about heaven one day. He was talking about anything that was of Him, about Him or with Him. And it was meant to be a present reality for Peter as it is for us. Those keys are important to us as well.
So how were Peter and the rest of His followers to use the keys? What would the keys open — what did they mean in reality? Notice it’s not one key, there are several keys. These are keys to His kingdom which still have much to do with the revelation of who Yahashua is. Revelation always brings a certain amount of authority in the one who has received the revelation. To the extent that we have “seen” Yahashua, we will become like Him. That’s just a Biblical fact! “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (I John 3:2). That does mean when we see Him for real, when one wonderful day we are able to come before Him. But it’s also true that each revelation we receive of Him changes us somehow and we become more like Him in character and nature. Amazing! Surely something only The Most High Yah can do.
The same principle is at work in life here and now; to the extent that Yahashua is revealed to us, primarily through His word, or in a personal interaction with Him, we gain Kingdom authority based on seeing something about Him. We can speak with assurance; it’s not hearsay. No one can tell you that you didn’t experience what you did. You can speak about your experience with confidence that you have experienced truth! He has given us keys of authority to reach out in confidence that what we have is real, powerful, ultimate and eternal. On the other hand, what you gain by revelation comes from the Father and as a result of your revelation you now have an authority, a kind of authenticity in how the revelation changes you and what you learned through the revelation.
Let’s look again at Matthew 16:19 in a more correct reading. The words “binding and loosing" do not convey what Yahashua meant. Here’s one of those places where a knowledge of Hebrew roots straightens out a whole doctrinal conundrum. The Hebrew for binding is to disallow or forbid, and the Hebrew for loosing is to allow or permit. So the verse should read, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you forbid on earth shall have been forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth shall have been permitted in heaven.” Yahashua was saying that binding and loosing or rather permitting and forbidding are directly connected to this issue of authority. Okay, so, what is being forbidden or permitted?
It’s all about how to observe Torah. For centuries the rabbis had been making decisions about what was “kosher” or Torah-compliant and what was not; what was permitted and what was forbidden according to the laws of Torah or the Talmudic writings which are commentaries on Torah. The reason is that the Torah teachings (laws) still need interpretations. For instance, Torah says to observe the Sabbath but it does not tell how to observe it. A day of rest can mean many things to many people. How much is one allowed to do on the day of rest? Can you carry things, cook things, ride a horse, drive a wagon or a car, light a fire? So the rabbis deliberated and this one said this and that one said that, and all is recorded in the Talmud. Once the Talmud was closed, that is completed so no more commentaries were included, Hebrew learning was largely about quoting what this or that rabbi has said in the past but it would be the local rabbi or rabbis who would be consulted about any given issue for a ruling on whether something was “permitted” or “forbidden.” When it was allowed or permitted, it was loosed from restriction. When it was forbidden, it was bound from use or action. So loose meant permit; bind meant forbid. Questions were continually presented to the rabbis to find out what was “kosher,” so to speak. What the rabbis permitted was loosed in order to do them; what was forbidden was bound, meaning to tie up or disallow or imprison.
Yahashua, acting as a rabbi, was continually bringing a reassessment of correct Torah interpretation. Most of His teachings were to correct erroneous understandings of what The Most High Yah originally meant when He gave Israel the Torah instructions. Now Yahashua was conferring upon Peter and the others the authority to permit or forbid, to make decisions on issues as He would have by the Spirit of The Most High Yah. This is an important point – what the rabbis would decide based on their scholastic reasoning and familiarity with the Torah, the Spirit filled believers would know by the Spirit. You can read Torah as information, or you can perceive the mind of the Spirit in reading Torah. The believers didn’t have to follow hundreds of added rules to try and avoid offending The Most High Yah. Yahashua had paid the price to release them from that fear of The Most High Yah’s displeasure. They were free from the rigidity of legalism (those rules which were added to the Torah) and were functioning by the Spirit of Holiness. Do you realize what an incredible power that is? These men were certainly not rabbis or scholars or Pharisees or Scribes or Torah teachers. They were fishermen and a tax collector, for heavens sake, and Yahashua is giving them that kind of authority? They were completely outside of the hierarchical religious system but to them He releases the power and authority to make decisions that He says heaven would back up because they would be entirely in tandem with The Most High Yah. These decisions would affect thousands, even millions of lives, even us today in fact. That’s how assured Yahashua was that His followers would be entirely in tune with the will of The Most High Yah through the Holy Spirit so that He could trust them with that kind of authority. His followers would be so “one” with Him and His Father that they would be the expressions of The Most High Yah’s will as He had been. When we read the book of Acts we see incredible power and effectiveness in the lives and relationships of the early believers, all of whom, I might add, were living Torah compliant lives by the Spirit of The Most High Yah. But in the course of time things were incorporated into the doctrines and practices of the church that were apart from Torah. Looking back, we see that the wisdom of men in authority replaced the authority of heaven in the lives of men.
But here’s what so exciting now. The Most High Yah is reversing the whole thing and bringing His people back to a correct understanding of the place of Torah, not in any legalistic performance-based rigidity but in our Spirit-led lives. the “revelation” of Yahashua in the Spirit and in truth which includes that He is the Torah made flesh, the embodiment of all The Most High Yah revealed of Himself and set forth for the wellbeing of His people. Power and authority laced with humility, obedience to the Word of The Most High Yah and the leading of the Spirit of Holiness. That’s where we’re going. HalleluYah!
https://youtu.be/pWALswYXFu4
Friday, July 24, 2020
KINGDOM CONCEPT #3: UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOM CONCEPT OF TERRITORY
Exodus chapter 20
Today we are walking in: Kingdom Concept #3: Understanding the Kingdom Concept of Territory!!
Today we look to the word- RULER- H4910- mashal- rule, ruler, reign, dominion, governor, ruled over, power, indeed
The Torah testifies...............
Numbers 13:2
Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler H4910 among them.
The prophets proclaim..................
Daniel 2:38
And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler H4910 over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
The writings bear witness...........................
Ecclesiastes 10:4
If the spirit of the ruler H4910 rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.
KINGDOM CONCEPT #3: UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOM CONCEPT OF TERRITORY
The essence of a kingdom is property. Land or property is the validation of a king. Land or property defines a king or queen and gives him or her right to claim kingship. Remember that the first thing The Most High Yah created in the creation narrative was property...the earth. Earth was created before mankind was formed because it was necessary in order for man to be a legitimate ruler. Man was created to dominate, and it is impossible to dominate nothing.
Thus the mandate of The Most High Yah to Adam was to be king over a property. Every kingdom must have territory. The word kingdom derives from the phrase “king domain.” Domain refers to the property, the territory over which a king exercises his dominion. A “kingdom,” then, is a “king’s territory.” Without territory, a king is not a king because he has nothing to rule over. You cannot be “king” over nothing.
Let me give you an example from history. The “discovery” of the new world by Christopher Columbus in 1492 set off a wave of westward expansion over the next several centuries. The great maritime empires of Europe such as England, France, Holland, Spain, and Portugal all competed for new territory in the Western Hemisphere. It was, in fact, the Portuguese monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella who sponsored and financed Columbus’ epic voyage.
Portugal focused most of its attention on South America and eventually claimed the area that now comprises the nation of Brazil. For many years Brazil was a colony and a possession of Portugal. That is why to this day Brazilians speak Portuguese. It is a legacy of their years under Portuguese influence and control.
The story goes that the son of the king of Portugal said to his father, “I want to be king.”
“Well,” the king replied, “you can’t be.”
“Why not?”
“I am the king of Portugal, and we are in Portugal. You can’t be king because I am still alive. When I am dead, then you will be king.”
“But I want to be king now,” the prince said. “I don’t want to wait that long.”
So the king of Portugal shipped his son off to South America and made him king over the territory of Brazil. The son was sovereign in Brazil but ruled as a regent under his father, the king of the Portuguese empire, which included Brazil. Whenever the father visited his son in Brazil, the son became the prince again until his father left. Then the prince was again king. Whenever the son visited his father in Portugal, he again became the prince until he returned to his own domain. If the son wanted to rule as king, it was better for him to stay away from his father.
That’s how kingdoms work. All kingdoms have territory, but there can be only one sovereign to rule over it. More than one does not mean divided rule; it means revolt.
This picture also illustrates the relationship between The Most High Yah, the King of Heaven, and man, His regent on earth. Because The Most High Yah is a King, and because a kingdom is a country ruled by a king and must therefore have territory, we can draw the conclusion that Heaven is a place. It is not some nebulous, mystical idea from the mind of man. Heaven is a real Kingdom with a real government. The fact that its primary realm encompasses the spiritual dimension of creation does not make it any less real.
But the realm of the Kingdom of Heaven also takes in the natural world. The Most High Yah designed it this way when He created the earth and then fashioned man in His own image to rule it for Him. The sequence of events here is very important. The Most High Yah envisioned man to be a king in his own right, but a king is not a king unless he has territory over which to rule. So The Most High Yah prepared the territory first—the earth—and then brought forth man. The Most High Yah placed man on the earth and told him, “I am giving you dominion over this physical domain. You have authority over every acre of land and sea and over every creature that inhabits the earth. Rule it freely as My legal representative.”
The Most High Yah does not want to come here where we are personally, so that we can retain our authority as earthly kings. This is also why Yahashua is not anxious for us to go to the invisible country of Heaven because when we do, we are reduced to princes and princesses. He prayed that we would not be taken out of the world but be kept in it but away from evil. The earth is man’s key to dominion power and his only legal territory for rulership.
A careful review of the model prayer of our Lord Yahashua reveals that it specifically identifies the location of the Father and King of Heaven: “Our father who is in Heaven....” His location is the key to our power and authority on earth. If He comes to earth, we lose our privileged position. Mankind was designed to serve as a corporate rulership of kings representing their Father, the King of Heaven, in the colony called earth.
Like the Portuguese prince in the story above, man was sovereign within the sphere of his own domain, but he acknowledged The Most High Yah’s ultimate sovereignty over all by right of creation and ownership. That ideal arrangement was shattered, however, when man rebelled against The Most High Yah, abdicated his regency, and passed control of his realm to a demonic usurper, a fallen angel who had no right or authority to take it.
The Most High Yah’s purpose is unchanging. He created man for rulership, and so immediately set into motion His plan to restore to man the Kingdom he had lost. The Bible lays out a detailed record of the historical outworking of The Most High Yah’s plan. In the fullness of time, when everything was in place, Yahashua Hamachiach, the Son of The Most High Yah, was born into human flesh and appeared to men, saying, “Repent [change your mind], for the kingdom of heaven is near [or has arrived]” (Matt. 4:17b). The Son of The Most High Yah came to get the Kingdom back for man. He came as a human because earth is man’s The Most High Yah-given domain, and only a human has the legal authority to rule it directly.
SEVEN KINGDOM PRINCIPLES OF TERRITORY
Territory is vital to a kingdom because without territory no kingdom can exist. This is why a king is always interested in expanding his territory. Why is territory so important? Why can there not be a kingdom without it? Here are seven reasons.
No king can rule nothing. A king is a ruler, which by definition requires a domain to rule over. No domain, no ruler; no ruler, no king. That is why The Most High Yah made the earth before He made man; man could not be a king until he had a domain. When The Most High Yah set out to establish His Kingdom, He began by creating territory: “In the beginning The Most High Yah created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). First He created Heaven, His territory, and then He created earth, man’s territory. That way man could be a king like his Creator.
There is no kingdom without a domain. Why is the territory of a king called his domain? Because he dominates it. A territory dominated by a king is called his “king dominion,” which is where we get the word “kingdom.”
3. The essence of a kingdom is the right, the power, and the authority of the king to exercise complete sovereignty over a domain. In other words, a true kingdom is one where the king has the right to rule. Rights are very important because they are the basis for authority. The Most High Yah has the right to rule the universe. Why? Because He created it. Within His Kingdom The Most High Yah can do whatever He wants because His rights as King give Him absolute power and authority—infinite power and authority because His Kingdom is infinite.
4. The heart of the kingdom concept is king domain. The domain of the king is the key to his kingdom because to be a king he has to have some domain to rule.
5. A king is not a king without a domain. I’ve already said this, but it bears repeating because many people who have no kingdom concept have trouble understanding the connection between a king and his domain. When the Shah of Iran was ousted by Islamic fundamentalist revolutionaries in 1979, he fled to another country. Although he was still called the shah (the Iranian word for king), it was mainly a courtesy. In reality, he was no longer a king because he no longer had a domain. He was a king in exile. You cannot be a king without territory. This is why Hamachiach had to come to earth to get our earthly kingdom back. We are supposed to be rulers, but without our territory we cannot fulfill our destiny.
6. The wealth of a king’s domain defines his value. We touched on this in the last teaching. Territory is important to a king because the more territory he has, the richer he is. A king is only as wealthy as his domain. And as we will see later, territory—real estate—is important because it is the only form of earthly wealth that never loses its value.
7. The loss of a domain is the loss of a kingdom. Again, the Shah of Iran is a good example. As soon as he lost his domain he was no longer a king except in name. Another prime example is Adam. When Adam, the king of the earth, rebelled against The Most High Yah, the High King of Heaven, he lost his kingdom and with it, his place as king.
The Bible says that Yahashua Hamachiach is the “second Adam” who came to restore what the first Adam lost. Because Yahashua restored the Kingdom, all who are citizens of the Kingdom of heaven can now be kings and queens of the earthly realm again. What does this mean in practical terms? It means we can control our circumstances and our domain rather than they controlling us. The “good news of the Kingdom” that Yahashua preached is not just that we can have our sins forgiven and become aligned rightly with The Most High Yah, although these are absolutely essential; the good news is also the fact that we can have our Kingdom back!
FIVE PRINCIPLES OF MAN’S EARTHLY AUTHORITY
Our destiny as human beings is wrapped up in land. The Most High Yah created us to be kings over the earthly realm, and He will not rest until we are fully restored to our rightful place. I want to share with you five principles that help explain the basis of our authority on earth as The Most High Yah intended it to be.
1. The first thing The Most High Yah gave man was territory. He did not give man a religion or rules to follow. He gave him land. Before man could be the king The Most High Yah created him to be, he had to have a king domain to rule over.
TIME: 6:25
The earth was created to give man kingship legitimacy. The Most High Yah gave us the earth so that our kingship would be legal. He made Adam a king and He made Eve a queen equal to Adam in every way. The rulership of the earth belongs to both men and women. My wife is my partner in rulership. She does not serve me. We dominate the earth together on behalf of our government of Heaven.
The domain of earth is mankind’s legal right, power, and authority of rulership. When The Most High Yah said, “Let them have dominion,” He transferred the legal rights to the earth to us. He did not say, “Let us have dominion,” including Himself, because He already had His dominion in heav- en. He said, “Let them have dominion over that territory called earth. I’m going to rule heaven; My kids are going to rule earth. I’m going to be King of heaven; they’re going to be king of the earth. I’m going to be Sovereign of heaven; they’re going to be sovereign of earth.” The dominion of earth is our legal right. We have a right to be here and The Most High Yah gave us that right. So many believers look forward to going to heaven, but I look forward to coming back to rule the “new earth” that The Most High Yah will fashion when this earth passes away! (see Rev. 21:1). Heaven is fine, and it will be a glorious place, but ultimately it is not where we belong. In heaven we have no legal authority to rule; it is The Most High Yah’s domain. We were made for the earth, and that is where our place of dominion will be in the life to come.
“Let them” are the key words in the transfer of authority from The Most High Yah to man. The Most High Yah delegated authority to us because He wants us to experience rulership. He wants us to know what it is like to be in charge.Man’s kingship is by privilege, not by creative right. The Most High Yah controls the domain because He created it. He rules it by creative rights. We rule it because of privilege. We are kings by delegation, not by creation. The Most High Yah gave us rulership but not ownership. But our rulership “charter” includes a sense of ownership because He gave us sovereignty within our earthly dominion.
https://youtu.be/LpeLQwrgfhg
Thursday, July 23, 2020
KINGDOM CONCEPT #2:UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOM CONCEPT OF LORD!! PART 2
Exodus chapter 20
Today we are walking in: Kingdom Concept #2: Understanding The Kingdom Concept Of Lord Part 2!!
Today we look to the word- SUBMIT- H7511- raphac- humble thyself, submit thyself
The Torah testifies...............
Genesis 16:9
And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit H7511 thyself under her hands.
The prophets proclaim..................
2 Samuel 22:45
Strangers shall submit H7511 themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.
The writings bear witness...........................
Psalms 18:44
As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit H7511 themselves unto me.
In those days, animals such as that colt were valuable commodities as beasts of burden and as transportation. They were like a car is to us today. So untying that colt was no small matter. The modern day equivalent would be as if Yahashua had said, “Go down to the corner, where you will find a brand-new silver Mercedes sport coupe. The keys are already in it. Bring it here to me.” In the end, one word from the Owner of the colt was all that was necessary. The manager/stew- ard of the colt let it go.
Another New Testament passage also presents Yahashua clearly as Lord of all. It is found in a letter written by Paul, the Kingdom of Heaven’s ambassador to the Gentiles, to Kingdom citizens in the city of Philippi:
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Yahashua: who, being in very nature The Most High Yah, did not consider equality with The Most High Yah something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore The Most High Yah exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Yahashua every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Yahashua Christ is Lord, to the glory of The Most High Yah the Father (Philippians 2:5-11).
Yahashua Christ is King and Lord of all.
LIVING UNDER A LORD
It is the lordship aspect of a kingdom that makes living in a kingdom better than a republic or any other form of national administration or rulership. Lordship in a kingdom protects the citizenship from competition with their fellow citizens for national resources. It destroys such elements as jealousy, fear, deceit, and hoarding. In a true kingdom, the lord owns all resources and distributes the same as he determines. Whenever he gives resources to a citizen, it is never for ownership but for stewardship. Submission to a king as lord positions the citizen to receive from the king.
From a kingdom standpoint, then, the most important confession any of us could ever make is to declare, “Yahashua Christ is Lord.” Ambassador Paul stated this explicitly in his letter to the believers in Rome when he wrote:
If you confess with your mouth, “Yahashua is Lord,” and believe in your heart that The Most High Yah raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).
By “saved,” Paul means redeemed, bought back, salvaged, restored from the estrangement of our rebellion against The Most High Yah the King into a right relationship with Him. The key affirmation in that process is our acknowledgment that Yahashua is Lord of everything, including our lives and our destiny.
But if we say, “Yahashua is Lord,” what does that mean in practical terms? What does it mean to live under a “lord”? The only experience most westerners have with a lord of any kind is with a landlord. If you now live or have ever lived in rental property, you know that the landlord is the landowner (or the landowner’s direct representative who exercises the landowner’s authority, which amounts to the same thing), the person you pay rent to and to whom you are accountable for the way you treat his property. Why? Because you do not own the property; the landlord does.
Dealing with a landlord provides a small taste of what it would be like to live all of your life under a lord. If you say, “Yahashua is Lord,” you are acknowledging His authority over you as well as your responsibility to obey Him. There is no such thing as lordship without obedience. If He is Lord, you cannot say, “Lord...but,” or “Lord...except,” or “Lord...wait.” If He is Lord, the only thing you can say is, “Lord...yes.”
Yahashua Himself reiterated this truth throughout His public ministry:
If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me (Luke 9:23b).
Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:37-38).
Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Yahashua told him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead” (Matthew 8:21-22).
If Yahashua is Lord, He must receive first priority in your life. He is above every other love and every other loyalty. He is above every goal, dream, and ambition. You cannot be a disciple and say, “Lord, first let me...” He must be first...in everything. Otherwise, He is not truly Lord of your life, regardless of what you say. Yahashua said:
Why do you call me, “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46).
You cannot call Him Lord and then start making excuses for not obeying Him. You can’t claim that He owns you and then go ahead and do whatever you please. In the Kingdom of Heaven there is no such thing as a “weekend citizen.” You do not follow Him one time and not another depending on your preference. If Yahashua is Lord, you cannot live for Him on Saturdayaturday and for yourself the rest of the week. Yahashua is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all. The Lordship of Christ is a 24/7 proposition. There is no other schedule.
Living under a Lord also means giving up all concepts of personal ownership. This does not mean you have to sell your house or sell your car or give away all your personal possessions. It does mean learning not to take a proprietary view toward these things. The King of Heaven is a righteous and benevolent Lord who graciously allows us to use and fully appropriate His riches and resources and all good things. That is one of our rights as Kingdom citizens. We can enjoy all of these things without measure as long as we remember who owns them. The moment we begin to think that they belong to us, however, we set ourselves up for trouble. If we think ownership is ours, we make ourselves a lord. This takes us out of alignment with the will and character of the King because in His Kingdom there can be only one Lord.
What happens when we think of ourselves as owners? In our dog-eat-dog culture it means we feel we have to fight for what we get, hoard what we have, and guard it anxiously from fear that someone will take it away. And our neighbors do the same thing. We live in fear of economic downturns, inflation, downsizing, and never having enough. This is not Kingdom thinking!
In the Kingdom of Heaven, there is no economic crisis and there are no shortages. With a King who owns everything, how could there be? When we relinquish our sense of ownership and acknowledge The Most High Yah as the Owner and ourselves as stewards, it relieves us of the pressure of having to worry about how we are going to make it because we are now depending on Him for our welfare. And He is a benevolent and generous Lord of infinite resources.
Relinquishing ownership then also puts us into the position of full access to those resources. As we learn to give and receive and transfer at His will, He shares with us freely and abundantly. But a hoarding sense of personal ownership that shouts, “Mine!” cuts us off from those same resources. Which position would you rather be in?
Letting go of personal ownership also nourishes and releases a generous spirit within us. If we are only stewards and not owners, we can give freely as the Lord has given freely to us, knowing that He, who has no limitations, can replace what we give to others. His reputation as King and Lord rides on how well He cares for His citizens and He will give special care to those citizens who reflect His character by giving as He gives.
As a matter of fact, the best time to give is when things are tight personally because that is when you acknowledge that He owns even what you don’t have. The greatest sign that you truly believe that Yahashua is Lord is by how much you are willing to get rid of. You have learned how to live under a Lord when you can give freely without hesitation, regret, or fear and say to the Lord of all with a joyful and willing spirit, “It’s all Yours! It’s all Yours!”
SEVEN POINTS IN SUMMARY
In summary, here are seven fundamental principles of lordship.
kingA personally owns everything in his domain. There is no private ownership in a kingdom. Everything belongs to the king.
Use of anything in a kingdom is a privilege. If the king owns everything, then anything in that kingdom that we use is not by right but by a privilege granted by the king.
A king can give or distribute anything to anyone in his kingdom. Why? Because he owns it. He can shift things around any way he pleases. This is why we need to hold onto “our” possessions lightly. They really are not ours. Sometimes the King will test us by telling us to give up something He has given us. Our response—obedience or disobedience—will reveal whether or not we really believe He is Lord. If we obey, we show that we believe He owns everything and that He not only can replace what we give but even multiply it.
Submission to a king’s lordship means that we have no right to ourselves. That is why the greatest confession we can ever make is the confession, “Yahashua Christ is Lord.” The moment we say those words, we are acknowledging that we have no more right to our own life; it now belongs to Christ. We have put ourselves willingly under His control and direction and are at His beck and call. He can help Himself to our lives anytime He wants.
Obedience is acknowledgement of lordship. When we obey the King, we are simply saying to Him, “You are Lord and my life is Yours. Your wish is my command.”
Thanksgiving is an acknowledgement of the King’s Lordship. Daily thankfulness for food, water, clothing, shelter, and other daily needs reveals that we believe that the King owns all and is the source of all we have.
The word “Lord” can never be used with the word “but.” Those two words are impossible together. We cannot say, “I love You, Lord, but...” or else He is not Lord. We cannot claim Him as Lord and then make excuses for not obeying Him. The only appropriate word to go with “Lord” is “Yes!” Either He is Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.
PRINCIPLES
All kings are automatically lords.
Kingship has to do with authority; lordship has to do with ownership.
All true kings must have and own territory.
As lord, a king literally and legally owns everything in his domain.
If the king owns everything, then no one in the kingdom owns anything.
If the king owns everything, he can give anything to anyone at any time according to his own sovereign choice.
A king’s wealth is measured by the size and richness of his domain.
The Most High Yah, the King of Heaven, is King and Lord of all.
Yahashua Christ is King and Lord of all.
The most important confession any of us could ever make is to declare, “Yahashua Christ is Lord.”
There is no such thing as lordship without obedience.
If Yahashua is Lord, He must receive first priority in your life.
Yahashua is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.
Living under a Lord also means giving up all concepts of personal ownership.
In the Kingdom of Heaven, there is no economic crisis and there are no shortages.
Relinquishing ownership puts us into the position of full access to all of Heaven’s resources.
Letting go of personal ownership also nourishes and releases a generous spirit within us.
https://youtu.be/5GMXR4E9Rm4
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
KINGDOM CONCEPT #2: UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOM CONCEPT OF LORD
Exodus chapter 20
Today we are walking in: Kingdom Principle #2: Understanding The Kingdom Concept Of Lord
Today we look to the word- LORD- H3068- Yahovah- the existing One, the proper name of the one true God
The Torah testifies...............
Exodus 10:24
And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the Lord H3068; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you.
The prophets proclaim..................
Amos 5:18
Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord H3068! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord H3068 is darkness, and not light.
The writings bear witness...........................
Proverbs 16:4
The Lord H3068 hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
One of the most common words used in Scripture is the word lord. This word does not exist in democracies, socialist societies, or republics, except in the word land- lord, in reference to one who owns land. Landlord is the only common remnant of kingdoms in modern governments and Western societies. Yet this concept of lord is one of the fundamental principles of a kingdom.
Every kingdom must have a king, but it is also true that every king is automatically a “lord.” It is this quality of lordship that distinguishes a king from a president, a prime minister, a mayor, and a governor. As a matter of fact, a king’s lordship makes him different from any other kind of human leader. Lordship makes a king unique.
In the last teaching we talked about a king’s sovereignty—how a king is free from external control and he can do whatever he pleases with accountability to no one except himself. A king’s sovereignty is absolute. He is neither voted into nor voted out of power; sovereignty is his by right of birth. The same is true of a king’s lordship. All kings are automatically lords.
So what’s the difference between a king and a lord? Lordship is only one aspect of a king’s overall identity and status, but it is one of the most important ones. One way to put it is to say that king relates to dominion, while lord relates to domain. The word dominion refers to a king’s authority—his power; the word domain refers to the territory, the property, the geographical area over which his authority extends. A king exercises authority (dominion) over a specific geo- graphical area (domain) and within that area his authority is absolute.
Without a domain there is no king. A king is a king only so far as he has something to rule over. What good does it do to have authority if you have nowhere to exercise it? In that case, you really don’t have authority. The most you have is potential authority. Until you have a physical domain over which to rule, your so-called “authority” is little more than theory.
If the word lord relates to a king’s domain, then the lordship of a king is tied up in his territory. To put it another way, if kingship has to do with authority, then lordship has to do with ownership. Let me explain. If a king must have a domain in order to be a king, then all true kings must have and own territory. This is what we call the kingdom lordship principle. You cannot be a king unless you own property. It is not the same simply to exercise rule and authority over a geographical region. Presidents do that. Prime ministers do that. Governors do that. But presidents, prime ministers, and governors do not own the territory over which they rule, and therein lies the difference. Kings personally own the physical domain over which they reign, and that is what makes them not only kings but also lords. So king and property go together. And the word lord defines the king’s identity as “owner” of his domain.
As lord, a king literally and legally owns everything in his domain: the forests and the meadows, the mountains and the valleys, the rivers and the streams, the crops and the livestock, even the people and the houses they live in. Everything in a king’s domain belongs to him. Because of this, a king has absolute and unquestionable control over his domain. This goes back to a king’s sovereign authority. A king is sovereign by right of birth, but he is also sovereign by right of ownership.
The fact of a king’s sole ownership of his domain carries a couple of significant implications that are easily lost by people who have grown up in a democracy. First, and rather obvious, is that if the king owns everything, then no one in the kingdom owns anything. In a true kingdom, there is no such thing as private property ownership. Kingdom citizens are stewards, not owners. They may occupy the land; farm it; mine its minerals, ores, and precious gems; build houses and places of business on it; and carry on all the other normal activities of human communities; but they do all of these only by the king’s permission and good pleasure. Ultimately, everything belongs to him.
Second, if the king owns everything, he can give anything to anyone at any time according to his own sovereign choice. In a democracy, if the prime minister or the president gives you property as a personal favor, it is called corruption. But if a king gives you property, it is called royal favor. And no one can question it or protest it because as owner, it is his prerogative to do as he pleases. Not only does a king possess the authority to distribute his property anytime, anywhere, to anyone, as much as he wishes, but he also can switch his property from one person to another. He can take something from one person and give it to you, or he can take something from you and give it to somebody else.
Because a king’s dominion is so closely tied to territory, his wealth is measured by the size and richness of his domain. That is why kings always want to expand their kingdom; they seek to increase their wealth. Think about the British, French, and Spanish kingdoms of the last several hundred years. The kings of those realms dispatched ships and established colonies all over the world. Why? Because they wanted to enlarge the borders and fill the coffers of their kingdoms. The larger and richer their domain, the greater their reputation and glory.
KING AND LORD
Although I have been speaking about lordship from the context of earthly kingdoms, everything I have said so far applies with even greater validity to the Kingdom of Heaven and its King. We have already seen that The Most High Yah is the King of heaven and earth by divine right of creation; He is King of all because He created all. And because every king is automatically a lord, the King of all is also the Lord of all; He owns everything because He made everything.
The Bible, the constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven, plainly identifies The Most High Yah as King and Lord of all. One of the most common Hebrew words used to refer to The Most High Yah in the Old Testament is adonai, which literally means proprietor or owner. It is usually translated “lord.” The personal name for The Most High Yah, Yah, although difficult to translate with complete accuracy, carries the same idea of master, owner, or lord.
This biblical picture of The Most High Yah as Lord is further enhanced by the fact that in most Bible versions, the personal name Yah, wherever it occurs, is replaced with the word “Lord.” This is in keeping with an ancient Hebrew tradition where devout Hebrews so respected and honored The Most High Yah’s name that they would not even speak it or read it aloud to ensure that they did not inadvertently violate the Third Commandment by misusing His name. Instead, they substituted the word adonai, or “Lord.”
So over and over the truth is hammered home: The Most High Yah is the Lord...The Most High Yah is the Lord...The Most High Yah is the Lord. This truth is reiterated even in the most basic confession of faith for a Hebrew, recited every morning:
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our The Most High Yah, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your The Most High Yah with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).
So in this way the Hebrews were reminded every day that their The Most High Yah was Owner of all. This included Heaven and earth. An ancient Hebrew poet expressed it this way:
May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth He has given to man (Psalm 115:15-16, emphasis added).
As Maker and Owner of heaven and earth, The Most High Yah could give any portion of it to anyone He chose. And He chose to give the earth to man, not for man to be owner but ruler/manager, or steward. Here are some additional references verifying The Most High Yah’s rights to Lordship over the property of earth:
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters (Psalm 24:1-2).
For The Most High Yah is the King of all the earth; sing to Him a psalm of praise. The Most High Yah reigns over the nations; The Most High Yah is seated on His holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the The Most High Yah of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to The Most High Yah; He is greatly exalted (Psalm 47:7-9).
And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it (Exodus 7:5).
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:1a).
I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing (Psalm 16:2).
The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the Lord will praise Him—may your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before Him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and He rules over the nations (Psalm 22:26-28).
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want (Psalm 23:1).
Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is He, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty—He is the King of glory (Psalm 24:7-10).
“The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,” declares the Lord Almighty (Haggai 2:8).
In the same way as the Old Testament reveals The Most High Yah as King and Lord and Owner of all, the New Testament reveals Yahashua Christ as Lord and Owner of all. First of all, as we have already seen, Yahashua came announcing the arrival and reestablishment of the Kingdom of heaven on earth, something only the King Himself could do. And because a king is automatically a lord, this means that Yahashua is Lord also.
In addition, the most common Greek word for “lord,” kurios, is applied to Yahashua repeatedly in the New Testament. Kurios signifies having power. It also means one who possesses ultimate authority; master. Everything the Old Testament says about The Most High Yah as Lord, the New Testament says about Yahashua.
The Lordship of Yahashua is also by creative rights and was a natural result of His role in the creation of all things both seen and unseen. In essence, we do not “make” Yahashua Lord; He is Lord by creative right, whether we acknowledge Him or not. In His pre existence before He came to earth, Yahashua was identified as “the Word.” It was in this dimension that He was the source of creation. Let us read the record of His creative activity that gives Him Lordship rights:
In the beginning The Most High Yah created the heavens and the earth
(Genesis 1:1).
And The Most High Yah said, “Let there be light,” and there was light
(Genesis 1:3).
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with The Most High Yah, and the Word was The Most High Yah. He was with The Most High Yah in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made (John 1:1-3).
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of The Most High Yah’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word (Hebrews 1:2-3a).
Here is ample evidence that Yahashua as the eternal Word was responsible for the creation of the universe and for sustaining it.
One familiar story about Yahashua drives this point home. Only a week before His death, Yahashua was preparing to enter Jerusalem, but He intended to do it in a very specific way.
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Yahashua sent two of His disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’” They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They answered as Yahashua had told them to, and the people let them go (Mark 11:1-6).
In this story, Yahashua acted in His authority as Lord. There is no indication that He had prearranged this with the owner of the colt or that He asked anyone’s permission. As Lord of all, He owned the colt anyway. Yahashua just told His disciples, “Bring me the colt.” When challenged, all the disciples had to say was, “The Lord needs it.” That was all it took; the owners released the colt.
https://youtu.be/kdWCGG55RVE
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
THE ORIGINAL KINGDOM CONCEPT: COLONIZATION OF THE EARTH-- PART 2
Exodus chapter 20
Today we are walking in The Original Concept: Colonization Of The Earth Part 2!!!!
Today we look to the word- KINGDOM- H4467- mamlakah- dominion, i.e. (abstractly) the estate (rule) or (concretely) the country (realm):—kingdom, king's, reign, royal.
The Torah testifies...............
Deuteronomy 17:20
IThat his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, H4467 he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
The prophets proclaim..................
Micah 4:8
And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom H4467 shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.
The writings bear witness...........................
2 Chronicles 20:6
And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms H4467 of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?
THE MOST HIGH YAH’S COLONIAL INTENT
The Most High Yah never does anything for no purpose. From the very beginning, The Most High Yah’s intent for the earth was that it be colonized. Isaiah, an ancient scribe and spokesman for the King, wrote:
...He who created the heavens, He is The Most High Yah; He who fashioned and made the earth, He founded it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited... (Isaiah 45:18).
Our presence on earth was a colonial decision by our King. He created this planet as new territory, fashioned us out of the same material, planted us here, and issued the colonial charter giving us dominion. We own nothing but have access to everything, as long as we operate within the parameters of the governing principles the King has established for His Kingdom. This is what it means to be a colony of Heaven.
The concept of colonization is the most important component of a kingdom that we must understand or else it will be impossible to fully grasp the essence of the message of the Bible, the prophets, and the focus and priority of Yahashua Hamachiach. It is the misunderstanding or ignorance of this kingdom concept of colonization that has produced all human religions and sects. Christianity as a religion is itself a product of this misunderstanding. The primary purpose, motive, plan, and program of The Most High Yah the Creator was to colonize earth with Heaven.
Understanding the concept of colonization is key because once we understand what The Most High Yah intended, we will understand what The Most High Yah is doing. He put people on this planet for the purpose of expanding His influence and authority from the supernatural realm to the natural realm. A colony, by definition, is populated by people who originally came from another place. It is an outpost inhabited by citizens of a faraway country whose allegiance remains with their home government. Stated another way, a colony is “a group of emigrants or their descendants who settle in a distant land but remain subject to the parent country.”
Colonization involves citizens of one country inhabiting foreign territory for the purpose of influencing that domain with the culture and values of their native country and governing it with the laws of their home government. For example, the message of Yahashua as stated in His mission statement recorded in Matthew 4:17, “...the kingdom of heaven has arrived” (author’s paraphrase), would indicate that the first colony of Heaven had returned to earth through Him. As citizens of heaven, we inhabit the earth for the purpose of influencing it with the culture and values of Heaven and bringing it under the government of the King of Heaven.
Paul of Tarsus, a first-century ambassador and colonizer for the King of heaven, described the King’s colonial intent this way:
...to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in The Most High Yah, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of The Most High Yah should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Hamachiach Yahashua our Lord (Ephesians 3:9-11).
The Most High Yah’s intent was to plant a colony of His citizens on the earth to make His “manifold wisdom” His heart, mind, will, and desires known to “the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.” In other words, to the spirit world. His purpose in colonizing earth was to show the spiritual powers of darkness how beings created in His own image could be planted on the earth and bring in the government and culture of Heaven so that in the end, the earth would look just like Heaven.
In summary:
A colony is a group of citizens established in a foreign territory to influence that domain for their home government.
A colony is a foreign territory inhabited by citizens charged to influence that domain with the culture and values of their government.
A colony is the presence of a distinct cultural citizenry in a foreign territory governed by the laws and culture of their home government.
Such is the concept of kingdom colonization.
UNDERSTANDING KINGDOM CONCEPTS
Studying the concept of kingdoms is important for a couple of reasons. First, because most of us today, particularly in the west, have never lived in a kingdom, the concept is completely foreign to us. We simply do not know what it is like to live under a king. This might not be a problem were it not for the second reason for studying the Kingdom: The Most High Yah’s government, the government of Heaven, is a kingdom, and The Most High Yah is the King. And because His Kingdom extends through all creation, encompassing both the supernatural and the natural realms, it covers us also, which is why we need to understand it. A third and critical reason to study and restore this concept of kingdom is because the Bible is not about a religion or an organization but a King and His Kingdom. Therefore, in order to correctly understand, interpret, and apply the Scriptures, knowledge of kingdoms is necessary.
The kingdom is the oldest of all forms of government and the only one that is of divine origin. The Most High Yah “invented” the kingdom concept and established it first in Heaven. Simply stated, a kingdom is simply a domain over which a king has rulership. Heaven was the first domain that The Most High Yah created. Although invisible, it is a very real place, even more real than what we call reality. The natural came from the supernatural; therefore, the supernatural is always more real than the natural. Heaven is more real than earth, even though we cannot see it with our physical eyes. In the beginning, The Most High Yah established a kingdom as the governmental system for ruling the supernatural realm of Heaven.
Once His Kingdom was established in Heaven, The Most High Yah desired to extend it to another realm. With this end in mind (the big picture) He created a visible, physical universe with billions of stars, including the one we call Sol, the sun around which revolves this planet we call Earth. The King chose this planet specifically as the location of His Kingdom colony in the natural realm. He created it for that purpose. Then He placed on it human beings created in His image to run the colony for Him. In this way, The Most High Yah also established the first earthly kingdom, which was merely an extension of His Kingdom in Heaven.
Through rebellion against the King, however, man lost his rulership. We have been trying to get it back ever since. Even though we lost our earthly kingdom, we still retain the original kingdom idea that the King implanted in our spirit. We are searching for the Kingdom all the time, but without The Most High Yah we can never find it because it is from Him.
In our Kingdom's search through the ages, man has developed and experimented with many different systems of government, as we saw earlier in this teaching. Every one of them, including those we call kingdoms, are defective because mankind is defective. But they all are driven by our desire to regain and restore the original Kingdom. This is not a “utopian” fantasy. In the beginning, The Most High Yah established utopia in heaven and then extended it to earth. Our utopian dreams are simply expressions of our yearning to regain the Kingdom we once had but lost.
According to the “colonial charter” stated in Genesis 1:26 that we looked at earlier, man originally was given an earthly kingdom to rule over, which was perfect. Adam and Eve were overlords of the physical domain, co rulers who themselves were ruled only by The Most High Yah, their Creator-King. They were His people, and He was their The Most High Yah; there was no intermediary rulership.
Human kingdoms, which at best were but dim and flawed reflections of The Most High Yah’s Kingdom, had citizens who were also subjects of the king, meaning that they were “subject” to the king’s personal ambitions, goals, whims, and desires. The Most High Yah’s Kingdom is different. In the Kingdom of The Most High Yah there are no subjects, only citizens—but every citizen is a king (or queen) in his or her own right. This is why the Bible refers to The Most High Yah as the “King of kings.” He is the High King of Heaven who rules over the human kings He created in turn to rule over the earthly domain.
THE KINGDOM IS HERE
Adam and Eve’s rebellion cost them their kingdom. Chapter 3 of Genesis relates the sad story of how the human pair fell victim to the lies and deceptions of the serpent, which embodied the prince of darkness, that fallen angel known as satan or lucifer. With Adam and Eve’s abdication, HaSatan seized control of their earthly domain as a brazen, arrogant, and illegal pretender to the throne.
Immediately the King of Heaven put in motion His plan to restore what man had lost. And what did man lose? A kingdom. Adam and Eve did not lose a religion because they had never had a religion; they had a kingdom. So when The Most High Yah set out to restore what they had lost, He set out to restore a kingdom, not a religion. Religion is an invention of man, born of his efforts to find The Most High Yah and restore the kingdom on his own. But only The Most High Yah can restore the kingdom man lost.
After the disaster in Eden, the King confronted His rebellious co rulers and their deceiver and addressed each one in turn. Of greatest interest to us in this context is what the King said to the serpent, because it has kingdom implications:
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel (Genesis 3:15).
Referring to the woman’s “offspring” by the singular pronoun “He,” indicates that the King was speaking of one specific offspring— one who would strike a fatal blow against lucifer and his schemes by “crushing” his head. As the rest of Scripture makes abundantly clear, this one specific offspring appeared thousands of years later as the man Yahashua Hamachiach of Nazareth, who was the Son of The Most High Yah embodied in human flesh.
When Yahashua appeared on the scene in real, space-time history, He brought a message not of a religion, new or old, but of the Kingdom:
From that time on Yahashua began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17).
These are the first recorded words of Yahashua. The phrase “that time” refers to the arrest of John the Baptist, a prophet whose mission was to announce the arrival of the King. Now the King Himself was on the scene, and He was announcing the arrival of the Kingdom. This was the only message Yahashua preached. Search all four of the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and you will find that Yahashua always talked about the Kingdom. Everything He said and did related to the Kingdom and its arrival on earth.
Yahashua said, “Repent” (which means to change your mind or adopt a new way of thinking), “for the kingdom of heaven is near” (which means, in effect, that it has arrived). In other words, Yahashua was saying, “Change your way of thinking! The Kingdom of Heaven is here! I brought it with me!” When Yahashua brought the Kingdom of Heaven to earth, He also brought the promise of restoring to mankind the dominion over the earth that Adam and Eve had lost in Eden. He brought back our rulership.
Before we could be fully restored to our Kingdom, however, the matter of our rebellion against The Most High Yah had to be dealt with. This rebellion is what the Bible calls sin, and it is universal in human nature, a legacy of Adam and Eve’s treason in Eden so long ago. Yahashua’ death on the cross paid the price for our rebellion so that we could be restored to a right standing with The Most High Yah, our King, and be reinstalled in our original and rightful place as rulers of the earthly domain. The “gospel” message—the “good news”—is more than the Cross. The Crucifixion stake is the doorway that gets us back into the Kingdom. The Crucifixtion stake of Hamachiach, therefore, is all about Kingdom restoration. It is about restoration of power and authority. It is about regaining rulership, not religion.
SONS, NOT SERVANTS
Why did The Most High Yah wait thousands of years from the promise in Eden of Kingdom restoration to its realization with the coming of Yahashua? He had to allow the course of human history to flow until the timing was right. In order for us to understand what we lost when we lost the Kingdom, much less understand kingdom principles, The Most High Yah needed the right prototype as an example. Across the millennia, many human civilizations and kingdoms rose and fell until finally a kingdom appeared that had everything The Most High Yah needed to show how His Kingdom was supposed to work. When the Roman Empire came to power, it had a concept of citizenship. It had a concept of lordship (ownership). It had a king and a domain. It practiced colonization. Rome had such an influence that wherever it advanced, that part of the world became like Rome. When The Most High Yah saw Rome, He said, “That’s exactly what I want.”
When the time was right, the King of Heaven sent His Son to restore His Kingdom on earth. Paul of Tarsus stated it this way:
But when the time had fully come, The Most High Yah sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons (Galatians 4:4-5).
The fullness of time has nothing to do with clocks but everything to do with seasons. When the season of history was right, when the Roman Empire had risen to serve as a living example, when everything was in place according to divine purpose, The Most High Yah sent His Son into the physical world with the message that the Kingdom of Heaven had arrived. What was His purpose in restoring the Kingdom? Not to give us a religion but to restore to us our “full rights” as sons and daughters of the King.
The King of Heaven wants sons and daughters, not servants. Religion produces servants. It revels in the spirit of servitude. Please don’t misunderstand me. A servant heart is, as Yahashua said, the key to greatness in the Kingdom of The Most High Yah (see Matt. 20:26-27). And He said that He Himself came to serve rather than to be served (see Matt. 20:28). But this kind of service should always proceed from the place of security in our knowledge that we are sons and daughters of the King and simply are following His example. Servanthood in the religious spirit, on the other hand, proceeds from a sense of false humility and self-deprecation where one sees oneself not as a son or daughter, but as a slave. Sons and daughters of the King see service as a privilege; religious people see it as an obligation. And therein lies the difference. Sons and daughters serve willingly because they are sons and daughters. Religious people serve grudgingly because they feel they have no choice if they hope to win the approval of the King. Never confuse serving with being a servant.
Yahashua came that we might “receive the full rights of sons.” This is a legal language. There is not a bit of religion in these words. They refer to legal rights and entitlements based on the relationship of birth. We are sons and daughters of The Most High Yah. Sonship is our right by creation. Hamachiach did not die to improve us; He died to regain and confirm us. The price He paid in His own blood was not to make us worthy but to prove our worth. He did not come to earth to enlist an army of servants. He came to restore the King’s sons and daughters to their rightful position—rulership as heirs of His Kingdom.
If we are heirs and are destined to rule in our Father’s Kingdom, then we had better learn to understand His Kingdom and how it operates. We had better learn its principles and concepts. We must learn how to think, talk, and live like Kingdom citizens. The Kingdom is the most important message of our age and the answer to the dilemma of ancient and modern man. According to Yahashua Hamachiach, everyone is trying all they can to find it and forcing their way through life to lay hold on it:
Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of The Most High Yah is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it (Luke 16:16b).
Everyone of the over six billion people on earth are searching for this Kingdom. This teaching is to help you and your fellow planet dwellers discover and understand it. With this end in mind, the remaining series of this teaching will examine in detail key concepts of the Kingdom of Heaven.
PRINCIPLES
Colonization is Heaven’s system for earthly influence.
The Most High Yah’s original intent was to extend His heavenly government over the earth, and His plan for accomplishing this was to establish a colony of Heaven on the earth.
By creative right, the earth is Heaven’s “crown land.”
The King gave man rulership of the earth, not ownership.
A colony is “a group of emigrants or their descendants who settle in a distant land but remain subject to the parent country.”
As citizens of Heaven, we inhabit the earth for the purpose of influencing it with the culture and values of heaven and bringing it under the government of the King of Heaven.
The Most High Yah’s government, the government of Heaven, is a Kingdom, and The Most High Yah is the King.
A kingdom is simply a domain over which a king has rulership.
In the Kingdom of The Most High Yah there are no subjects, only citizens—but every citizen is a king (or queen) in his or her own right.
When Yahashua brought the Kingdom of Heaven to earth, He brought also the promise of restoring to mankind the dominion over the earth that Adam and Eve had lost in Eden.
11. The King of Heaven wants sons and daughters, not servants.
12. Yahashua came that we might “receive the full rights of sons.”
https://youtu.be/iEd97hRKehU
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