Hebrews chapter 3
Today we are walking in: How To Enter In: The Words Of Yahusha
Exodus 3:18
And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, H4057 that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
Today we look to the word-WILDERNESS- H4057 midbar --wilderness, pasture, uninhabited land
The Torah testifies.......................................
Genesis 16:7
And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, H4057 by the fountain in the way to Shur.
Exodus 4:27
And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness H4057 to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.
Numbers 14:33
And your children shall wander in the wilderness H4057 forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. H4057
Deuteronomy 1:31
And in the wilderness, H4057 where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
The prophets proclaim..................
Isaiah 42:11
Let the wilderness H4057 and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Isaiah 43:19
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, H4057 and rivers in the desert.
Jeremiah 9:12
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, H4057 that none passeth through?
Ezekiel 20:13
But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: H4057 they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, H4057 to consume them.
The Writings bear witness.............
Joshua 1:4
From the wilderness H4057 and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
2Chronicles 1:3
So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness. H4057
Nehemiah 9:19
Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: H4057 the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.
Psalm 65:12
They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: H4057 and the little hills rejoice on every side.
Psalm 78:15
He clave the rocks in the wilderness, H4057 and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
The Promised Land — How to Enter In:
The Words of Yahusha
Yah is opening the eyes of His children!
His purpose is that His children would see His plan, so they might alter the course of their lives, and might prepare themselves to enter in to the Promised Land. Yahusha has revealed, in the Scriptures, the overall plan of Yah for His people, in order that they might heed the Scriptures, and be able to enter in.
Yah’s plan for His people can be clearly seen in the example of the Israelites being set free from slavery in Egypt.
Notice the two separate steps: 1) Yah brought the Israelites out of Egypt, so that they could 2) enter in to the Promised Land.
Notice however, that even though the Israelites had been ‘saved’ out of the land of Egypt, they did not immediately enter in to the Promised Land. Instead, they were brought into the wilderness to be tested, to prove whether they would meet Yah’s conditions for entering in.
We are then told that because of unbelief, most of that original generation of Israelites failed to enter in to the Promised Land.
Why is the Israelites’ example so important, and of such great significance for us today?
The apostle Jude and the writer to the Hebrews both give this example of the Israelites, as a warning to us today who follow Messiah. We must come out just as they did, by the blood of the Lamb. We must likewise enter in as they were required to do, by faith and obedience (Jude 1:5; Hebrews 3:7-19; Hebrews 4:1-11).
In summarizing the Israelites’ testing in the wilderness, Jude tells us that Yah, having “saved” the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that were not “continuing to believe” (Jude 1:5). Then we are told (Hebrews 4:6,11) that they failed to enter in because of disobedience, which we are then told (Hebrews 3:19) is a form of unbelief.
The result is that out of the original multitudes of those above 20 years of age who were ‘saved’ out of bondage, out of the land of Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb were allowed to enter in to the Promised Land.
Many today have Believed in Yahusha Messiah for salvation, and have been brought out of the bondage of sin. But like the Israelites, we too will fail to enter in, if we fail to heed the warning of their example. That is, if we today hope to enter in to the Promised Land, then we must not go the way of most of that generation in the wilderness. If we hope to enter in, we must be as Joshua and Caleb. To do this, we must choose to heed these New Testament warnings!
How do we enter in? Most today have assumed there is only one requirement to be met, in order to enter in — that one must be redeemed. All of Scripture, as well as the very words of Yahusha Himself, reveal that there are two separate and distinct steps of His plan — each having its own distinct, Biblical requirements to be met — in order that we might attain our overall goal: to enter in to the Promised land.
Our Saviour Yahusha tells us about these two separate steps — of coming out of hasatan’s kingdom, and of entering in to Yah’s kingdom — and what is required for each. Let’s look further at these two steps.
Yahusha made two basic statements. These two statements are repeated among several verses, along with minor variations in other passages, giving multiple, confirming witness as required by Scripture. The first statement shows us the initial or ‘coming out’ step of Yah’s plan. The other statement reveals the final or ‘entering in step.’
Taken together, these two statements reveal Yah’s overall plan for His people, and the requirements they must meet in order to achieve the final goal: our entrance to the Promised Land, also called Life Everlasting, and known as the Kingdom of Yah or the Kingdom of Heaven. All of these terms are euphemisms for eternal Life, and are used interchangeably in the Gospels.
Let us begin with the following passages:
The First Statement of Yahusha: How to Come Out
The first statement by Yahusha reveals the initial requirement for one whose goal is to ‘enter in’ to eternal life. This initial requirement reveals the come out step of the overall plan, and is the part familiar to many today. Let’s look carefully at these words of Yahusha:
…Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood (Revelation 1:5b)
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3)
Yahusha answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of Yah. (John 3:3)
Yahusha answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of Yah. (John 3:5)
In the above passages, Yahusha Himself reveals to us the requirements for the initial or come out step of our journey, the goal of which is to enter in. For those that think these words in the book of Revelation are not Yahusha’s words, one need only read verses 1 and 2 to see this is the Revelation of Yahusha, which was given to Him by the Father; and which He then sent to us by John, to be shown unto Yah’s servants.
In the above passages we see the following features that identify the first step of our journey, to come out of bondage:
Step 1: Come Out of Bondage
Redemption and Cleansing of Sin, by the Blood of the Lamb;
Teshuvah – converting [turning] from our own way, to walk in Father’s Way; redeemed – by the Word (1Pet 1:23);
Baptism in water and in the Spirit.
We see this first step in the example of the Israelites’ deliverance from Egypt. Just as Israel came out of the bondage of Egypt by the Blood of the Lamb, and was then baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1Cor 10:1-2), we too must come out of bondage to Sin and its strength [the Law], by the Blood of the Lamb.
Like Israel, we too must be baptized in the Holy Spirit and in water. This coming out by Blood and water is a requirement that must be met, before one may go on to meet the step 2 requirement.
The Second Statement of Yahusha: How to Enter In
The second statement by Yahusha reveals the final requirement for one whose goal is to enter in to eternal life. This final requirement reveals the ‘enter-in’ step. Notice these words of Yahusha:
…but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. (Matthew 19:17b)
In the above passage, we see clearly that Keeping the commandments is Yah’s requirement for the ‘enter in’ step, keeping in mind that the overall goal is to enter into Life.
In this statement made by Yahusha, He was revealing the step 2 requirement that must be met, but only after meeting the step 1 requirements we saw above [coming out by the Blood of the Lamb].
Some today claim that the above words by Yahusha were only for a certain group, or for a certain era in time. But what do the Scriptures say? Let’s look at some more passages for confirmation:
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:14)
I Yahusha have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come’… (Revelation 22:16-17a)
In the above passages, we see two things. First, we are told plainly and clearly, that doing [to do, make, bring forth, perform, keep, fulfill] His Commandments is a requirement for entering in, through the gates, into the city [the City is another expression of the New Jerusalem, the City of the Great King, the Kingdom of Heaven, or Eternal Life].
Second, we are told that these things are to be testified in the churches, telling us that these words are for us today. In fact, all the words spoken by Yahusha are for us today!
Fiveamprayer, Do not let the error of the Theologians or Pastors rob you of your eternal inheritance!
For further confirmation of Scripture, let’s look at these two passages:
Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. (Psalms 50:5)
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of Yah, AND the faith of Yahusha. (Revelation 14:12)
In the first passage, we see that the ‘Saints’ are those citizens who have made a covenant with Yah by Sacrifice, telling us that this can only be done by the shedding of Blood of an acceptable Sacrifice. So the ‘Saints’ are those that have completed the step 1 requirement of coming out by the sacrifice of the Blood of Yahusha. These are all the redeemed citizens.
In the second passage, the ‘Saints’ are seen again, as those who have completed the first requirement — of having the Faith of Yahusha they received when they came out by the Blood of the Lamb in step 1. However, these saints are also seen keeping the Commandments of Yah, which is the step 2 requirement. Thus they are Ready to enter in.
How do these two steps of Father’s overall plan for entering in to the Promised Land, compare with the rest of Scripture, and with the writings of the Law and the Prophets? It is very important that we look carefully, for as we saw in What You Believe: True or False? The Simple Biblical Test, there must be complete agreement within all of Scripture in order to be confirmed as Truth.
As we saw above in step 1, Israel came out of the bondage of Egypt by the Blood of the Lamb, and was then baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. This is a pattern for us today. The entire process was done by the Grace of Yah. Israel is an example for us, in how to ‘come out.’
In the same way, Israel is an example, and a warning for us, regarding the ‘enter in’ step of our journey. Israel came out by the Blood of the Lamb, but they failed to enter in — for a number reasons, which are repeated for our warning today.
Why Israel Failed to Enter In
In the Book of Hebrews, the entire 3rd and 4th chapters are devoted to revealing why most of that generation of Israel failed to enter in to the Promised Land. These passages go on to warn us that that we today, also might not enter in, unless we heed the Israelites’ example.
For detailed descriptions of exactly why the Israelites failed to enter in, and what they did, let’s look at a few writings of the Prophets:
Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Most High that sanctify them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. (Ezekiel 20:12-13)
Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. (Ezekiel 20:15-16)
Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. (Ezekiel 20:21)
I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries; Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols. (Ezekiel 20:23-24)
In the above passages, notice the items highlighting what Israel did. How do the above Scripture passages compare with what you hear from your spiritual Leaders today about ‘entering in’ to the Promised Land?
Their Example: A Warning For Us
Psalms 106 reveals further details, for our warning, of why most of that generation of Israel failed to enter in. Let’s look at some New Testament passages:
But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? (Hebrews 3:17)
What is the New Testament conclusion from Hebrews 3:17, as to what they did? Notice the following passage:
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (1John 3:4)
So we see from the new Testament that Israel fell in the wilderness, because they Transgressed the Law [Torah].
Now let us notice the advice given to us today, as New Testament citizens:
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:11-12)
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief <543>. (Hebrews 4:11)
The Greek word used here in Hebrews 4:11 is ‘apeitheia,’ Strong’s number <543>, and comes from the word ‘apeithes,’ Strong’s number <543>, which means “disobedience.”
So we are warned in 1 Corinthians, and in the book of Hebrews, that we too could fail to enter in, because of disobedience — because of transgression of the Law [Torah]!
Only By Grace
Lest anyone think that Grace is a separate idea from obedience to the Commandments, we must look briefly at two of the many examples of Biblical ‘Grace’ seen in the Scriptures. Notice the following:
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Yahusha Hamachiach. (John 1:17)
To whom Yah would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Hamachiach in you, the hope of glory: (Colossians 1:27)
One truth of Biblical Grace we see in the above Scripture passages, is that the Law [the Torah] was given by Moses, but Grace — the power and ability to fulfill the Torah, to keep it, obey it, and walk in it — came by Yahusha Messiah. This is the Grace that Yahusha gives us from within, as He lives within us.
Not only Grace, but likewise Truth, came by Yahusha Messiah. Yahusha Messiah came as the Living Truth. He revealed Truth by showing us, by the example of His life, demonstrating for us exactly how He would provide the Grace to us as needed, the ability He gives us to live in obedience to the Written Truth [the Torah — Psalms 119:142], just as He did, when He lived and walked on the earth 2,000 years ago.
Another truth of Biblical Grace in Scripture can be seen in the Biblical definition of the New Covenant. Notice the following passages:
Behold, the days come, saith the Most High, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah…But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Most High, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their Yah, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:31,33)
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Most High; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a Yah, and they shall be to me a people: (Hebrews 8:10)
Moses gave us the externals of the Law [written on tables of stone]. But Yahusha Messiah gave us the internals of the Law — by writing them on tables of flesh, on our mind, and our heart [so that we would have the heart-felt desire to obey them], exactly as the New Covenant promises are described above, in Jeremiah and in the Book of Hebrews.
Likewise, The apostle Paul had much to say on the subject of Biblical Grace, and the source of Grace. Notice what Paul said:
For I delight in the law of Yah after the inward man: (Romans 7:22)
Paul must have fully understood the mystery of Messiah-in-you, and must have understood the goal of the New Covenant fulfillment within Yah’s people — that Yahusha would actually live within us, and would write the Torah internally on our heart, rather than externally on tables of stone, or in a Bible.
Yahusha, as He lives within us, would then provide us His Grace — the enablement He gives us to obey the Torah — even when we step out in ‘blind obedience’ to the Torah.
Paul has a great deal more to tell us about Biblical Grace. Notice in the following passages two of the purposes of this Grace:
…we have received grace… for obedience to the faith… (Romans 1:5a)
…let us have grace, whereby [by which] we may serve Yah acceptably… (Hebrews 12:28)
The above passages confirm to us that Biblical Grace is a gift, given to us by Yahusha, for the purpose of our obedience to ‘The Faith,’ so that by His Grace we may serve Him in an acceptable manner.
Conclusion
Fiveamprayer, you may have come out by Yah’s Grace, by the Blood of the Lamb. You may have been baptized in Water. You may have been baptized in the Spirit, and may have received all spiritual gifts. Thus far, you have done well — you have completed step 1 of Yah’s program.
But according to the words of Yahusha, and all of Scripture, you and I will enter in, only if we meet Yah’s step 2 requirements — by being obedient to Father’s Commandments, by His Grace.
This is How to enter in to the Promised Land, according to the Words of Yahusha.
The Divine destiny connection, the chain that links us together.
Monday, April 17, 2023
Sunday, April 16, 2023
THE PROMISED LAND: HOW TO ENTER IN
1 Corinthians chapter 10
Today we are walking in: The Promised Land: How To Enter In
Exodus 3:18
And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, H4057 that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
Today we look to the word-WILDERNESS- H4057 midbar --wilderness, pasture, uninhabited land
The Torah testifies.......................................
Genesis 16:7
And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, H4057 by the fountain in the way to Shur.
Exodus 4:27
And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness H4057 to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.
Numbers 14:33
And your children shall wander in the wilderness H4057 forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. H4057
Deuteronomy 1:31
And in the wilderness, H4057 where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
The prophets proclaim..................
Isaiah 42:11
Let the wilderness H4057 and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Isaiah 43:19
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, H4057 and rivers in the desert.
Jeremiah 9:12
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, H4057 that none passeth through?
Ezekiel 20:13
But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: H4057 they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, H4057 to consume them.
The Writings bear witness.............
Joshua 1:4
From the wilderness H4057 and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
2Chronicles 1:3
So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness. H4057
Nehemiah 9:19
Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: H4057 the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.
Psalm 65:12
They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: H4057 and the little hills rejoice on every side.
Psalm 78:15
He clave the rocks in the wilderness, H4057 and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
The Promised Land — How to Enter In:
The Words of Yahusha
Yah is opening the eyes of His children!
His purpose is that His children would see His plan, so they might alter the course of their lives, and might prepare themselves to enter in to the Promised Land. Yahusha has revealed, in the Scriptures, the overall plan of Yah for His people, in order that they might heed the Scriptures, and be able to enter in.
Yah’s plan for His people can be clearly seen in the example of the Israelites being set free from slavery in Egypt.
Notice the two separate steps: 1) Yah brought the Israelites out of Egypt, so that they could 2) enter in to the Promised Land.
Notice however, that even though the Israelites had been ‘saved’ out of the land of Egypt, they did not immediately enter in to the Promised Land. Instead, they were brought into the wilderness to be tested, to prove whether they would meet Yah’s conditions for entering in.
We are then told that because of unbelief, most of that original generation of Israelites failed to enter in to the Promised Land.
Why is the Israelites’ example so important, and of such great significance for us today?
The apostle Jude and the writer to the Hebrews both give this example of the Israelites, as a warning to us today who follow Messiah. We must come out just as they did, by the blood of the Lamb. We must likewise enter in as they were required to do, by faith and obedience (Jude 1:5; Hebrews 3:7-19; Hebrews 4:1-11).
In summarizing the Israelites’ testing in the wilderness, Jude tells us that Yah, having “saved” the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that were not “continuing to believe” (Jude 1:5). Then we are told (Hebrews 4:6,11) that they failed to enter in because of disobedience, which we are then told (Hebrews 3:19) is a form of unbelief.
The result is that out of the original multitudes of those above 20 years of age who were ‘saved’ out of bondage, out of the land of Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb were allowed to enter in to the Promised Land.
Many today have Believed in Yahusha Messiah for salvation, and have been brought out of the bondage of sin. But like the Israelites, we too will fail to enter in, if we fail to heed the warning of their example. That is, if we today hope to enter in to the Promised Land, then we must not go the way of most of that generation in the wilderness. If we hope to enter in, we must be as Joshua and Caleb. To do this, we must choose to heed these New Testament warnings!
How do we enter in? Most today have assumed there is only one requirement to be met, in order to enter in — that one must be redeemed. All of Scripture, as well as the very words of Yahusha Himself, reveal that there are two separate and distinct steps of His plan — each having its own distinct, Biblical requirements to be met — in order that we might attain our overall goal: to enter in to the Promised land.
Our Saviour Yahusha tells us about these two separate steps — of coming out of hasatan’s kingdom, and of entering in to Yah’s kingdom — and what is required for each. Let’s look further at these two steps.
Yahusha made two basic statements. These two statements are repeated among several verses, along with minor variations in other passages, giving multiple, confirming witness as required by Scripture. The first statement shows us the initial or ‘coming out’ step of Yah’s plan. The other statement reveals the final or ‘entering in step.’
Taken together, these two statements reveal Yah’s overall plan for His people, and the requirements they must meet in order to achieve the final goal: our entrance to the Promised Land, also called Life Everlasting, and known as the Kingdom of Yah or the Kingdom of Heaven. All of these terms are euphemisms for eternal Life, and are used interchangeably in the Gospels.
Let us begin with the following passages:
The First Statement of Yahusha: How to Come Out
The first statement by Yahusha reveals the initial requirement for one whose goal is to ‘enter in’ to eternal life. This initial requirement reveals the come out step of the overall plan, and is the part familiar to many today. Let’s look carefully at these words of Yahusha:
…Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood (Revelation 1:5b)
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3)
Yahusha answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of Yah. (John 3:3)
Yahusha answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of Yah. (John 3:5)
In the above passages, Yahusha Himself reveals to us the requirements for the initial or come out step of our journey, the goal of which is to enter in. For those that think these words in the book of Revelation are not Yahusha’s words, one need only read verses 1 and 2 to see this is the Revelation of Yahusha, which was given to Him by the Father; and which He then sent to us by John, to be shown unto Yah’s servants.
In the above passages we see the following features that identify the first step of our journey, to come out of bondage:
Step 1: Come Out of Bondage
Redemption and Cleansing of Sin, by the Blood of the Lamb;
Teshuvah – converting [turning] from our own way, to walk in Father’s Way; redeemed – by the Word (1Pet 1:23);
Baptism in water and in the Spirit.
We see this first step in the example of the Israelites’ deliverance from Egypt. Just as Israel came out of the bondage of Egypt by the Blood of the Lamb, and was then baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1Cor 10:1-2), we too must come out of bondage to Sin and its strength [the Law], by the Blood of the Lamb.
Like Israel, we too must be baptized in the Holy Spirit and in water. This coming out by Blood and water is a requirement that must be met, before one may go on to meet the step 2 requirement.
The Second Statement of Yahusha: How to Enter In
The second statement by Yahusha reveals the final requirement for one whose goal is to enter in to eternal life. This final requirement reveals the ‘enter-in’ step. Notice these words of Yahusha:
…but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. (Matthew 19:17b)
In the above passage, we see clearly that Keeping the commandments is Yah’s requirement for the ‘enter in’ step, keeping in mind that the overall goal is to enter into Life.
In this statement made by Yahusha, He was revealing the step 2 requirement that must be met, but only after meeting the step 1 requirements we saw above [coming out by the Blood of the Lamb].
Some today claim that the above words by Yahusha were only for a certain group, or for a certain era in time. But what do the Scriptures say? Let’s look at some more passages for confirmation:
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:14)
I Yahusha have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come’… (Revelation 22:16-17a)
In the above passages, we see two things. First, we are told plainly and clearly, that doing [to do, make, bring forth, perform, keep, fulfill] His Commandments is a requirement for entering in, through the gates, into the city [the City is another expression of the New Jerusalem, the City of the Great King, the Kingdom of Heaven, or Eternal Life].
Second, we are told that these things are to be testified in the churches, telling us that these words are for us today. In fact, all the words spoken by Yahusha are for us today!
Fiveamprayer, Do not let the error of the Theologians or Pastors rob you of your eternal inheritance!
For further confirmation of Scripture, let’s look at these two passages:
Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. (Psalms 50:5)
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of Yah, AND the faith of Yahusha. (Revelation 14:12)
In the first passage, we see that the ‘Saints’ are those citizens who have made a covenant with Yah by Sacrifice, telling us that this can only be done by the shedding of Blood of an acceptable Sacrifice. So the ‘Saints’ are those that have completed the step 1 requirement of coming out by the sacrifice of the Blood of Yahusha. These are all the redeemed citizens.
In the second passage, the ‘Saints’ are seen again, as those who have completed the first requirement — of having the Faith of Yahusha they received when they came out by the Blood of the Lamb in step 1. However, these saints are also seen keeping the Commandments of Yah, which is the step 2 requirement. Thus they are Ready to enter in.
How do these two steps of Father’s overall plan for entering in to the Promised Land, compare with the rest of Scripture, and with the writings of the Law and the Prophets? It is very important that we look carefully, for as we saw in What You Believe: True or False? The Simple Biblical Test, there must be complete agreement within all of Scripture in order to be confirmed as Truth.
As we saw above in step 1, Israel came out of the bondage of Egypt by the Blood of the Lamb, and was then baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. This is a pattern for us today. The entire process was done by the Grace of Yah. Israel is an example for us, in how to ‘come out.’
In the same way, Israel is an example, and a warning for us, regarding the ‘enter in’ step of our journey. Israel came out by the Blood of the Lamb, but they failed to enter in — for a number reasons, which are repeated for our warning today.
Why Israel Failed to Enter In
In the Book of Hebrews, the entire 3rd and 4th chapters are devoted to revealing why most of that generation of Israel failed to enter in to the Promised Land. These passages go on to warn us that that we today, also might not enter in, unless we heed the Israelites’ example.
For detailed descriptions of exactly why the Israelites failed to enter in, and what they did, let’s look at a few writings of the Prophets:
Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Most High that sanctify them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. (Ezekiel 20:12-13)
Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. (Ezekiel 20:15-16)
Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. (Ezekiel 20:21)
I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries; Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols. (Ezekiel 20:23-24)
In the above passages, notice the items highlighting what Israel did. How do the above Scripture passages compare with what you hear from your spiritual Leaders today about ‘entering in’ to the Promised Land?
Their Example: A Warning For Us
Psalms 106 reveals further details, for our warning, of why most of that generation of Israel failed to enter in. Let’s look at some New Testament passages:
But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? (Hebrews 3:17)
What is the New Testament conclusion from Hebrews 3:17, as to what they did? Notice the following passage:
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (1John 3:4)
So we see from the new Testament that Israel fell in the wilderness, because they Transgressed the Law [Torah].
Now let us notice the advice given to us today, as New Testament citizens:
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:11-12)
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief <543>. (Hebrews 4:11)
The Greek word used here in Hebrews 4:11 is ‘apeitheia,’ Strong’s number <543>, and comes from the word ‘apeithes,’ Strong’s number <543>, which means “disobedience.”
So we are warned in 1 Corinthians, and in the book of Hebrews, that we too could fail to enter in, because of disobedience — because of transgression of the Law [Torah]!
Only By Grace
Lest anyone think that Grace is a separate idea from obedience to the Commandments, we must look briefly at two of the many examples of Biblical ‘Grace’ seen in the Scriptures. Notice the following:
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Yahusha Hamachiach. (John 1:17)
To whom Yah would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Hamachiach in you, the hope of glory: (Colossians 1:27)
One truth of Biblical Grace we see in the above Scripture passages, is that the Law [the Torah] was given by Moses, but Grace — the power and ability to fulfill the Torah, to keep it, obey it, and walk in it — came by Yahusha Messiah. This is the Grace that Yahusha gives us from within, as He lives within us.
Not only Grace, but likewise Truth, came by Yahusha Messiah. Yahusha Messiah came as the Living Truth. He revealed Truth by showing us, by the example of His life, demonstrating for us exactly how He would provide the Grace to us as needed, the ability He gives us to live in obedience to the Written Truth [the Torah — Psalms 119:142], just as He did, when He lived and walked on the earth 2,000 years ago.
Another truth of Biblical Grace in Scripture can be seen in the Biblical definition of the New Covenant. Notice the following passages:
Behold, the days come, saith the Most High, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah…But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Most High, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their Yah, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:31,33)
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Most High; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a Yah, and they shall be to me a people: (Hebrews 8:10)
Moses gave us the externals of the Law [written on tables of stone]. But Yahusha Messiah gave us the internals of the Law — by writing them on tables of flesh, on our mind, and our heart [so that we would have the heart-felt desire to obey them], exactly as the New Covenant promises are described above, in Jeremiah and in the Book of Hebrews.
Likewise, The apostle Paul had much to say on the subject of Biblical Grace, and the source of Grace. Notice what Paul said:
For I delight in the law of Yah after the inward man: (Romans 7:22)
Paul must have fully understood the mystery of Messiah-in-you, and must have understood the goal of the New Covenant fulfillment within Yah’s people — that Yahusha would actually live within us, and would write the Torah internally on our heart, rather than externally on tables of stone, or in a Bible.
Yahusha, as He lives within us, would then provide us His Grace — the enablement He gives us to obey the Torah — even when we step out in ‘blind obedience’ to the Torah.
Paul has a great deal more to tell us about Biblical Grace. Notice in the following passages two of the purposes of this Grace:
…we have received grace… for obedience to the faith… (Romans 1:5a)
…let us have grace, whereby [by which] we may serve Yah acceptably… (Hebrews 12:28)
The above passages confirm to us that Biblical Grace is a gift, given to us by Yahusha, for the purpose of our obedience to ‘The Faith,’ so that by His Grace we may serve Him in an acceptable manner.
Conclusion
Fiveamprayer, you may have come out by Yah’s Grace, by the Blood of the Lamb. You may have been baptized in Water. You may have been baptized in the Spirit, and may have received all spiritual gifts. Thus far, you have done well — you have completed step 1 of Yah’s program.
But according to the words of Yahusha, and all of Scripture, you and I will enter in, only if we meet Yah’s step 2 requirements — by being obedient to Father’s Commandments, by His Grace.
This is How to enter in to the Promised Land, according to the Words of Yahusha.
Saturday, April 15, 2023
UNDERSTANDING HOW TO SEEK THE KINGDOM
Matthew chapter 4
Today we are walking in: Understanding How To Seek The Kingdom
Deuteronomy 4:29
But if from thence thou shalt seek H1245 the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
SEEK
Today we look to the word-SEEK-H1245 baqash--to seek, require, desire, exact, request, to find, to seek to secure, to seek the face, to desire, demand
The Torah testifies...............
Genesis 37:15
And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest H1245 thou?
The prophets proclaim..................
Zephaniah 2:3
Seek H1245 ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek H1245 righteousness, seek H1245 meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD'S anger.
The writings bear witness..........................
Ruth 3:1
Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek H1245 rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?
UNDERSTANDING HOW TO SEEK THE KINGDOM
Today we are studying and learning how to seek the Kingdom of Yah. I want you to pay close attention today and be quick in your notes because we are going through a lot and I want you to get it. Yahusha Hamachiach came to earth to inaugurate a Kingdom, not establish a religion. First, He announced the Kingdom in Matthew chapter 4 verse 17 Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is near. Then He taught about the Kingdom wherever He went always saying The kingdom of Heaven is like…. He also identified the Kingdom of Yah as the first priority of man when he said in Matthew chapter 6 verse 33, read it with me, But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Only those who seek the Kingdom of Yah will find it, and with the seeking comes the understanding of the Kingdom and how it operates. Yahusha told His closest followers The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of Heaven has been given to you… Are you with me? He states this in Matthew chapter 13 verse 11. Come on now stay with me. We are going somewhere. When we understand how the Kingdom operates, we will understand how to live in the Kingdom and experience its fullness in our lives. Our first priority, the principal and most important activity of our life is to seek the Kingdom of Yah. Do you know how we do that? What does it mean to seek Yah’s Kingdom? How can we find the Kingdom of Yah if we don’t know how to look for it or what to look for? Write this down, Yah will never demand from us what He does not supply. He will never instruct us to do something that He doesn’t show us how to do. Even more important, He wants us to seek and find His Kingdom. He gave us this promise. Write it down in your notes. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. Where did he say this? In Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 13. Finding Yah is the same as finding His Kingdom because the two are inseparable. And Yahusha assures us Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Now, with these scriptural truths and assurances in mind, let’s take a closer look at our divine priority mandate. Write this down, Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. A mandate is a command issued by a ruler. Yahusha’ charge to us to seek first the Kingdom and righteousness of Yah is a command, not a suggestion. Let me repeat that! Yahusha’ charge to us to seek first the Kingdom and righteousness of Yah is a command, not a suggestion. Listen, if we claim to be His followers and call Him Most High, we must obey Him. Otherwise, He is not our Most High, we will never find the Kingdom and never experience the fulfillment of our life purpose. The first part of the divine priority is what we can call the divine command: seek. Write this down, to seek means to pursue with vigor and determination. The idea is that of a diligent, unceasing search until the object of the search is found. Look at Luke chapter 15. Yahusha tells of a man with 100 sheep who lost one, and of a woman with 10 silver coins who lost one, and how both of them searched diligently and did not give up until they recovered that which was lost. This is what it means to seek. We are to pursue the Kingdom of Yah with determination and vigor. Are you still here? Listen, to seek also means to study. Students seek knowledge and understanding. Understand that Kingdom citizens must be students of the Kingdom and of its constitution, the Bible. Psalm chapter 1 verse 2 says that the blessed man delights in the law of the Most High and meditates on it day and night. Paul, the New Testament ambassador of the King, counsels us to, be diligent to present yourself approved to Yah, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth and he says this in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 15. Write this down, the Greek word for be diligent is spoudazo, which also means study or labor. Seeking the Kingdom means studying it with diligence. Only by committed and rigorous study can the secrets of the Kingdom and the Word of Yah become known to us. As we study, the Spirit of Yah will open our minds to understand. Write this down, seeking also means to explore. Human explorers through the ages traveled the globe seeking new lands, new peoples, new horizons. Exploring carries the element of high adventure, and the Kingdom of Yah is indeed an adventure. We must explore the Kingdom; we must explore its power, its laws, its government, its culture, its society, its commands, its economy, its taxation,everything. The Kingdom of Yah is so vast that we could spend the rest of our lives exploring it yet only scratch the surface. Listen, another critical aspect of seeking is understanding. We could pursue something, seeking it diligently, yet not understand it when we found it. Write this down, without understanding, the search is not complete. Nothing is truly ours until we understand it. Until we understand the Kingdom we cannot properly teach it, pass it on or fully realize its benefits and blessings. Once we understand for ourselves then the promises of the Kingdom will begin manifesting in our lives. Closely related to study and understanding, seek also means to learn. I’m teaching you something today. Are you understanding? Learning is more than mental knowledge of facts and information; the knowledge must be reproducible in practical terms. This means demonstrating the ability to perform the action learned as well as teach it to someone else so that they learn it also. Write this down, seeking often involves taking the time to consider, to sit and ponder something in an effort to understand. This is similar to meditation. Some things require deep thought and analysis before they become comprehensible. David said, When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yahusha said, Why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. We need to take the Word of Yah and consider it, ponder it, chew on it, memorize it, and the more we do the more we will comprehend. When we seek something, we have a desire to know. Who pursues something he has no interest in? Who takes the time to ponder something that means nothing to him? If we desire to know the Kingdom and its ways, the King will make sure our desire is satisfied. Yahusha said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Not only should we desire the Kingdom, we should have a passion for the Kingdom! What are you passionate about? What gets your blood going in the morning? What infuses your life with purpose? Everyone is passionate about something. If you are not passionate about the Kingdom of Yah, then you are focused on the wrong thing. Write this down, anything worth seeking is worth pursuing with diligent dedication. Diligence always involves discipline. If we want to seek the Kingdom it may mean disciplining ourselves to turn off the TV so we can study the Word of Yah. It may mean rearranging our schedule in order to have more time to pray. It may mean reordering our time priorities to ensure we get enough sleep so that we’re not too tired to study with other citizens. Seeking the Kingdom is deliberate and proactive. We will never stumble on it by accident. We must plan for it. Write this down, to seek the Kingdom means to become preoccupied with the Kingdom. If we are seeking the Kingdom, that means we are thinking about it all day long. It possesses us. Everywhere we go and with everything we do and say we are focused on the Kingdom. We evaluate every decision in light of how it will affect our pursuit of the Kingdom. Our every thought, word, motive, and action is Kingdom First! So, if the Divine Command is to seek the Kingdom of Yah, the Divine Priority is that we must seek it first. Seeking the Kingdom first means that we pursue it as the principal thing, the first thing above and before and beyond all other things. Write this down, first means that the Kingdom of Yah is more important to us than anything else. It means that we place the highest value of all on the Kingdom and stand ready to sacrifice anything and everything else for its sake. First means that we establish the Kingdom as our primary interest. All other priorities in life are secondary to the priority of the Kingdom and so far below it as to be almost nonexistent by comparison. Kingdom first does not mean first among many but first and only. When Yah told the Israelites, you shall have no other gods before Me, He was not saying, as long as you worship Me first and foremost, you can have other gods. What He meant was that they were never to bring any other gods before His face or into His presence. Yah claimed exclusive rights to their worship, love, and devotion. The Kingdom First priority is just as exclusive. Write this down, seeking the Kingdom of Yah first means considering the interests of the Kingdom before making decisions when and where we go to school, who we marry, what job we accept, how we spend our money. Before deciding on these and other issues, we need to ask the question, Is this in line with the Kingdom of Yah? Listen, every day we are bombarded with opportunities to compromise our morality, honesty, integrity, and character. Your boss asks you to do something dishonest at work. Your boyfriend or girlfriend tries to talk you into an immoral relationship. You are tempted to cheat on your taxes. Learn to ask yourself, Will this be pleasing to the Kingdom? It’s not worth violating the principles of the Kingdom for the sake of expediency or to avoid offending someone or rocking the boat. Developing the habit of considering the Kingdom first will help you avoid a lot of mistakes and bad decisions. It is one thing to know how to seek the Kingdom of Yah but it’s another to understand that Kingdom and the principles under which it operates. Few people in the world today live in a true kingdom, particularly in the West, so almost no one knows what kingdom life is really like. Kingdom language in the Bible often can seem confusing or alien to modern readers. If the Kingdom priority is so important we had better know what the Kingdom is and how it functions. So what is the Kingdom? Write this down, the Kingdom is Yah’s government. It is His rulership and dominion over Heaven and earth. It refers to His universal jurisdiction and executed will over all creation. When Yahusha said we are to seek first the Kingdom of Yah, He was telling us to seek first the ownership of Yah, He was telling us to seek first the ownership of Yah over ourselves and everything we have in life. Write this down, the word kingdom also means to have influence over a territory. When we seek first the Kingdom of Yah we are seeking His influence to be extended over the entire world in our private life, our business life, our marriage life, our relationships, our sexual life, and all other dimensions of life. Part of this influence has to do with administration. In the Kingdom of Yah we are under the administration of Heaven. This means that Yah, the King, becomes our reference point for everything. His will becomes our will, His ways become our ways, His culture becomes our culture, His society becomes our society, and His interests become our interests. As Kingdom citizens and children of the King through Hamachiach we become ambassadors on earth of His heavenly Kingdom.Write this down, influence means impact. Kings and queens impact the land and the lives of the people over whom they rule. Americans, by the way they live, prove that they are not under a political earthly kingdom. This raises an important point: we can tell which kingdom we are in by the way we live. If we claim to believe and follow the King, our lives will reflect the influence of His government and administration. Other people who are not in the Kingdom will wonder, and perhaps even ask, why we are so different. It is because we are under a different administration from that of the world; a different government, a different culture, and a different law. Yahusha said, By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. This means that others can tell what kind of tree we are by what we produce in our lives. Our lives are supposed to manifest the fruit—the influence—of the Kingdom of Yah so that anybody can look at us and tell where our allegiance lies. Write this down, in the Bible, the Hebrew word for “kingdom” is mamlakah; the New Testament Greek word is basileia. Both words carry the same general range of meaning: king, sovereignty, dominion, control, reign, rulership, and royal power. Considering all of these terms and characteristics, we can define a kingdom, then, as write it down, the governing influence of a king over his territory domain, impacting it with his personal will, purpose and intent, producing a culture, values, morals and lifestyle that reflect the king’s desire and nature for his citizens. This describes perfectly the Kingdom of Yah, which is the Kingdom that Yahusha commanded us to seek first. And it is in the seeking of this Kingdom not in religion that we will receive from the King all these things, all the daily needs of life that the rest of the world toils and labors and frets and worries and strives and scrambles for. No religion has such a guarantee as the Kingdom guarantee. Now, we are to seek also His righteousness. This is not a first and second priority but two parts of one complete whole. Yah’s Kingdom cannot be separated from His righteousness. A kingdom always reflects the nature and character of the king. Yah is righteous and therefore His Kingdom is also righteous. Write this down, only righteous people will enter the Kingdom. The problem is that none of us are righteous on our own. David said, The Most High looks down from Heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek Yah. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. When we are made new by repentance of sin and faith in Hamachiach, Yah imputes righteousness to us. He declares us righteous on the basis of the righteousness of His Son and we gain entrance into the Kingdom. Worries this down, the Gospels calls this transaction justification. Justification is a legal term, not a religious term. It means to declare someone innocent just as if that person had never committed an offense. When we are justified in Hamachiach, we receive a royal pardon from the King. He naturalizes us as citizens of His Kingdom and all the rights, privileges, and resources of the Kingdom become ours. But we also come under the government and administration of the Kingdom and are accountable to the King. Seeking the righteousness of Yah is extremely important because His righteousness protects us. It keeps us under the Kingdom covering. And once we are under the Kingdom covering, all the additions—all these things—become automatic. Like justification, write this down, the word righteous is a legal term. It means right positioning, to be in correct alignment with the ruling standard. To be righteous means that we do not violate the laws of the government. A righteous person is in right standing with authority. Right standing carries with it the even deeper element of being in fellowship with that authority. As long as we abide by the laws and standards of government, we have nothing to fear. Our conscience is clear. The moment we break the law, however, our fellowship and right standing with the ruling authority is broken. We are no longer righteous. Think about this, imagine driving down the road in your car. As long as you observe the speed limit and make no moving violations, you have nothing to worry about. Penalty and punishment are the farthest things from your mind. Suppose that you accidentally travel through a red light. Now what do you do? Immediately you checking your mirrors to see if the police are coming after you. You broke the law. You’re guilty and you know it and you hope no one saw you. But your guilt creates tension in your mind because you know you are now out of alignment with the ruling standard. This perfectly describes the dilemma faced by the human race. None of us are righteous. We are all out of alignment with the ruling standard, with Yah’s standard. Why? Because when Adam sinned, his sinfulness passed to every succeeding generation, corrupting the entire race of man. Listen, sin is rebellion against Yah’s Kingly authority. If we want to enter the Kingdom of Yah, our right standing with Yah must be restored. This is why Yahusha Hamachiach came to earth, not only to announce the coming of the Kingdom but also so that through His sinless death we could be made righteous in Him. Yahusha came and died so we could enter the Kingdom. If you want to be righteous, you’ve got to submit, not to religion, but to Yahusha Hamachiach. When you completed Passover and put the blood on the doorpost of your home physically and spiritually it cleansed the stain of rebellion and removed your guilt. Yah put you back in right standing with Himself. You started driving on His side of the street. You started eating what He eats and drinking what He drinks. You began conforming your life to His in every way possible because you are under His Kingdom. You are righteous. Yah has committed Himself to you because you now are in right relationship with Him. To be righteous means that you are legal, lawful, in sync with the government. Nothing stands between you and the law. Therefore, you need not fear authority. If you keep the laws of Yah, He will protect you. Stay in the law and everything you need will come to you. The Bible says that even the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous and who are the righteous? Those who are within the law.
THEN was Yahusha led up of the Ruach into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward hungry. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If you be the Son of Elohiym, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahuah. Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him on a pinnacle of the Temple, And said unto him, If you be the Son of Elohiym, cast yourself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning you: and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone. Yahusha said unto him, It is written again, You shall not tempt את Yahuah Elohayka. Again, the devil took him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And said unto him, All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me. Then said Yahusha unto him, Get you hence, Satan: for it is written, You shall worship Yahuah Elohayka, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Now when Yahusha had heard that Yahuchanon was cast into prison, he departed into Galiyl; And leaving Natsareth, he came and dwelt in Kapharnachum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zevulun and Naphtaliy: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Yesha`yahu the prophet, saying, The land of Zevulun, and the land of Naphtaliy, by the way of the sea, beyond the Yardan, Galiyl of the other nations; The people which sat in darkness saw a great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. From that time Yahusha began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. And Yahusha, walking by the Sea of Galiyl, saw two brethren, Shim`on called Kepha, and Andrai his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left את their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, Ya`aqov the son of Zavdiy, and Yochanon his brother, in a ship with Zavdiy their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. And Yahusha went about all Galiyl, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Besorah of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Aram: and they brought unto him את all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galiyl, and from Decapolis, and from Yerushalayim, and from Yahud, and from beyond the Yardan. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 4:1-25 את CEPHER
Today we are walking in: Understanding How To Seek The Kingdom
Deuteronomy 4:29
But if from thence thou shalt seek H1245 the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
SEEK
Today we look to the word-SEEK-H1245 baqash--to seek, require, desire, exact, request, to find, to seek to secure, to seek the face, to desire, demand
The Torah testifies...............
Genesis 37:15
And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest H1245 thou?
The prophets proclaim..................
Zephaniah 2:3
Seek H1245 ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek H1245 righteousness, seek H1245 meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD'S anger.
The writings bear witness..........................
Ruth 3:1
Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek H1245 rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?
UNDERSTANDING HOW TO SEEK THE KINGDOM
Today we are studying and learning how to seek the Kingdom of Yah. I want you to pay close attention today and be quick in your notes because we are going through a lot and I want you to get it. Yahusha Hamachiach came to earth to inaugurate a Kingdom, not establish a religion. First, He announced the Kingdom in Matthew chapter 4 verse 17 Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is near. Then He taught about the Kingdom wherever He went always saying The kingdom of Heaven is like…. He also identified the Kingdom of Yah as the first priority of man when he said in Matthew chapter 6 verse 33, read it with me, But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Only those who seek the Kingdom of Yah will find it, and with the seeking comes the understanding of the Kingdom and how it operates. Yahusha told His closest followers The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of Heaven has been given to you… Are you with me? He states this in Matthew chapter 13 verse 11. Come on now stay with me. We are going somewhere. When we understand how the Kingdom operates, we will understand how to live in the Kingdom and experience its fullness in our lives. Our first priority, the principal and most important activity of our life is to seek the Kingdom of Yah. Do you know how we do that? What does it mean to seek Yah’s Kingdom? How can we find the Kingdom of Yah if we don’t know how to look for it or what to look for? Write this down, Yah will never demand from us what He does not supply. He will never instruct us to do something that He doesn’t show us how to do. Even more important, He wants us to seek and find His Kingdom. He gave us this promise. Write it down in your notes. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. Where did he say this? In Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 13. Finding Yah is the same as finding His Kingdom because the two are inseparable. And Yahusha assures us Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Now, with these scriptural truths and assurances in mind, let’s take a closer look at our divine priority mandate. Write this down, Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. A mandate is a command issued by a ruler. Yahusha’ charge to us to seek first the Kingdom and righteousness of Yah is a command, not a suggestion. Let me repeat that! Yahusha’ charge to us to seek first the Kingdom and righteousness of Yah is a command, not a suggestion. Listen, if we claim to be His followers and call Him Most High, we must obey Him. Otherwise, He is not our Most High, we will never find the Kingdom and never experience the fulfillment of our life purpose. The first part of the divine priority is what we can call the divine command: seek. Write this down, to seek means to pursue with vigor and determination. The idea is that of a diligent, unceasing search until the object of the search is found. Look at Luke chapter 15. Yahusha tells of a man with 100 sheep who lost one, and of a woman with 10 silver coins who lost one, and how both of them searched diligently and did not give up until they recovered that which was lost. This is what it means to seek. We are to pursue the Kingdom of Yah with determination and vigor. Are you still here? Listen, to seek also means to study. Students seek knowledge and understanding. Understand that Kingdom citizens must be students of the Kingdom and of its constitution, the Bible. Psalm chapter 1 verse 2 says that the blessed man delights in the law of the Most High and meditates on it day and night. Paul, the New Testament ambassador of the King, counsels us to, be diligent to present yourself approved to Yah, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth and he says this in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 15. Write this down, the Greek word for be diligent is spoudazo, which also means study or labor. Seeking the Kingdom means studying it with diligence. Only by committed and rigorous study can the secrets of the Kingdom and the Word of Yah become known to us. As we study, the Spirit of Yah will open our minds to understand. Write this down, seeking also means to explore. Human explorers through the ages traveled the globe seeking new lands, new peoples, new horizons. Exploring carries the element of high adventure, and the Kingdom of Yah is indeed an adventure. We must explore the Kingdom; we must explore its power, its laws, its government, its culture, its society, its commands, its economy, its taxation,everything. The Kingdom of Yah is so vast that we could spend the rest of our lives exploring it yet only scratch the surface. Listen, another critical aspect of seeking is understanding. We could pursue something, seeking it diligently, yet not understand it when we found it. Write this down, without understanding, the search is not complete. Nothing is truly ours until we understand it. Until we understand the Kingdom we cannot properly teach it, pass it on or fully realize its benefits and blessings. Once we understand for ourselves then the promises of the Kingdom will begin manifesting in our lives. Closely related to study and understanding, seek also means to learn. I’m teaching you something today. Are you understanding? Learning is more than mental knowledge of facts and information; the knowledge must be reproducible in practical terms. This means demonstrating the ability to perform the action learned as well as teach it to someone else so that they learn it also. Write this down, seeking often involves taking the time to consider, to sit and ponder something in an effort to understand. This is similar to meditation. Some things require deep thought and analysis before they become comprehensible. David said, When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yahusha said, Why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. We need to take the Word of Yah and consider it, ponder it, chew on it, memorize it, and the more we do the more we will comprehend. When we seek something, we have a desire to know. Who pursues something he has no interest in? Who takes the time to ponder something that means nothing to him? If we desire to know the Kingdom and its ways, the King will make sure our desire is satisfied. Yahusha said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Not only should we desire the Kingdom, we should have a passion for the Kingdom! What are you passionate about? What gets your blood going in the morning? What infuses your life with purpose? Everyone is passionate about something. If you are not passionate about the Kingdom of Yah, then you are focused on the wrong thing. Write this down, anything worth seeking is worth pursuing with diligent dedication. Diligence always involves discipline. If we want to seek the Kingdom it may mean disciplining ourselves to turn off the TV so we can study the Word of Yah. It may mean rearranging our schedule in order to have more time to pray. It may mean reordering our time priorities to ensure we get enough sleep so that we’re not too tired to study with other citizens. Seeking the Kingdom is deliberate and proactive. We will never stumble on it by accident. We must plan for it. Write this down, to seek the Kingdom means to become preoccupied with the Kingdom. If we are seeking the Kingdom, that means we are thinking about it all day long. It possesses us. Everywhere we go and with everything we do and say we are focused on the Kingdom. We evaluate every decision in light of how it will affect our pursuit of the Kingdom. Our every thought, word, motive, and action is Kingdom First! So, if the Divine Command is to seek the Kingdom of Yah, the Divine Priority is that we must seek it first. Seeking the Kingdom first means that we pursue it as the principal thing, the first thing above and before and beyond all other things. Write this down, first means that the Kingdom of Yah is more important to us than anything else. It means that we place the highest value of all on the Kingdom and stand ready to sacrifice anything and everything else for its sake. First means that we establish the Kingdom as our primary interest. All other priorities in life are secondary to the priority of the Kingdom and so far below it as to be almost nonexistent by comparison. Kingdom first does not mean first among many but first and only. When Yah told the Israelites, you shall have no other gods before Me, He was not saying, as long as you worship Me first and foremost, you can have other gods. What He meant was that they were never to bring any other gods before His face or into His presence. Yah claimed exclusive rights to their worship, love, and devotion. The Kingdom First priority is just as exclusive. Write this down, seeking the Kingdom of Yah first means considering the interests of the Kingdom before making decisions when and where we go to school, who we marry, what job we accept, how we spend our money. Before deciding on these and other issues, we need to ask the question, Is this in line with the Kingdom of Yah? Listen, every day we are bombarded with opportunities to compromise our morality, honesty, integrity, and character. Your boss asks you to do something dishonest at work. Your boyfriend or girlfriend tries to talk you into an immoral relationship. You are tempted to cheat on your taxes. Learn to ask yourself, Will this be pleasing to the Kingdom? It’s not worth violating the principles of the Kingdom for the sake of expediency or to avoid offending someone or rocking the boat. Developing the habit of considering the Kingdom first will help you avoid a lot of mistakes and bad decisions. It is one thing to know how to seek the Kingdom of Yah but it’s another to understand that Kingdom and the principles under which it operates. Few people in the world today live in a true kingdom, particularly in the West, so almost no one knows what kingdom life is really like. Kingdom language in the Bible often can seem confusing or alien to modern readers. If the Kingdom priority is so important we had better know what the Kingdom is and how it functions. So what is the Kingdom? Write this down, the Kingdom is Yah’s government. It is His rulership and dominion over Heaven and earth. It refers to His universal jurisdiction and executed will over all creation. When Yahusha said we are to seek first the Kingdom of Yah, He was telling us to seek first the ownership of Yah, He was telling us to seek first the ownership of Yah over ourselves and everything we have in life. Write this down, the word kingdom also means to have influence over a territory. When we seek first the Kingdom of Yah we are seeking His influence to be extended over the entire world in our private life, our business life, our marriage life, our relationships, our sexual life, and all other dimensions of life. Part of this influence has to do with administration. In the Kingdom of Yah we are under the administration of Heaven. This means that Yah, the King, becomes our reference point for everything. His will becomes our will, His ways become our ways, His culture becomes our culture, His society becomes our society, and His interests become our interests. As Kingdom citizens and children of the King through Hamachiach we become ambassadors on earth of His heavenly Kingdom.Write this down, influence means impact. Kings and queens impact the land and the lives of the people over whom they rule. Americans, by the way they live, prove that they are not under a political earthly kingdom. This raises an important point: we can tell which kingdom we are in by the way we live. If we claim to believe and follow the King, our lives will reflect the influence of His government and administration. Other people who are not in the Kingdom will wonder, and perhaps even ask, why we are so different. It is because we are under a different administration from that of the world; a different government, a different culture, and a different law. Yahusha said, By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. This means that others can tell what kind of tree we are by what we produce in our lives. Our lives are supposed to manifest the fruit—the influence—of the Kingdom of Yah so that anybody can look at us and tell where our allegiance lies. Write this down, in the Bible, the Hebrew word for “kingdom” is mamlakah; the New Testament Greek word is basileia. Both words carry the same general range of meaning: king, sovereignty, dominion, control, reign, rulership, and royal power. Considering all of these terms and characteristics, we can define a kingdom, then, as write it down, the governing influence of a king over his territory domain, impacting it with his personal will, purpose and intent, producing a culture, values, morals and lifestyle that reflect the king’s desire and nature for his citizens. This describes perfectly the Kingdom of Yah, which is the Kingdom that Yahusha commanded us to seek first. And it is in the seeking of this Kingdom not in religion that we will receive from the King all these things, all the daily needs of life that the rest of the world toils and labors and frets and worries and strives and scrambles for. No religion has such a guarantee as the Kingdom guarantee. Now, we are to seek also His righteousness. This is not a first and second priority but two parts of one complete whole. Yah’s Kingdom cannot be separated from His righteousness. A kingdom always reflects the nature and character of the king. Yah is righteous and therefore His Kingdom is also righteous. Write this down, only righteous people will enter the Kingdom. The problem is that none of us are righteous on our own. David said, The Most High looks down from Heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek Yah. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. When we are made new by repentance of sin and faith in Hamachiach, Yah imputes righteousness to us. He declares us righteous on the basis of the righteousness of His Son and we gain entrance into the Kingdom. Worries this down, the Gospels calls this transaction justification. Justification is a legal term, not a religious term. It means to declare someone innocent just as if that person had never committed an offense. When we are justified in Hamachiach, we receive a royal pardon from the King. He naturalizes us as citizens of His Kingdom and all the rights, privileges, and resources of the Kingdom become ours. But we also come under the government and administration of the Kingdom and are accountable to the King. Seeking the righteousness of Yah is extremely important because His righteousness protects us. It keeps us under the Kingdom covering. And once we are under the Kingdom covering, all the additions—all these things—become automatic. Like justification, write this down, the word righteous is a legal term. It means right positioning, to be in correct alignment with the ruling standard. To be righteous means that we do not violate the laws of the government. A righteous person is in right standing with authority. Right standing carries with it the even deeper element of being in fellowship with that authority. As long as we abide by the laws and standards of government, we have nothing to fear. Our conscience is clear. The moment we break the law, however, our fellowship and right standing with the ruling authority is broken. We are no longer righteous. Think about this, imagine driving down the road in your car. As long as you observe the speed limit and make no moving violations, you have nothing to worry about. Penalty and punishment are the farthest things from your mind. Suppose that you accidentally travel through a red light. Now what do you do? Immediately you checking your mirrors to see if the police are coming after you. You broke the law. You’re guilty and you know it and you hope no one saw you. But your guilt creates tension in your mind because you know you are now out of alignment with the ruling standard. This perfectly describes the dilemma faced by the human race. None of us are righteous. We are all out of alignment with the ruling standard, with Yah’s standard. Why? Because when Adam sinned, his sinfulness passed to every succeeding generation, corrupting the entire race of man. Listen, sin is rebellion against Yah’s Kingly authority. If we want to enter the Kingdom of Yah, our right standing with Yah must be restored. This is why Yahusha Hamachiach came to earth, not only to announce the coming of the Kingdom but also so that through His sinless death we could be made righteous in Him. Yahusha came and died so we could enter the Kingdom. If you want to be righteous, you’ve got to submit, not to religion, but to Yahusha Hamachiach. When you completed Passover and put the blood on the doorpost of your home physically and spiritually it cleansed the stain of rebellion and removed your guilt. Yah put you back in right standing with Himself. You started driving on His side of the street. You started eating what He eats and drinking what He drinks. You began conforming your life to His in every way possible because you are under His Kingdom. You are righteous. Yah has committed Himself to you because you now are in right relationship with Him. To be righteous means that you are legal, lawful, in sync with the government. Nothing stands between you and the law. Therefore, you need not fear authority. If you keep the laws of Yah, He will protect you. Stay in the law and everything you need will come to you. The Bible says that even the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous and who are the righteous? Those who are within the law.
THEN was Yahusha led up of the Ruach into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward hungry. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If you be the Son of Elohiym, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahuah. Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him on a pinnacle of the Temple, And said unto him, If you be the Son of Elohiym, cast yourself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning you: and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone. Yahusha said unto him, It is written again, You shall not tempt את Yahuah Elohayka. Again, the devil took him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And said unto him, All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me. Then said Yahusha unto him, Get you hence, Satan: for it is written, You shall worship Yahuah Elohayka, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Now when Yahusha had heard that Yahuchanon was cast into prison, he departed into Galiyl; And leaving Natsareth, he came and dwelt in Kapharnachum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zevulun and Naphtaliy: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Yesha`yahu the prophet, saying, The land of Zevulun, and the land of Naphtaliy, by the way of the sea, beyond the Yardan, Galiyl of the other nations; The people which sat in darkness saw a great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. From that time Yahusha began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. And Yahusha, walking by the Sea of Galiyl, saw two brethren, Shim`on called Kepha, and Andrai his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left את their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, Ya`aqov the son of Zavdiy, and Yochanon his brother, in a ship with Zavdiy their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. And Yahusha went about all Galiyl, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Besorah of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Aram: and they brought unto him את all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galiyl, and from Decapolis, and from Yerushalayim, and from Yahud, and from beyond the Yardan. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 4:1-25 את CEPHER
Friday, April 14, 2023
WILDERNESS HUNGER AND HEAVENLY MANNA PART 3
Exodus chapter 16
Exodus 3:18
And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, H4057 that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
Today we look to the word-WILDERNESS- H4057 midbar --wilderness, pasture, uninhabited land
The Torah testifies.......................................
Genesis 16:7
And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, H4057 by the fountain in the way to Shur.
Exodus 4:27
And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness H4057 to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.
Numbers 14:33
And your children shall wander in the wilderness H4057 forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. H4057
Deuteronomy 1:31
And in the wilderness, H4057 where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
The prophets proclaim..................
Isaiah 42:11
Let the wilderness H4057 and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Isaiah 43:19
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, H4057 and rivers in the desert.
Jeremiah 9:12
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, H4057 that none passeth through?
Ezekiel 20:13
But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: H4057 they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, H4057 to consume them.
The Writings bear witness.............
Joshua 1:4
From the wilderness H4057 and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
2Chronicles 1:3
So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness. H4057
Nehemiah 9:19
Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: H4057 the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.
Psalm 65:12
They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: H4057 and the little hills rejoice on every side.
Psalm 78:15
He clave the rocks in the wilderness, H4057 and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
WILDERNESS HUNGER AND HEAVENLY MANNA PART 3!!!!!
3. But Yah has to prove by the wilderness, not only the truth and reality of his work upon the heart, but whether we will keep his commandments or not. It is not what we talk that Yah looks to, but what we do. "The tongue," says James, "is a little member, and boasts great things." To talk is easy enough, but to do is another matter. Talking brings with it no sacrifices, no self-denial, no crucifixion of the flesh, no mortification of the whole body of sin, no putting off of the old man, no putting on of the new. A man may talk and drink, talk and cheat, talk and lie, talk and live in all manner of unYahliness. But it is walking not talking, praying not prating, doing not daring, obeying not saying, which manifest whose we are, and whom we serve.
But what are we to understand by keeping Yah's commandments? It does not mean, I believe, as interpreted by the rule and spirit of the gospel, keeping the moral law, that is, the law of Moses in the ten commandments; but the preceptive part of Yah's word, as revealed and laid down in the New Testament, where everything that Yah would have us to do, and everything that Yah would have us not to do, are written as with a ray of divine light. It embraces, therefore, every gospel precept, every New Testament command and direction, in a word, everything which proceeds from the mouth of Yah as given by him in the last revelation of his own mind and will, as the guiding rule of our Hebrew obedience. For you will observe that this is the test laid down in our text, "whether we will keep Yah's commandments or not." And where are those commandments laid down in all their clearness and plenitude but in the New Testament.
Is he not our Master, whom we serve in Yahly fear and love, whose approbation we desire to win, whose favor we count better than life, and in the enjoyment of whose love we wish to live and die? Now with all the perplexity, doubt, or fear which may encompass your mind, through the worrying, distracting power and influence of sin, HaSatan, and self; if you possess the fear of Yah, there will be that honesty, integrity, uprightness, and sincerity wrought in your soul by a divine power, whereby you can say before Yah, "Most High, I desire to know your will and do it. However I come short, however I fail or fall, my desire is to be found walking in your ways and doing those things which are pleasing in your sight."
But HOW does the wilderness prove how far we are willing to do the things which are pleasing in Yah's sight, and how far we are willing to keep his commandments or not? Thus. Its trials and temptations, its sorrows and afflictions, its perplexities and the difficulties which spring from them, lay bare the real state of our hearts, and as they discover to us the weakness and wickedness of the flesh, so they also bring to light any good thing which Yah by his grace may have wrought in our soul. When we are in a smooth and easy path, flesh and spirit are alike hidden from view. Like the sea in a calm, the flesh is smoothed into smiles, and what it can be in a storm is hidden in the still yet deep water. Thus we know not what the flesh really is, until worked up into a storm by the winds of temptation. Then its waves roll and it casts up mire and dirt; and then we also know the mighty voice which can say to these winds and waves, "Peace, be still." It is thus that the strength of sin and the strength of grace are brought out, and we learn which is stronger, grace or sin, the power of the flesh or the power of the Spirit, the battlings of self or the victories of Hamachiach.
4. But to pass on. The Holy Spirit by the mouth of Moses goes on to unfold other reasons of these wilderness dealings, setting before us both sides of the question, that we may well ponder the path of our feet. The next point then which we have to consider is Yah's "allowing us to hunger." This, we know, was highly characteristic of the wilderness. No food naturally grew there. All the food supplied during those forty years was food from heaven miraculously supplied. But before that miraculous supply came, they were sharply hunger-bitten. Scarcely had they got into the wilderness before hunger pangs fell upon them, and they cried out, "Would to Yah we had died by the hand of the Most High in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger!" (Exodus 16:3.) They were therefore allowed to hunger that they might have a sharp though not long taste, of one of the severest of bodily pangs and human sufferings.
But this was typically instructive, and throws a broad light upon the teachings and dealings of Yah with the souls of his people in the wilderness now. He allows us to hunger. We cannot feed upon husks. Worldly things cannot satisfy the immortal desires of a newborn soul. We must have divine food; we must have heavenly realities. Whatever I am, whatever men may think I am, I feel this one thing, that I must have heavenly realities. I cannot do with shadowy appearances, with make-believes and make-do's in faith. I may have but little, but let that little be real, for all else is a mockery and a delusion. Let it be the pure work of Yah upon my soul; let it be the breathings of his Spirit into my heart; let it be the communication of his life and the visitations of his favor to preserve my spirit. I don't want much; I don't seek great things; but I seek real things. I want a faith to live and die by; I want something to save and sanctify, bless and comfort my soul for time and eternity. I have to die; I have to face eternity. My conscience registers many sins committed against a holy Yah. I cannot stand before him under the weight of these sins as thus manifested to my conscience. How, then, under the weight of all my sins, known and unknown, seen and unseen?
Nothing, therefore, but the manifested mercy, goodness, and love of Yah can speak any real comfort to my soul, can bear me up under any trial, support me under any affliction, comfort my heart when cast down, and speak a peace to my inward spirit which the world cannot give nor take away. Therefore I want realities. And this makes me teach them to you, and insist upon them both earnestly and continually. And I believe I have a witness in the consciences of those who fear Yah, that I am right in so doing, for Yah teaches all his people, be they strong and well established in the faith; or weak and feeble, the same lesson—he makes them all alike want realities. And the way which he teaches them to want realities is by allowing them to hunger.
Is not hunger a real thing? You who can always find plenty of food in the cupboard and plenty of money in the purse to go to market with, or who from various causes have but a weak and feeble appetite, perhaps scarcely for a day in your life know what real hunger is. But hunger is a reality, and you might get into circumstances to find it so. Say, for instance, you were on board a ship when provisions ran short, or on a long journey when food could not be readily obtained, or were so reduced in circumstances that you had no money to buy it, you would find hunger a reality.
So it is in spiritual matters. Hunger is a reality. And have you not sometime found it to be a reality? "As the deer pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after you, O Yah." Is there reality in that panting? We read of the wanderers in the wilderness—"Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them." (Psalm 107:5.) Is there reality in that hunger and thirst, or the fainting of their soul in the very pangs of famine? "My soul thirsts after Yah, after the living Yah." Is there reality in that? If you say "No" it is to deny at one and the same moment, and in one and the same breath, that hunger is a real feeling.
Sometimes you can hardly get beyond the sigh, the cry, the longing desire, the hungering and thirsting after righteousness; but it is a reality, and a divine reality too, for it is not nature, but grace, which produces it. And Yah allows you to hunger that you may know hunger to be a reality. If you could feed upon husks, why need you hunger? If you could, as men often bid you, take Yah at his mere word, believe the mere promises, rest upon the mere doctrines, claim Yah to be your Father, and walk in all the arrogance of the children of pride—why need you hunger? What do these men know about either hunger or thirst? What do they know of David's feelings or David's cry? "My eyes fail for your word, saying, When will you comfort me?" Why need their eyes fail or their soul faint for Yah's salvation when they have it all locked up in the cupboard? Locked up, do I say? No! for their cupboard has neither lock nor key, but is open all the day long to all comers.
But it is because you cannot take blessings and favors Yah does not give; it is because your heart cries out for heavenly food; it is because you know there is a reality in the things of Yah, and that if Yah withholds them you cannot get them, that you cannot do their biddings, and steal their stealings. Yes, it is your hunger which teaches you what real food is. Perhaps you have come here this morning hungering. As you walked along there might have been raised up a secret cry in your soul, "Most High, give me something this morning. I need a word from you. It is a long time since you were pleased to speak to my soul. I am in trouble. My soul is deeply tried. I need something from yourself." Here is the hunger of which I am speaking and on which I am insisting.
Now Yah teaches you by the wilderness to feel this hunger—it is his work. The emptying us of self is his; the sifting of our souls in the sieve is his; the bringing down of our proud heart is his; the wounding of our consciences is his; the stripping of all our own goodness, wisdom, strength, and righteousness is his; the feeling of hunger then which springs from these dealings of Yah with our hearts is his. We know that, alike in nature and grace, hunger is not food, but it is next door to it. We know that a sharp appetite is not good food, or a loaf of bread; but what is good food or the best of bread if there is no appetite for it? It is a blessed preparation for a feast, if it is not the feast itself. For what is a feast to a man who has no appetite for it? What the smell of roast beef is to a sickly invalid—a subject of loathing not of longing, quenching the appetite rather than sharpening it.
5. But what other dealings of Yah with them in the wilderness does Moses bid them remember? The FOOD with which he supplied their hunger—"He fed them with manna, which they knew not, neither did their fathers know." Here was a provision. What a miracle, and what an undeniable miracle. How stupid, to say the least, must infidelity be to deny a miracle which was witnessed every day by a million people. Could you deceive a million of people for forty years? Could manna fall every day except the Sabbath for forty years and feed a people amounting to more than a million, and all those people be deceived in their eyes, in their hands, and in their taste? Why, the very little children would rise up and testify when they saw their mothers bring home the manna which they gathered every morning, that it had fallen during the night from heaven.
But as a standing and permanent evidence of the reality of the manna, was not a pot of it laid up before the Most High by the side of the ark to be kept for all generations, not only to bear witness to the miracle but to show what the manna was in itself as a visible substance? I know that there are great difficulties in belief, but I am sure that there are greater difficulties in unbelief. If to believe Yah's word is a difficulty, and to give full credence to the miracle of the manna seems at times to try our faith, what a much greater difficulty there is in disbelieving a circumstance which was evidenced by such undoubted proofs. If it had fallen once or twice, or in a very small quantity, there might have been more room for question; but to fall every day for forty years together and in such a quantity as to feed more than a million people—this seems to afford a whole army of proof against infidelity and all its host. Besides which, if once we admit a forty years' wandering in the wilderness, how could that vast multitude have been sustained in it except by a miraculous supply of food from heaven, for earth could not supply it in a waste, howling wilderness? The unbelieving Hebrews in our Most High's time believed what our modern infidels dispute and deny—"Our fathers ate manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat." (John 6:31.)
It was then food unknown by any, until Yah sent it. The fathers of those who daily ate it did not know it; but for their descendants Yah wrought a special miracle, and gave them bread from heaven—typical, as you know, of the true bread which Yah gives to his family, the flesh of his dear Son, as our Most High opened up the subject in those remarkable words—"Then Yahusha said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the true bread of Yah is he who comes down from heaven, and gives life unto the world." (John 6:32, 33.)
6. Now what was Yah's object in thus sending them manna from heaven? He could if he had pleased have sent them quails every morning; or created bread, as our Most High created it when he fed the seven thousand. He might have sent them flocks and herds innumerable. But such was not his will. He was determined to feed them by sending them a daily portion of manna from the skies, that they might learn this lesson, that "man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Most High, does man live."
This, then, is the grand lesson, dear friends, which you and I have to learn in our wilderness journey—that man does not live by bread alone, that is, by those providential supplies which relieve our natural wants. Thanks be to Yah for any bread that he gives us in his kind and bountiful providence. An honest living is a great mercy. To be enabled by the labor of our hands or by the labor of our brain to maintain our families and bring them up in a degree of comfort, if not abundance, is a great blessing.
But Yah has determined that his people shall not live by bread alone. They shall be separated from the mass of men who live in this carnal way only; who have no care beyond earthly possessions, and the sum of whose thoughts and desires is, what they shall eat, and what they shall drink, and with what they shall be clothed; who never look beyond the purse, the business, the daily occupation, the safe return, the profitable investment, and how to provide for themselves and their families. Yah has planted in the bosom of his people a higher life, a nobler principle, a more blessed appetite than to live upon bread alone.
We bless him for his providence, but we love him for his grace. We thank him for daily food and clothing, but these mercies are but for time, perishing in their very use, and he has provided us with that which is for eternity.
What then does he mean the soul to live upon? "Upon every word that proceeds out of his mouth." But where do we find these words that proceed out of the mouth of Yah? In the Scriptures, which is the food of the Ekklesia, and especially in Scripture as applied to the heart, in the words that Yah is pleased to drop into the soul by a divine power, which we receive from his gracious mouth, and lay hold of with a believing hand. That is the food and nutriment of our soul—the truth of Yah applied to our heart and made life and spirit to our souls by his own teaching and testimony.
And see how large and ample the supply is. Look through the whole compass of Yah's revealed word, and see in it what a store there is of provision laid up for the Ekklesia of Yah. How this should both stimulate and encourage us to search the Scriptures as for hidden treasure, to read them constantly, to meditate upon them, to seek to enter into the mind of Yah as revealed in them, and thus to find them to be the food of our soul. If we were fully persuaded that every word of the Scripture came out of Yah's mouth, and was meant to feed our soul, how much more we should prize it, read, and study it.
But how does the wilderness teach Yah's people this lesson? Do not trials and temptations make Yah's word exceedingly precious? Yah's book is written for Yah's people; and they are "an afflicted and poor people." When we are at ease, there is nothing in the word of Yah for us except indeed it be sharp rebukes and cutting reproofs. But directly we get into trial and affliction, there is something in the word of Yah at once sweet and savory, suitable and encouraging.
Thanks then be to Yah if we know anything of living upon Yah's word. How the prophet knew this—"Your words were found and I ate them; and your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart." But through what scenes of temptation and sorrow did he pass to find the word of Yah to be the joy of his heart. "Why," he cried, "is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed?" and this almost in the same breath with eating the word. (Jer. 15:16-18.)
By "the word," we may understand also Yahusha' Person, his work, his blood, his righteousness, his dying love, his sweet promises, his holy precepts, his kind invitations, and what he is as the Hamachiach of Yah. What food there is in all this to the soul. Paul could say, "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of Yah, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Gal. 2:20.) And how blessedly did the Most High open up the whole mystery of the manna in the wilderness in those striking words—"As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father—so he who eats me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate manna, and died—he who eats of this bread shall live forever." (John 6:57, 58.)
This then is the effect, and these are some of the benefits and blessing of a wilderness pilgrimage. We learn it in the lessons which I have endeavored to unfold. Can you say, looking up to Yah with a honest heart, that you have learned any of these lessons in the days of your pilgrimage?—learned humility, learned the trial of faith, learned the reality of a hungering spirit, and learned the blessedness of living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Most High? Now if you can look back through a pilgrimage, be it long or short, and say, "Ah, if I have learned but little, I have learned that which has humbled me before Yah; if I have learned but little, I have had my faith tried to the core; if I have learned but little, I have learned to hunger and thirst after a precious Hamachiach; if I have learned but little, I have now and then tasted the sweetness of heavenly food; and if I do know but little, I still feel that my life hangs upon every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Most High." Then you can look back and remember all the way that Yah has led you these years, be they many or few, in the wilderness; and now that you come to look back upon it, you can see that goodness and mercy have hitherto followed you. Why then should you doubt that you shall dwell in the house of Yah forever?
Exodus 3:18
And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, H4057 that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
Today we look to the word-WILDERNESS- H4057 midbar --wilderness, pasture, uninhabited land
The Torah testifies.......................................
Genesis 16:7
And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, H4057 by the fountain in the way to Shur.
Exodus 4:27
And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness H4057 to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.
Numbers 14:33
And your children shall wander in the wilderness H4057 forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. H4057
Deuteronomy 1:31
And in the wilderness, H4057 where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
The prophets proclaim..................
Isaiah 42:11
Let the wilderness H4057 and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Isaiah 43:19
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, H4057 and rivers in the desert.
Jeremiah 9:12
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, H4057 that none passeth through?
Ezekiel 20:13
But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: H4057 they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, H4057 to consume them.
The Writings bear witness.............
Joshua 1:4
From the wilderness H4057 and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
2Chronicles 1:3
So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness. H4057
Nehemiah 9:19
Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: H4057 the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.
Psalm 65:12
They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: H4057 and the little hills rejoice on every side.
Psalm 78:15
He clave the rocks in the wilderness, H4057 and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
WILDERNESS HUNGER AND HEAVENLY MANNA PART 3!!!!!
3. But Yah has to prove by the wilderness, not only the truth and reality of his work upon the heart, but whether we will keep his commandments or not. It is not what we talk that Yah looks to, but what we do. "The tongue," says James, "is a little member, and boasts great things." To talk is easy enough, but to do is another matter. Talking brings with it no sacrifices, no self-denial, no crucifixion of the flesh, no mortification of the whole body of sin, no putting off of the old man, no putting on of the new. A man may talk and drink, talk and cheat, talk and lie, talk and live in all manner of unYahliness. But it is walking not talking, praying not prating, doing not daring, obeying not saying, which manifest whose we are, and whom we serve.
But what are we to understand by keeping Yah's commandments? It does not mean, I believe, as interpreted by the rule and spirit of the gospel, keeping the moral law, that is, the law of Moses in the ten commandments; but the preceptive part of Yah's word, as revealed and laid down in the New Testament, where everything that Yah would have us to do, and everything that Yah would have us not to do, are written as with a ray of divine light. It embraces, therefore, every gospel precept, every New Testament command and direction, in a word, everything which proceeds from the mouth of Yah as given by him in the last revelation of his own mind and will, as the guiding rule of our Hebrew obedience. For you will observe that this is the test laid down in our text, "whether we will keep Yah's commandments or not." And where are those commandments laid down in all their clearness and plenitude but in the New Testament.
Is he not our Master, whom we serve in Yahly fear and love, whose approbation we desire to win, whose favor we count better than life, and in the enjoyment of whose love we wish to live and die? Now with all the perplexity, doubt, or fear which may encompass your mind, through the worrying, distracting power and influence of sin, HaSatan, and self; if you possess the fear of Yah, there will be that honesty, integrity, uprightness, and sincerity wrought in your soul by a divine power, whereby you can say before Yah, "Most High, I desire to know your will and do it. However I come short, however I fail or fall, my desire is to be found walking in your ways and doing those things which are pleasing in your sight."
But HOW does the wilderness prove how far we are willing to do the things which are pleasing in Yah's sight, and how far we are willing to keep his commandments or not? Thus. Its trials and temptations, its sorrows and afflictions, its perplexities and the difficulties which spring from them, lay bare the real state of our hearts, and as they discover to us the weakness and wickedness of the flesh, so they also bring to light any good thing which Yah by his grace may have wrought in our soul. When we are in a smooth and easy path, flesh and spirit are alike hidden from view. Like the sea in a calm, the flesh is smoothed into smiles, and what it can be in a storm is hidden in the still yet deep water. Thus we know not what the flesh really is, until worked up into a storm by the winds of temptation. Then its waves roll and it casts up mire and dirt; and then we also know the mighty voice which can say to these winds and waves, "Peace, be still." It is thus that the strength of sin and the strength of grace are brought out, and we learn which is stronger, grace or sin, the power of the flesh or the power of the Spirit, the battlings of self or the victories of Hamachiach.
4. But to pass on. The Holy Spirit by the mouth of Moses goes on to unfold other reasons of these wilderness dealings, setting before us both sides of the question, that we may well ponder the path of our feet. The next point then which we have to consider is Yah's "allowing us to hunger." This, we know, was highly characteristic of the wilderness. No food naturally grew there. All the food supplied during those forty years was food from heaven miraculously supplied. But before that miraculous supply came, they were sharply hunger-bitten. Scarcely had they got into the wilderness before hunger pangs fell upon them, and they cried out, "Would to Yah we had died by the hand of the Most High in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger!" (Exodus 16:3.) They were therefore allowed to hunger that they might have a sharp though not long taste, of one of the severest of bodily pangs and human sufferings.
But this was typically instructive, and throws a broad light upon the teachings and dealings of Yah with the souls of his people in the wilderness now. He allows us to hunger. We cannot feed upon husks. Worldly things cannot satisfy the immortal desires of a newborn soul. We must have divine food; we must have heavenly realities. Whatever I am, whatever men may think I am, I feel this one thing, that I must have heavenly realities. I cannot do with shadowy appearances, with make-believes and make-do's in faith. I may have but little, but let that little be real, for all else is a mockery and a delusion. Let it be the pure work of Yah upon my soul; let it be the breathings of his Spirit into my heart; let it be the communication of his life and the visitations of his favor to preserve my spirit. I don't want much; I don't seek great things; but I seek real things. I want a faith to live and die by; I want something to save and sanctify, bless and comfort my soul for time and eternity. I have to die; I have to face eternity. My conscience registers many sins committed against a holy Yah. I cannot stand before him under the weight of these sins as thus manifested to my conscience. How, then, under the weight of all my sins, known and unknown, seen and unseen?
Nothing, therefore, but the manifested mercy, goodness, and love of Yah can speak any real comfort to my soul, can bear me up under any trial, support me under any affliction, comfort my heart when cast down, and speak a peace to my inward spirit which the world cannot give nor take away. Therefore I want realities. And this makes me teach them to you, and insist upon them both earnestly and continually. And I believe I have a witness in the consciences of those who fear Yah, that I am right in so doing, for Yah teaches all his people, be they strong and well established in the faith; or weak and feeble, the same lesson—he makes them all alike want realities. And the way which he teaches them to want realities is by allowing them to hunger.
Is not hunger a real thing? You who can always find plenty of food in the cupboard and plenty of money in the purse to go to market with, or who from various causes have but a weak and feeble appetite, perhaps scarcely for a day in your life know what real hunger is. But hunger is a reality, and you might get into circumstances to find it so. Say, for instance, you were on board a ship when provisions ran short, or on a long journey when food could not be readily obtained, or were so reduced in circumstances that you had no money to buy it, you would find hunger a reality.
So it is in spiritual matters. Hunger is a reality. And have you not sometime found it to be a reality? "As the deer pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after you, O Yah." Is there reality in that panting? We read of the wanderers in the wilderness—"Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them." (Psalm 107:5.) Is there reality in that hunger and thirst, or the fainting of their soul in the very pangs of famine? "My soul thirsts after Yah, after the living Yah." Is there reality in that? If you say "No" it is to deny at one and the same moment, and in one and the same breath, that hunger is a real feeling.
Sometimes you can hardly get beyond the sigh, the cry, the longing desire, the hungering and thirsting after righteousness; but it is a reality, and a divine reality too, for it is not nature, but grace, which produces it. And Yah allows you to hunger that you may know hunger to be a reality. If you could feed upon husks, why need you hunger? If you could, as men often bid you, take Yah at his mere word, believe the mere promises, rest upon the mere doctrines, claim Yah to be your Father, and walk in all the arrogance of the children of pride—why need you hunger? What do these men know about either hunger or thirst? What do they know of David's feelings or David's cry? "My eyes fail for your word, saying, When will you comfort me?" Why need their eyes fail or their soul faint for Yah's salvation when they have it all locked up in the cupboard? Locked up, do I say? No! for their cupboard has neither lock nor key, but is open all the day long to all comers.
But it is because you cannot take blessings and favors Yah does not give; it is because your heart cries out for heavenly food; it is because you know there is a reality in the things of Yah, and that if Yah withholds them you cannot get them, that you cannot do their biddings, and steal their stealings. Yes, it is your hunger which teaches you what real food is. Perhaps you have come here this morning hungering. As you walked along there might have been raised up a secret cry in your soul, "Most High, give me something this morning. I need a word from you. It is a long time since you were pleased to speak to my soul. I am in trouble. My soul is deeply tried. I need something from yourself." Here is the hunger of which I am speaking and on which I am insisting.
Now Yah teaches you by the wilderness to feel this hunger—it is his work. The emptying us of self is his; the sifting of our souls in the sieve is his; the bringing down of our proud heart is his; the wounding of our consciences is his; the stripping of all our own goodness, wisdom, strength, and righteousness is his; the feeling of hunger then which springs from these dealings of Yah with our hearts is his. We know that, alike in nature and grace, hunger is not food, but it is next door to it. We know that a sharp appetite is not good food, or a loaf of bread; but what is good food or the best of bread if there is no appetite for it? It is a blessed preparation for a feast, if it is not the feast itself. For what is a feast to a man who has no appetite for it? What the smell of roast beef is to a sickly invalid—a subject of loathing not of longing, quenching the appetite rather than sharpening it.
5. But what other dealings of Yah with them in the wilderness does Moses bid them remember? The FOOD with which he supplied their hunger—"He fed them with manna, which they knew not, neither did their fathers know." Here was a provision. What a miracle, and what an undeniable miracle. How stupid, to say the least, must infidelity be to deny a miracle which was witnessed every day by a million people. Could you deceive a million of people for forty years? Could manna fall every day except the Sabbath for forty years and feed a people amounting to more than a million, and all those people be deceived in their eyes, in their hands, and in their taste? Why, the very little children would rise up and testify when they saw their mothers bring home the manna which they gathered every morning, that it had fallen during the night from heaven.
But as a standing and permanent evidence of the reality of the manna, was not a pot of it laid up before the Most High by the side of the ark to be kept for all generations, not only to bear witness to the miracle but to show what the manna was in itself as a visible substance? I know that there are great difficulties in belief, but I am sure that there are greater difficulties in unbelief. If to believe Yah's word is a difficulty, and to give full credence to the miracle of the manna seems at times to try our faith, what a much greater difficulty there is in disbelieving a circumstance which was evidenced by such undoubted proofs. If it had fallen once or twice, or in a very small quantity, there might have been more room for question; but to fall every day for forty years together and in such a quantity as to feed more than a million people—this seems to afford a whole army of proof against infidelity and all its host. Besides which, if once we admit a forty years' wandering in the wilderness, how could that vast multitude have been sustained in it except by a miraculous supply of food from heaven, for earth could not supply it in a waste, howling wilderness? The unbelieving Hebrews in our Most High's time believed what our modern infidels dispute and deny—"Our fathers ate manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat." (John 6:31.)
It was then food unknown by any, until Yah sent it. The fathers of those who daily ate it did not know it; but for their descendants Yah wrought a special miracle, and gave them bread from heaven—typical, as you know, of the true bread which Yah gives to his family, the flesh of his dear Son, as our Most High opened up the subject in those remarkable words—"Then Yahusha said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the true bread of Yah is he who comes down from heaven, and gives life unto the world." (John 6:32, 33.)
6. Now what was Yah's object in thus sending them manna from heaven? He could if he had pleased have sent them quails every morning; or created bread, as our Most High created it when he fed the seven thousand. He might have sent them flocks and herds innumerable. But such was not his will. He was determined to feed them by sending them a daily portion of manna from the skies, that they might learn this lesson, that "man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Most High, does man live."
This, then, is the grand lesson, dear friends, which you and I have to learn in our wilderness journey—that man does not live by bread alone, that is, by those providential supplies which relieve our natural wants. Thanks be to Yah for any bread that he gives us in his kind and bountiful providence. An honest living is a great mercy. To be enabled by the labor of our hands or by the labor of our brain to maintain our families and bring them up in a degree of comfort, if not abundance, is a great blessing.
But Yah has determined that his people shall not live by bread alone. They shall be separated from the mass of men who live in this carnal way only; who have no care beyond earthly possessions, and the sum of whose thoughts and desires is, what they shall eat, and what they shall drink, and with what they shall be clothed; who never look beyond the purse, the business, the daily occupation, the safe return, the profitable investment, and how to provide for themselves and their families. Yah has planted in the bosom of his people a higher life, a nobler principle, a more blessed appetite than to live upon bread alone.
We bless him for his providence, but we love him for his grace. We thank him for daily food and clothing, but these mercies are but for time, perishing in their very use, and he has provided us with that which is for eternity.
What then does he mean the soul to live upon? "Upon every word that proceeds out of his mouth." But where do we find these words that proceed out of the mouth of Yah? In the Scriptures, which is the food of the Ekklesia, and especially in Scripture as applied to the heart, in the words that Yah is pleased to drop into the soul by a divine power, which we receive from his gracious mouth, and lay hold of with a believing hand. That is the food and nutriment of our soul—the truth of Yah applied to our heart and made life and spirit to our souls by his own teaching and testimony.
And see how large and ample the supply is. Look through the whole compass of Yah's revealed word, and see in it what a store there is of provision laid up for the Ekklesia of Yah. How this should both stimulate and encourage us to search the Scriptures as for hidden treasure, to read them constantly, to meditate upon them, to seek to enter into the mind of Yah as revealed in them, and thus to find them to be the food of our soul. If we were fully persuaded that every word of the Scripture came out of Yah's mouth, and was meant to feed our soul, how much more we should prize it, read, and study it.
But how does the wilderness teach Yah's people this lesson? Do not trials and temptations make Yah's word exceedingly precious? Yah's book is written for Yah's people; and they are "an afflicted and poor people." When we are at ease, there is nothing in the word of Yah for us except indeed it be sharp rebukes and cutting reproofs. But directly we get into trial and affliction, there is something in the word of Yah at once sweet and savory, suitable and encouraging.
Thanks then be to Yah if we know anything of living upon Yah's word. How the prophet knew this—"Your words were found and I ate them; and your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart." But through what scenes of temptation and sorrow did he pass to find the word of Yah to be the joy of his heart. "Why," he cried, "is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed?" and this almost in the same breath with eating the word. (Jer. 15:16-18.)
By "the word," we may understand also Yahusha' Person, his work, his blood, his righteousness, his dying love, his sweet promises, his holy precepts, his kind invitations, and what he is as the Hamachiach of Yah. What food there is in all this to the soul. Paul could say, "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of Yah, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Gal. 2:20.) And how blessedly did the Most High open up the whole mystery of the manna in the wilderness in those striking words—"As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father—so he who eats me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate manna, and died—he who eats of this bread shall live forever." (John 6:57, 58.)
This then is the effect, and these are some of the benefits and blessing of a wilderness pilgrimage. We learn it in the lessons which I have endeavored to unfold. Can you say, looking up to Yah with a honest heart, that you have learned any of these lessons in the days of your pilgrimage?—learned humility, learned the trial of faith, learned the reality of a hungering spirit, and learned the blessedness of living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Most High? Now if you can look back through a pilgrimage, be it long or short, and say, "Ah, if I have learned but little, I have learned that which has humbled me before Yah; if I have learned but little, I have had my faith tried to the core; if I have learned but little, I have learned to hunger and thirst after a precious Hamachiach; if I have learned but little, I have now and then tasted the sweetness of heavenly food; and if I do know but little, I still feel that my life hangs upon every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Most High." Then you can look back and remember all the way that Yah has led you these years, be they many or few, in the wilderness; and now that you come to look back upon it, you can see that goodness and mercy have hitherto followed you. Why then should you doubt that you shall dwell in the house of Yah forever?
Thursday, April 13, 2023
WILDERNESS HUNGER AND HEAVENLY MANNA PART 2
Exodus chapter 16
Today we are walking in: Wilderness Hunger and Heavenly Manna Part 2
Exodus 3:18
And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, H4057 that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
Today we look to the word-WILDERNESS- H4057 midbar --wilderness, pasture, uninhabited land
The Torah testifies.......................................
Genesis 16:7
And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, H4057 by the fountain in the way to Shur.
Exodus 4:27
And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness H4057 to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.
Numbers 14:33
And your children shall wander in the wilderness H4057 forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. H4057
Deuteronomy 1:31
And in the wilderness, H4057 where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
The prophets proclaim..................
Isaiah 42:11
Let the wilderness H4057 and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Isaiah 43:19
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, H4057 and rivers in the desert.
Jeremiah 9:12
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, H4057 that none passeth through?
Ezekiel 20:13
But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: H4057 they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, H4057 to consume them.
The Writings bear witness.............
Joshua 1:4
From the wilderness H4057 and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
2Chronicles 1:3
So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness. H4057
Nehemiah 9:19
Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: H4057 the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.
Psalm 65:12
They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: H4057 and the little hills rejoice on every side.
Psalm 78:15
He clave the rocks in the wilderness, H4057 and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
Wilderness Hunger and Heavenly Manna Part 2
But I will now pass on to consider the BENEFITS and BLESSINGS which sprang out of their wandering in the wilderness, and which they were to remember as much as the wanderings themselves.
Though their wandering so many years in the wilderness was a punishment for their sins, and especially for that sin of unbelief and rebellion which they manifested on the return of the spies, when they murmured against Moses and Aaron, crying out, "Would Yah that we had died in the land of Egypt," and actually proposed to choose a leader and return, yet Yah took advantage, so to speak, of their sins and their rebellion to bring about the purposes of his own good pleasure. He did not create their sins; he was not the author of their rebellion; he did not foster their unbelief, for Yah cannot be the author of sin; and yet he could take occasion by their very sin to work out his own purposes.
We cannot have a more striking instance of this than the crucifixion of our dear Redeemer, in which Yah worked out his purposes by the hands of unYahly men. How plain is Peter's testimony—"Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of Yah, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." (Acts 2:23.) It was by "the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of Yah that Yahusha was delivered," or as the word means, "given up" out of the hands of Yah into theirs; but it was wicked hands which took him, crucified, and slew him. Yah's determinate counsel and foreknowledge did not make their hands wicked; and yet their wicked hands brought about his holy purposes.
So it was with the children of Israel. It was their wickedness which was the cause of their long wanderings; and yet these very wanderings carried out Yah's purposes, and what is more, were overruled for their good. So it is with us in this wilderness world, of which that "great and terrible wilderness" was a representation. Yah had a purpose in permitting us to be what we are, to have been what we have been, and to have done what we have done. And what that purpose was, is beautifully and blessedly opened in our text. Let us see if we can trace out some of these designs of Yah, as laid open in the words before us; and let us bear in mind that they are as applicable to us now as they were to the children of Israel—for "whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."
1. The first purpose is to HUMBLE us. Our heart, at least mine, is desperately proud; and if there be a sin which Yah hates more than another, and more sets himself against, it is the sin of pride. Though some men are more tempted, perhaps, to that sin than others, and, like a weed upon a ash-heap, it may grow more profusely in some soils, especially when well fertilized by rank and riches, praise and flattery, our own ignorance, and the ignorance of others, yet all inherit it alike from their fallen ancestor, who got it from HaSatan, that "king over all the children of pride." Those, perhaps, who think they possess the least pride, and view themselves with wonderful self-admiration among the humblest of mortals, may have as much or more pride, than those who feel and confess it, only rather more deeply hid and buried more out of sight in the dark recesses of their carnal mind. As Yah then sees all hearts, and knows every movement of pride, whether we see it or not, his purpose is to humble us.
And if we take a review of all his dealings with us, we shall see that this is the end which he has ever had in view; for until that is done we may well say that nothing is done.
But how did Yah humble the children of Israel? By placing them in circumstances which manifested their real character. Yah, as I said before, does not put his hand to wickedness—Yah forbid! Yah does not stir up by his Spirit evil in a man's heart; but he finds it there. If a bee stings you, if a dog bites you, if you tread upon a serpent, and it turns round and fastens his poison fangs into your ankle, was it any act of yours which put venom into the wasp, sharp teeth into the dog, or poison into the snake? Was it not all there before? It was drawn forth, but there it was; and the occasion only drew it out. So if there be in the heart of man pride, as there is, and circumstances occur to draw it out; or if there be in men's hearts rebellion, and circumstances draw forth that rebellion; or if there be in man's heart unbelief and infidelity, and occasions arise to draw them forth, and those occasions occur in the providence of Yah, Yah does not create that pride, that rebellion, that unbelief, that infidelity, nor does he stir it up instrumentally; but he allows it to manifest itself for this special purpose, to humble the individual in whom the sin thus appears.
Mark my words—I am not justifying any kind of sin in thought, word, or deed. Sin, in my eyes, is exceedingly sinful. I would desire never to sin again. I would, if I could, live perfectly holy. I would not have a sinful thought, I would not speak a sinful word, and still less would I commit any sinful action. And yet I find sin working in my mind sometimes all day long. Now what do I learn by this? Humility. But if truly humbled I cannot raise my hand against Yah; I cannot lift up a rebellious tongue against him and say, "Why have you made me thus?" for were I to do so I should have against me the verdict of my own conscience. I must fall down, then, humbly and meekly before him; I must put my mouth in the dust; I must acknowledge I am vile, because I see his greatness, majesty, holiness, purity, and perfections, and see and feel, as contrasted with them, my own exceeding sinfulness before him. This, therefore, teaches me humility; at least if I don't get humility in this way, I don't know how it is to be got.
Now when I look back upon a long life of profession, how many things do I see—though with all my sins and follies, slips and falls, I hope the Most High has kept me from bringing any open reproach upon his name and cause, and Yah keep me to the end, for it would be a dreadful thing for me after my long and well-known profession to bring disgrace upon the truth in my last days, yet my conscience testifies of many things I have thought, said, and done, which grieve my soul almost every day in the recollection of them, and make me hang my head before Yah, put my mouth in the dust, and confess my sins unto him.
Nor do I believe that I am singular in this feeling, for I am well persuaded that there is not a single person in this congregation who possesses the fear of Yah in a tender conscience who can look back through a life, and especially a long life of profession, without many cutting reflections, many painful reminiscences, and many distressing recollections that humble him in the very dust before Yah. At least I have no communion, and wish to have none, with any but those whom Yah humbles. Men of broken hearts, contrite spirits, and tender consciences I would desire to have for my companions, if I have any.
2. But Yah had other purposes and other ends to accomplish besides humbling. He had "to PROVE them, to know what was in their heart, whether they would keep his commandments or not."
Every man has to be proved, and every man's religion has to be proved; for every man's work is to be tried with fire; and though the trial may be delayed—though the proof may not yet seem going on, yet if you make a profession, sooner or later the trial will come, and it will be made manifest in the fires of trial and temptation. Now the wilderness was meant to prove the children of Israel. They made great boasting at Mount Sinai. All that Yah bade them observe to do, they said that they would observe and do; and yet, when Moses tarried in the mount a little beyond their expectation, they made a golden calf. So much for the spirit of 'free will'; so much for the resolve of the creature to keep Yah's commands.
Now Yah is determined to prove what is in a man's heart, and whether he will keep his commandments or not. It is not for the purpose of proving it to himself, for Yah knows all things, but of proving it to us.
Where, for instance, he plants his fear, he will prove that fear. Circumstances will arise, various things will occur in business, in the family, in a man's situation, public or private, whereby it will be ascertained whether he is possessed of the fear of Yah or not. He may for a time carry on his crafty practices; he may wear a mask and may deceive himself and deceive others; but sooner or later, if the fear of Yah be not in his soul, if he be not a possessor of heavenly grace, and Yah has not wrought anything in his heart by his own divine power and influence, he will prove reprobate silver; he will not stand the test; his religion will be burnt up in the flame, and he himself be cast out as worthless dross. He may go on for many years, and yet the end will prove sooner or later what the man is, and what his profession is worth.
But the same fiery trial will also prove what a man has of the life of Yah in his soul. For though, through the power of temptation, he may often reel and stagger to and fro, and be at his wits' end, yet Yah will deliver him out of all his temptations, and manifest in him the power of his grace.
It is a day of great profession, splendid pretensions, loud talking, presumptuous boasting, and, as men think, strong faith. I do not think so myself, but just the contrary, for it seems to me to be a day of small things with the very best, and a day of no things at all with the most. But Yah best knows what the day really is. He sees all hearts, searches all thoughts. Nothing that we are or have is hidden before the eyes of him with whom we have to do; and it is to be greatly feared that much of this strong faith will be proved to be presumption, many of these boasting claims to be downright arrogance, and much of this loud talk to be that of "the prating fool," against whom, twice in one chapter, Yah has recorded this awful sentence, "that he shall fall." One grain of Yahly fear, one sigh and cry of a broken heart, one longing look of living faith, one tender feeling of love to the Most High from a glimpse of his beauty and blessedness, are worth all this loud talk of which the wise man truly says, it "tends only to poverty."
Today we are walking in: Wilderness Hunger and Heavenly Manna Part 2
Exodus 3:18
And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, H4057 that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
Today we look to the word-WILDERNESS- H4057 midbar --wilderness, pasture, uninhabited land
The Torah testifies.......................................
Genesis 16:7
And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, H4057 by the fountain in the way to Shur.
Exodus 4:27
And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness H4057 to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.
Numbers 14:33
And your children shall wander in the wilderness H4057 forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. H4057
Deuteronomy 1:31
And in the wilderness, H4057 where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
The prophets proclaim..................
Isaiah 42:11
Let the wilderness H4057 and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Isaiah 43:19
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, H4057 and rivers in the desert.
Jeremiah 9:12
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, H4057 that none passeth through?
Ezekiel 20:13
But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: H4057 they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, H4057 to consume them.
The Writings bear witness.............
Joshua 1:4
From the wilderness H4057 and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
2Chronicles 1:3
So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness. H4057
Nehemiah 9:19
Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: H4057 the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.
Psalm 65:12
They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: H4057 and the little hills rejoice on every side.
Psalm 78:15
He clave the rocks in the wilderness, H4057 and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
Wilderness Hunger and Heavenly Manna Part 2
But I will now pass on to consider the BENEFITS and BLESSINGS which sprang out of their wandering in the wilderness, and which they were to remember as much as the wanderings themselves.
Though their wandering so many years in the wilderness was a punishment for their sins, and especially for that sin of unbelief and rebellion which they manifested on the return of the spies, when they murmured against Moses and Aaron, crying out, "Would Yah that we had died in the land of Egypt," and actually proposed to choose a leader and return, yet Yah took advantage, so to speak, of their sins and their rebellion to bring about the purposes of his own good pleasure. He did not create their sins; he was not the author of their rebellion; he did not foster their unbelief, for Yah cannot be the author of sin; and yet he could take occasion by their very sin to work out his own purposes.
We cannot have a more striking instance of this than the crucifixion of our dear Redeemer, in which Yah worked out his purposes by the hands of unYahly men. How plain is Peter's testimony—"Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of Yah, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." (Acts 2:23.) It was by "the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of Yah that Yahusha was delivered," or as the word means, "given up" out of the hands of Yah into theirs; but it was wicked hands which took him, crucified, and slew him. Yah's determinate counsel and foreknowledge did not make their hands wicked; and yet their wicked hands brought about his holy purposes.
So it was with the children of Israel. It was their wickedness which was the cause of their long wanderings; and yet these very wanderings carried out Yah's purposes, and what is more, were overruled for their good. So it is with us in this wilderness world, of which that "great and terrible wilderness" was a representation. Yah had a purpose in permitting us to be what we are, to have been what we have been, and to have done what we have done. And what that purpose was, is beautifully and blessedly opened in our text. Let us see if we can trace out some of these designs of Yah, as laid open in the words before us; and let us bear in mind that they are as applicable to us now as they were to the children of Israel—for "whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."
1. The first purpose is to HUMBLE us. Our heart, at least mine, is desperately proud; and if there be a sin which Yah hates more than another, and more sets himself against, it is the sin of pride. Though some men are more tempted, perhaps, to that sin than others, and, like a weed upon a ash-heap, it may grow more profusely in some soils, especially when well fertilized by rank and riches, praise and flattery, our own ignorance, and the ignorance of others, yet all inherit it alike from their fallen ancestor, who got it from HaSatan, that "king over all the children of pride." Those, perhaps, who think they possess the least pride, and view themselves with wonderful self-admiration among the humblest of mortals, may have as much or more pride, than those who feel and confess it, only rather more deeply hid and buried more out of sight in the dark recesses of their carnal mind. As Yah then sees all hearts, and knows every movement of pride, whether we see it or not, his purpose is to humble us.
And if we take a review of all his dealings with us, we shall see that this is the end which he has ever had in view; for until that is done we may well say that nothing is done.
But how did Yah humble the children of Israel? By placing them in circumstances which manifested their real character. Yah, as I said before, does not put his hand to wickedness—Yah forbid! Yah does not stir up by his Spirit evil in a man's heart; but he finds it there. If a bee stings you, if a dog bites you, if you tread upon a serpent, and it turns round and fastens his poison fangs into your ankle, was it any act of yours which put venom into the wasp, sharp teeth into the dog, or poison into the snake? Was it not all there before? It was drawn forth, but there it was; and the occasion only drew it out. So if there be in the heart of man pride, as there is, and circumstances occur to draw it out; or if there be in men's hearts rebellion, and circumstances draw forth that rebellion; or if there be in man's heart unbelief and infidelity, and occasions arise to draw them forth, and those occasions occur in the providence of Yah, Yah does not create that pride, that rebellion, that unbelief, that infidelity, nor does he stir it up instrumentally; but he allows it to manifest itself for this special purpose, to humble the individual in whom the sin thus appears.
Mark my words—I am not justifying any kind of sin in thought, word, or deed. Sin, in my eyes, is exceedingly sinful. I would desire never to sin again. I would, if I could, live perfectly holy. I would not have a sinful thought, I would not speak a sinful word, and still less would I commit any sinful action. And yet I find sin working in my mind sometimes all day long. Now what do I learn by this? Humility. But if truly humbled I cannot raise my hand against Yah; I cannot lift up a rebellious tongue against him and say, "Why have you made me thus?" for were I to do so I should have against me the verdict of my own conscience. I must fall down, then, humbly and meekly before him; I must put my mouth in the dust; I must acknowledge I am vile, because I see his greatness, majesty, holiness, purity, and perfections, and see and feel, as contrasted with them, my own exceeding sinfulness before him. This, therefore, teaches me humility; at least if I don't get humility in this way, I don't know how it is to be got.
Now when I look back upon a long life of profession, how many things do I see—though with all my sins and follies, slips and falls, I hope the Most High has kept me from bringing any open reproach upon his name and cause, and Yah keep me to the end, for it would be a dreadful thing for me after my long and well-known profession to bring disgrace upon the truth in my last days, yet my conscience testifies of many things I have thought, said, and done, which grieve my soul almost every day in the recollection of them, and make me hang my head before Yah, put my mouth in the dust, and confess my sins unto him.
Nor do I believe that I am singular in this feeling, for I am well persuaded that there is not a single person in this congregation who possesses the fear of Yah in a tender conscience who can look back through a life, and especially a long life of profession, without many cutting reflections, many painful reminiscences, and many distressing recollections that humble him in the very dust before Yah. At least I have no communion, and wish to have none, with any but those whom Yah humbles. Men of broken hearts, contrite spirits, and tender consciences I would desire to have for my companions, if I have any.
2. But Yah had other purposes and other ends to accomplish besides humbling. He had "to PROVE them, to know what was in their heart, whether they would keep his commandments or not."
Every man has to be proved, and every man's religion has to be proved; for every man's work is to be tried with fire; and though the trial may be delayed—though the proof may not yet seem going on, yet if you make a profession, sooner or later the trial will come, and it will be made manifest in the fires of trial and temptation. Now the wilderness was meant to prove the children of Israel. They made great boasting at Mount Sinai. All that Yah bade them observe to do, they said that they would observe and do; and yet, when Moses tarried in the mount a little beyond their expectation, they made a golden calf. So much for the spirit of 'free will'; so much for the resolve of the creature to keep Yah's commands.
Now Yah is determined to prove what is in a man's heart, and whether he will keep his commandments or not. It is not for the purpose of proving it to himself, for Yah knows all things, but of proving it to us.
Where, for instance, he plants his fear, he will prove that fear. Circumstances will arise, various things will occur in business, in the family, in a man's situation, public or private, whereby it will be ascertained whether he is possessed of the fear of Yah or not. He may for a time carry on his crafty practices; he may wear a mask and may deceive himself and deceive others; but sooner or later, if the fear of Yah be not in his soul, if he be not a possessor of heavenly grace, and Yah has not wrought anything in his heart by his own divine power and influence, he will prove reprobate silver; he will not stand the test; his religion will be burnt up in the flame, and he himself be cast out as worthless dross. He may go on for many years, and yet the end will prove sooner or later what the man is, and what his profession is worth.
But the same fiery trial will also prove what a man has of the life of Yah in his soul. For though, through the power of temptation, he may often reel and stagger to and fro, and be at his wits' end, yet Yah will deliver him out of all his temptations, and manifest in him the power of his grace.
It is a day of great profession, splendid pretensions, loud talking, presumptuous boasting, and, as men think, strong faith. I do not think so myself, but just the contrary, for it seems to me to be a day of small things with the very best, and a day of no things at all with the most. But Yah best knows what the day really is. He sees all hearts, searches all thoughts. Nothing that we are or have is hidden before the eyes of him with whom we have to do; and it is to be greatly feared that much of this strong faith will be proved to be presumption, many of these boasting claims to be downright arrogance, and much of this loud talk to be that of "the prating fool," against whom, twice in one chapter, Yah has recorded this awful sentence, "that he shall fall." One grain of Yahly fear, one sigh and cry of a broken heart, one longing look of living faith, one tender feeling of love to the Most High from a glimpse of his beauty and blessedness, are worth all this loud talk of which the wise man truly says, it "tends only to poverty."
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