Parasha Vayiqra 5784 (2024) reading:

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 1:1-5:26
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7, Hoshea (Hosea) 8
Romim (Romans) 6, Ivrim (Hebrews) 10

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The following text is a written version and may differ slightly from the video dialogue.

Welcome to Nazarene Israel. My name is Norman Willis, and this is our parasha midrash for Parasha Vayiqra. And we are addressing this to both halves of the Genesis 35:11 alliance, both Judah, and Joseph.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 35:11
11 Also Elohim said to him: “I am Elohim Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.”

Administrative announcement

We need to make more time for the documentaries. So, we are going to try an experiment this week. Normally, I try to make a smooth, rehearsed parasha, so we both explain the fundament to newcomers, and also provide some meat for those who want to understand how things fit together, and what we are all supposed to be doing. But it takes time. (And we do not have sufficient time right now.)

As an experiment this week, I am making a first draft, and then I am going to try to present, with no rehearsal. So, you might not get the same polished parasha, but other people prefer more of a “raw” or a “live” or an “unplugged” feel. And this is the time we have.

First-century synagogue model

In our synagogue leader’s handbook in progress, we explain that in the second temple period, the Synagogue was not the Roman-amphitheater version that you have today. The speaker was in the center of the room, and the focus was on the Torah, rather than on the speaker. However, after the second temple was destroyed, the synagogues changed. They transformed.

In Yeshua’s time in the Second Temple Era, the synagogues were a place where Israelites could come, and it was close to your home, and all of your neighbors went there. You sat along the walls, around the speaker, who stood in the center.

And of course, each synagogue was different, and there were variations, but in Yeshua’s time, the speaker would speak, and read from the Torah, or read from the Haftarah prophetic portion from the center of the room—and then you could have a big discussion, primarily because everyone there was involved, and was ‘paying in’!

Everyone there had skin in the game! And when people put their money where their mouths are, it makes more things possible than when people do not put their money where their mouths are, but only pay lip service.

Problems with the Roman-amphitheater model

We get questions about why we cannot just throw open our doors and spend lots of time on people who do not want to help mankind come back into voluntary subjection to Elohim’s voice through committed love for Messiah Yeshua. But the answer is that people like that are literally the problem!

Because they think they are part of the kingdom, and they think they are helping Yeshua just by resting and reading, or by watching and doing nothing, but the reality is that they are doing nothing with their minas! They are burying their minas, and are so earning condemnation!

They are not gathering with Yeshua, so they are scattering abroad.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 12:30
30 “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”

And the saddest part is that they quite often are ignorant of the fact that they are doing that. They do not consciously intend to rebel against Elohim’s commandments—they just believe that they do not need to obey all of them. So, they do the easy ones, and let the difficult ones lie. (And they do it all in Yeshua’s name!)

Well, after the second temple was destroyed, there were a lot of changes that took place in Yavneh, that set the stage for the rabbinic takeover of Judaism. And the rabbis, of course, changed the service to follow more of the Roman amphitheater model, like what you see in Christianity.

And like you have in almost every church service you have ever been to, with the podium, or the pulpit, or the bimah, or the platform, (or whatever) on one side of the room, and then the people come in, pay their money, receive their show, and then they go, without ever having to get really involved. And without ever really having to become transformed.

So, we have a whole bunch of conflicting requirements here, and we are talking and praying about how to organize to serve you best, because we have even additional challenges in the dispersion. And we have additional challenges because of the “virtual” environment. And we are out of time, so this is the best we can do right now, because really, there is very little support.

And as we covered last week, if you were not a regular contributor, you did not even come into the synagogue environment after about three months.

So, we are going to do what we need to do to make time to get to the documentaries, because that is what we need to do. And I hope that is understandable. And we are going to see how it goes. If you like the new style, please let us know in the comment section on YouTube. And if you do not like the new style, please also let us know in the comments, but this is pretty much what we can do right now.

Mystery Babylonian spirit

So, we have left Exodus. And now we are in Leviticus (Vayiqra). And to me, one of the biggest things about Leviticus is people not understanding what they are reading. And I think perhaps maybe possibly one of the reasons people do not seem to understand what they are reading, is that it is like someone has filled their heads with the idea that you do not need to do anything, to be in Elohim’s favor.

You know, it is like we read the book of the Acts of the shaliachim (apostles), and we Ephraimites know deep down we are supposed to do some acts of our own, but then we do not want to do it!

Is that possibly because maybe someone has filled our heads with the idea that when we get to the judgment, we are going to have an oral exam? And Elohim is going to ask us what we know, and what we have learned, rather than what we actually did for Him (based on what we now know, and based on what we learned)?

This is one of the dangers of the Greco-Roma-Babylonian-amphitheater model. And I think the YouTube Babylonian-amphitheater model is probably an extension of that. Because you sit in the audience, as if in a movie theater, and it is like, your job is to watch the show.

Your job is not to find some way to join or at least support the stage troop, to help them do acts for the rest of the world. Rather, your only job is to put little hearts and smileys and emoticons in the comment section, and say, “Great teaching! Thank you so much!”

But then nothing changes. There is no involvement. There is no personal ownership of the need to help set up Yeshua’s kingdom. We love Yahweh with all of our heart emoticons, all of our soul emoticons, and all of our strength emoticons? We get our emotional release, but does Yahweh ever get what He wants?

And this is the problem entirely, is that we want to make the focus of the worship into what we want, and we never really stop to consider if we are doing things the way Yahweh and Yeshua say to do them.

So, the spirit of Mystery Babylon steps in and says,

“Let me make you a deal! You can do whatever you want, and just call it the worship of Yahweh! And then you can continue doing whatever you want, just so long as you attribute it to Yahweh!”

Mystery Babylon tells us that as long as we attribute everything to Yahweh, “Do what you want shall be the whole of the Torah.”

(And both Judah and Ephraim go crazy for that! Each in their own separate ways.)

Torah Portion

We could talk about the specifics of the offerings, and you can learn a lot of things that way, especially if you are on track to become a Levitical priest someday. But since we have a false third Temple coming before we get to a cleansed fourth temple, we are going to talk more about the heart of the matter, that affects both houses today.

Unintentional sin committed by priest

So, if we come to Vayiqra 4:2, Yahweh told Moshe to speak to our forefathers, saying that if anyone of us should sin unintentionally against any of the things that Yahweh’s voice ever said to do, in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them, then he must pay a penalty on account of his former ignorance.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 4:2
2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of Yahweh in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them…'”

For example, in the next verse (verse 3), we see that if an anointed priest sins, this brings guilt on all the people. And in that case, then let him offer to Yahweh for his sin a young bull without blemish (as a sin offering).

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 4:3
3 if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to Yahweh for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without blemish as a sin offering.

And an example of this would be that if you grew up in the days of King Manasseh of the house of Judah, and you were a Levitical priest, you might not know what you were supposed to be doing, because King Manasseh strongly de-emphasized the temple service in favor of Baal worship.

Last week in Parasha Vayakhel Pekudei, we saw how it was in Melachim Bet 22:8, that Hilkiah the high priest told Shaphan the scribe that he had found the Book of the Torah in the house of Yahweh.

Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 22:8
8 Then Hilkiyah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of Yahweh.” And Hilkiyah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

And then in verse 10, Shaphan the scribe read the book of the Torah to the king, and then in verse 11, when King Josiah heard the words of the book of the Torah, he tore his clothing.

Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 22:11
11 Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes.

It was not a no-thing to him! As a king, Josiah knew that when you disobey a king greater than you, you had better set things right somehow, or you are going to have big problems on this thing!

And then in verse 13, he said to go and inquire of Yahweh for him, for himself and for all the people, and for all of the house of Judah, and everyone that was attached to the house of Judah, concerning the words of the book of the Torah that had been found, how they could atone for the oversight.

Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 22:13
13 “Go, inquire of Yahweh for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of Yahweh that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

Returning to Vayiqra 4:4, Yahweh spells out the penalty for if a priest should happen to do that.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 4:4
4 He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before Yahweh, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and kill the bull before Yahweh.

So, for example. This passage would apply if, say, a rabbi (or hopefully the entire Orthodox Jewish Sanhedrin) should wake up to the fact that they are supposed to be obeying the Tanach, (and not the Talmud!) And then they should offer a sin offering when they realize that they have been doing evil by departing from Elohim’s commandments.

Unintentional sin committed by the congregation

Now, drop down to verse 13-14

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 4:13-14
13 ‘Now if the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally, and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done something against any of the commandments of Yahweh in anything which should not be done, and are guilty;

14 when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull for the sin, and bring it before the tabernacle of meeting.

An example of this would be if the house of Judah realized that they are supposed to be obeying Tanach and not Talmud, then this corporate offering would pertain to the whole assembly.

Or another example of this would be if the house of Joseph realized that it is not enough to read the Tanach and the Brit Chadasha–but that we actually have to do what we read (or else we become instant hypocrites)!

Some day when both of our houses realize that we are supposed to be obeying Elohim (and not ourselves), then we would follow this ritual offering.

Unintentional sin committed by a ruler

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 4:22-23
22 ‘When a ruler has sinned, and done something unintentionally [according to Yahweh] against any of the commandments of Yahweh his Elohim in anything which should not be done, and is guilty,

23 or if his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a male without blemish.

(And maybe it is ‘a kid of the goats’, because it is a politician? And maybe it is a male goat because the politicians are the leaders?)

And for perspective, perhaps one possible example of this might be if say, Prime Minister Netanyahu or any of the members of the Israeli Knesset realized that the southern house of Judah is not supposed to be following their own words in the Talmud, but that they are to be obeying the words of Elohim in the Tanach, then this offering would be appropriate. (And, please pray for that!)

Now, while we are waiting for Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli Knesset and the Sanhedrin to wake up and to do what is right… and, while we are waiting for President Biden and the US Congress to wake up to the fact that democracy is not it, and multi-culturalism in Jesus’ name is not it, we the common people also need to take these requirements on ourselves.

Unintentional sin by the common people

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 4:27
27 ‘If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally by doing something against any of the commandments of Yahweh in anything which ought not to be done, and is guilty,’

…then this ritual procedure should apply to us (at least in a Levitical temple environment). And you say okay. But what should this mean to me? Great question! I am so glad you asked! But first let us hit one more.

Trespass offering

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 5:15
15 “If a person commits a trespass, and sins unintentionally in regard to the set-apart things of Yahweh, then he shall bring to Yahweh as his trespass offering a ram without blemish from the flocks, with your valuation in shekels of silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary, as a trespass offering.”

Leviticus 5:15 says that if a person commits a trespass and sins unintentionally in regard to the set apart things of Yahweh (meaning the offerings), then he shall bring to Yahweh as his trespass offering a ram without blemish, as a trespass offering.

And the key is found in verse 17, where it says that if a person sins, and commits any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of Yahweh even though he does not know it (or realize it) yet he is guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 5:17-18
17 “If a person sins, and commits any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of Yahweh, though he does not know it, yet he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity.

18 And he shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock, with your valuation, as a trespass offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him regarding his ignorance in which he erred and did not know it, and it shall be forgiven him.”

With a trespass offering, the priest must make atonement for us, regarding our ignorance, in which we errored, and did not know it. And once our ignorance is gone, and we make the atonement, and now we are going to do better, and we have said we are sorry by performing the appropriate ritual sacrifice, that is why it is forgiven to us.

It is because we have shown Him the respect to take concrete steps to apologize and atone for what we did wrong, and also the damage that comes out of not doing the right things.

Ruhm Yahd

Now, one of the most important things we need to realize in this lesson (and the thing that messes Ephraim up) is what it says in Bemidbar 15:30, which is that if we do anything with a “high hand” (or a “ruhm yahd” transgression), that is considered rebellion. That is considered simple disobedience.

Bemidbar (Numbers) 15:30
30 ‘But the person who does anything presumptuously [יָד רוּם], whether he is native-born or a stranger [a ger, like returning Ephraim], that one brings reproach on Yahweh, and he shall be cut off from among his people.

[יָד רוּם ; “ruhm yahd” ; “high-handed”]

And what most of us do not realize is just how easy it is to fall into this “high-handed rebellion” category.

As we saw in Parasha Tetzaveh, in Shemuel Aleph 15:13, king Shaul thought he had obeyed the Commandments of Elohim. Shemuel had to point out how it was that he had not obeyed the commandments of Elohim–and King Shaul still did not want to believe it.

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

King Shaul argues that he had obeyed the voice of Yahweh. Because he did go on the mission on which Yahweh sent him. And he did utterly destroy the Amalekites!

Shemuel Aleph (First Samuel) 15:20
20 And Shaul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh, and gone on the mission on which Yahweh sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.”

But now, get this! King Shaul only failed in a few of the details, so that the people could offer more sacrifices, and free sacrifices!

Shemuel Aleph (First Samuel) 15:22
22 So Shemuel said: “Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offering and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of Yahweh? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.”

And even though King Shaul only failed in a few of the details, Yahweh said he was in rebellion!

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

In other words, “You are not voluntarily submitting to My voice in a careful and diligent sort of way! And that will not help bring fallen mankind back into voluntary submission to My voice, so it is no good!”

It is a substitute for the real thing! King Shaul was practicing a deception! Just like Mystery Babylon offers us a deception! Mystery Babylon offers brother Judah a way to make up his own code of laws, and pass them off as if they came from Elohim. And Mystery Babylon offer Ephraim the same thing. The Messianic Movement offers Ephraim a way to sit in his friend’s living room, and hold a Bible study, and pretend they are fulfilling the Great Commission.

Vayiqra 5:19 tells us that when we sin because we are ignorant, and we do not do what we should have done, it causes damage to the nation. And it causes damage to Yeshua’s kingdom.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 5:19
19 “It is a trespass offering; he has certainly trespassed against Yahweh.”

And that is why we need to offer a trespass offering, is because our trespasses against His plans, and His instructions cause delays and damage in the relationship between us and Elohim, and basically to His whole kingdom.

Wanted: a faithful bride

Most of us cannot see this, because we are not focused on helping Him get what He wants, we are only focused on getting what we want. So, because we are focused on receiving all of the blessings from Him, we do not spend time developing the relationship with Him, which is the real blessing.

In comparison, it would be like pretending to love your grandparents (or your parents, or something), so they will give you a big reward, or a big inheritance, or something like that, but you did not have to have a genuine love relationship with them.

It is profane to live like that! It is profane to focus on receiving all of the blessings from Yahweh, rather than focus on what we can help Him with. If we want to be His helper bride, we have to find ways to help Him! (In case they never told you that in the church, or in the Messianic movement!)

Because it is only when we stop searching after blessings from Elohim that we stop to ask ourselves, “Now what would He like?”

And of course, He knows that! And that is what He is waiting for us to realize, is that He also wants something from the relationship with us. And that is our undivided attention and loyalty at all times! (And our obedience means much more to Him than emoticons and smileys!)

Temple service – post resurrection

Now, we always get a lot of questions about the temple service after Yeshua’s death, burial and resurrection. And if you go to the Nazarene Israel website, to Nazarene Scripture Studies Volume One, you can read our study called, “About Sacrifices.”

And this is one of the things that Esav just really filled Joseph’s head full of mush on! Because the temple service was never intended to “take away sins”! The Temple service was only ever intended to “temporarily atone” for sins, until such time as Messiah Yeshua would take sin away “for all time”.

People do not know what that means. Not even in the Hebrew Roots community. And they definitely do not live that way! But that is why it says the following in Ivrim 10:3-4:

Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:3-4
3 But in those sacrifices there is [only] a reminder of sins every year.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

While Esav tries to use this passage as a so-called “proof text” that Yeshua came to do away with the animal sacrificial system, in reality, the opposite is true.

The big idea here is that we are all supposed to be striving to become His faithful dedicated and devoted Proverbs 31 war bridal candidate. And we are all supposed to realize that He is all-knowing, and omniscient. And we are supposed to understand that He wants help on the battlefield, and He is giving us one golden divine opportunity, to help Him get it!

But we just keep failing, and keep failing, and keep failing, because we are not being diligent! And we are worthy of death again, and again, and again, and He keeps giving us another chance, another chance, and another chance! Because it is going to look terrible on Him if He hast to destroy us, because they will say all kinds of bad things about Him, because of the way we chose to behave!

Because it is a trespass if we are even ignorant of what it is that we are supposed to be doing for Him! And we are supposed to atone for ourselves, just because we did not realize what we were doing wrong!

From harlotry to Proverbial bride

And the reason the standards are so high is that He is literally looking for a bride who loves Him more than herself. And who wants to ask perfection of herself in support of Him, and His agenda, and His goals.

And it is 100% completely righteous, because He created us to serve Him like this, and our ancestors rebelled, and turned away from Him and His authority. And now we are trying to prove that we are going to live up to that original standard that we had in the Garden before the fall, where we are literally hearing His voice all the time, and we are doing our very best to do everything He ever said.

Do we realize that that is the standard that we all are supposed to be striving to live up to? And when we realize it, does it tear our hearts to the point where we want to make things up to our Beloved?

Because if you do something accidentally wrong against your spouse, and your spouse notices, do you not think Yahweh would notice? And if you realize you did something wrong against your spouse, and your spouse is hurt, do you not try to make it up to your spouse? Does it not hurt? And do you not want to do what it takes to make things right with your spouse, or with your family member?

What about with Yahweh? What about with Yeshua? Do we really love Them like we think we do? Do we really place Them first like we think we do? And when we realize that we are supposed to be doing more for Them, do we do something to atone to Them, and to show Them that we are not just about lip-service only? And that there is more to us than just lip-Torah?

What we need to do here is to take some time to pray and ask Yahweh if we have a real relationship with Him, or if we are only looking to receive the blessings from Him. And if we have a real relationship, what would He really like?

Haftarah

Now let us come to our Haftarah prophetic portion. It is so hard to know where to start this haftarah, because to me, the whole opening dozen chapters speak exactly to the situation with the house of Judah today. And by that, I mean, you have a bunch of people who are very active, and they built a temple, but they do not walk clean! And their hearts are not really for Him!

And this is mystery Babylon exactly. Because brothers Judah and Levi are pretending to obey Yahweh, but they are not really. Really, they are doing what they want, and then they are giving the nod to the temple, as kind of a giant amulet.

It is like the temple service becomes one giant bloody charm, so to speak, because the people are not paying attention to Elohim and in His ways, and then they are just turning to offer Him some offering, when that is not what Elohim said to do! And sadly, we seem to be on a perfect repeat track of the first dozen chapters of Yirmeyahu! (Rinse, re-soil, and repeat!)

Yirmeyahu: Amend your ways, Judah!

Here in Yirmeyahu 7:2, Yahweh tells Yirmeyahu to stand in the gate of His house, and tell all the people who enter in at those gates to worship Yahweh. But they are messing up!

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:2
2 “Stand in the gate of Yahweh’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh!'”

And in verse three, Yahweh the Elohim of Israel tells brother Judah that he needs to amend (or straighten out) his ways and his doings–and then Yahweh will allow them to dwell in His land.

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:3
3 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.”

And in verse four, Judah should not trust in lying words saying, “We will have a temple. We are going to make a rabbinic temple! And we are going to follow the words of the Talmud because of our Talmudic temple!”

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:4
4 “Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh are these.’”

“Behold, Judah, you are trusting and lying words of the Talmud that cannot profit!” (Because He is not going to let you profit when you are ignoring His ways!)

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:8
8 “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.”

“Will you make the Kol Nidre prayer for Yom Kippur, to excuse yourself from every promise you made all year, so that you can steal, and murder, and commit adultery with gentile women, swear falsely and excuse yourself by saying Kol Nidre, and put up a hexagram, and a circled hexagram, and worship HaShem and Adonai, even though Elohim never says to call Him by these names?”

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:9
9 “Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other elohim whom you do not know,”

Verse 12. “But if you think you are special because you are the kingship and the priesthood tribes, now go to the place where Yahweh said to place His name in Shiloh!”

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:12
12 “But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.”

That is where Yahweh set His name at the first, but take a look at what Yahweh did there. Shiloh became a ruin, because our ancestors did not obey!

Verse 21. “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, “If you are going to ignore Me like this, then go ahead and do what you want! Make even more burnt offerings! And add those to your many sacrifices, and eat all kinds of meat! And think that you are doing a great thing, slaughtering rivers of blood for Me, when that is not really what I wanted in the first place!””

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:21
21 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat.”

Verse 22, “Because hey, Levi. I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices!”

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:22
22 “For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.”

(“Yes, there needs to be a temple! But no, rivers of blood is not what I am after! I am not a bloodthirsty Elohim! What do you think?”)

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:23
23 “But this is what I commanded them
[again, and again, and again, and again…],
saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your Elohim, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’”

“Because then we will be a team, and we will be working together, and you will be walking out and doing all of the things that My Spirit desires, to build a kingdom for My Son, Mashiach Nagid!”

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:24-25
24 “Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.

25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.”

[But Judah ignores prophets, and likes to kill them!]

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:26
26 “Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.”

And Ephraim also has his problems!

Hoshea: Transgressions of Israel

Let us come to Hoshea 8:1, and in verse one, we are just looking at our unpleasant and unsavory history in Ephraim. In verse one, Yahweh says to set the shofar to your mouth, because the king of Assyria will come like an eagle against the so-called “house of Yahweh”.

Hoshea (Hosea) 8:1
1 “Set the trumpet to your mouth! He shall come like an eagle against the house of Yahweh, Because they have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.”

And many scholars believe that this is Yahweh’s ironic slam on Gilgal, which ended up as the seat of our forefathers idol worship in the northern kingdom. In the northern kingdom, we had Golden Calf worship in Dan, and also in Beit El, and then we also had Gilgal. And if you do a word search for Gilgal, a lot of good things happened in Gilgal (at least at first).

Gilgal was where the armies of Israel first encamped when they entered the land of Israel. Joshua also set up 12 stones in Gilgal. And that is where we all kept the first Pesach in the land of Israel. And we received all the many good promises and blessings of Yahweh in Gilgal. But that is like where we stopped seeking Him, and started seeking His blessings, instead.

You know, it is like your dad comes home from work, and as little children you do not care anything about him, you only care about whether he brings you a present? Or if you are the wife, and your husband comes home, you do not care anything about him, you only care about, did he bring you anything?

Did he bring home stuff that we want? (And who cares about him anyway?) That is how we started to treat Yahweh at Gilgal. Once we were in the land, we started to seek Him for his blessings, rather than seek a love relationship with Him.

Verse one says that we transgressed His covenant, and rebelled against His Torah (or His instruction).

Hoshea (Hosea) 8:1
1 “Set the trumpet to your mouth! He shall come like an eagle against the house of Yahweh, Because they have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.”

Yet verse 2 says that even though we transgressed His covenant, and rebelled against His Torah, because we did not want to do what we knew we were supposed to do, yet we in the northern House of Israel will cry to Yahweh, “My Elohim, we know you!”

Hoshea (Hosea) 8:2
2 Israel will cry to Me, ‘My Elohim, we know You!’

And is that not what we in the house of Ephraim say? Do we not say we know Him? And yet we are completely ignorant of the fact that we are transgressing His covenant, and rebelling against His Torah by reading about what we are supposed to do, but then we do not do it? (And then we put, “Heart, heart! Like, like! Thumb, thumb!”)

Hoshea (Hosea) 8:4
4 “They set up kings, but not by Me; They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them. From their silver and gold They made idols for themselves—That they might be cut off.”

Verse four is very important. All of the Christian-European kings relate one way or the other to Esav’s Papacy. Even the Protestant world’s kings existed in relation to Esav’s Roman-Christian kings.

These Roman Christian kings were not chosen because they were submitted to the voice of Elohim. They were chosen because of worldly concerns, just like our forefathers in both houses chose King Shaul. And just like our forefathers in Ephraim chose King Jeroboam.

Hoshea (Hosea) 8:8
8 Israel is swallowed up; Now they are among the Gentiles like a vessel in which is no pleasure.

Verse 11 says that because our forefathers in Ephraim made many altars for sin (meaning transgression or replacement of the Torah, meaning Sunday worship, and Greco-Roman-Babylonian amphitheater-church services) they have become for him altars of sinning.”

Hoshea (Hosea) 8:11
11 “Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin, They have become for him altars for sinning.”

“I wanted him to help me establish My Son’s kingdom by obeying My eternal covenant. Therefore, I wrote him great things regarding My Torah, and My instructions. But Ephraim considered them a strange thing.”

Hoshea (Hosea) 8:12
12 “I have written for him the great things of My law, But they were considered a strange thing.”

Is that not just like how Christians in the Sunday church consider the Torah to be a strange thing? And is that not like how most of the Ephraimites consider the concept of entering into a submission relationship to the Spirit sounds like a strange thing? Is that not like how most of the Ephraimites consider abiding in the vine (for real) to be a strange thing?

Judah places his faith in a temple that is not run according to Yahweh’s instructions, and a Talmud that is a fake Torah! And Ephraim places his faith in a fake Torah that is not what Yeshua says to do! When are we going to stop seeking knowledge and blessings from Yahweh? When are we going to love Yahweh (with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our strength)?

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:4-5
4 “Shema [hear, obey (do!)], O Israel: Yahweh our Elohim, Yahweh is one [united]!
5 You shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

[Does not mean “with all of our emoticons”.]

Because that is what He wants, is that we would love Him! And show Him our trust, by obeying Him, because this is what will help to build His Son’s kingdom. (Or how are we going to build His Son a kingdom, when we do not trust Him to the point of obeying Him? And how can we have any good kind of a relationship if we are not willing to obey Him?)

Brit Chadasha

So now, we come to our Brit Chadasha (or our Renewed Covenant) portion. And in Romim chapter 6, we see a problem that still affects many in the house of Ephraim today. It is the same problem that Ephraim and Judah face all the time.

Are we going to obey Him? Or are we going to obey ourselves, in His name This is the difference between true worship, and Mystery Babylonian worship. And these are the same concepts, just from different angles.

Does His grace allow Torah breaking?

Romim (Romans) 6:1 asks us, if we know that we are called to be dead to our flesh, (so that we might quit singing, and quit breaking the written Torah, and quit breaking what Yeshua Messiah says to do), but we are filled with this grace (or His unmerited favor), what do we do with that?

Since we used to be sinners (breaking the written Torah of Moshe), but now we have been called to die to sin, and to live to the Torah and to the Spirit, should we continue breaking the Torah so that we should continue to receive His unmerited favor?

Romim (Romans) 6:1
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Certainly not! Because if we are supposed to be dead to breaking the Torah, how can we continue to break the Torah?

Romim (Romans) 6:2
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

The big facade

I remember going to a Sabbath gathering, (you know like we in Ephraim do)! And someone opens their home, and everyone sits in a circle in chairs, and then you all read a little bit, and comment about it. And everyone gets to feel good, and everyone gets to share all of their insights. (And we think that is what we are supposed to be doing!) And then everyone has a shared meal.

So, I am checking out the food, and it looks like someone has brought sliced ham. So, I say to the brother next to me,

“Uh-oh. It looks like someone brought pork.”

And the brother says,

“Oh. Thank you for telling me.”

And then he gets a quizzical, confused look on his face, and then he shrugs and says,

“Oh well. I am a sinner anyway!”

And then goes to load up on the pork.

And this is a minor example, but if we cannot even get this right, then how are we supposed to build Him a unified kingdom on a single Foundation of Apostles and Prophets? I mean, we cannot even get the dietary laws right?

And we will talk about the dietary laws of Vayiqra 11 in two more weeks, in Parasha Shemini. But what I am saying here, is that here is this brother is there in an Ephraimite or Messianic Israelite context, and he is there to read from the Torah portion. But apparently, he and whoever brought the pork does not think the dietary laws apply to them!

And I mean, that is one of the things about Acts 15:20! And we will talk about this, but if we are not even willing to obey the dietary laws, then we are not even allowed to come in the door!

Ma’asei (Acts) 15:20
20 but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.

Re-entering the synagogue

We will talk about this, but the real issue in Acts 15 was whether or not rabbinic authority and traditions apply. (And the one-house Messianic Jewish movement did not get the memo on this! They forgot to read this chapter!)

But when there was a question as to what the common Halachah should be (“What should be our statement of faith?”, “How should we walk out our faith in Yeshua?”) in Ma’asei 15:19, the Nasi (the Prince, or the President) of the sect of the Nazarenes, Yaakov HaTzaddik (the Apostle James) said that they should not trouble those returning Gentile Ephraimites who are returning to Elohim and His ways by putting a yoke of Talmud upon them.

Ma’asei (Acts) 15:19
19 “Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to Elohim,”

He is not talking here about rejecting the written Torah. He is talking here about rejecting the assumed authority of those who would like to become the rabbis, and the rabbinical order, with the Talmud. Rather, he is saying that they should write to the returning gentile Ephraimites, and tell them to begin by abstaining from four key principles, or four key things.

Ma’asei (Acts) 15:20
20 but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.

The first thing to abstain from is from things that are polluted by idols because idolatry is spiritual immorality. So, no Golden Calves, no crosses of Tammuz, no hexagrams, and no Dagon fish decorations. No prayers to “The Lord God” (Baal) or “HaShem” or “Adonai.”, because those are not Yahweh!)

[“The Divine Name”]

And then also to abstain from sexual immorality (as defined by the written Torah (and not by the Talmud, and not by other human laws).

And to abstain from strangled meats. (And we will talk about what that means, but as we will see two weeks from now, in context, they must be clean meats. They must qualify as per Vayiqra (Leviticus) chapter 11, or you do not eat them!)

And to abstain from transgressing in matters of blood. And we will talk about what that means also, but as a minimum, everyone can agree that we are not supposed to consume blood. (So, foods like blood sausage, and English black pudding, and things of that nature are out!) Just do not eat those! Those are nasty!

[“You Are What You Eat”] [“Torah Diet”]

The reason why is that once the returning gentile Ephraimites have shown their sincerity and commitment buy abstaining from four abominations which will get you cut off from the nation of Israel in the Torah, then they can come into the synagogues. Because Moshe has had throughout very many generations of Israelites, those who preach Moshe (and do the reading of the law) in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.

Ma’asei (Acts) 15:21
21 “For Moshe has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

So, if you agree not to defile the Sabbath table by eating unclean foods, and by breaking principles and precepts that will get you cut off from the nation of Israel, then you can come into the synagogue environments, and hear what Yahweh’s Torah says to do. And we are not there to learn Talmud! And we are not there to ignore the written Torah of Moshe!

And for context, later the rabbis imposed the Birkhat HaMinim, (or the Daily Death Curse), to drive the Nazarenes out of the synagogues–but the idea was still to hear the Torah of Moshe being read and preached in every city since ancient times, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath, with an intent to do what we hear.

(Or what?? We are supposed to listen to the Torah of Moshe, but it is not important to do it? What sense does that make?)

So, now that we are kicked out of the regular synagogues, now when we set up our own assemblies, we need to set them up according to the Second Temple period synagogue model. (And not the replacement theology Roman-amphitheater church model! And not the rabbinical Roman-amphitheater model either! Because that is also not what Yeshua did.)

Are we dead, buried, and risen in Mashiach?

Romim (Romans) 6:3
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were immersed into Messiah Yeshua were immersed into His death?

This seems to be one of the things that our people are still missing. It is like we cannot seem to wrap our minds around it! Do we miss the fact that we are not supposed to live our lives for ourselves any longer? –But rather, we are supposed to die to ourselves and the things that we want to do in our will?

TV.
Movies.
Hiking.
Camping.
The water park.

Secular activities.
The opera.
Secular music.
Video games.

(Fill in your blank, here ______________!)

Dumb stuff that wastes our precious time and our money, and which does not help our Husband Yeshua to get His kingdom.

Is it because we have a peacetime mentality that we cannot seem to understand what our activities should be in spiritual wartime? Do we understand that in war, life is no longer about us, and what we want? And that from the point of immersion forward, we are supposed to focus only upon our love Yeshua, and His Father Yahweh, and it is supposed to matter to us whether or not He gets what He wants?

Romim (Romans) 6:3
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were immersed into Messiah Yeshua were immersed into His death?

(What does that mean?)

Verse 4 tells us that the imagery is that we are buried with Him through immersion, into His death of His flesh, so that just as Messiah Yeshua was raised in the Spirit, to do the work and the will of the Spirit, so we also should walk in newness of life in the Spirit.

Romim (Romans) 6:4
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through immersion into death, that just as Messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Do you see the Spirit playing Internet games? Do you see the Spirit worrying about t-ball? Do you see the Spirit worrying about what kind of car, or what kind of clothing? These are fleshly concerns, yes? Do we serve them up before we focus on the concerns of Yeshua and His Father?

What kind of bride are we? One that cares about herself? Or one that cares about her Husband the Prince, and the big spiritual warfare job that His Father sent Him to get us to accomplish for Him in His absence?

Shaul is trying to talk with us, and to help us to understand the correct attitude. And then in verse number 11, he says that we need to think of ourselves as being dead to sin (or dead to commandment-breaking), but alive to Elohim in Messiah Yeshua our Master.

Romim (Romans) 6:11
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to Elohim to Messiah Yeshua our Master.

And do you know how a faithful wife is supposed to be all about helping her husband? That is how we are supposed to be.

Verse 12 says, that is why we should not let commandment-breaking reign in our mortal body, because we do not want our lusts to manifest in commandment-breaking.

Romim (Romans) 6:12
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

We do not want our lust to manifest in some unlawful and unclean way that spends our time and our money and our energies in ways that do nothing to help our Husband get the kingdom He so richly deserves.

It is like when you join the military in wartime. You have some street clothes you brought with you, but you die to them, and they to you. You lock them away in the footlocker, or in secured storage, and you will get them back when you leave the military (which in our case is hopefully never).

But it is like, in Ephraim, we do not want to do that. It is like we think we sign up for the military, and we go right back to our lives, living in the world. And watching TV shows in the world. And getting caught up in secular work and school activities in the world.

And we did not put Elohim first. We did not walk by faith. And we want someone to tickle our ears, and give us a Greco-Roman Babylonian church model or synagogue model to follow, so that we can pretend to dedicate ourselves to Elohim, without actually dedicating ourselves to Elohim. And somehow, we think the Day of Judgment is only supposed to be about what we learned, instead of what we “did” for Elohim “based upon” what we learned.

The immersion of the Spirit

One time I did an immersion in Texas, and as soon as the immersion was done, the wife turns to her husband and says, “Do we still have time to go for a ride in our airplane?”

And Mr. Autism should have said something, but I was dumbfounded, and did not have the words. I just stood there with my mouth open, trying to understand the mindset of our people, so that I could help them somehow, in the future. Here is what I did not get. The Spirit did not fall. So, instead of anyone asking, and seeking, and knocking until the Spirit did fall (like what I had just taught about maybe 30 minutes before the immersion), it was,

“Check! We are immersed! Now everything is on Yahweh. So let us go flying for our own personal pleasure, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with building Yeshua’s kingdom in His absence.”

And it is not that I had not taught on it. But no one kept asking, seeking, or knocking until the Spirit did fall, because no one really cared. And I was just like,

“How do you even begin to help people who do not care about Yeshua, or what He wants? How do you even begin to help people who really only care about themselves?”

I am still asking that question daily. And I am guessing that that couple still has their airplane, and they still fly it on Shabbat, even though, what does it do for Yeshua?

Past performance indicates future performance

Do we not in Ephraim make fun of Judah for his “checklist mentality”??–But then we do the same thing?

“Check I have been immersed! I am not really in love with Elohim, and so the Spirit did not fall, but I am good! I obeyed the checklist!”

Okay, good that you did the ritual! Only, do you have a real love relationship with Him? Are you seeking Him for Him, trying to help Him get what He wants? (Or are you only really here for the insights, and the blessings?)

It is funny watching Ephraimites. It is like we think that the Day of Judgment is going to consist of an oral exam. It will be like a doctoral thesis, and we will have a two or three hour oral grilling, and if we get all the answers right, we get into heaven. But how many of us think that that is going to be all it is, a pop quiz? And that there will not be any review of our work history for Him?

You know, they say that the best indicator of future performance is past performance, yes? So, if we are not busy laying down our lives in the world right now, and dying to the wants and the lust of our flesh right now, how does He know we are going to do that if He lets us into heaven?

Choose this day whom you will serve

Romims 6 is one of those chapters where it is just so easy to use Shaul to explain away Elohim’s words. But in verse 16 he says, do you not know that everyone is a servant, and you are going to have to serve somebody?

Romim (Romans) 6:16
16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

You are going to have to present yourself as a slave to some kind of master. Do we not realize that to whoever we present ourselves as a slave, we are going to be his slave? And do not we know that either we choose to obey ourselves, and then we can break commandments, even though this leads to death? Or while it is a lot harder, that there is a path of obedience that leads to righteousness (meaning commandment keeping)?

And verse 23 tells us that if we choose to break His Torah (meaning that we choose to break His commandments) after we have supposedly died to our flesh, and we have been raised again in new life to Him, if we break that, then the wages of commandment breaking is still death.

Romim (Romans) 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of Elohim is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Master.

Do we understand the big picture?

We are supposed to be delivered from our commandment breaking, because we are now filled with Yeshua’s Spirit. And if we will do that, if we will focus on Him and receive His Spirit and walk according to it, that is when we will receive the gift of Elohim, which is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Master.

But it is not automatic. And if we are ignorant of the fact that we are supposed to stop living the same way, and start living His new way, that does not change the fact that we are transgressors. If we are not helping Him to get the kingdom that His Father sent Him to get us to build for Him in His absence, then guess what? We are not pleasing to Him!

Because He created us to tend and keep His Garden for Him, while listening for His voice. And He created us so that we would serve Him the way He wanted. And now He sent His son to put us on a trajectory to bring us all back to this original goal by a long, difficult, narrow, expensive, and afflicted pathway, but it requires dying to our flesh, and our own will, so that we can live for Him, and His will.

And His will is that we seek first Yeshua’s kingdom. Because that is what is going to restore the world, and that is what is going to help bring us back into relationship with brother Judah, and that is what is going to help us reach the remnant of Cousin Ishmael.

T-ball does not do that! Going to the waterpark does not do that! And watching TV and secular movies does not do that! Take a look at someone’s checkbook and take a look at their daytime, and you can tell who they love.

Hebrews: Sacrifices and a reminder not to sin

So now let us go to Hebrews chapter 10. And we will split some fine hairs, and hopefully answer some questions, for those whom the idea that Yeshua came to help bring us back to the Torah is a new thought.

Hebrews 10:1 says that the written Torah of Moshe (not the Talmud! And not the so-called “Oral Torah”!) has a shadow of the good things to come. But it is not the very image of the good things to come, because the written “paint by numbers” “613 blotches” method can only approximate love for Elohim.

Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:1
1 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.

It can show you the kinds of things that a bride who is truly in love with her Husband is going to want to do. But is “going through the motions” the same thing as a genuine love relationship?

If you give your wife a list of some alleged “613 positive and negative commandments”, is that the same thing as having a genuine love relationship with your spouse? Will you talk back-and-forth as friends, so that she gets the idea of what you would like her to do, even without such a hypothetical list?

(And just for clarity, we do not count the commandments in this way. We are just using the “613” number to help brother Judah understand what we are talking about.)

But let us remember, before the sin of the Golden Calf, the only commandment was to hear His voice, and to do what He said, including the written record of all the other things He had said.

The Torah was, “Hear My voice, and Do everything I ever said to the best of your ability, to try to help Me bring mankind back into submission to My voice, like it was before the fall.”

And that is still what He wants. But as we saw in “Parasha Ki Tisa”, we were such a bunch of goats with peanut butter in our ears, and we did not want to listen. So, because of that, Elohim had to realize we were incompetent and incapable, so He had to give us the “paint by numbers” approach.

Let me ask you a question: How is following a checklist going to be the same as a true love relationship? It cannot be.

Hebrews chapter 10, verse one is telling us that training wheels are not really it. Because if you sin against your spouse, then do you not need to do something to make it up to your spouse?

That is basically what the sacrificial system is. If you love Elohim, and He points out to you that you broke His commandments, then not only do you go back to keeping His commandments, but now do you not need to do something a little extra, to remind yourself not to break His commandments anymore? And to remind yourself to listen more carefully for His voice and what He says to do in His word?

That is why Hebrews 10:3-4 says that in those sacrifices there is only a reminder of sins every year. And it is just a reminder not to sin. Because it does not take away the sin. Because it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins, and return the heart of the bride back to her Husband.

Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:3-4
3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
4  For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

Those only serve as a reminder to pay careful attention to His voice next time.

As we saw in Vayiqra (or Leviticus), the only time Elohim accepts an offering for sin is when it is unintentional. Meaning, you truly did not know. Like you grew up under King Manasseh, and no one knew you were supposed to be keeping the Torah. But if your name is Josiah, and now you know, now you pay a sacrifice to Elohim even though you are the one trying to fix and tone for the situation.

Bought with a price, bought for a purpose

Do you see the difference in perspective?

Elohim started us out in the Garden of Eden, in a paradise. But we did not care. We had everything good to start with, but still we fell away from obeying His voice, and doing what He said to do. It was nasty. And why did we do it? We did it because we did not care about Him.

OK, so now what? Now Israel’s children spend 430 years in Egypt, in hard bondage and slavery, an Elohim springs us from prison in the first Pesach. (I do not know, maybe He is hoping that we will show Him some gratitude, for springing us from prison? And for choosing to give us an opportunity at eternal life, by helping to bring the rest of mankind back into voluntary submission to His voice?)

How are you going to get that kind of a dedication from paying animal sacrifices, when you failed to hear His voice, and obey it? It does not even make sense.

But does not it make sense that if He brings us from prison, and jailbreaks us, and we love Him, and we want to help Him win the battle not only over us and our hardened wicked hearts, but we also want to help Him win back the rest of mankind, would that not help us hear and obey His voice better, is if we truly loved Him? With all of our hearts? With all of our soul? And with all of our strength?

For a walk like that, do we not need to have true faith? And if our Husband is going to be taking on the whole world, then do not we need to be turning away from the world, so we can give more of our time and our effort, and our energies to Him?

In Hebrews 10:5, it says that when Mashiach came into the world, He said, “You did not want a whole bunch of bloody sacrifices and burnt offerings. Rather, what You wanted was to prepare a body of people for Me. You wanted the people for Me who would want to lay down their lives, and want to ignore the lust of their flesh, the lust of their eyes, and their pride, so that they could help Me do your will, Father.”

Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:5
5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU DID NOT DESIRE, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME.”

And in verse seven, Mashiach said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, oh Elohim.”

Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:7
7 THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME—IN THE VOLUME OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME—TO DO YOUR WILL, O ELOHIM.’

He did not come to do His own will. He as a servant came to do His Father’s will. And if we are truly filled with His Spirit, then will we not also be doing His Father’s will? And not our own will?

In Hebrews 10:16, Mashiach Nagid says, “But this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days says Yahweh: I will put My Torah into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them.”

Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:16
16 “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS YAHWEH: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR HEARTS, AND IN THEIR MINDS I WILL WRITE THEM,”

Where is the evidence of our faith?

But brothers, where is the proof of our conversion? Where is the fruit of our love for Him? Are we doing those things that He said to do? Are we working in conjunction with the unified Foundation of Apostles and Prophets to establish His will, according to His word?

Or are we perhaps supporting the work? Are we doing something real to establish His kingdom in accordance with His word? Or are we faking it, hoping that we are going to make it anyway, even without a wedding garment of loving submission to His voice?

We already saw in Thessaloniquim Bet chapter 2:10, those of us who will perish will suffer an unrighteous (or a Torahless) deception, because we did not receive the love of the truth, that we might be saved.

Thessaloniquim Bet (2^nd Thessalonians) 2:10
10 and with all unrighteous [Torahless] deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth [the Torah], that they might be saved.

And then verse 11.

Thessaloniquim Bet (2^nd Thessalonians) 2:11
11 And for this reason Elohim will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie [believe Torahlessness],

Meaning, we receive a delusion from Mystery Babylon that we do not need to keep all of the points of Torah. And the thing is, Elohim does not excuse this. He does not count this as a sin of ignorance. Rather, Elohim counts this as rebellion.

Because if you know you are supposed to be helping to build a unified body for Yeshua, that is unified on a single Foundation of Apostles and Prophets, because you read it, but you are not willing to do it–He counts that as rebellion. He counts that like He asked His servant to do something nicely, and the servant said ‘no’.

What about willful sin?

Coming back to Ivrim chapter 10:26, if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth (and His Torah is truth), there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:26
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

Verse 27. But there only remains a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour those who oppose Him and His mission to bring mankind back into voluntary submission to His voice.

Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:27
27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

Verse 28. Anyone who rejects the written Torah of Moshe dies without mercy if there are two or three witnesses that he broke any of the points.

Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:28
28 Anyone who has rejected Moshe’s law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

And this is not a democracy, this is a benevolent dictatorship. And our king is a busy war Elohim, He does not have time for foolishness.

And if we come to verse 38, what we are really talking about is the need to live by faith. And if we have faith that Elohim is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, then we will want to be His Proverbs 31 war bride, who is so thankful at having been sprung from prison in Egypt, that she wants to help her husband Bring the rest of mankind back into voluntary submission to Him.

Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:38
38 “NOW THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; BUT IF ANYONE DRAWS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.”

In verse 39, our prayer is that you will be one of those who do not draw back to perdition, but that should believe in His saving favor (or His salvational grace) to the saving of your soul, meaning unto obedience.

Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:39
39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

Because the Day of Judgement is not something where you are only going to have to pass some pop quiz. It is not an oral examination. But rather, it will be a fruit inspection. He is going to inspect our fruits.

Prayers

Brothers, are we living the life of faith? Are we listening carefully for His voice, and being diligent to do everything His voice ever said to do?

Please pray with me for the salvation of the future 10% of the house of Ephraim, that we might become firstfruits of those who voluntarily submit to Elohim, and His voice, through our love for His Son, Messiah Yeshua.

And please pray for Yahweh to raise up real leaders in Judah and Ephraim, who recognize that Daniel 9:26 specifies that Mashiach Nagid would come just before the Second Temple was destroyed.

Daniel 9:26
26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.”

And who want to voluntarily submit to Yeshua’s Spirit, so that they can hear and obey His voice, and help to reconcile the rest of mankind to Elohim through Him.

Please pray that a future 10% of our people will hear His call, and want to not only be called, but also to be chosen, by themselves choosing life in Messiah Yeshua.

Shabbat shalom.

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We thank Yahweh Elohim for your love for His kingdom.