Spirit of Adoption

It is ALL about inheriting the promised land -
the everlasting covenant that YHWH made with Abraham so long ago ---

There is the Spirit of Adoption that may come into play, and Y'shua may be the example. 

Romans 8:14 says - they who are led by the Spirit of Elohim, they are the sons of Elohim. ... you have not received the spirit of bondage, again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of Adoption, by which we call Elohim Father... 

We know Y'shua was born by (the witness of) blood and water - his physical life began when the Ruach haKodesh caused Maryam's seed to germinate (so to speak). He was adopted by Joseph and raised as his son...

Consider this:
Although Y'shua was caused to exist by the Ruach haKodesh (Spirit of God), he is a Levite by blood. Mary his mother, was cousin to Elizabeth (mother of John the Baptist/Immerser), descendant of the daughters of Aaron (tribe of Levi) and this fact qualifies Messiah to be High Priest as well as our future king, just as Melchizedek was king and high priest of Salem, old Jerusalem. Y'shua is a Yehudean (Jew) by location only, being born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth, a Citizen of Judah . The 'priesthood' was and will be the same as it was as when Abraham gave tithes to the king of Salem. At the return of Y'shua the Anointed One, prophecy calls him our King and High Priest.

The Reason for His Instructions

Jude 1:3...  while I take all pains to write to you of our common life, it is needful for me to write to you, encouraging you to maintain a conflict for the faith which was once delivered to the Set Apart believers.

In doing a study on YHWH's set apart times, His fixed times that are popularly referred to as 'feast' days, I came to Deuteronomy 4 where Moses is summarizing the past 40 or so years. One should read all Deuteronomy and feel the emotions of Moses as he relates the past events and Yah's intentions, one final time, to that stiff necked people, who angered him so much yet he still stood before Elohim and interceded for them. 

The reason for the laws and rules:

 
To abide by them... to observe them Faithfully, for that will be Proof of our wisdom and discernment to other people, that YHWH our Elohim is with us and His laws and rules are as Perfect as all His Teaching.

Deuteronomy 4:35 YHWH has clearly demonstrated that He alone is Elohim and there is none beside Him - He is Elohim in heaven above and on earth below - there is no other.
Observe His laws and commandments that it may go well with you and your children.
Deuteronomy 6:3 Obey willingly and faithfully
Deuteronomy 6:21 We obey His instructions because we were slaves (to the world system, habits, traditions, doctrines of men etc...) and He freed us with a Mighty Hand... and will give us the land He promised to our fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob).
Deuteronomy 6:24 We are to observe all the laws, to revere YHWH our Elohim, for our lasting good and for our Survival, as is now the case. It will be therefore to our merit before YHWH our Elohim to observe faithfully this Whole Instruction (found in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) as He has commanded us.
Deuteronomy 8: Yah tests us by hardships to learn what is in our hearts: whether we will keep His Commandments .... or not.

What does YHWH demand of us? Only this: to revere YHWH our Elohim, to walk ONLY in His paths, to Love Him and Serve Him with all our heart and soul, keeping His commandments and laws, For Our Own Good....

To Judge or Not to Judge

For all the times your hear someone say something to the effect about 'not judging' one another, here is the example of how we are to judge:

John 7:24-

Do not be judging by hypocrisy, rather judge with a just judgment.

I Corinthians 5:11

But this is what I wrote to you, that you don't mix (with anyone who is) ...called a brother (believer) and is also a sexual sinner, or avaricious (materialistic), or an idol-worshipper, or a charlatan, or a drunkard, or rapacious, with him who is such, not even to eat bread. For what business have I to judge them who are without (the body/assembly of those who follow God's instructions)? But those within the body, you judge. And those without, Elohim judges... remove from you the wickedness among you.

This is a hard lesson yet an instruction we must accept. YHWH warns us of the consequence of 'mixing and mingling' throughout Scriptures, which is why we are told to remove the wicked from among us, or in turn, remove ourselves from such people, so as not to give in to temptation.

How many of you belong to an assembly of professing believers and know there are folks in that same group who are heavy drinkers or drug users? those who follow after the flesh and turn away from the Spirit? a person who falsely claims to have a special knowledge? greedy? or one who has 'idols' in their homes? (an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship or adoration.) Do these people bring unity to the assembly? I doubt it. We are not to 'tolerate' this behavior, nor even invite this type of person to dinner! We are to remove the wicked from among us. Likewise, we leave a group who allow this division to exist.

YHWH our Elohim has not made it difficult to adhere to His Instructions, nor is it a burden to walk the path following Y'shua, who did the Will of his Father. It has been, however, hundreds of years of man's ideas and traditions that have become the stumbling block, thanks to deceptions cast about by Satan.

Romans 2:1 lets us know we better not be guilty of the same thing we are judging another of. YHWH judges according to truth and we are to act accordingly. There's no excuse for one who judge another, yet is guilty of the same things and thus we condemn ourselves to the same style of judging from YHWH.

We are called to be Set Apart because our Creator is Set Apart.

The choice is ours.

Matthew 24:9

Then they will deliver you to afflictions and they will kill you and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will stumble and will hate one another and will betray one another. And many false prophets will arise and deceive many. And because of the growth of wickedness, the love of many will grow cold. But whoever has patience until the end, he will have life. And the Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

The 'Love that Grows Cold' is that Love Y'shua spoke of, quoting from Torah :

Luke 10:27

Love Master YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.

Deuteronomy 6:5

You shall love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Leviticus 19:18

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself...

Finding Truth in Scriptures

YHWH, our Creator, our Elohim, our Heavenly Father, has told us the end from the beginning. He used the prophets, his servants, to speak and write His Words which we know as Scriptures.

He told us the past, present and future so that when these things happened we would have no doubt that He is the one true living Elohim. All praise and glory belong to Him.

Yah warned us of Satan and his subtle tempting to draw us away from Truth and lead us into the pit of lies.

Satan causes divisions among us, he causes doubt, appearing as a knowledgeable one, gaining our trust, then leading us away from eternal life. He accomplishes this in many ways using various devices in the most subtle of ways. This is evident from the account of Eve's encounter with him.

Satan tempts Eve to eat of that one tree Elohim states not to eat of. He causes her to doubt the Word of God. She believed a lie, caused her husband to follow suit and by this they were cast from Paradise.

Life goes on with an added dimension: the spiritual war for our very souls.

Satan, who once submitted to YHWH, has become self centered and arrogant, desiring to become a god, or at least be worshiped as a god. He causes a rift between God's People by mixing and mingling with His Creation. Satan convinces some other divine beings to leave their heavenly stations and join him on his path of destruction.

YHWH (Yahweh) has given us free will, the ability to make decisions either based on His Instructions in truth and love and righteousness OR based on the lies spawned from the Adversary. There are only two choices: Life or Death (aka: Blessing/Curse; Right/Wrong; Good/Bad...). There is no middle of the road, no fence sitting when decision time comes your way. Throughout Scriptures we are given examples of choices made and the consequences that followed. It should be clear to us today which path we should travel.

Through love for our Heavenly Father we Trust in Him and have Faith in His Instructions and believe His love for His People is steadfast and eternal.

Choose the Blessing. Receive the Blessing by following His Instructions and spread the Good News of the Kingdom to come wherein His Son, Y'shua the Messiah will be our King and High Priest.

In the beginning was The Word and the Word was made flesh - Y'shua Mashiyach, the anointed one, will return at the end.

Hebrew Inspired Greek

The inspiration for the Greek writing of the 'new testament' came from the Hebrew culture that existed in the land long before the Romans laid claim to it.  The 'new testament' (renewed covenant) is an extension of the 'old testament', not a replacement. 

The Hebrew culture has been in existence from the time YHWH called Abraham to leave his native land. In Genesis 12, God tells Abram that "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing..."

The offspring, the descendants of Abraham eventually became known as the House of Jacob. Jacob's name was changed to Israel from where we get the 12 Tribes of Israel.  Fast forward to the days of the Apostles of Messiah.

The apostle Paul, for example, describes himself in Philippeans 3:5 "Circumcised when eight days old; of the stock of Israel; of the tribe of Benjamin (one of the 12 tribes); a Hebrew, descendant of Hebrews; as to Torah, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the assembly of Messianic believers; and as to the righteousness of the oral Torah, I was without fault."  (Oral Law is rabbinic tradition, man's commentary and ideas about God's Commandments.)

Paul's attitude about himself and all he had mastered changed after he saw the superior knowledge of Y'shua and learned that his own righteousness came from Faith in the Messiah, that is, the righteousness which is from Elohim, and not of himself. 

Paul was not a 'Jew' pretending to be a Greek, but was well aware of his heritage as a descendant of Abraham.  His Hebrew name, Saul, was taken from the first king of Israel, who was from the tribe of Benjamin, and Paul's teacher, Gamaliel, was also from the tribe of Benjamin. His writings may have been in Greek but they came from a Hebrew mind-set.  Point being, the origins of the 'new testament' writings are not rooted in the Greek language. 

God called Abraham out of his father's house and made a promise, a covenant with him thus setting the scene for a Hebrew and his descendants to be God's Set Apart people.  Scriptures, beginning with the 'old testament' were written in the language of God's people.  When quotes from Scriptures are noted in the 'new testament', they are quoting from the only Scriptures at that time, which we now call the Old Testament -- inspired by God -- and written in the Hebrew language.

If, then, we agree on the Hebrew beginnings of Faith, how do we make the leap to Greek origins only, completely disregarding the pattern set forth by the Creator?  I understand and do not dismiss various cultural influences that occurred throughout history.  As an example, a lot of bad habits were brought back to Judea after the exile in Babylon came to an end.  It's not just the Greek that has become a stumbling block to His people on this path.

Quote from Wikipedia:

 

Jewish common Greek did not exist as a separate dialect, but some Jewish texts in common Greek do show the influence of Aramaic in syntax and the influence of Biblical background in vocabulary.  The languages spoken in Galilee and Judea during the first century include the Semitic Aramaic and Hebrew languages as well as Greek, with Aramaic being the predominant language. Most scholars agree that during the early part of first century Aramaic was the mother tongue of virtually all natives of Galilee and Judea. Most scholars agree that Jesus spoke Aramaic and that he may have also spoken Hebrew and Greek.  End Quote

I know that Wikipedia is not 'the end all' for knowledge but is a good place for gleaning historical insights and continued research.  As always, if it doesn't line up with or harmonize with Scriptures, pass it by.

For more reading material you may be interested in this: Hebrew Origins of the New Testament

Rest in Peace

We don't Die and go to Heaven

Once again Scriptures, the Word of God, answers our question about what happens when we physically die.

Quote from Life Hope and Truth:
While it may be comforting to those struggling to cope with the death of loved ones to think of them as 'looking down from heaven, this belief is false. Instead, God’s Word comforts us with the fact that there is no suffering in the grave. And since there is no thought for those in the grave, there can be no awareness on their part of the passage of time. When they are resurrected, it will be as though they have awakened from sleep.
End Quote

Psalm 146:3 Put not your trust... in mortal man who cannot save. His breath departs (physical death) he returns to the dust (in the grave) on that day his plans come to nothing
Ecclesiastes 9:5 ... the living know they will die but the dead know nothing, they have no more recompense, for even the memory of them has died. Their loves, hates, jealousies have long since perished and they have no more share till the end of time (when Y'shua returns) in all that goes on under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever is in your power to do,do with all your might. For there is no action, no reasoning, no learning, no wisdom in Sheol (the grave) where you are going.

John 6:39-40: (Y'shua is speaking) “This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

It is appointed for all of us to die, but when Y'shua returns to the earth at the last day, his followers who have died will be raised from their graves and given eternal life.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 ... you should not mourn over them who have fallen asleep (died), like other people who have no hope... :14 For if we believe that Y'shua died and rose again, even those who sleep, will Elohim, by Y'shua bring with him. :15 and this we say to you by the word of Messiah, that we who may survive and be alive at the coming of Messiah, will not precede them who have slept. :16 Because our Master Y'shua will himself descend from heaven with a mandate and with the voice of the chief Messenger (angel) and with the trumpet of God; and the dead who are in Messiah will rise first and then we who survive and are alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet our Messiah... And so comfort yourselves one another with these words...

We cannot 'rise' to meet Messiah when he returns If we are already in heaven... The dead rise first and the living witness this before they are gathered up as well.

Job 3 (he's about had enough and curses the day he was born and asks why he did not die at birth) ... :13 for now I would be lying in repose, asleep and at rest (dead and buried with those who have died before me)

Y'shua, Son of God, says in John 3:12 - I have explained earthly things and you do not believe. How then will I explain heavenly things? And no man has ascended into Heaven except he who descended from Heaven.

Quote from Bible Info: The Bible compares death to sleep more than fifty times. After death we are asleep, we are unconscious; we are not aware of the passing of time or of what is going on around us. That is what death is like as well. The Bible says, “for the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing… their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished” (Ecclesiastes 9:5, NKJV, see also Psalm 146:4; 115:17). It makes sense that after Lazarus was raised from the dead, he doesn’t share what he saw or experienced. He didn’t have anything to tell, except that once he was dead, and now he is alive! He didn’t experience hell or heaven. He was simply “sleeping” in his tomb. Peter on the Day of Pentecost said the same of King David. “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day…For David did not ascend into the heavens…(Acts 2:29, 34).

John 5:28 Do not marvel at this for the hour is coming when all those who are in the grave will hear his voice!

Once you realize we don't die and go to heaven but we Rest in Peace here in the earth for a time, some questions on other topics may arise. Let me know and we can do another study.

     

Yah Approved House of Prayer

Abraham was a Hebrew:

Genesis 14:13 Then a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew (about Lot being taken captive).

His descendants are Hebrews.  Even when YHWH changed Jacob's name to Israel, they were still descendants of Abraham, still Hebrews, becoming the House of Israel. Paul says as much in 2 Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 11:22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

Yah is the God of our fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with whom He has kept His everlasting covenant:

Genesis 17:7 "I will establish My covenant between Me and you (Abraham) and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be Elohim to you and to your descendants after you.

Exodus 3:13 Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' (He is going to the sons of Jacob/Israel [descendants of Abraham], who were the heads of each of their clans = the 12 tribes of Israel. Each tribe was named after each of the 12 sons.)

YHWH is God/Elohim of the Hebrews:

Exodus 5:3 Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us.

Exodus 7:16 "You shall say to him, 'The God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, "Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness.

Exodus 10:3 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "Thus says YHWH, the God of the Hebrews, 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 

God is YHWH the Elohim of the Hebrews and their descendants, and all who may turn from those pagan ways and serve Him.   Not by any of  man's traditions, but by obedience to His commands.

From the Mountain to the Tent

The first 'temple' was the Tabernacle constructed from the pattern YHWH showed Moses and it is patterned after the one in heaven. This is where God attached His Name after He moved from the mountain. It was the House of Elohim.  This pattern also served as a foreshadow of the temple Solomon would build.

Exodus 25:8 "Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them. 9 "According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture..."

Hebrews 8:5 They serve at a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary. That is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle, "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."

YHWH establishes the priesthood and selects those of the tribe of Levi to tend to the sacred duties of  the Tabernacle:

Numbers 8:19 "I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, so that there will be no plague among the sons of Israel by their coming near to the sanctuary."
Numbers 18:23 "Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting... it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24 " For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as an offering to Me, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance; therefore I have said concerning them, 'They shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.'" 

Collectively, the descendants of Abraham the Hebrew are now being called the sons of Israel. Only those from the tribe of Levi were chosen to serve in the tent/temple and perform all related duties.

From the Tent to the House

1 Kings 6:1 ... Solomon began to build the House of YHWH... you can read further all the lavish details of this project, but notice it is called the House of Elohim, YHWH.  1 Kings 8 tells us when the House was done Solomon called the elders of Israel, who are all the heads of the tribes and the ancestral chieftains of the Israelites, and they arrange to have the Ark of the Covenant, the Tent of Meeting, and all the set apart vessels brought to the House of God.  The presence of Elohim filled the House - He approved it. He fulfilled the promise He made to David:

1 Kings 8:16 "Ever since I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city among all the tribes of Israel for building a House where My name might abide; but I have chosen David to rule My people Israel... :19 however, you shall not build the House yourself; instead, your son... shall build the House for My Name.

There is only one House of Elohim albeit rebuilt a couple of times, but only one place where He attached His Name.  It not a Jewish institution. It was a House of Prayer, a place where He could be in the midst of His people = the Israelites and those who attached themselves to the House of Israel (Spirit of Adoption).  Y'shua refers to them as 'the sheep' and the 'other sheep' he came to gather together as one flock.  That one flock is God's chosen people. 

Here is a link to some History of the Temple although it was never a Jewish Temple.  This is a good historical time line from Solomon to Titus and the Roman legions who looted and leveled this temple in 70 AD. They state after the temple was destroyed in 70AD, synagogues replaced that temple and prayer replace animal sacrifice. Please note when you are following up with your own research, remember to remove the Jewish mind-set from some of the sites you visit.

YHWH warns once again what happens if we turn away from Him, as He tells Solomon:

1 Kings 9:6 " If you and your descendants turn away from Me and do not keep the commandments and the laws which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods... then I will sweep Israel off the land which I gave them; I will reject the House which I have consecrated to My name; and Israel shall become a byword among all peoples. 

And we know what happened... As smart and wise and just and fair as Solomon was, women turned out to be his downfall... he loved many foreign women who turned his heart away from Elohim and towards other gods - those false idols worshiped by his many women.  He turned away from YHWH and eventually the Israelites were 'swept off the land'.  After Solomon's death, the ten northern tribes refused to accept his son Rehoboam as their king. The country was divided into two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah (containing Jerusalem) in the south. 

After some time, the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, marched on Judah. He pillaged Jerusalem and deported tens of thousands to his capital in Babylon.  The poor and sick people were allowed to stay in Judah.  Several months later Nebuchadnezzar's army began the destruction of Jerusalem and the House of Elohim:

Ezra 5:12 But because our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.

Ezra picks up after the 70 year exile in Babylon when King Cyrus is chosen by YHWH to declare the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem in Judah.  So the chiefs of the clans of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, all whose spirit had been roused by Elohim went to Jerusalem.  In Ezra 2 is the list of the men of Israel who came up from among the exiled, including Levites and the temple servants. They searched genealogical records in order to select the priesthood.  When the 7th month arrived they were ready to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles.  All the Israelites assembled in Jerusalem as one.  The temple is for all Set Apart believers - not just the Jews or not just for the Levites.

The problem with Judaism is its mixture of rituals and religious observances, combined with rabbinic laws and traditions. These bad habits were most likely picked up during that 70 year exile in Babylon. This mind-set is what Y'shua was revealing in his teaching from the Father. He called the Pharisees 'hypocrites' many times.  He was reminding everyone by teaching what Torah is about and how it was intended as opposed to Jewish Traditions.  It is not a bad thing to do good, but when you overrule God and teach others to do the same, that is not good. Y'shua Messiah definitely was not participating in Judaism nor its traditions. He was sent by the Father and spoke Yah's message, the same message from the beginning.

John 5:30 Y'shua is speaking, "I am not able to do anything of my own desire, but as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just, for I don't seek my will, rather the will of Him who sent me.  :36 ... For the works that my Father has given to me to complete, those works that I do, testify that the Father sent me.  :39  Search the Scriptures, because in them you think you have that life that is eternal, and they testify of me. Yet you do not desire to come to me, that you may have that life that is eternal.  :43 I have come in the name of my  Father, and you have not received me... :46  IF only you had  believed in Moses, you would also be believers in me, for Moses wrote concerning me.  And if you do not believe the writing of that man, how will you believe my words?"

The writings of Moses are contained in the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy.  These writings, in the Hebrew language, are called Torah, which translates to Instructions.  These are not to be confused with Jewish laws or holidays or traditions, which men added at a later time.  This is an example of just how subtle Satan is.  He causes 'doubt' just as he did with Eve in the garden.  He spins his own doctrine from bits and pieces of what YHWH actually spoke.  This is how we have ended up with hundreds of denominations and belief systems throughout the world.  This is why when you attempt to 'google' Torah you get hundreds of sites that refer to it as 'religious Judaic tradition'.  If you spend time reading Scriptures, the Word of Elohim,  you will find this is not so.

There is only One God and His Name is YHWH (Yah-weh). 

He sent His Son in His Name, Yashua (Yah-shua).

His Instructions are not a set of religious beliefs;

but a perfect governing system intended for 

our well being while on this earth.

YHWH gave us a choice and many examples 

of the results of those choices. 

Do as Y'shua suggests: Read Scriptures

Let the Spirit of Truth reveal to you 

the Way of the Creator.