Who And What Have You Believed?

By whose word was the world formed?  Whose word goes out to accomplish what it was sent to do and does not return without having completed itself?  Who decides the final results for all who have inhabited or do inhabit or will inhabit the earth? 

If you believe that the Creator, Yhwh, is the answer to these questions, I would agree with you.  But have you actually paid attention to where He has said things that contradict your currently cherished beliefs? I would like you to consider some things that He has said, and if you believe as I do that He does not lie and that His words will do what He has said, you might find you have, without realizing it, believed some things He did not tell you to believe.

The prophet Isaiah said this from Yhwh:

Seek Yhwh while He can be found; call to Him while He is near.  Let the wicked give up his ways, the sinful man his plans; let him turn back to Yhwh and He will pardon him; to our Elohim, for He freely forgives.  For My plans are not your plans, nor are My ways your ways, declares Yhwh.

 But as the heavens are high above the earth, so are My ways high above your ways and My plans above your plans.  For as the rain or snow drops from heaven and returns not there, but soaks the earth and makes it bring forth vegetation, yielding seed for sowing and bread for eating, so is the word that issues from My mouth.  It does not come back to Me unfulfilled, but performs what I purpose, achieves what I sent it to do.

 Yes, you shall leave in joy and be led home secure.  Before you, mount and hill shall shout aloud, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.  Instead of the brier, a cypress shall rise; instead of the nettle, a myrtle shall rise.  These shall stand as a testimony to Yhwh, as an everlasting sign that shall not perish.

 Thus says Yhwh:  Observe what is right and do what is just; for soon My salvation shall come, and My deliverance be revealed.  Happy is the man who does this, the man who holds fast to it; who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and stays his hand from doing any evil.

 Let not the foreigner who has attached himself to Yhwh say, “Yhwh will keep me apart from His people” [outside of the blessings and away from the promises]; and let not the eunuch say, “I am a withered tree.”  For thus says Yhwh:  “As for the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, who have chosen what I desire and hold fast to My covenant—I will give them, in My House and within My walls, a monument and a name better than sons or daughters.  I will give them an everlasting name which shall not perish.  As for the foreigners who attach themselves to Yhwh to minister to him and to love the name of Yhwh to be His servants—all who keep the Sabbath and do not profane it, and who hold fast to My covenant—I will bring them to My sacred mount and let them rejoice in My house of prayer.  Their burnt offerings and sacrifices shall be welcome on My altar; for My House shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples,” so says Yhwh, who gathers the dispersed of Israel:  “I will gather still more to those already gathered.”

 Have you read that carefully?  Please read it again to be sure you caught the significance of what is being said and understand it.  Consider this and ask yourself, “What are His Sabbaths?  What is His covenant?  Who are these dispersed of Israel that He says He is gathering?  Why were they dispersed?  When He says to do what is “right” and what is “just” does He mean according to what He has defined as “right” and “just” or someone else’s definition?  If He means His definition, what is His definition?  What are His ways and His plans that He speaks of? And why does he say that man should keep his hand from doing any evil?  Isn’t that impossible?

Did you know that the Torah [means teaching or instruction but is often mistranslated as “law”] and the Prophets answers these questions?

Yhwh said to Moses and it is recorded in Deuteronomy 30 that

When all these things befall you—the blessing and the curse that I have set before you—and you take them to heart amidst the various nations to which Yhwh your mighty one has banished you, and you return to Yhwh your Elohim (mighty one), and you and your children heed His command with all your heart and soul, just as I enjoin upon you this day [Moses was reviewing the Torah with the children of Israel…read all of Deut to know what he was “enjoining”], then Yhwh your Elohim will restore your former prosperity and take you back in love.  He will bring you together again from all the peoples where Yhwh your Elohim has scattered you.  Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the world, from there Yhwh your Elohim will gather you, from there He will fetch you.  And Yhwh your Elohim will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your fathers.

 Then Yhwh your Elohim will open up your heart and the hearts of your offspring to love Yhwh your Elohim with all your heart and soul, in order that you may live.  Yhwh your Elohim will inflict all those curses upon the enemies and foes who persecuted you.  You, however, will again heed Yhwh and obey all His commandments that I enjoin upon you this day.  And Yhwh your Elohim will grant you abounding prosperity in all your undertakings, in the issue of your womb, offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil.  For Yhwh will again delight in your well-being, as he did in that or your fathers, since you will be heeding Yhwh your Elohim and keeping His commandments and laws that are recorded in this book of the Torah (Teaching)—once you return to Yhwh your Elohim with all your heart and soul.

Surely this instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach.  It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?”  Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?”  No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe (do) it.

See, I set before you this day life and prosperity, death and adversity.  For I command you this day, to love Yhwh your Elohim, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His laws, and His rules, that you may thrive and increase, and that Yhwh your Elohim may bless you in the land that you are about to enter and possess.  But if your heart turns away and you give no heed and are lured into the worship of other gods, I declare to you this day that you shall certainly perish; you shall not long endure on the soil that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.  I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day:  I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse.  Choose life—if you and your offspring would live—by loving Yhwh your Elohim, heeding His commands, and holding fast to Him.  For thereby you shall have life and shall long endure upon the soil that Yhwh swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them.

 But didn’t the Messiah cancel the commandments or “law?”  Isn’t that only for the Jews? 

 Matt 5:17-20

Do not think that I am come to destroy [a Hebrew idiom meaning to break down or lessen the significance of] the Torah or the Prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil [from Strong’s NT:4137, pleroo (play-ro'-o); from NT:4134; to make replete (abundantly supplied), i.e. (literally) to cram (a net), level up (a hollow), or (figuratively) to furnish (or imbue, diffuse, influence), satisfy, execute (an office), finish (a period or task), verify (or coincide with a prediction), etc.].

 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Torah, till all be fulfilled.

 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments [those considered not as important as others], and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least [unimportant; ignoble] in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

 The Jewish Messiah believed that the commandments were applicable, that they were to be obeyed as well as taught.  Looks like he had his thoughts right…he believed Yhwh.  In fact, the commandments are themselves a promise.  Did you know that?  Yhwh said “you shall not…”  If His word cannot come back to Him void (false/valueless), doesn’t that mean that we “shall not” just as He said?  Doesn’t that mean that it will happen the way He said and the things He says we “shall do” and “shall not do” will be as He says?

Now, what about you?  What have you believed and who?  Kefa writes and warns about the benefit of paying attention to the Prophets and the commandments of Yhwh given to the children of Israel, and he warns of the scoffers who do not believe the words of Yhwh.

For this they willingly forget (ignore)—that by the word of Elohim the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of water and in water, by which [Elohim’s word] the world then existed and then perished, being flooded with water.  And the heavens and earth are NOW preserved by the SAME WORD; they are preserved for fire for the day of justice and destruction of irreverent men [men who do not respect or revere the words of Elohim].

The Prophets wrote extensively of the day of Yhwh, the day of judgment in which those who were rebellious and refused to obey the commandments of Yhwh found in His teaching (torah) would be destroyed by fire on the earth.  It’s all there and quite easy to find if anyone cares to know it.

Will you believe men, traditions, your church, your family, or the “church fathers”; or will you believe Yhwh?  Will you obey the “commandments of men” or the commandments of Yhwh?  He gave you the choice.  And since He has urged me to choose life, that’s exactly what I do. I believe Him…that His instructions are not difficult, that they are for the good of His people Israel, and that I can do them.  And as I believe Him, so I do.  For “if a man does them, he shall live (have life) by them,” AND “As a man thinks in his heart [literally mind]…so is he.”

What about you?  Who will you believe?  And after you have believed, what will you do?  It is noteworthy that a belief in men results in disobedience to Yhwh, and a belief in Yhwh brings you to disobey the traditions and “commandments of men.”  One belief leads to destruction and the other belief leads to life.  It’s your choice; however, I join HIM in urging you to “choose life.”