By Yedidah, March 16, 2008.
List of Articles by Yedidah
Matthew 16:24-27: “Then Yahushua said to His taught ones, `If anyone wishes to come after Me let him deny himself and take up his stake and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Adam is going to come in the glory of His Father with His messengers (angels) and then He shall reward each according to his works’ ”. (Italics mine)
Psalm 58:11: “Truly, the righteous are rewarded; Truly there is an Elohim judging the earth”.
Revelation 22:12: “And, see, I am coming speedily and My reward is with Me, to give to each according to His works”.
Revelation 11:15, 18: “And the seventh messenger sounded (his shofar/trumpet) and there came to be loud voices in heaven, saying `The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Master, and of His Messiah, and He shall reign forever and ever!’ … And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead to be judged, and to give the reward to Your servants the prophets, and to the set-apart ones, and to those who fear Your Name, both small and great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.” (Italics mine)
”Reward”: Both in the Hebrew and in the Greek, the word “reward” carries the idea of just payment for work well done, or for work not well done. In the Greek it is “mithos”, which means “to pay for service, good or bad, reward, wages earned”. In the Hebrew it means several things, but primarily across board it means “to hire for wages, payment, salary, compensation, reward for work well done, or withheld wages, compensation, payment, etc., for work that is not well done.”
Thus the Master gave many parables of the good servant who was given a promotion and paid well, and the bad servant who was whipped and thrown out.
Matthew 25:21, talks about the responsible servant who received reward:
“And his master said to him, `Well done, good and faithful servant. You were trustworthy over a little; I shall set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master”.
Luke 12:42-44, 47-48: “And the Master said, `Who then is the trustworthy and wise manager, whom his master shall appoint over his household to give the portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master shall find so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he shall appoint him over all his possessions…And that servant who knew his master’s desire, and did not prepare, nor did according to his desire, shall be beaten with many stripes, but he who did not know, yet did what deserved flogging, shall be beaten with few stripes. And everyone to whom much is given, much will be demanded. And to whom much has been entrusted from him much more shall be asked.”
There is just compensation for how we do the job that He has given to us. The Greek word for Torah—“nomos”—not only repeats the meaning of Torah—teachings and instructions—but also means to feed (graze) animals. Thus Peter’s job (John 21) was to “feed My sheep”. How do we feed His people—or poetically “the sheep of His pasture”? We give them the Torah of Yahuweh and Yahushua—Their eternal Word. We teach them the joy of walking in the Covenant of the Kingdom of heaven on this earth--for our good always, in all ways. We feed them the freedom found in His Word, by which they can know Him. Do you notice that the parables about the servants are all connected to the time of His second coming?
There is also just compensation for the persecution we receive from the children of darkness, when we are walking in the light:
Matthew 5:11-12: “Blessed are you when reproach and persecute you, and falsely say every wicked word against you for My sake. Rejoice and be glad, because your reward in the heavens is great…”
We are treasuring up eternal rewards, or we are not, by our obedience to our Covenant relationship with Elohim, or our rebellion against it. When Messiah comes, His reward is with Him.
Isaiah 62:11: “See, Yahuweh has proclaimed to the end of the earth: `Say to the daughter of Zion, “See, your deliverance has come; see, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him”. His “reward” are those people who have come to love Him, because He was rewarded for His work—His death on the stake.
We have everything to gain, or everything to lose!
Christianity’s Greek concept of faith/belief: What you believe is right for you and true for you. Your experiences equal truth. Your belief-system is all you need to be right with God and to merit reward in heaven. Eternal life is in heaven. No covenant with the God of the Old Testament is needed. We have been freed from any responsibility to obey the terms of the covenant of the Jews via Moses--the church has replaced Israel, and Jesus has replaced Moses.
The Scriptural Hebrew concept of faith/belief: “Faith without works (corresponding actions that prove what you believe) is dead”. (Ja’cob 2:26)
Faith is only valid if there is responsible obedience to the Covenant given by Yahuweh to His people. Faith must always direct all actions, or else the actions are invalid. Faith is therefore inseparable from works—obedience.
What was given through Moses, was renewed in Messiah. Yahuweh’s Covenant with His people was never abolished, but will endure forever. We are made right with Yahuweh by faith in Messiah Yahushua, but we must be set-apart to Him through obedience.
Deuteronomy 18:18-20: Moses speaking to the people:
Yahuweh speaking to Moses: “I shall raise up for them a Prophet like you out of the midst of their brothers. And I shall put My Words in His mouth and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be the man who does not listen to My Words, which He speaks in My Name, I will require it of him”. John 5:46-47 and 6:44-45: Messiah speaking: “If you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me, since he wrote about Me. But, if you do not believe His writings, how shall you believe My Words? … No one is able to come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draw him, and I will raise him up on the last day. It has been written in the prophets, `And they shall all be taught by Yahuweh. Everyone, then, who has heard from the Father and learned, comes to Me’ ”.
A major myth is that the twelve tribes of Jacob gained salvation by animal sacrifice and doing works of the “Law”. The Latin word for “Law”, incorporated into the Latin Vulgate by Jerome, a Gnostic, means “judicial law”. By this, the Church told the people that they didn’t have to listen to the Law of Moses or the God of the Old Testament, for Jesus (Iesous, Yesu) freed us from all of that. But, the Latin word for “law” does not carry the meaning of the Hebrew word “Torah” or of the Greek “nomos”. The Hebrew and Greek words both carry the meaning intended--that the Covenant that Yahuweh gave through Moses to His people--a Covenant that was renewed and expanded by the blood of Messiah--means the “teachings, instructions” of the Kingdom of heaven for our good on this earth, always.
Jeremiah 31:31, in speaking of the covenant that would be made with the house of Judah and the house of Israel (all the tribes from Jacob’s sons) the word is “renewed”—like the renewed moon each month. There is not a new moon each month—but a renewed one. Thus the “new” covenant in His blood is a renewed covenant, bringing the Covenant of Yahuweh forward, through His blood as the Lamb of Elohim.
From the beginning, the twelve tribes of Jacob understood that Torah was to be honored first through faith in Yahuweh, and that their faith was to be acted out in the requirements given to “show their faith” outwardly. (Remember: Messiah commended the four men who lowered the cripple down into Peter’s house, for He “saw their faith”, and then he healed the man for his faith.) Therefore, the bringing of animals to be sacrificed was simply an outward expression of their inward faith in Yahuweh’s forgiveness. From A House of Prayer for All Nations by Chaim Richmond, head of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem: “The sacrifices were not an end in themselves. The sin offering, which was only a small part of all the Temple sacrifices but not acceptable unless it was accompanied by repentance.” Messiah, the final “Lamb of Elohim” was sacrificed for all of us. But, His blood can do nothing for anyone unless a person receives what He did by faith. It is the faith that activates the sacrifice to atone for sin.
In passages like Isaiah 43:25, 44:22, and 45:21-22; Micah 7:18-20; Psalm 103:3, 12, and David’s prayer in Psalm 51, we see that salvation, forgiveness, and removal of sin was all connected to faith.
Habakkuk 2:4: “The just (justified ones) shall live by his faith”.
Romans 1:17: “The righteous (justified ones/just) shall live by faith.”
Galatians 3:11: “The righteous shall live by faith”.
Hebrews 10:38: “The righteous shall live by faith”. (All italics mine)
Obedience without faith is as invalid as faith without obedience!
In the days of Messiah and His Apostles, the Pharisee Jewish sect lifted the man-made “Oral Law” above the Torah. Messiah and His Apostles came against the elevation of man’s laws above Yahuweh’s teachings and instructions. Paul spoke out against the keeping of the Oral Law for salvation in the book of Galatians. There was a group in their own midst, supposedly who had received Messiah Yahushua for salvation, called “The Circumcision”. Yet, they added man-made law, laws outside the Torah, for salvation, and this is what Paul was addressing, NOT the Torah/Covenant of Yahuweh. We are not under the law of man (Talmud/Oral Law, etc)—nor of the Pharisees, nor of the Church, nor of pastors and denominations—we are under the favor we receive when our faith is demonstrated by obedience to the Covenant of Yahuweh alone.
Read carefully Ja’cob 2 (James)--carefully. We are made just by a combination of faith and corresponding obedience to His Covenant.
Repeat: Hebrew meaning of faith: Without corresponding actions in obedience to the Covenant, faith is a fakery, an illusion—fantasy. If you don’t show your faith, it is not to be regarded as valid.
Thus our rewards are based on our “works”—our obedience to the Covenant of Yahuweh. Ephesians 2:8-19 tells us that when we embrace Messiah as our Savior, we are no longer gentiles (pagans, barbarians, heathen, foreigners, strangers or aliens). We have entered the Covenant of Yahuweh and are therefore part of the “commonwealth of Israel”.
Remember that “Israel” was the name Yahuweh gave Ja’cob, so “Israel” means the twelve tribes that were his children and their descendants. We are an olive branch—wild or natural. The tree is Israel. (Romans 11) We are either of the house of Judah (natural branches), which includes Judah (Jews), Levi and Benjamin, or of the house of Israel (wild olive branches), which includes the ten northern tribes that went into exile for their idolatry in 722 BCE, and are just now beginning to know who they are. (For further clarification on this, ask for the article: “Who Are The Ten?”)
First of all, for us who believe in Messiah Yahushua, there is the “judgment seat of Messiah”:
II Corinthians 5:9-10: “So we also make it our aim to be well-pleasing to Him, whether being at home or being away from home. For we all have to appear before the judgment seat of Messiah in order for each one to receive according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil”.
Romans 14:7-8, 10-12: “For no one lives to himself and no one dies to himself. For both, if we live, we live unto the Master, and if we die, we die unto the Master. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Master’s … But, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Messiah. For it has been written, `As I live’ says Yahuweh, `every knee shall bow to Me and every tongue shall confess to Elohim’. Each one of us, therefore, shall give account of himself to Elohim”.
There is a difference between the judgment seat of Messiah and the judgment Yahuweh gives out to the damned. The two judgments are 1,000 years apart. The judgment seat of Messiah is set up after Messiah returns. The judgment seat of Yahuweh comes with Him, as He calls all the wicked before Him and judges them out of the books, and the book of life. (Revelation 19-22)
The judgment seat of Messiah is for rewards and positions in His Kingdom.
Mathew 7:21-23 shows us that those “without the Torah” are not allowed into His Kingdom. Matthew 25:12 shows us that the unprepared are not allowed to attend the wedding feast of the Lamb. Matthew 7:13-14 shows us that a “few” will enter the Kingdom. Matthew 19:16-30 shows us that eternal life is based on the guarding of His Covenant as well as following Him in death to self.
Many with belief systems but no repentance and no fruit of the re-born spirit (Galatians 5:22-24) are fooling themselves.
The judgment seat of Messiah, which the Apostle Sha’ul speaks of, carries the picture of a judge in the Olympic games, who is positioned at the finish line of a great race. He calls the winner as he sees them cross the line first. Thus Sha’ul (Paul) speaks of our life as believers in Messiah as a great race.
I Corinthians 9:24-27: “Do you not know that those who run in a race indeed all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to obtain it. And everyone who competes controls himself in every way. Now they do it to receive an incorruptible crown, but we for an incorruptible crown. Therefore, I run accordingly, not with uncertainty. Thus I fight, but not as one who beats the air. But, I treat my body severely and make it my slave, so that when I have proclaimed to others, I myself might not be rejected”.
Philippians 3:10-16: “…to know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if somehow I might attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already
received or already been perfected, but I press on to lay hold of that for which Messiah Yahushua has also laid hold of me. Brothers, I do not count myself to have laid hold of it yet, but only this: Forgetting those things that are past and reaching out for what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the high calling of Elohim in Messiah Yahushua”.
Hebrews 12:1-2: “We too, then, having so great a cloud of witnesses all around us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us, looking to the Princely Leader and Perfecter of our faith—Yahushua—who for the joy set before Him endured the stake, having despised the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of Elohim”.
II Timothy 2:5 and 4:7-8: “And if anyone competes in a game, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules…so I endure through it all for the sake of the chosen, so that they too obtain deliverance, which is in Messiah Yahushua, with everlasting glory…I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have guarded the faith. For the rest, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Master, the righteous Judge, shall give to me on that Day, and not to me only, but also to all those loving His appearing”.
A few years ago, I took a bus south from Athens, Greece, and visited the ruins of ancient Corinth. I saw the “bema”—the judgment seat—from where Sha’ul preached, and wrote about the “bema” of Messiah. On the bema, was a stone, with a verse written in Greek and English: II Corinthians 4:17.
II Corinthians 4:16-18: “Therefore, we do not lose heart, but even if our outward man is perishing the inward man is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary pressure is working for us a far more exceeding and everlasting weight of glory. We are not looking on what is seen, but on what is not seen. For what is seen is passing away, but what is not seen is eternal”. Are your eyes fixed on the eternal?
I Corinthians 3:11-15: “For no one is able to lay any other foundation except that which is laid, which is Yahushua Messiah. If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or straw, each one’s work shall be revealed, for the Day shall show it up, because it is revealed by fire. And the fire shall prove the work of each, what sort it is. If anyone’s work remains, which he has built on, he shall receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, but so as through fire.”
Therefore the Judgment Seat of Messiah, which occurs at His coming, is to determine reward, not to judge sin or to send anyone into the lake of fire.
Our task is to finish the race!
We do not compete with other believers, only with ourselves. We keep our eyes forward to the finish line. We keep our nose in our own business, and disciple ourselves to be “good soldiers of Yahushua Messiah”--II Timothy 2:3-4.
There are two resurrections—only two: One of the righteous and one of the damned. They are 1,000 years apart. After the 1,000-year reign of Messiah, He turns the Kingdom over to Yahuweh (I Corinthians 15:23-28). The New Jerusalem descends with Yahuweh on His throne—Revelation 20:7-15.
The first resurrection is the resurrection at Messiah’s coming of the justified. Rewards are based on set-apartness to His covenant, called in the christianese language—“sanctification”. There are rewards in the 1000-year reign, and there is an eternal position to be gained in the eternal Kingdom of Yahuweh.
The second resurrection is the resurrection of the damned. The only reward they get is to be thrown into the lake of fire with the Devil and his angels forever.
Those justified (“justification”) by faith in Messiah are made right—righteous—by their faith in His death in our place. “He has been made sin for us, Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of Elohim in Him”. (II Corinthians 5:21) This is the redemption of the eternal spirit. Our re-born spirit--born from above--contacts eternity.
Then there is the “saving of the soul” by obedience in set-apartness (“sanctification”) to His set-apart commandments/Covenant with His people. The soul is our mind—reasoning power--, emotions, will, and personality. It relates to the world through the five senses, and is also the seat of our sin-nature, which rebels against Yahuweh. It must be saved by obedience through the Word, and alignment to our eternal spirit. (Ja’cob 1:21, example)
At His coming our body will be saved/delivered—“glorification”--Philippians 3:20-21. We have a three-part salvation: spirit, soul and body.
I Thessalonians 5:22-23: “Keep back from every form of wickedness. And the Elohim of peace Himself set you completely apart, and your entire spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Master Yahushua Messiah!”
John 5:25-29: Messiah says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, `the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Elohim. And those having heard shall live. For as the Father possesses life in Himself, so He gave also to the Son to possess life in Himself, and He has given Him authority also to do judgment, because He is the Son of Adam. Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the tombs shall hear His voice and shall come forth—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have practiced evil to the resurrection of judgment.”
Revelation 20:4-6: John says: “And I saw thrones—and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them—and the lives of those who had been beheaded because of the witness they bore to Yahushua and because of the Word of Elohim--who did not worship the beast, nor his image, and did not receive his mark upon their foreheads or upon their hands. And they lived and reigned with Messiah for a thousand years. And the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended—THIS IS THE FIRST RESURRECTION. Blessed and set-apart is the one having part in the first resurrection. The second death possesses no authority over these, but they shall be priests of Elohim and of Messiah, and shall reign with Him a thousand years”.
Revelation 20:7,10-15: “And when the thousand years have ended, Satan shall be released from his prison…And the Devil who led them astray was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they shall be tortured day and night forever and ever. And I saw a great white throne and Him who was sitting on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before the throne and the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged from what was written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and the grave gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, everyone according to their works. And death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And if anyone was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire”. Isaiah 66:24 also tells us that it is eternal.
Mark 9:43b-44: “…it is better for you to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell--into the fire that never shall be quenched—where the worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched”.
If we are born from above, then our names were written in the Lambs book of Life before the foundation of the world, because He foreknew all of us that would receive Him as their Savior.
I Peter 1:2: “…chosen according to the foreknowledge of Elohim the Father, set-apart by the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Yahushua the Messiah…”
Revelation 13:8—Those, whose names are not written in the Book of Life will worship the anti-messiah and receive his ID mark.
In Revelation 17:8, it says that the beast and all his followers, “whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world” would go to perdition (everlasting destruction).
There are THREE BOOKS: The Book of Life: This was written before the foundation of the world and includes the names of all those He foreknew would receive Him and obey Him. However, we must remember verses like Revelation 3:5 and many others, which tell us that our name can be blotted out of the Lamb’s Book of Life for disobedience and rebellion against Yahuweh. Moses asked that his name be blotted out of the Book of Life if it meant saving His people, but Yahuweh refused to do it (Exodus 32:31-33).
The Books of Works: Books of works are kept on each individual will be opened and presented by the Father at the great white throne judgment.
The Book of Remembrance: Malachi 3:16-4:4: These are those that fear Him and love His Name—He protects them from the Day of wrath.
Here are other Scriptures to do with our judgment by our works:
Jeremiah 17:10: “I search the heart, I try the kidneys, and give to every man according to his ways--according to the fruit of his deeds”. (From the Franklin Electronic Bible Concordance: “heart, reigns, or kidneys refers to the seat of the affections—corresponding to heart or soul in modern English”.)
Jeremiah 31:16 shows us that there are natural rewards for obedience to Yahuweh, in this life: “…there is a reward for your work”.
Jeremiah 32:17-19: “Oh Master Yahuweh! See, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You, who show kindness to thousands, and repay the crookedness of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them—the Great, the Mighty El, Yahuweh of Hosts is His Name, great in counsel and mighty in works, for Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds”.
Ezekiel 33:18-20: “When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does unrighteousness, he shall die because of it. But, when the wrong turns from his wrongness and does right and righteousness, he shall live because of it. And you have said, `The way of Yahuweh is not fair’. Oh house of Israel, I shall judge every one of you according to his own ways”.
Excerpts from Ezekiel 7:1-9; 18:30-32: “Now the end is upon you, and I shall send My displeasure against you, and judge you according to your ways, and repay you for all your abominations. My eye shall not pardon you, nor would I spare, for I repay your ways while your abominations are in your midst. And you shall know that I am Yahuweh! … “`Therefore I judge you O house of Israel--every one accord to his ways’, declares the Master Yahuweh. `Repent and turn back from all your transgressions, and let not crookedness be a stumbling block for you. Cast away from you all the transgressions, by which you have transgressed and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why will you die, O house of Israel? I have no pleasure in the death of the one who dies’, declares the Master Yahuweh, `so turn back and live!’ ”
Two points: The word “transgressions”—I John 3:4: “Sin is the transgression of the Torah”—means “to rebel, to revolt, to be in apostasy against His Torah”.
The concept of “abomination”: The word means something very vile and filthy, a “stench in His nostrils”. And, in my article, “Joyful Abominations”, I show that Christians and Messianic people in guarding world-approved pagan/occult-based traditions practice abomination against Him. Be aware that to do so brings judgment.
Jonah 3:8-10: Regarding the judgment on Nineveh: “…let every man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and call mightily to Elohim. And let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows whether Elohim does turn and relent, and shall turn away from the heat of His displeasure so that we do not perish? And Elohim saw their works that they turned from their evil ways. And Elohim relented from the evil which He had said he would do to them, and He did not do it”.
WITHOUT REPENTANCE THERE IS NO SALVATON! This is not taught by the church for the most part, but a cheap grace salvation by Greek-style faith and experience is taught. Therefore, few are truly born of the Spirit, from above, and few walk in the newness of His life. One I loved, an ordained minister for years, said to me: “If it takes repentance to be born again, then I am not born again”. He refused to let go of his wicked ways.
Proverbs 24:12: “If you say, `See, we did not know this.’ Would not He who weighs the hearts discern it? He who watches over your life, would He not know it? And shall He not repay every man according to his works?”
Ruth 2:12: “Yahuweh repay your work, and your reward is complete from Yahuweh Elohim of Israel under whose wings you have come to seek refuge”.
II Chronicles 15:1-2, 7: “And the Spirit of Elohim came upon Azaryahu, son of Oded. And he went out to face Asa, and said to him, `Hear me Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Yahuweh is with you while you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He is found of you, but if you do not seek Him, He forsakes you’ ”. Asa was the King of Judah.
In John 14:15, 21-24; 15:10, 14; I John 2:3-7 and chapter 3, and the Word as a whole, there are conditions to our being included in His Covenant—both to enter it, and to stay in it. But, the church has not taught us to obey His conditions. All of His personal promises have conditions.
Only three covenants to people are based on His own integrity and nothing else, despite what we do—the eternal covenants to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to the Levites, and to King David. (Genesis 15:12-21; Hebrews 6:16-19; Numbers 25:11-13; Jeremiah 33:14-26; Psalm 89:20-37, as examples)
Matthew 12:36-37: 19:16-21: “And I say to you that for every idle word that men speak they shall give an account on the Day of Judgment. For by your works you shall be declared righteous, and by your works you shall be declared unrighteous”.
Note: There is “imputed righteousness”—a judicial decree--which comes with faith in Messiah’s substation-death and resurrection for us…which justifies us—makes us right in position before the Father. But, then there is also righteousness (justness, rightness) that we must do in obedience to the Covenant…both are necessary for entrance into His Kingdom/salvation.
This is were the church has steered us wrong with a half-truth. We are told in the church system that when we “believe” we are made righteous. That is true. But, we have assumed a religious connotation of the word “righteous”. We do not equate it with being pronounced free (justified) from penalty of death, because Someone else paid the penalty for us—therefore we are freed by Their death. This requires that we comply with His regulations then, His Covenant standards, in order to live our lives for Him, who died for us. Therefore, we must continue to abide in rightness. When He freed the woman caught in adultery (John 8) from her Pharisee judges, He told her, “Go and sin no more”. We are freed to go back to our criminal lifestyle against Yahuweh—our rebellion--our transgression—our lawlessness (Torah-lessness).
I Peter 4:1-2: “Therefore, since Messiah suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so that he no longer lives the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but according to the desire of Elohim”. Remember that to follow the Master, means to suffer like He did (Matthew 10:24-25). We are not better than our Master!
John 3:36: “He who believes in the Son possesses everlasting life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of Elohim remains on him”. Note: The word for “believe” and the word for “obey” are not the same word--one means to have faith, the other corresponding obedience.
I Peter 1:15-17: “For as the One who has called you is set-apart, so you also should become set-apart in all behavior, because it has been written, `Be set apart, for I am set-apart’. And, if you call upon the Father, who without partiality judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear…”
I John 2:3-7: Excerpts--verses 3-4: “And by this we know that we know Him, if we guard His commandments. The one who says, `I know Him’ and does not guard His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him”.
II John 1:8: “Everyone who does transgression and is not staying in the teachings of Messiah does not possess Elohim. The one who stays in the teachings of Messiah possesses both the Father and the Son”.
Revelation 2:23: “…And all the assemblies shall know that I am the One searching the kidneys and hearts. And I shall give to each one of you according to your works”.
Revelation chapters 2 and 3: These promises are conditional, and only for those who overcome the world system, the anti-messiah—Satan in the flesh—and their own fleshly desires and sins. Look at these chapters carefully! Rewards are for the overcoming ones who “endure until the end”.
Revelation 14:12-13 with Matthew 24:13: “Here is the endurance of the set-apart ones, here are the ones guarding the commandments of Elohim and the faith of Yahushua. And I heard a voice out of heaven saying to me…`Blessed are the dead who die in the Master from now on’. `Yea’ says the Spirit, `in order that they rest from their labors and their works follow with them’ ”.
“He that endures to the end shall be delivered”.
Revelation 18:6--read in context: “Render to her as she indeed did render and repay her double according to her works. In the cup which she has mixed, mix for her double”. Jeremiah 50:13 regarding end-time Babylon—America: “Because of the wrath of Yahuweh she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be deserted—all of it. Everyone passing through Babel shall be astonished and whistle at all her plagues”. (For more details on all the chapters in Scripture on end-time Babylon—America—ask for the article/study: “End-Time Babylon”)
Comment on Matthew 13: “This chapter talks about the final judgment of the wicked, and the separation of His people at the time of His coming. In verses 39-41, for example, it talks about the destruction of the tares—those who appear to be like the wheat (the true believers who guard His Covenant) but are imposters—the masked religious--and the separation of His people into His barns: “The harvest is at the end of the age, and the reapers are His messengers. As the tares, then, are gathered and burned in the fire, so it shall be at the end of the age. The Son of Adam shall send out his messengers and they shall gather out of His Kingdom all the stumbling-blocks and those doing lawlessness (“anomia”—without the Torah), and shall throw them into the furnace of fire…Then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear let him hear”. (Italics mine) Our eternal life is on this earth.
Walk as Children of Light—our time of judgment and reward is near!
Shalom,
Yedidah
March 16, 2008