Darkness covers the earth; people walk in confusion, as zombies, they know not what to do; they tremble before the news; worries, fear and anxiety take hold of their hearts with lies blinding their eyes to believe the truth. A storm of great proportion is coming to earth, as our God cleans and purifies the earth with fire of judgement. For its people have forsaken the Creator and there is no respect for Him. Hopelessness, yes, hopelessness is the cloud covering the earth with needle injecting it with poison. People surrendering to the lies and in fear give themselves to their care, while God’s people cry to Him, as they battle the evil in this earth. The spirit of heaviness arises highly and widely in pursuit to overtake them. Weary and almost fainting, we God’s people keep the faith and hope in the promises of a beautiful future. Faith and hope are the sparkplugs of our souls. His voice we hear, “Fear not, for I am with you.” As Peter did, when he took his eyes from the Lord to focus on the storm, we too fear the storm; the beam of the light of faith grows dim and the strength of hope faints. We cry, Maranatha, come Lord YAHSHUA! As were in the days of Noah and Lot, so are our days. Violence, sexual perversion, greed and much more are eating the people as cancer does, silently taking their breath away. The cries of the innocent we hear daily without being able to help them physically. Justice, justice nowhere to be found in the courts of law- high and low. Peter describes Lot’s distress in those days saying, … “And God condemned to ruin and extinction the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes, set them forth as an example to those who would be ungodly; and He rescued righteous Lot, greatly worn out and distressed by the wanton ways of the ungodly and lawless, for that just man, living among them tortured his righteous soul every day with what he saw and heard of [their] unlawful and wicked deeds” (II Peter 2:6-8). That’s the world we live in. We cry as David; “I wish I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; yes, I would wander far away, I would lodge in the wilderness; I would hasten to escape and to find a shelter from the stormy wind and tempest” (Ps. 55:6-8). The reality of David’s desire is reflected in our desire to be taken away from this wicked world by means of the rapture.
Tag: Holiness
I, the Lord, Have Spoken
The emphasis in this phrase, “I. the Lord, have spoken” is strong enough for us to consider the veracity of the Bible. In the beginning of all things, while creating the world, It was His spoken word that brought existence to what He commanded be created. And so, it was that the world was created in six days and on the seventh, He rested. He was pleased with all that He had created. He had only to speak and the power of His words brought life and form in everything that He created. At the command of the Lord’s voice all subjected to Him. There was sun light to govern the day and moon to govern the night; Man was created in God’s image; and a beautiful garden was provided for him to live in and tend to. “When the Lord speaks the word that He will speak and the word that He shall speak shall be performed; it shall be no more delayed or prolonged, for in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word and will perform it, says the Lord God.” The spoken word of God is powerful to perform that which He sends it for. Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “For as the rain and snow come down from the heavens and return not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it”. The Bible says, “He Who promised is reliable and faithful to His word” (Heb. 10:23b). The Lord spoke to Jeremiah and said, “I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it” (Jer. 1:12b). That confirms that the written word of God is alive and powerful to perform His purposes and fulfills His promises.
The voice of the Lord thunders in power and might; it causes the ocean to rise in judgment. When He came down to Mount Sinai it was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord descended upon it in fire; its smoke ascended like that of a furnace and the whole mountain quaked greatly; as the trumpet blast grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with a voice (Exodus 19:18-19). Then He spoke to the people of Israel in covenant with the nation, by giving them the ten commandments. They were all afraid when they perceived the thunderings and the lightenings, and the noise of the trumpet and the smoking mountain, and as [they] looked they trembled with fear and fell back and stood afar off (Exodus 20:18). Thunderings, lightenings, trumpet sounding, all represented the voice of the Lord in His holiness and power. Nor men, neither animals could stand at the foot of the mountain to face the physical presence of God, because of what nature became after sin entered the world. Sin, without a doubt, changed man and nature, causing them to be afraid of God and be separated from Him. “Hear, oh, hear the roar of His voice and the sound of rumbling that goes out of His mouth! After it His voice roars; He thunders with the voice of His majesty, and He restrains not when His voice is heard. God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend” (Job 37:2-5). The letter to the Hebrews gives us a warning concerning our lack of zeal for the word of God: It says, “Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest, that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience, for the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life and spirit, and of joints and marrow, exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart, and not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:12-13).
Let Not the Iniquity of My Father’s Be Remembered by the Lord
Iniquity is a word with grave meaning and consequences. It spreads its roots to generations without end. A weakness we carry on our genes from the time of conception. It became active when our forefathers Adam and Eve first sinned. I do not mean that they sinned because they were unrighteous, but because Eve was deceived. Sinned for the first time, they did not stop there. It seemed that that was an open door for the root of all kinds of sin to take place in their soul. We do sin with our soul: the mind, the emotion and the will. The body is controlled by the dictates of the soul, and it acts upon the demand of the soul. It seems that it is in the level of the soul that we receive the curse of the sin of iniquity at conception. The Psalmist said, My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret, intricately and curiously wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them (Ps.139:15-16), a psalm of David. When the sperm touches the egg successfully, then life is created. All that we will be is in that sperm. It is the “unformed substance.” “It runs in the family,” whatever weakness a person has. The sin of iniquity is one that carries the curse from generation to generation. It holds us prisoners to its consequences, which will be for sure in our life time, so it seems.
What was happening when YAHSHUA was going through the atonement for our sins, including our diseases? The Prophet Isaiah, many years before YAHSHUA’S time on earth, prophesized this: Surely, He has carried our griefs (sicknesses, weakness and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains, yet, we considered Him stricken, smitten and afflicted by God. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities, the chastisement [needed to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole (Isa.53: 4-5). “He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities.” Let’s talk about the word bruise. The Webster dictionary describes as to break, to shatter, to crush with or as with mortar and pestle, to hurt the feelings; a bruise cause discoloration of the skin caused by a blow. The word bruise has a strong connotation and varied results, depending if physical or emotional. When YAHSHUA was bruised for our guilt and iniquities, He suffered deeply into His soul. It was as a mortar crushing into His emotion and heart. A pain that carries a heavy load of emotional feelings, as He took upon Himself the guilt and iniquity of the entire world. That, my friend was not easy for the Son of God to carry. We were once and for all free from the consequences of the sin of iniquity and guilt, but not until we accept and surrender our lives to His control. He did all to save us from the power of the sins of iniquity, although we still have to face it in the form of temptation. That brings to mind Paul’s struggles with it when he expressed himself concerning it saying, For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it, for I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am doing. Now, if I do what I do not desire to do it is no longer I doing it, but the sin which dwells within me; so, I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me, and I am subject to its insistent demands, for I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self, but I discern in my bodily members a different law of my mind and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs. O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from this body of death? O thank God! Through YAHSHUA Messiah! So, then indeed I of myself with the mind and heart serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin (Rom. 7:18-21;23-25). We must overcome this spiritual battle raging against us every day, if we are truly born-again; if we are born of the spirit.
When the Holiness of God Touched Mount Sinai
The Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai on the third month after they had left Egypt. God came down to that mount to covenant with them at that time. That was a covenant that separated them for Himself as a nation of priests unto Him. A covenant that differentiated them from the other nations. But Israel did not get attune with God’s plan and continued aloof from it in spite of all the supernatural signs and wonders they witnessed. To start with, when they were between the Red Sea and the Egyptian’s army, who had come against them, He caused a strong east wind all that night and made the sea dry land; and the waters were divided. When the Egyptians recognized that the Lord God was fighting in favor of Israel, they tried to flee, when the waters closed on them (Exodus 14). Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry land, while the Egyptians were taken in and drowned. The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. Arriving at Mount Sinai, Israel did not have a clue of what was going to happen. While they encamped before the mountain, Moses went up to God, and the Lord called him out of the mountain and spoke to him giving him a message to give to the people. It was a covenant He was establishing with them. He said, You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will obey My voice in truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own peculiar possession and treasure from among the above all peoples; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. These are the words you shall speak to the Israelites (Exodus 19:1-6). The Lord told Moses to sanctify the people for two days and then wash their clothes and on the third day the nation was to meet Him.
Sharing in God’s Holiness
To share in God’s holiness is God’s ultimate goal for mankind. When He gave us His Son to be sacrificed on the cross, He confirmed His goal by let Him pay the ultimate price with His own life. Therefore, apart from YAHSHUA’S sacrifice, man can never share in God’s holiness. His death opens the way for the process of sanctification into God’s holiness. God’s plan of salvation involved the Trinity- God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Peter’s letter confirms it: Peter, an apostle of YAHSHUA Messiah, to the elect exiles of the dispersion scattered abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who we chosen and foreknown by God the Father and consecrated (sanctified, made holy) by the Spirit to be obedient to YASHSUA the Messiah, and to be sprinkled with His blood may grace and peace be given you in increasing abundance. (I Peter 1:1-3). Here we see that God the Father was the Master planner of it, YAHSHUA His Son performed the plan, and the Holy Spirit took His position as the Counselor, the Helper, the Comforter the Advocate, the Intercessor when YAHSHUA ascended to heaven. He is here to continue the work YAHSHUA started. And that is of sanctification, among many other plans. YAHSHUA said, When He comes, He will convict and convince the world and bring demonstration to it about sin and about righteousness; He will guide you into all the Truth. The process of sanctification is that of molding the lives of those who are born again. Romans 8:29 says, For those whom He foreknew, He also destined from the beginning to be molded into the image of His Son, that He might become the firstborn among many brethren. When God breaks and molds the clay, He is doing the work of sanctification. Correction and discipline of God’s children are the ways in which the process achieve sanctification. My son, do not think lightly or scorn to submit to the correction and discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage and give up and faint when you are reproved or corrected by Him; for the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes. You must submit to and endure [correction] for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not train and corrects and discipline? (Heb. 12:5b-7). When we reject God’s correction, we are positioning ourselves to be outside of His plan of sanctification. The in-result will be that we will not see God; and hear the hard words, “I never knew you, depart from Me.”
The Middle Man
And Israel said to Moses, you speak to us and we will listen, but let not God speak to us, lest we die… And the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was (Exodus 20:18-24).
When Adam and Eve sinned, they hid themselves from the presence of God, at the sound of His voice while walking through the garden (Gen.3:8). A routine of the day when God would come to commune with them in the cool of the day, became a fearful experience. Peace was replaced by fear and guilt, when they made the decision to believe the serpent, instead. Sin had taken them away from the presence of God and robbed them of their relationship with Him. No longer could they feel comfortable in the presence of the holy God. What was so important to them, they lost in the decision they had made. Now, instead of welcoming God in their midst, they hid from Him as if to tell Him, leave us alone. When Israel experienced the holiness of God marked by thunders, smoking mountain, lightning, they feared Him and begged Moses to speak to them, instead. It had been three months since Israel had left Egypt in a supernatural and powerful way, when God expressed His love, His faithfulness through miracles and signs, when He walked ahead of them providing shelter from the sun and light for the night through a pillar of clouds and fire, when He opened the Red Sea and guided them through it in dry land and at the same time killing their enemies. But seemly, Israel lacked God’s holiness, and in their sinful condition, they acted like Adam and Eve – fearful.
Mount Zion vs. Mount Sinai
(Exodus 19:1-20; Hebrews 12: 18-29)
“For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, that is ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and a raging storm, and to the blast of a trumpet and a voice whose words make the listeners beg that nothing more be said to them” (Hebrews 12:18-19); “but rather, you have come to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living YAHWEH, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless multitudes of angels in festal gathering, to the assembly of the first born whose names have been written in heaven, to YAHWEH, who is the judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, to YAHSHUA, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things that the blood of Abel” (Vs.22-24).
The difference between the experience at Mount Zion and Mount Sinai is worth noting for us to realize the wonderful grace of God toward us. When God came down to Mount Sinai to meet the people of Israel, He came expressing vehemently His holiness through fire, in a dense and black cloud that enveloped the mountain. At that time, He declared His covenant with the people and gave them the Ten Commandments. At that time, Israel had a glimpse of the extent of the holiness of God; and not being able to bear it, they begged Moses to speak to them, instead.
Holy Unto the Lord
(Exodus 39; 40: 34-38; I Cor. 6:16-19; II Cor. 6:16)
The ministry of Moses in the wilderness was one of sanctifying the people to present them holy to the Lord (Exodus 19:10-11). In Israel’s experience of Mount Sinai, when God descended to the Mount to meet with them, they experienced the unapproachable holiness of God: thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain…Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord descended upon it in fire; its smoke ascended like that of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly (Ex. 19:16,18). God, desiring fellowship with men, formed the nation of Israel to be that vehicle through whom God would review Himself to the nations. They in return, would come to know the existence of the true and holy God. Forty years in the desert, a frame of time seemly long, but not in the mind of God, it took for the nation of Israel to be set apart and consecrated holy unto Him. Although they never achieved the position of complete holiness, they came to experience the extent of God’s holiness when trembling with fear, and falling back at the holiness of God, said, You (Moses) speak to us and we will listen, but let not God speak to us, lest we die (Exodus 20:18-19).
The Bride of CHRIST has never experienced such extent of God’s holiness; we have never realized the awfulness of sin and its power to destroy us, or we would have hated sin. In His holiness, the Son of God completed, paid in full the price of our redemption, satisfying His Father once and for all, so that we would be regenerated unto holiness and ultimately unto glorification. Living to satisfy the flesh’s sinful desires, defeats the purpose for which YAHSHUA died on the cross; Like Israel in the desert, the bride of CHRIST is left here for as long as God’s determined purpose of holiness will be accomplished in every believer’s life. For that reason, the Promised Holy Spirit came to earth to sanctify Christ’s bride and present her blameless and holy unto the Lord. As we think on how holy our God is, we find ourselves undeserving of His love and undeserving to come close to Him. As the Holy Spirit guides us, Moses guided the people to do what was right through their pilgrimage through the desert. When Israel chose to satisfy their fleshly desire instead, Moses faithfully stood before God to intercede for them, saying, Oh, these people have sinned a great sin and have made themselves gods of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin- and if not, blot me, I pray You out of Your book which You have written! Moses, as a go in between, offered to take the punishment of the people, so that they would not have to suffer the consequences of their doing. This is a true picture of what was to come in the Son of God, when He took yours and my place on the cross. Even though Moses’ ministry was not that of a substitutional ministry, He was a prototype of what was to come in the person of the HOLY SPIRIT. Until his death, he led the people in the direction God had shown him – the direction to God’s holiness.
The Law Served As a Guide To Lead Us To Christ (Part 2)
(Galatians 3)
I am the Lord your God… you shall have no other god before Me (Exodus 20:2). And now, Israel, what does the Lord God require of you but to fear the Lord your God – to walk in all His ways and to love Him and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with you entire being to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? (Deut. 10: 5, 12.13)
The Law showed the nation of Israel the holiness of the Lord, the need for them to desire it for themselves through obedience to God’s commandments as their part of the covenant. No one outside the Law’s requirements was able to please God’s holiness. In holiness, our God is righteous, and righteousness is the foundation of His throne (Psalm 89:14a). From the beginning men adopted many gods to satisfy their spiritual hunger, since they were created with a spiritual need for God. The Law was given with the purpose to point men to the One True God and His attributes. There are two aspects of the Law: ceremonial and moral. The ceremonial rituals served to point to the ultimate sacrifice of God’s Son, ending all the sacrifices of animals for the atonement of men’s sin. The blood of God’s Son poured out for the forgiveness of sin was more than sufficient to ratify the agreement of the new covenant- covenant of blood.
Go Into the Plain and I Will Talk to You There
(Ezekiel 3:22-27)
The Prophet Ezekiel was one of the prophets who received from YAHWEH difficult tasks to represent the spiritual conditions of the nation Israel. He grew up in the environment of the temple, having been born in the priestly family. Unlikely some prophets, he grew up knowing the things of God firsthand. He was only thirty years old when YAHWEH called Him while he was in the midst of idolatrous surroundings of Babylon. In chapter one of his book, he describes the vision given him. He starts by saying, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God (Ezekiel 1:1). After seeing the vision in its completeness, he was instructed in three things: to hear what YAHWEH was telling him; not to be like those rebellious people, and to eat the words given him. Meanwhile, the Lord warned him that the people were not going to listen to his message, for they were a rebellious nation. Ezekiel’s responsibility, however, was to warn them, listening or not, otherwise, he would be held responsible for the blood of that person. The instructions how to deliver YAHWEH’S message were difficult for one to follow. Ezekiel, however, had no complaint, except for one. He willingly did exactly what the Lord commanded Him. Arise, YAHWEH told him, go forth into the plain and I will talk with you there (Ezekiel 3:22b).
Light from the Word 