Happy
Sabbath to everyone.
On this first meeting of our “civil” New
Year (because our religious calendar begins anew in April), was
inspired to present something that is not a “new” topic, but
hopefully a renewed one. It is called “Simplicity,” and
subtitled, “Yahshua, the Answer.”
As we all know, when
discussing a matter as deep as the Gospel of Salvation, what was
intended to be a simple message, to be accepted with a child-like
faith, things can become somewhat complicated. This is not a fault
with the message itself, and not always with the messengers... but we
can identify a number of reasons why this is so. All these reasons,
though, from the infiltration of pagan traditions to inaccuracies in
Biblical translations to ongoing demonic deceptions, all of these
ultimately go back to the flesh. The apostle Paul includes
“variance,” “seditions,” and “heresies” in an extensive
list of the works of the flesh. (Gal 5:19-21)
Variance and
heresies are the most similar and, as one might imagine, they signify
differences that lead to contentions, disagreements about spiritual
matters. Seditions are a little worse, because they indicate that the
disagreements have grown so sharp that there are actual divisions
among the believers. They separate into little groups, they form
their own ministries independent of the unified body, and they
(despite their best intentions in some cases) cause confusion among
those who are seeking the true Way.
All of these are works of
the flesh. All of these are founded in the sinfulness that resides in
the bodies of those who have not come to know true conversion to
Yahshua’s resurrected life. All of these work against the
simplicity that was the original state of the Gospel message. We may
write studies, books, and libraries about evangelism... but if we
want to know how it was done in the newness of the former rain, we
need only go to the Book of Acts. Here are but a few:
“Ye
men of Israel, hear these words: Yahshua of Nazareth, a man approved
of Yahweh among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which Yah did
by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, Him, being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of Yahweh, ye
have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. This
Yahshua hath Yahweh raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that Yahweh
hath made that same Yahshua, whom ye have crucified, both [Master]
and [Messiah].” (Acts 2:22, 23, 32, 36)
“And the eunuch
answered Philip, and said, ‘I pray thee, of whom speaketh the
prophet [Isaiah] this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip
opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto
him Yahshua. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain
water: and the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water; what doth hinder
me to be baptized?’ And Philip said, ‘If thou believest with all
thine heart, thou mayest.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe
that Yahshua the Messiah is the Son of Elohim.’ And he commanded
the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water,
both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.” (Acts
8:34-38)
One more: “Then Peter opened his mouth [in the
house of Cornelius], and said, ‘Of a truth I perceive that Yahweh
is no respecter of persons, and we are witnesses of all things which
[Yahshua] did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom
they slew and hanged on a tree. Him Yahweh raised up the third day,
and shewed Him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses
chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with Him
after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach unto the
people, and to testify that it is He which was ordained of Yahweh to
be the Judge of quick and dead. To Him give all the prophets’
witness that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall
receive remission of sins.’ While Peter yet spake these words, the
Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.” (Acts 10:34,
39-44)
Whether to Jews or to Gentiles, whether to
Scripture-readers or those who followed the voice of conscience, and
whether to those awaiting the Messiah and those who did not know of
the Anointed One, the message in essence was the same, and it was
simple.
Yahshua was sent by God, did works and miracles that
validated His mission, was crucified unjustly for our sins, was
raised from the dead, and has become the Savior and Judge of mankind.
To the Jews and Proselytes, this made Him the “Messiah” whom they
had expected since the days of Moses. To the Romans and other
Gentiles, this testimony made Him the Judge of the living and the
dead, a figure present in their beliefs from the time of the ancient
religions of Egypt.
But there were no great discussions about
Yahshua’s exact nature. There was no deep discourse about
justification, sanctification, and even the Law. Now, there were
discussions about these things, and in fact the Law was a particular
point of contention that needed to be clarified by the early
Church... but none of these things were presented before those who
asked the Christians, “What is your message?” Those who heard the
testimony of Yahshua’s life, and received it, were declared
“justified.” After this, after they had committed to the truth
that they had heard, then they followed along with doctrine and
practice unto perfection.
Ideally, we would love to return to
a time such as this with regard to conversion; unfortunately, there
is a problem in Christendom that draws a darkness over both
themselves, and those to whom they try to take the message. Today,
many who identify themselves as “Christian” have been deceived
about the faith that they hold, even from the very first step:
conversion. Many who claim to be followers of Yahshua cannot explain
conversion beyond indicating that it is a “change” as potentially
superficial as choosing to go to one store instead of another. They
know the words, “born again,” “born of the Spirit,”
“crucified with Christ” (sometimes), but these terms have no
power within them to save them from their sins – to draw them forth
from their sins, and keep them free. Most do not even know the goal
of their religion. They consider it to “become good,” to “be
saved,” to “go to Heaven,” to “escape God’s wrath.” None
of these are the goal of Christianity. These are all side-effects in
a sense of the true goal, and while “being saved” is correct in
wording, it does not mean “not being destroyed,” it certainly
does not mean “not being judged,” (all are judged, sinner and
saint – 2 Cor. 5:10 was written to the Church) but rather, it means
being like Christ Yahshua.
Of course, even the
most nominal of Christians will have used, or at least heard, the
phrase “What would Jesus do?” The idea is not a bad one; in fact,
it is the core principle of Christianity that we “walk, even as He
walked,” and “take up the cross, and follow [Him].” (1 John
2:6, Mark 10:21) Thus, asking that question is good, critical in
fact; however, the problem arises when we try to answer it.
As
the subject of tonight’s study indicates, the answer is always
“Yahshua,” for who He is determines what He does; but in
answering the question “What would Jesus do” we must ask another
question as well: “How do you know?” Even among those Christians
that actually read the Scriptures for themselves, few attempt to
actually incorporate everything that is written into an overall
“picture” of Yahshua’s personality. Few indeed among many
Christians read the Old Testament, even though these also testify of
Christ, (John 5:39) and fewer still understand what they read,
ignoring what does not meet their expectations of a gentle, kind,
forgiving Savior.
No doubt, Yahshua is all these things, and
to a greater degree than is realized, but it was also Yahshua, as the
Angel of Yahweh, of whom it was written, “He will not pardon your
transgressions, for my name is in Him.” (Exo 23:21)
It was
Yahshua of whom it is written, “He answered [the Canaanite woman]
and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread [i.e., the
salvation sent to Israel], and to cast it to dogs.” (Mat 15:26)
It is Yahshua who is appointed not only Savior, but also
Judge of mankind, before whose brightness the Wicked One and his
deceived followers will be destroyed and then cast into the lake of
fire.
I do not say these things to take away from the
goodness, the patience, and the mercy of the Son of Yahweh; but if
these things are not added in, and understood to also be “Him,”
then we cannot answer the question, “What would Jesus do?”
This
is why, this is the very reason why, it is written that knowledge of
the Father and Son is everlasting life. (John 17:3)This is not just a
“spiritual” statement; it is an extremely practical one. If we do
not know the Father and Son, we will not know what to expect from
Them, nor will we know what They consider righteousness (e.g.,
Sabbath keeping, the Biblical diet), that we may do it by
faith.
Adventist writer Ellen White once said that the
“personality of God” is “everything to us as a people.” This
is a true statement, and while it was given in the context of
opposing pantheistic reasoning that was being introduced into
Adventist theology, it has a broader application as well.
Why
is it important that we “know” the Father and Son? Why is it that
the personality of God is “everything” to us as His people?
There is only one reason – so that we might have it. We
know Them, so that we can become like Them, for as the Scriptures so
clearly put it, “we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the
glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Cor. 3:18) By
beholding, we become changed. If we do not “see” Them, we cannot
ever become like Them. If we do not have a “vision” of Christian
perfection, we can never attain it.
Thus, when we talk, when
we act, when we discuss our faith, we who are covenanted to the Son
of Yah and the Son of Man, are in a unique position to answer the
question, “What would Jesus do?” We, who know Him because He
abides in us, keeping us from sin, and leading us daily along the
path of perfect sanctification, can say with assurance what He would
do, because it is what He does in us, through us... what we do as we
abide in Him.
This claim does not intend to propose, as some
have accused, that our every impulse and inclination is correct. This
does not remove the necessity of Yahshua’s continual ministry of
salvation. On the contrary, this is only accomplished because His
work in us is continual, every moment resisting, and overcoming, the
works of the flesh: the strife, the variance, the heresies, the
seditions, and the sin.
But what it does mean is that all
that we believe, and all that we do, shows the world what the answer
to this question happens to be. Yahshua is the answer to the
questions that the soul asks, and this applies to even the doctrines
that are most assaulted by the fallen spirits.
What is the
truth of the victory over sin? Yahshua overcame all sin in His flesh,
and He now abides, by His Spirit, in our flesh. The “Seed of Yah”
remains in us, so that we “cannot sin.” (1 John 3:9)
Some
may debate this back and forth endlessly on doctrinal grounds, but
the simple answer is the best: Yahshua committed no sin; therefore,
if I am “dead” and “born again” in His image, if it is
Yahshua who lives in me, then who is it that remains to commit sin?
The very possibility is excluded by our understanding of who Yahshua
is.
How exactly does this work is not revealed to us; but as
we see from the testimony of the Book of Acts, it is not knowledge of
this mechanism that converts the soul from death to life – it is
knowledge of Yahshua, who He is, what He has done for us, and, being
raised to life by the Father, what He continues to do for us
now.
What is the truth of the Trinity doctrine? Yahshua the
Messiah, being the Savior and Judge of all mankind, is also mankind’s
Advocate. In fact, He is identified in the New Testament as the ONLY
mediator between Yahweh the Father and mankind. (1 Tim 2:5) It is not
some patron saint, it is not His earthly mother Mary, and it is not
the Holy Spirit as a separate Entity from Himself. He tells us, when
speaking of this “another” Comforter, “I will come to you.”
(John 14:18)
How exactly does this work? Again, we are not
shown the mechanism; it is a wonderful thing to study the science of
salvation, and it will be the delight of the saints to examine it in
eternity... but in this time at the very end of history, this is not
the sweet sound that calls souls to the Throne of Heaven.
What
is the truth of the Appointed Times? Yahshua, as One born under the
Law, and a faithful Israelite, kept the Feast days. He did not see
the attendance as necessarily mandatory, (John 7:8) for none
questioned His statement that He wasn’t going to go (yet) with His
brethren; nevertheless, those to whom He revealed Himself, and those
in whom He resided, (and not “under the Law”) kept the feasts,
and taught their importance throughout the New Testament. (1 Cor.
5:8, Acts 18:21, Jude 1:12 – where “feasts of charity” is
actually the Agape meal)
What is the truth of the Trademark
Law about which CSDAs warn Adventists and all the world? I will make
this as general as possible:
It is possible to know, with
complete certainty, what Yahshua would do, and what He would
sanction. With regard to something as large as the Trademark
persecutions, or as small as daily decisions, if we are abiders in
Him, and if He is an Abider in us, there are certain things that are
so clearly contrary to His revealed character, to His Person, to the
testimony He gave during even the brief period of His earthly
ministry, that definitively deny the possibility of certain courses
of action being “Christian.”
Yahshua, the Savior of the
earth, did not rely on the strength of human governments, or civil
authority, to add the least bit of legitimacy to His Heavenly
Mission. With regard to the influence of the world and its
institutions, He said, “Give to Caesar what is his, and give to God
what is His.”
Religious observances, acts of faith and
conscience, these are things that are rendered by faithful Christians
unto the Father... and upon these matters we, as Christians, as
Protestants, as Adventists, as free creatures, say that the civil
power has no say. We know what Yahshua would do in the face of a
government attempting to enforce its will on matters of religious
obligation. We will say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do,” and when it is over, we will show them the
nail-prints on our palms as a testimony against their
unrighteousness.
How exactly will the last scenes play out? We
do not yet see, as in the cases above, the “mechanism,” but
again, it is not the precise way that prophecy will be fulfilled that
wins the heart from darkness. It is the testimony of, and about,
Yahshua. It is our testimony, that we are firm as steel to principle,
and will not cease to say, “We serve the One who was crucified for
our sakes, who was raised from the dead by the Father, and made
Savior and Judge, forgiving us for our sins, and raising us up to an
everlasting inheritance.”
That He has called
us to a certain faith, given us (as all father’s do) a distinctive
name, and blessed us with a holy covenant. These things are the
evidences of His love toward us, a love that the world would seek to
take from us because its own works are evil.
But although –
because of the deceptions that are in the world today – we must at
times “explain” our beliefs in order to distinguish them from the
counterfeits, Yah forbid we should forget that the true answer is
simplicity itself.
At the heart of every true doctrine is the
character of Yahshua, the personality of Yahweh, which is everything
to us as a people. When we speak with others, sharing our faith in
word and in deed, our invincible testimony is, and ever will be, that
Yahshua is the answer to the questions, however complex, that man’s
soul asks.
If you have any comments
or questions about the study please do not hesitate to leave a
comment or email David at:
flyingcreature@hotmail.com
flyingcreature@hotmail.com
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