A Law unto Ourselves - III

3. Part of God’s Plan

When the subject of the Law comes up some Christians immediately tend to arm themselves with a shield of Mercy and a javelin of Legalism to assail the messenger of the Law, even though the concept of mercy does not equal license and the attitude of legalism tends to be rampant within various Christian denominations.

One of the biggest mistakes Christians made and still make was when they separated the Law from Yahshua. The result was that a pagan skeleton was used as the framework to hold up the message of Faith our Messiah came to bring us.
Those who conformed to this creature were rewarded; those who did not were labeled as heretics and subjected to persecution.

The pagan skeleton was of course the introduction of the ‘Christian holidays’, which used to be days dedicated to pagan idols, as was as the introduction of idolatrous concepts based upon pagan influence, such as the mother Mary worship, and the concept of the denominational church institute as the representative of God’s authority on earth, which lent itself as a great vehicle for corruption and exploitation.

Yahshua’s church is a spiritual body of believers, the ones called out of this world for separation unto YHWH in holiness; those are the ones to whom authority is given over evil.

But, even though the Roman Catholic church excelled in fashioning a religion after its own image, the protest movement (Protestants) did not fully reject the pagan influences either, but rather rejected some elements while retaining the same pagan skeleton.

This message of Faith is like the meat and the organs of the body loosely wrapped around an alien skeleton, and as such it lack the strength and vigor of its proper skeleton, just as the Jews have embraced the skeleton of the Law and clothed it with the flesh and organs of the traditions of Judaism as a compensation for the lack of the proper life giving organs of Faith in the Messiah.

Both creatures lack their proper constituent elements and therefore cannot live up to their intended potential.

We are living in the age where the shadow man of Christianity meets the shadow man of Judaism to merge together into one new vigorous man, a man in whose heart YHWH writes his Law, a man who walks in the joy of his Faith and sincere love for his Father, a man with the strong backbone of the Law and the heart of the Spirit beating the rhythm of a new life.

In His wisdom YHWH often uses misconceptions and deception sown by Satan as an integral part of His plans.

The rejection of the Messiah by Judaism led to the spread and acceptation of the gospel throughout the world, predominantly the Western world.

Yet whereas in the early days of Christianity the believers in the Messiah honored YHWH’s Law and lived according to YHWH’s precepts, the emperor Constantine departed from this practice and merged Yahshua’s message with pagan influences, and thus became the first pope.
Under his direction pagan idols were stripped of the flesh and the organs, and the remaining skeletons were joined into one and subsequently they were married to the gospel message of Yahshua.

Thus, Christianity was alienated from its roots just as Judaism was alienated from its fruits.

The Jew considered the Christian to be an alien creature due to the adoption of pagan elements and the rejection of the Torah, just as the Christians looked upon the Jews as alien creatures because they did not recognize and accept the Salvation of Yahshua while clinging to the Torah as the way to Salvation.

Yet, both creatures are incomplete and need each other in order to come to the fullness of Faith, just as a man and a woman need each other to reach the fullness of a marriage.

YHWH knew this in advance, and He poetically used Satan’s plotting and scheming to accomplish His work and fulfill His plans.

I am convinced that it is YHWH’s plan for the End Times to bring His children, both the Messiah believing Jews and the Torah abiding Christians, together in His Promised Land.

He has announced this ages ago through His prophets, just read Ezekiel 37:15 where YHWH commands the prophet to take two sticks and write on one ‘For Judah’, and on the other ‘For Joseph and all the house of Israel associated with him’, and put the two sticks together in one hand.

Although the house of Judah is known because Judah kept and guarded the Torah, the houses of the other tribes of Israel (“the ten lost tribes”) are scattered among the nations because they rejected YHWH, they rejected His commandments and have adopted the customs of the people wherever they dwelled.

So, these houses for the most part have blended in and as such are no longer clearly distinguishable among the nations of the world.

Still God speaks in the Bible of Ephraim in the End Times, and how He will gather all the tribes, and not just one, into His land.
In Revelation 7 John also mentions the twelve tribes by name, and not just Judah

In Genesis 48 the Bible relates the story of Jacob blessing Joseph’s two sons (Manasseh and Ephraim) before he died.
Although Manasseh was the elder, Jacob put his right hand on Ephraim’s head, and when Joseph tried to correct him, he told Joseph that he did not err, because whereas Manasseh would become a great people, his younger brother Ephraim would be greater and his descendants would become a ‘multitude of nations’ (or, 'the fullness of the Goyim').

The prophet Hosea describes the characteristics of Ephraim, such as in chapter 4 : 17:
“Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone”,
in chapter 7:8 he writes:
“Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned”,
in chapter 8:12 he writes:
“Were I to write for Ephraim my laws by ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing",
and in chapter 9:16 he writes:
“Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up”.

If you take all these prophecies and combine them then it is not hard to see how they can be applied to the Western nations which have embraced Christianity.
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Christianity has joined its content to a pagan framework (“joined to idols”), although Christianity has accepted the message of Salvation it has rejected the framework of the Torah (“a cake not turned”, i.e. well done on one side only), the prevailing attitude of Christian churches has been to regard the Torah as outdated (“They would be regarded as a strange thing”), by being married to a pagan framework Christianity has separated itself from its roots (“their root is dried up”).

Consider Hosea 12:8: “Ephraim has said, ‘Ah, but I am rich, I have gained wealth for myself’”.
Isn’t wealth and prosperity a predominant trait of the Western nations?
Furthermore we read in Hosea 11:10: “They shall go after YHWH, He will roar like a lion; Yea, He will roar, and His sons shall come trembling from the west”.
In this verse a specific reference to the West is mentioned in the context of Ephraim.

Because Ephraim has merged with the nations of the world, especially the Western nations, he is no longer distinguishable as Ephraim, and only YHWH knows exactly who is a descendent from Ephraim.
I do not want to exclusively equate the Christian Western world with Ephraim, but based on what the Bible states, and in particular the use of certain words by the prophets when they speak of Ephraim, I strongly suspect that many descendents of Ephraim are counted among the believers in the Messiah in the West.

Read for example Zechariah 10:6:
“I will strengthen the house of Judah,
and I will save the house of Joseph,
I will bring them back because I have compassion on them,
and they shall be as though I had not rejected them;
for I am YHWH their God and I will answer them.”

Just as I have described the zeal for the Torah of Judah as Judah having the strong backbone of the Law, Zechariah uses the verb ‘strengthen’ in the context of Judah, and he uses the verb ‘save’ in the context of Joseph (Ephraim).

Zechariah goes on to say in verse 7 of the same chapter:
"Then Ephraim shall become a mighty warrior,
And their hearts shall be glad as with wine.
Their children shall see it and rejoice,
Their hearts shall exult in YHWH."

“I will signal for them and gather them in,
for I have redeemed them [notice again the verb ‘redeem’?]
and they shall be as many as of old.

Though I have scattered them among the nations,
Yet in far countries they shall remember Me,
And with their children they shall live and return.

I will bring them home from the land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria;
And I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,
Till there is no room for them.

They shall pass through the sea of Egypt [scholars tend to favor the translation ‘distress’ over ‘Egypt’],
And the waves of the sea shall be smitten,
And all the depths of the Nile dried up.”

In this part Zechariah speaks of a time when the exodus of Ephraim will take place, and YHWH will signal His children to return.
Although they will pass through the sea of distress (‘sea’ often is used as a symbol for the sea of politics), YHWH will smite the waves of the sea so that they will not hinder them and prevent them from returning, just as YHWH provided Israel with a safe passage through the Nile when they fled from Egypt.

The prophet Ezekiel was instructed by YHWH to join the two sticks with the inscriptions “For Judah” and “For Joseph” in one hand so that they might become one.

In YHWH’s plan He will join His children into His land at the appointed time, but if ‘Ephraim’ continues to lack a deeper understanding of the Torah and thus continues to reject it, then the house of Judah will see in ‘Ephraim’ a stranger just as the rejection of the Messiah by Judah will estrange him from Ephraim.

At this moment in time YHWH is bringing about a change in His children all across the globe which will bring a deeper understanding of Yashua’s mission and YHWH’s plan.
This deeper understanding also brings a renewed openness to the Torah with it as well as a new understanding of the words spoken by the prophets.

Both Ephraim and Judah are in the process of restoration that YHWH already has begun, and both will come to live in one land.
It does not mean that suddenly ALL the inhabitants of the Western nations will seek to establish themselves in the geographical area of the Middle East, but only the ones who can hear YHWH signaling for them to return.

YHWH is going to allow evil to bring about a situation in our ‘free world’ which will make it impossible for true Christians to profess their Faith openly.
Either they will have to conform to a state approved form of bogus Christianity, and/or the state ideology, or they will be regarded as criminal elements, ‘extremists’ guilty of ‘hate-crimes’.

This persecution of both Jew and Christian (in Islam there’s a saying ‘We will kill first the Saturday people, then the Sunday people’) will cause both to be united and seek a safe haven, and the only nation on earth which will be able to provide that safe haven at that time will be Israel.

With the exodus of YHWH’s faithful from the various nations, those nations will be ready for the judgment of YHWH to cleanse them from the elements which made life impossible for YHWH’s own.
YHWH is not going to let His faithful children suffer the blows of His judgments together with the unjust God-haters, and that is one of the reasons why He is gathering His elect.

The prophet Malachi speaks of this in Malachi 3:17 & 18:
“They shall be mine”, says YHWH of hosts, “My special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.
Then once more you shall distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him”.

So, the revival of the ‘old Christianity’, where Christians faithfully and lovingly kept the Torah, is the result of YHWH’s Holy Spirit moving the hearts of His people in order to be ready, not just for the calamities to come, but also for the great move of YHWH’s End Times plan, where He will restore Israel and cause it to be a safe haven for ALL His children.

The prophet Isaiah also speaks of the time of invitation when YHWH will invite all His children into His land, not just the house of Judah, but also the house of Ephraim and ALL who love YHWH in their hearts, Isaiah 56:

Thus says YHWH:
"Keep justice, and do righteousness,
for soon My salvation will come,
and My deliverance be revealed.
Blessed is the man who does this,
and the son of man who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,
and keeps his hand from doing any evil."

Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to YHWH say,
"YHWH will surely separate me from His people";
and let not the eunuch say,
"Behold, I am a dry tree."

For thus says YHWH:
"To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please Me
and hold fast My covenant,
I will give in My house and within My walls
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off."

And the foreigners who join themselves to YHWH,
to minister to Him, to love the name of YHWH,
and to be His servants,
everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
and holds fast My covenant—
these I will bring to My holy mountain,
and make them joyful in My house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on My altar;
for My house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples."

The Lord YHWH,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
"I will gather YET OTHERS to him
besides those already gathered."

In the time to come YHWH will be the only security that we will know, and to the extent that we have invested in our relationship with YHWH we will reap the reward in the form of His nearness, His help, His protection and His guidance.

You may want to take this to heart, because MUCH is coming our way.
Or, to put it in Reagan’s words, ‘you ain’t seen nothin’ yet’

Click here for part four