In the old days, proverbially, a boy would begin his bar mitzvah speech with the words, “Today I am a man.” What does Judaism have to say about being an adult? The answer can be summed up by the Yiddish word mensch, “a decent human being...a caring, ethical human being.”
Who are we as human beings? We exist because of a choice — a choice by God to create the world. The world was created unfinished, incomplete, and flawed. God created humans to be partners in the completion of the world. Who better than human, who are of this world and yet created in God’s likeness, to finish the work of creation?
- “if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant,
- then…ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6)
“Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.
- Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
- And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father” (Revelation 1:5-7)
Are these two entirely separate means of achieving the same goal?
Or has Christianity skipped over the first pages in the instruction manual on how to be priests/fathers under the Great High Priest?
Most of us are familiar with the Lord’s Prayer, AKA The Our Father, but are we as familiar with the introduction, which lists the qualifications for calling the Lord God our Father / High Priest?
“And seeing the multitudes, he / Yeshua, YHVH’s Savior went up into a mountain…and taught them, saying,
- Blessed are the poor [acknowledging their need] in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Blessed are they that mourn [over sin]: for they shall be comforted.
- Blessed are the meek: [like Moses, gentle with his charges despite wielding the unlimited power of Almighty God himself] for they shall inherit the earth.
- Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
- Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
- Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
- Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
- Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:1-18)
Christianity simply cannot overlook Moses’ role in writing out the instructions to achieve transformation, although this has been a big issue with Gentile converts for the last two thousand years and counting.
As detailed in the previous post, the commonwealth of Isra-El / Prince of God is Hebrew, encompassing the later single nation of Israel established at Mount Sinai under Moses, as well as pre-existing and future culturally diverse nations bound together by faith in YHVH.
The Apostle Paul goes to great lengths to prove that membership in the order of Melchizedek to Abraham and his heirs remains in the purview of Abraham’s world-wide Hebrew commonwealth of nations – what became known as Christianity.
“What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?…what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness…reckoned…in uncircumcision…to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) ” (Romans 4:1-17)
“Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture , Behold, I lay in Sion [in Abimelech’s time the mountain held by Shem Melchizedek] a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded / put to utter confusion and shame.” (I Peter 2:6, also Romans 9:33)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them…Wherefore remember…at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel…But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 1, 2:12-13)
However, when we review the standard Christian exposition of this passage we discover that the Hebrew Commonwealth – not just the roots but the whole tree of life – is ignored.
“You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.” (Ephesians 2:19, New International Version)
We are members of His household, not strangers. If you follow Christ, you belong in God’s household and with His people.
In this passage, Paul is encouraging followers of Christ to remember that they are all part of one family. They are to be unified with each other. This can only happen if you understand that you are a legitimate child of God. You are part of His family.
Whoa! Where is the exposition on “commonwealth of Israel?” How is it that “Bible teachers” totally skips over this? Wow. Bigotry showing.
If we take at face value the word of God, Christians can’t begin to understand their identity “in Christ” without understanding our membership in the commonwealth as constituted under Moses.
This is not just a logical deduction. This is stated point blank in the Bible.
“John to the seven churches which are in Asia…from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead…that washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father…he cometh with clouds.” (Revelation 1:4-7)
In other words, instead of assuming “Jesus paid it all”,
- we realize that we become partners in redemption
- as we fulfill God’s mandate to humanity to take dominion over the earth
- by “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of” the God and Father of Jesus Christ”.
The difference is huge. As in spoiled rich families indulging themselves in a church playspace vs laborers in a refugee camp.
Just as the persecuted Hebrew Moses knew / became united / identified as belonging to his royal adoptive Egyptian parent as he learned to speak her language, eat her food, dress in the style she dressed him, acted in the proper manner she taught him, he chose to know God / be identified as One With Him BY HIS BEHAVIOR among the refugees fleeing Egyptian tyranny.
“And Moses said to the LORD…
- shew me now thy way,
- that I may know thee.
(Exodus 20:2-3) “And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with [Moses] there, and proclaimed the name / attributes of the LORD...
- I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of…the house of bondage.
- Thou shalt have no other gods [false spiritual empowerers] before me / Audaciously In My Face! (Exodus 20:2-3)
(Exodus 34:5-8) “And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD….
- The LORD, The LORD God,
- merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands,
- forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.“
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights…” (Exodus 34:27-28)
Compare Moses’ ministry with Jesus the Christ’s:
“the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things...all that Jesus began both to do and teach...after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments…being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God… (John 21:24 – Acts 1:1-11)
This is not a coincidence. What Moses taught in word and deed in the Old Testament is fundamental to understanding ANYTHING about YHVH’s Savior in the New Testament.
“As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us…shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself…
- And he shall CONFIRM the [EXISTING] covenant with many…
- and [in another action] for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate.” (Daniel 9)
The two options of
- acceptance under God’s covenant or
- desolation
is so consistently warned throughout the entire Bible that we can’t claim the “new covenant” does away with the terms of the previous covenant. It simply specifically fulfills the terms of the previous non-specific Redeemer promised on Day One of human history.
- “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts…
- But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings…Remember ye the law of Moses my servant…(Malachi 4)
The logical deduction is that anyone who identifies themselves with “The Christ / that Prophet” are also identified with Moses.
“The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet…like unto me…According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God…that I die not.
And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet…like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” (Deuteronomy 18:15-19)
“Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world…” (John 6:14)
These instructions were, of course, written to people who knew the law of Moses. This is why Jesus stated that he was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Is it so difficult to acknowledge the corollary, that people who never heard of the law of Moses or the name of Jesus Christ but who believe in Creator God and trust in him to bring life to mankind, listen to his voice in their conscience, therefore identify however unknowingly with the promised or the historical YHVH’s Savior / Jesus Christ’s death to sin on the cross when they resist evil even to their own suffering and death, will enter into rest at the resurrection?
“Behold, all souls are mine…the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right…Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the LORD God.” (Ezekiel 18:4-9)
“I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven…Jesus said unto the [Roman] centurion [military enforcer of Rome’s brutal repression of Israel], Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. ” (Matthew 8:11-13)
“God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name / attribute of YHVH / I Am Creator.” (Hebrews 6:10)
Every human being has the opportunity to choose to identify with the life-giving power of God, or the deceptive empowerment of the devil.
Every human being has the opportunity to choose to become a son of God and expand God’s righteous kingdom into his / her territory. And every human being has to choose to be transformed into the image and likeness of God when faced with the inevitable challenge by the Adversary.
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:16-18)
Kingdom Come 