MY SCRIPTURE STUDIES

My Scripture Studies
Seek God. Engage with His voice in the Bible and start in the beginning.

October 21, 2012

What is Sin?


In my Scripture studies I found that the Bible is very clear about sin from the beginning of the Genesis story.

Sin is a big problem because it separates us from a relationship of life with our Creator God. Sin is the deceptive plan of the enemy of Almighty God and humanity. It's the deadly design of the adversary and the goal of the deceiver. 

Sin's objective is death and the destruction of humanity.

The end game of sin is separation from the life giver, our Creator. Death we bring on ourselves is the price we pay for sin. That was the warning declared in Eden, but Father God offers a way through grace by the kinsman redeemer for the way of haSatan. 

The Father is full of mercy and offers atonement, redemption and eternal life salvation as He reaches out to us through His lovingkindness.

In Hebrew, one name literally means "salvation" and that name is "Yeshua." Today, in English we use the name Jesus.

He was sinless, He never missed the mark, never transgressed any command of the Torah of The Father.

So, what is the this Torah and what is sin?

The Torah is the Kingdom constitution of loving teaching and instruction for living given by our Almighty Creator. It literally means direction, instruction and prophetic teaching, not "exactly" law as we think of it today. 


Sin is "less" living, Torah-less life. 
It is a life outside of the instruction of God
no matter who you -- are Jew or not.


There's only one definition for sin in the Newer Testament, just one and its found in 1 John 3:4:
Everyone who sins also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness.
Sin is Torahless because it transgresses the Torah, the law of God.

Exodus 12:49 tells us plainly there is one Torah for everyone to seeks to join in and live in God's image.

The Torah is like creation's laws of physic that applies to all creation:
"One law [Torah] shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you."
Physics does not change based on who you are, your heritage or your location. It's about your love for God.

This is the same message repeated in Numbers 15:16 and Numbers 15:29. Not only, that Isaiah is a prophet that provides a second witness to the Torah and he tosses in the Sabbath sign and a great prophecy for the planet:
Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
“YHWH will surely separate me from his people” 
“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.” Isaiah 56:3 
Yeshua is the living "word" of God because He kept it. 

He is the "law" alive, the living Torah in the flesh shining the Torah's light into darkness for all the world to see. All we have to do is open our eyes and our hearts to understand this. If we don't we''ll keep  stumbling in the dark in the way of deception. John 1:1-5 tells us:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."
You should know, the English word we call the "law" is not exactly the Hebrew word "Torah." It means "teaching and instruction" from God, not religious legislation from man. 

The Torah is how God rules the universe.

We can see that when we break the language barrier of the Bible!

The redeeming Savior of mankind from sin's penalty, the Messiah walked in the Torah, talked it and taught it while He unwound the problems with religious traditions. His voice always revealed the  "life" teaching of the Bible. 

Yeshua never ignored it, He expounded on the Torah, teaching everyone how to live in the spirit of the Torah. After all, the words of Torah are the words from The Father, that's why He said the Father and I are one. Are you?

Everything Yeshua did or will do is reflected in the Torah. Even the ark of the Covenant speaks of Him. All the writing of Moses are about Him (John 5:46).

The words of God's covenant with mankind were put into the ark, as if buried inside. Jesus, the "word of God" was also put into a tomb. But He overcame it in the power resurrection just as the Word of God continues to pous out across the planet through the Bible, the best selling book of all time.

Because Yeshua (Jesus) kept the Torah, He was sinless and eligible to overcome the curse of our offense against God. He was never Torah "less." This is the reason the Roman Centurion defined His life as "righteous":
"Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man." Luke 23:47
John explained the same thing the Roman soldier declared:
"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ [Messiah Yeshua] the righteous: And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep his commandments [The Torah]." 1John 2:1-3
John also tells us:
"If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him." 1John 2:29
John is telling us to do righteousness, to do God's Torah, just like Jesus.

Jesus did not come to "do away with the Torah." He tells us to NEVER think that, just read Matthew 5:17-19 for what He says about this at the Sermon on the Mount:
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 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. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:17-19
Yeshua tells us here the Torah is still with us just like heaven and earth. On His first trip, Yeshua came to fill up the Torah's purpose to establish it with meaning for life by teaching it and living it out to show the world how to live, and what to do in The Kingdom of God.

The Apostle Paul taught that Messiah Yeshua died and was resurrected into new life on the 3rd day to free us from the curse of the law. That "curse" is the warning God gave to Adam in Eden is the death that results from purposeful sin against God's instruction (see Genesis 2:14 and Genesis 3:3). 

The death curse is what we bring on ourselves, so we need faith and an intercessor.

Almighty God's instruction and teaching is a blessing for eternal life, that's the message in Genesis!! 

The Father's instruction is eternal, it's not an Old Testament. If it were then Messiah Yeshua's Sermon on the out would be a sinful lie and He would be an imposter. His is not a sinner, He came to free us and give us peace.

The Torah, the teaching of God reveals our need for Him as Savior and kinsman redeemer from the curse of death in sin:
"Messiah hath redeemed us from the curse of the law [Torah], being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Galatians 3:13-14
To truly follow Jesus, we must follow in His ways and become "former" Gentiles, otherwise we ARE NOT following Him. The way of life follows the path of Jesus, it is a life walking in the Torah, the life teaching every Sabbath in the ministry of Yeshua.

Believe it or not, the light of truth is not a heavy burden, but we have been deceived by darkness. 

The light of God's Torah points to Messiah.

Jesus-Yeshua kept the seventh day Sabbath of rest for a reason. 

He celebrated the Feasts of The Lord, for a reason. After all He lived them out in life and death. He is the Passover Lamb of God. His blood was shed on the wood of the cross. He was put into the grave on the day of Unleavened Bread, He is the firstborn, He was resurrected into eternal life on the Day of First Fruits. He ate healthy according to the word of The Creator’s Torah because God is about life, not man's traditions, deductions or religious additions to it.

Yeshua taught the Pharisees that adding tradition is not the way of Torah, its not the way of life to add to man's religion to God's Word. 

After all, God does not need our opinion.

Yeshua  has great compassion beyond our understanding, and because He kept the Torah it's the reason could physically heal the blind and the crippled with a touch or just the words be healed. He was demonstrating that "by faith" and grace we can do God's word and walk in it. Every sick person was healed by faith following His instruction. Knowing this, we must open our own eyes and see the light of Torah in Messiah. 

If you wear the label of saved Gentile sinner like I used to, consider this:

Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary sheds some light saying: GEN'TILE, noun [Latin gentilis; from Latin gens, nation, race; applied to pagans.]

In the scriptures, a pagan is a worshipper of false gods; any person not a Jew or a christian, but a heathen.

Or you a Christian pagan?

Mr. Webster points to the issue of idol practices as being the character distinction of a Gentile. They were linked to the heathens, the false image-worshippers according to the 1880 McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia:

"As to the religion of heathenism, it is "a wild growth on the soil of fallen human nature, a darkening of the original consciousness of God's deification of the rational and irrational creature, and a corresponding corruption of the moral sense, giving the sanction of religion to natural and unnatural vices."

Paul agrees with Noah Webster, he called the Ephesians “former Gentiles”… you once were separate, excluded "strangers" from Messiah and the identity of none other than… Israel!
“Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles… remember that you were at that time separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” Ephesians 2:11-12
The humble Yeshua (in Hebrew, salvation) will return as King of all Israel. 

He will have a united Kingdom, a commonwealth of people ready to live under The Father's covenant constitution of life - The Torah that reveals our Creator's way of life image.

The transformation back to the image of God is what Paul wrote about when he penned this referencing the veil Moses wore only after he stood in the presence of The LORD. In the tent of meeting, in freedom from sin he never wore the veil:
But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 
That day will restore us to God's image and return us back in repentance to the Covenant of His Torah. 

That will be accomplished within our hearts so that we can be empowered to serve our King on earth  from Jerusalem in His image. So let's get ready... now!
"Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Messiah Yeshua, who was ordained for you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets." Acts 3:19-21
Many scattered in "the nations" are victims of identity theft. An identity lost to thinking in the so-called "Old Testament" instruction for living was hung on the cross, declaring it is finished but truth does not change.

So, the law, the Torah was not the law hung on the cross... what was hung there was the death penalty for breaching it. That's the message from Paul in Romans 3. Many miss this truth because they only listen to someone quote excerpts of the letter. I encourage you to read it all for yourself. In summary:
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus... Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."
Paul teaches us more of this truth in his letter to the Corinthians.

Many do not realize that they do not need to live with a lost heritage. They can claim their family name as God's sons and daughters (see 2Corinthians 6:18).

Many today think of themselves only as "Gentiles" with a lost heritage, but in God's eyes they are not any longer because they have been saved by grace, adopted and grafted into the ancient assembly that began at Mount Sinai, the family of God that follows Him, a people God calls "Israel" whether native born or sojourner.

We do not have to remain as lost sheep, lost to our true identity in the Messiah of Israel. Just read the Scriptures to know the teaching of God and His plan for your life that includes doing the things that Jesus did as He honored God and went the extra mile to always help others.

So, if you love Jesus, wake up! Walking in His light is up to you. It's a choice.

Jesus is the mediator of the Covenants, they are His words because He lived them, and He wants to circumcise our hearts with a love and joy for walking in His ways. He wants us to be like Him and to teach others to do the same... now.

If you let Him, He can take away your disregard of God's Covenant, allowing the Holy Spirit to move the words en-scribed in the two stones to circumcise the flesh of our hearts in faith.

Today, God is actively working through His Spirit encouraging  Believers that are being called back to the Bible's basic instruction. I pray that is why you are here today.

If you doubt the restoration that is occurring, just try any Internet search with the word's "walking in Torah" and you will see for yourself what is happening all around the world.

Just ten years ago, those words would only give you a few results, perhaps most of them from orthodox Jewish sources, but today there are over 9,480,000 on Bing and 12,000,000 on Yahoo, which by its name alone is my favorite because you have to start with God's name Yah to use it.

Most of link results are generated by "followers" seeking to learn to walk in the ways of Messiah Yeshua.

The restoration of the Kingdom and its covenant way of living is underway worldwide as the 120 Jubilees of time God told Noah of in Genesis 6:3 are now winding down to the return of The King in glory.

God's Spirit will soon no longer strive with a sinful mankind. Just like Messiah Yeshua promised His disciples, the re-gathering, the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel will occur the end days like the flood, after the coming great tribulation.

He came first as the humble Yeshua, Messiah, and He is returning to reign as King on this Earth. That's the real gospel.

Two witnesses are always required by Torah and Yeshua made no exception for Himself. Just as Ezekiel 37:16-28 tells us the Messiah will restore Israel into one family tree as the two witnesses of the “Joseph” and “Judah” are reunited under the King as the re-stored “House of Israel” living in peace, as one kingdom people just as the prophet tells us.

There are two witnesses in Jew and Joe, both have been a light of spirit and truth to the nations of the world, one holding on to God's Torah and the other to Messiah, the living Torah. We have religious disagreements, most of them from religious tradition, but it is time to come together as noted in Matthew 18:20:
"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
We must now awaken others to this promise of gathering in His name and to the heritage and identity of the family name of the children of God in Messiah which is "Israel." There is a parable that tells us about this amazing event, it is the “prodigal son” parable. It is about the lost son who left his Father’s “household” yet He returned to be restored to his Father and his brother.

Don't "miss the mark" here, the prophetic teaching and instruction found in the Bible is given to the people Israel and those strangers and sojourners joined with them ingrafted into the family of the living God of Israel. The Bible, all of it is for anyone that wants to be a friend, a child of God. Israel is not just a promised land.

You see, the Jewish people are one God's two witnesses, one of the two olive trees and that is as certain as the Bible. Replacement theology is a lie, a big deception. The Jewish people are now opening their eyes to the truth of Messiah and Christians everywhere are learning that God's words, all of them are still alive and well to teach us how to live in God's Kingdom ways.

This awakening will allow us to come together as two witnesses to walk in Spirit and in Truth.

Join the family, be a part of those patiently waiting for the King as these two witnesses "keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" wearing the fine white linen of righteousness.

Have you ever thought about it, you know, what is the true "faith" of Jesus?

The very definition of “truth” requires that only one thing can be true. That the only way is God’s way. This is a great "predicament", a paradox for many of us. Only one way and one truth can be the real deal! The truth is that all of the life teachings in the Bible, all of God's words that were given to Israel are there in the book for us today, but the history of mankind proves that we will not listen to God. Some of us had rather hear the sound of a pulpit and do so with Bibles closed. Others look to the politicians to lead them.

It is the election season this year, a "time" for some to "stretch" the truth and a "time" for others to lie. Do you ever get tired of all the lies? Do you know the lies when you hear them? Many do not. That is why the news networks now have "Fact Checks" after each nationally televised Presidential Debate.

Many have become so desensitized to lying today that they cannot discern the truth. We can't recognize it because deception has become an accepted expectation of politics and for many a norm. Lying is the opposite of truth. Like politics, lying is often the result of people thinking that they are right in their own eyes. They selfishly and stubbornly hold on to their views regardless of clear evidence to the contrary. Lies are becoming a constant in politics and that is a reflection of life that we tend to simply accept.

The Bible gives us God's great instruction: "do not steal". Lying is stealing the truth. Lying is a sin. But this commentary is not about politics and it is not about throwing out another negative political sentiment. Deception is at the very heart of all the world's problems. If you think politics are bad, perhaps the deceptions heard there are nothing compared to those found in religion where God's words are often twisted and turned to suit a theology. Politics have been around a long time, they are man's way of self governance which is often in opposition to God's rule and sovereignty, yet man's religions have been around even longer.

There are it seems hundreds of separate religions or denominations and each "thinks" they possess "the" truth. Each believe that they are correct in their own interpretation and doctrine.

Please don't go off the cliff here, I am NOT promoting secularization. I am simply pointing out the hard truth. The truth that rarely anyone addresses by seeking out the light of YHVH God's literal truth. Seeking God is not a religion. Reading and studying the Bible is not religious. It is just the journey of an imperfect person seeking instruction from the perfect One to guide us through life.

It's just that people tend to use their own views rather than seeking God's word. Grievously, perhaps that is what religion is at the end of the day despite all the noble intent. But when a rare thing does happen, when the truth is told, people often do not want to hear it. Perhaps that is why so many Bibles are on the shelf and not in our hands. That is because it's in our "fallen" nature. Eve knew the truth - straight from God's presence and mighty voice, but she believed the whispered lies of the Deceiver, the original liar. I urge you, seek the truth, all of it, but start at the front of the book and God's word will set you free in His Spirit and Truth.

We all need to wake up from our truth slumber. Seeking the simple truth, following the lead of the Spirit of God is the purpose of the website, to help you wake up to God's word. It is the way of life.

When Paul wrote about the danger of slumber in Roman's 11:8, the greek word "katanyxis" κατάνυξις tells us the truth. He was referring to a "spirit of stupor". A stupor is a mental dullness, a lethargic indifference; apathy, a state of suspended physical powers and activities. It is a "comatose-like" state that can occur when we are wide awake, it's not sleep. We need to know something, God's does not slumber or sleep. The Psalmist tells us:
"Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." Psalms 121:4
The miracle of the flood's ark and the miracle of the exodus from bondage Egypt is that God showed the world the truth, He is Almighty God. He offers salvation (in Hebrew: Yeshua) to the entire planet, to all that will listen and act on His promise of life. Today, is not a time to ignore God’s truth, His voice in the Bible. Today, is not the time to “wait” to see what God will show us as His will in our lives. 

Your Elohim God has already declared His will for your life, it's right there in His book - but we have to open the Bible to hear and see it.

God made us. He knows our nature. He knows we tend to lean toward false religion as if we lived in Babylon or that we like to dip our feet into the Nile River of sin in Egypt. 

In Proverbs 21:2 Elohim God tells us that “every way of a man is right in his own eyes.” 

That line of sight is off target. Now is the time to know that repentance is critical if we seek to be an adopted, redeemed people. A family of people following God and Messiah is what we need to be. Paul taught about this in Romans 8:15-23, Galatians 4:3-7 and Ephesians 1:4-7.

When we join the citizenship of God's Commonwealth Kingdom, the good news is we get to assume the family name, the identity of a faithful people Elohim God calls "Israel." The Bible gives us a great prophecy about this. It tells us the future, the hope and truth that Joseph and Judah will unite again as a family following Messiah, walking together in the teaching and instruction of God as we become the light of the world that we are asked to be.

That is what Paul's letters taught in Romans 9:4-8, Galatians 3:26-29 and Ephesians 2:11-22. Read and study these, because to see oneself in the Kingdom of the God of Israel means that our heart and soul recognizes the identity given by the Almighty.

His Torah is our sustenance, our daily bread and water for living in the Kingdom with the blessings that come from His Spirit and Truth. 

There's some instruction in the Bible specifically for priests tending to God's Altar and Tabernacle, there is also teaching and instruction for men, for women and for children. To sum it up:
"Hold to the testimony, the life walk of Yeshua (Jesus) and keep the commandments of God". Just read Revelation 12:17.
Life is a challenge and a choice. Each day we must choose to show God that we love Him. 

We get to show Him we love Him by what we do, what we do according to His instruction as a loving Father. Living according to God’s righteousness is a matter of choice. When we want to do things His way, it called righteousness, but we can't do it alone, we must ask God to empower us by His Spirit. In the end He can empower us if we ask to have the heart to walk after Him and help others do the same.

Scripture is always worth studying, especially words from the one called Jesus, a.k.a. Yeshua, so:
"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches {them,} he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses {that} of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:17-20
The big key here is that Yeshua is delivering an eternal Torah message that the law or rather the instruction of God has the key role in the ongoing plan of God and that we can never turn our back on or “abolish” the law if our goal is to be in God's will. A big part of His will is sharing the redemptive work of Yeshua with others. As King David noted, the reward for keeping and teaching others to engage in the Torah is a “great" position in the kingdom and this should be the goal of any true disciple of Yeshua.

Incredibly, Yeshua also teaches us to emphasize the spirit reality of the commandments because Messiah taught His disciples and He teaches us that true righteousness "must surpass" that of the scribes and Pharisees.

Whoa... what's up with that?

The deep message here from our Lord Yeshua is that the commandments of God, which are His commandments, can only be kept when they are understood as a heart and soul love offering and blessing back to God, not a religious obligation or duty for a better status with God that can't be obtained.

The good news is we get to do what God asks us to do because we love Him and want to turn away from sin. What an honor to keep!

Yeshua wants us to follow Him in the commandments of God away from the sin of Egypt from the vantage point of mercy and blessing, not religious merit from deed obligation like Babylon. 

Like Abraham, we need to be reconciled to God by a walk in faith when Abba Father asks that we do something - then we do it out of love, in that way The Father considers us a friend. As friend of God, we can walk in His instruction as a blessing not an obligation, and we can keep His voice in our heart and not look at His words as a heavy stone to labor with.

The true Torah of God is freedom and blessing because Torah shows us sin and how much we must rely on God's salvation and not ourselves because we can't keep His word without Him showing us the way. We have to have His help daily because we can never be self-righteous in the law. In the end, without His Spirit and a heart inscription, there is no ability to keep God's will for life in His Kingdom.

It is this Spirit filled heart issue that Yeshua is magnifying in His teaching when He taught of “surpassing” the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. This message in Matthew from our Teacher is amazing but it's one we can easily miss unless we know that as God’s children we are blessed by His "teaching and instruction" (Torah), and our honor as His children for their keeping in NOT a means to become righteous and it is NOT religious as a list of to dos or don'ts, but rather an opportunity of humble love worship because our hearts are overwhelmed in love for "The One" who redeems us.

The Ten Commandments are Almighty God’s outline, His two tables of contents of the Torah.

Can you imagine that on one tablet are the principles of how we are to honor God and on the other how we are to honor our neighbors in this world. This is why Matthew gives us the story of a lawyer. Do you suppose that was a man that studied Roman law? Nah, he was most likely a Yeshiva teacher, a Pharisee Rabbi, a teacher of Torah. He asked Jesus which was the great commandment in the law as the witness of Matthew 22:35-40 describes. The response from Yeshua referenced the two tablets as two commands sum up the honor of Torah.

Yeshua said that to love God is the first and greatest Commandment. It is the 'Shema" of Deuteronomy 6:4-5. It is first and greatest in that it represents the heartbeat of every Torah word. But also remember He also said, “If you love me, keep my Commandments” John 14:15 and He said: "I and [my] Father are one" John 10:30.

Yeshua went on to answer the man: "And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang ALL the law and the prophets.”"

The two tablets were given at the fiery pinnacle of Sinai and they need to be our focus in applying how we are to honor and keep the teaching of our God.

By God's design, His desire is to have us rely on Him as we diminish ourselves, and so many aspects of the law are virtually impossible for us to keep. Many too are in a two-thousand year time out, a half time if you will between appearances. These include some of the Tabernacle worship services which the Prophets say will be reinstated in the second coming and millennial reign of King Yeshua.

This half time is ending soon, but the pause does not do away with or annul God's instruction, but rather this is a part of God's 7 point game plan. Just as there is a long wait between the four Spring Feasts that show us His first coming and the three Fall Feasts that will engage at His second coming, God’s will is right on schedule.

A huge part, if not most of the Torah instruction, provides protocol for the Levites alone as they tend to the work of the Tabernacle and the altar services in the near physical presence of the fire of God Almighty. He does not stand before us now on Earth, that should be plain and simple to understand.

Yet this in no way takes away from the death and resurrection work of Yeshua as our Savior.

We tend to freak out a bit or shut down when we consider that altar offerings will be seen again in the millennium Kingdom of our Lord, but consider that they will fulfill the same function they did long ago before the Pillar of Fire of the God of Israel.

They will give us a graphic and physical representation of the ultimate sacrifice by Yeshua and the atonement that only He provides.

The gift of the Levites and their services clearly pointed all of mankind 'forward to' the coming of Messiah and His Passover miracle of atonement death and resurrection redemption. So too, Ezekiel show us that the millennial Temple will direct our hearts 'back to' what He has accomplished for the redemption of all that follow Him.

We know now that the word Torah means teaching, so we can see that the gift of the Levites is a teaching for us as a part of the adopted family of Israel. And part of the teaching is that we must guard if we are innocently seeking Torah as the letter of the law and we must protect ourselves from any satisfaction which we think might come from walking in the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees.

Instead, we must remember Yeshua’s words that teach us that those with such righteousness will 'not enter' the Kingdom of Heaven. The 12 gates will be closed. Only those who "surpass" the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees are viewed as truly righteous and enter in Messiah's city where He reigns as King.

That can only be a work of the heart not the hand. Only as our love for God and each other enables us to understand the commandments as a blessing from our Savior will we be empowered to 'keep' them as He intended. So He alone is our teacher and He says...
“Not every one who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father, who is in heaven.”
The relentless grief and admonishment that Yeshua gave the whitewashed men He called graves was because the Rabbis had lost sight of the spirited heart of Torah and they became entangled in the wire of the words, so much so that their traditions became obligation and a dividing wall.

The Torah never describes a dividing wall between Israel and the nations. The people God calls to Himself as children of Israel are to be distinct and set apart by Torah, but as Yeshua taught His disciples earlier in chapter 5 of Matthew, this is so that they can be seen as a lamp, a light to the world. After all, if you blend in with the crowd no one will notice the menorah unless the lights are magnified as a bright fire because the seven menorah flames represent the manifest presence and Spirit of God. Isaiah 11:2 tells us of them:
"And the (1) spirit of YHVH shall rest upon him, the spirit of (2) wisdom and (3) understanding, the spirit of (4) counsel and (5) might, the spirit of (6) knowledge and of the (7) fear of YHVH."
Revelation show us these four times so they are VERY important to us in this time. I pray they are a revelation to you:
Revelation 1:4 "John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne."

Revelation 3:1 "And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead."

Revelation 4:5 "And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God."

Revelation 5:6 "And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth."
I pray you will be a bright light to the lost as show others how to walk in the light of Messiah, the living Torah.
Isaiah 42:21 “The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will MAGNIFY the Torah, and make it honorable.”
May God Bless as you seek your oil to light a fire please Him because Messiah Yeshua is God, anointed in the flesh of His creation.

The Teacher is calling for you... He came in the flesh so that He could show us how to live and how to ask and seek forgiveness so that He could personally abolish the penalty for the enmity of willful sin. The death penalty is the warning to mankind that He gave in Eden and it is the law that He nailed to the cross as He alone overcame it in resurrection. You see, if you follow Messiah, what was "nailed to the cross" is the death penalty of our past sins.

If you are not certain about your redemption, that you will one day live with God as a child in His Kingdom, then you’re not reborn. But salvation is not about being religious. The Bible is very clear. It doesn't matter if you are Jewish, Catholic, Protestant or another, or if you have no particular religious creed or doctrine. The bottomline is Yeshua, the one many call Jesus says that "unless you be born again you cannot see the Kingdom of God."

That redemption is not religion: “You must be born again.” It starts by asking God for forgiveness. 

You can receive Yeshua - Jesus, as Lord of your life and see eternal life because He overcame the death penalty. To receive Him means to follow Him. What matters is what you will do now.

You can confess your sin and receive Him as your Lord and ask for forgiveness of your sin from God and the people you may have wronged?

If you will do that, the Bible promises that God will cleanse you, and He will redeem, take away your sin. This is not religion, no one can enter our creator God's almighty presence with sin and live. God's glory, His righteousness will destroy the sin and the person that the sin resides in will be lost too, so you must be clean of wrongdoing to approach God and only He can do that for you and cover you sin. It is that simple. God is that holy, yet He forgives, saves and will cover your sin.

Salvation and eternal life is God's gift of grave, you can't earn it.

Turning away from sin, following God's way is the process of being born again by following Yeshua as Messiah. This birth of the heart will give a new beginning in your life. That means you can turn back to God and follow God's anointed, Jesus, as Lord of your life.

Confess with your mouth, believe in your heart and do things God's way starting today. If you will follow Him you shall be saved and He offers us an instruction manual, it's the Bible.

Pray to God, speak the words from your heart and soul to ask The Lord to forgive all sin, to wash it away and cleanse you. Then show God you love Him by walking in the light of the Bible in God's love, grace and presence.

Our Father wants His Kingdom to be right here on Earth, the Almighty "One" wants you to be a part of His Kingdom, that's why He made this planet in the first place and that why He teaches us to pray...
"Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven"
What does this all mean? 

It's time for you to repent and return to God's voice, return to hear and do His word and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp for your coming assignment. 

It means we need to know "Who is the One Called Jesus.

Consider a prayer: Please, God guide me by your Spirit as to what I should hear and do.

It's time to repent and return to God's voice, return to hear and do His words and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp for your assignment. 

Stretch out your hand, and take from the tree of life, and live forever.

Open a Bible, read it, listen to God's voice and do Yeshua's teaching about the forever jots and tittles. 

You can learn how the things which are written in the Torah, the Prophets, and the Psalms are concerning Messiah and you can teach others to live life like Jesus, it's love in God's way:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16-17
Today is the time, open your eyes if you're dead in your own valley of dry bones.

Look up and you'll recognize Messiah from Abraham's promise passed on to Isaac and Jacob as written by Moses in the Torah. You can see Him too in the Prophets and the Writings.

Repent and walk your Emmaus Road with Messiah. Study the Scriptures He taught every Sabbath that are filled with doing life God's way in the Kingdom, and tell others about Him. Be a gatekeeper until the house is complete.

Shalom.