February 29, 2008
Reading Psalm 145 one day was followed by more inquiries: “YHVH is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. All Your works shall praise You, O YHVH, and Your righteous ones shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, and talk of Your power, to make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations” (verses 9-13).
The questions that initially flooded my mind were: "What, or who, are these works that YHVH has mercy over?" And, "Who are the righteous ones that will praise YHVH and speak of the glory of His Kingdom and power, making known to the sons of men His mighty acts and the majesty of this Kingdom?" Some of the answers to these questions began to surface as I read Isaiah 29: “Therefore, thus says YHVH, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: ‘Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now grow pale; but when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they will hallow My name, and hallow the Holy One of Jacob, and fear the Elohim of Israel. These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, and those who complained will learn doctrine ‘" (verses 22-24, emphasis added).
Upon reading this text, I construed that the redeemed of Abraham and the children of Jacob are the works of YHVH’s hands. It is these children of Jacob who bear His Name and will bring a testimony of it, along with the glory of His Kingdom, to the sons of men. I kept asking: "But who are those ‘who err in spirit and who need to come to an understanding’ “? This too would be answered in due time, but the verse that stood out and gripped my attention was the one in the middle of Psalm 145: “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations” (verse 13, emphasis added). If that were the case, then the disciples' question about restoring YHVH's kingdom to Israel was even more relevant. "How then was it in Israel in the generations past?" I continued to query. What had come to my mind as a response was the episode of Samuel's grievance to the Almighty, namely, that the people of Israel had not been heeding him. YHVH pointed out to the prophet that it was not him that they were rejecting, but rather, it was His rule as a king over them which they had been attempting to throw off. "And YHVH said to Samuel, 'Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them'" (1 Samuel 8: 7).
That little four letter word - king – flashed at me like a neon light at midnight. Here was the answer to my question: YHVH’s rule as king over the house of Jacob was the evidence of the kingdom’s existence on earth. However, when the people chose a man to rule over them (like Saul, David and Solomon), they were in fact rejecting YHVH as king. Yet, much to my amazement, I discovered that David and Solomon are said to have actually sat on the throne of YHVH. "Then Solomon sat on the throne of YHVH as king instead of David his father; and he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him" (1 Chronicles 29:23).
Equipped with this information, my thought now turned back to the statement that I had read earlier about YHVH's Kingdom being in every generation. "Well, if His Kingdom has been in every generation, it must have been in the first one!", I concluded, and proceeded to turn the pages of the Bible back to the first chapter of the first book, asking the Holy One of Israel to teach me. That was the beginning of a path that I am still on today, even as I write these lines.
Thus, it is with fear and trembling that we are to respond to Yeshua’s exhortation, to “seek ye first the kingdom of YHVH Elohim and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” Let us pray along with Paul the Apostle: “That the Elohim of our King and Messiah Yeshua, the Father of glory, may give unto us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: and that the eyes of our understanding may be enlightened; that we may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the holy ones, and the exceeding greatness of His power toward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Messiah, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:17-20 my alterations). Amen.
Reading Psalm 145 one day was followed by more inquiries: “YHVH is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. All Your works shall praise You, O YHVH, and Your righteous ones shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, and talk of Your power, to make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations” (verses 9-13).
The questions that initially flooded my mind were: "What, or who, are these works that YHVH has mercy over?" And, "Who are the righteous ones that will praise YHVH and speak of the glory of His Kingdom and power, making known to the sons of men His mighty acts and the majesty of this Kingdom?" Some of the answers to these questions began to surface as I read Isaiah 29: “Therefore, thus says YHVH, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: ‘Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now grow pale; but when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they will hallow My name, and hallow the Holy One of Jacob, and fear the Elohim of Israel. These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, and those who complained will learn doctrine ‘" (verses 22-24, emphasis added).
Upon reading this text, I construed that the redeemed of Abraham and the children of Jacob are the works of YHVH’s hands. It is these children of Jacob who bear His Name and will bring a testimony of it, along with the glory of His Kingdom, to the sons of men. I kept asking: "But who are those ‘who err in spirit and who need to come to an understanding’ “? This too would be answered in due time, but the verse that stood out and gripped my attention was the one in the middle of Psalm 145: “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations” (verse 13, emphasis added). If that were the case, then the disciples' question about restoring YHVH's kingdom to Israel was even more relevant. "How then was it in Israel in the generations past?" I continued to query. What had come to my mind as a response was the episode of Samuel's grievance to the Almighty, namely, that the people of Israel had not been heeding him. YHVH pointed out to the prophet that it was not him that they were rejecting, but rather, it was His rule as a king over them which they had been attempting to throw off. "And YHVH said to Samuel, 'Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them'" (1 Samuel 8: 7).
That little four letter word - king – flashed at me like a neon light at midnight. Here was the answer to my question: YHVH’s rule as king over the house of Jacob was the evidence of the kingdom’s existence on earth. However, when the people chose a man to rule over them (like Saul, David and Solomon), they were in fact rejecting YHVH as king. Yet, much to my amazement, I discovered that David and Solomon are said to have actually sat on the throne of YHVH. "Then Solomon sat on the throne of YHVH as king instead of David his father; and he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him" (1 Chronicles 29:23).
Equipped with this information, my thought now turned back to the statement that I had read earlier about YHVH's Kingdom being in every generation. "Well, if His Kingdom has been in every generation, it must have been in the first one!", I concluded, and proceeded to turn the pages of the Bible back to the first chapter of the first book, asking the Holy One of Israel to teach me. That was the beginning of a path that I am still on today, even as I write these lines.
Thus, it is with fear and trembling that we are to respond to Yeshua’s exhortation, to “seek ye first the kingdom of YHVH Elohim and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” Let us pray along with Paul the Apostle: “That the Elohim of our King and Messiah Yeshua, the Father of glory, may give unto us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: and that the eyes of our understanding may be enlightened; that we may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the holy ones, and the exceeding greatness of His power toward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Messiah, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:17-20 my alterations). Amen.
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