Koinonia/Fellowship

(koinonia/fellowship)                           July 11, 2003

“And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:4).

Messiah Yeshua exhorted us to “seek first the kingdom of Elohim” (Matt 6:32).  But what is this kingdom of Elohim?   In the writings of Paul it has been recorded that “the kingdom of Elohim is righteousness, peace and joy in the Spirit of Holiness” (Rom. 14:17).   Where is this kingdom?  The Apostle John seemed to have a practical handle on this mystery.  He summarized it in one word, “fellowship/koinonia”.   “Our fellowship/koinonia is with the Father and the Son Yeshua the Messiah” (1 John 1:3), and if you join us in this “koinonia”, he continued, your joy will be made full. In other words, that portion of YHVH’s kingdom will become complete in your life.

Is the manifestation (potential or factual) of this kingdom in our being just a matter of grace, or do we have to work at it?  The answer may lie in the meaning of the word “koinonia”.  The relationship implied by “koinonia” is more than just going out and having a beer with a friend, or a chat with a girl friend, or getting together for a picnic in the park.  Koinonia means communion, intercourse, intimacy and joint participation.  All of these speak of what one should be enjoying in a marriage relationship. Thus the definition for this word sheds even more light on our relationship with the Father and His Son.  John then tells us how we might have this kind of “koinonia”. He says that it is conditioned upon our “walking”.

This proposition sounds easy enough… But John goes on to clarify this “walk”: Elohim is light, and if you walk in the light you will have spiritual “koinonia”.   However, if you walk in darkness you will also have koinonia, but not with the Father or with His Son.  Who will you then have intimacy with?  I hate to even think about it…but we do not have to be Satan worshipers in order to have koinonia with him and his hordes of demons.

If we are to manifest the joy of YHVH’s kingdom on this earth, we must walk in the light as He is in the light.  Whose responsibility is it to establish His kingdom here and now?  Do the scriptures say anything about being passive, not needing to seek or walk out kingdom life, or not having to work out our own salvation?  Remember, one of the definitions for koinonia is “joint participation”.   What would a marriage relationship be like if one of the partners were to stop participating in it?

In some of my past writings I have been using a term that has fallen short of what our Father is doing in this hour of restoration.  I have said and have written that we are returning back to our “Hebraic roots”.  More recently I have felt the sting of correction in that we are not returning to our Hebraic roots, as they are only a passing point on our way back to the Garden of Delight (Eden), back to where we once walked in the cool of the morning or evening with our Creator. This is not something that is out of reach; it has been made available through the redemptive work of our Messiah.    “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Yeshua the Messiah, His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).  Sin is what separated us in the first place, and had us kicked out of “koinonia”.  But now that sin has been dealt with and we have been born again, we have a new heart an a new spirit and we are no longer identified with the body of sin, in spite of the power of sin that still dwells in our members, because it is no longer us (see Romans 7:17)!   “Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for His seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God”  (1 John 3:9).  There is no other way back to the Garden of Delight (Joy), back to the kingdom of Elohim, except by the way which YHVH our Creator has paved in and through His Son.  There are some who in pursuit of going back to their “Hebraic roots” have forsaken Yeshua, even under the warnings of all the apostles, but none so clear as John who says: “Whosoever denies the Son, has not the Father: [but] he that acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:23).  In one way it is a joy to hear how many believers are returning to the whole counsel of Elohim (all the scriptures), but on the other it is sad to know that some have left the New Covenant teachings and have denied Yeshua.

If we are to progress in this restoration of YHVH’s kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy, it will not be someone else who will do the work for us. On the contrary, YHVH has made the way, now it is up to us to walk in the fellowship of obedience to His Word.  A sister word to “koinonia” is “abide” (meno): to remain, dwell, continue, not to depart, endure.  “The anointing [Spirit of Holiness] which you have received of Him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in Him.  And now, little children, abide in Him” (1 John 2:27-28). “Whosoever abides in Him sins not: whosoever sins has not seen Him, neither knows Him” (1 John 3:6).  “He that says he abides in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked” (1 John 2:6).  Scriptures are very clear; we must do the walking and it is not through the yellow pages, but it is in His light where we have koinonia with the Father, His Son Yeshua our Messiah and with one another, making our joy complete.  

Ephraim

Thy Kingdom Come

Letter 186 (Thy Kingdom Come)                                                     July 4^th 2003

The heart cry of the Messiah can be found in the very prayer that He taught us to pray: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth....”(Matt. 6:10).  The Messiah came to do the will of His Father and to fulfill all that was given to Him to accomplish.  However, on the last day that He was here on earth (after His resurrection), His followers asked him: “When will you restore the kingdom [of YHVH] to Israel?”  Before Yeshua’s birth the angel Gabriel proclaimed that He would rule over the house, or nation, of Jacob and that “His kingdom would be an everlasting kingdom” (Luke 1:32-33).  Are we, in this generation, truly taking part in the restoration of YHVH’s kingdom?

The government of YHVH on this earth is to be made visible through a holy or sanctified nation of kings and priests, set apart for His namesake. And that is indeed who we are (although not in a fully manifest form).  As long as the enemies of the kingdom can keep us from being a “holy” (set apart) nation, a real political kingdom entity on this earth, they will not be threatened. If our adversary can satisfy us with a Babylonian garment of religiosity and with a Greek political system, his authority and dominion will not be challenged. As a matter of fact, if we continue to walk in the flesh (unrighteousness - lawlessness), we will most likely be aiding his purpose of establishing his own kingdom, which according to scripture is to become very powerful in the latter days.  “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” (Revelation 13:4).  However there is one who will make war with him and win.  “For this purpose the Son of YHVH was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). 

How is Yeshua going to destroy the works of the devil? Perhaps by using the bow and the arrow of Zechariah 9:11, or the mighty army of Ezekiel 37:10... “I have bent Judah for me as a bow, and filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man in My hand” (Zech 9:11). “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.  Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel” [all of the house of Judah and all of the house of Joseph] (Eze. 37:10-11). “Behold, they say, our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, thus says YHVH Elohim; ‘Behold, O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel” (verses 10-12). “I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all” (verses 21, 22).  YHVH’s objective is to reunite the two nations, two houses, two sticks, two kingdoms into one. Additionally, in the process He is also giving us a new heart, new nature, a new spirit and writing His Torah on our hearts. Why?  In order to establish His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

WARNING!  We are in the day that the HOLY ONE, YHVH, is fulfilling this prophetic word.  However, some are arguing that this move is of the devil. Attributing the work of YHVH to Satan is nothing short of blaspheming the Holy One. 

In the meantime, the house of Joseph, through the blessing of his son Ephraim, has been fulfilling his prophetic mandate to become the “fullness of the nations.” At the end of this age, which we are in now, the Messiah Himself is re-gathering these lost sheep and restoring to them their original identity and purpose. He is taking the aliens, that is the Israelites that are living in foreign lands, those who were “once not my people” (Hos. 1:10) and is gathering them into messianic flocks and preparing them to return home at the sound of the Shepherd’s whistle (Zech 10:8).

Messianic Israelite, be encouraged today:  “For behold, days are coming,’ declares YHVH, ‘when I will restore the captivity of My people Israel and Judah.  I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers, and they shall posses it’” (Jer. 30:2). “In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance” (Jer. 3:18). But if we are going to establish His kingdom, we first must have His kingdom in us.   What is the kingdom of YHVH? “The kingdom of Elohim is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Spirit of Holiness (Rom 14:17).

We need YHVH’s anointing of the Spirit of Holiness in order for us to become the expression of His life and nature so as to establish His righteousness, peace and joy here on earth.  Because YHVH has called us to be kings and priests, we must ask ourselves which kingdom are we representing; which kingdom are we establishing here on earth?  Are we kings and priest of lawlessness, iniquity and sin, or are we kings and priests of His righteousness, peace and joy?

Ephraim

“How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity...for in this God commands the blessing - life eternal” (Ps. 133:1-3)

New Heart

Letter 185 (new heart)                                                                              13/06/03

In last week’s letter we began to look at the condition of man’s heart, which did not make a very ‘pretty picture’. Yes, if we were to look around us for tangible evidence of an imminent heart change, we would quickly lose hope. However, in spite of this grim appearance of things, YHVH has promised in His Word to give us a new heart and a new spirit.  

About a year ago I heard a certain rabbi in Jerusalem, read from the Tanach (Old Testament) many of the wonderful promises that were prophesied about this heart change.  Upon terminating, the rabbi commented that as of yet he had not seen any evidence of these scriptures being fulfilled.  Those of us in the audience who were believers in the New Covenant came under conviction at that moment, realizing that we, who bear YHVH’s name (nature), have not been an effective testimony of the reality of Yeshua’s holy life in us.   Perhaps if we delve into the “heart of the matter”, we will discover the reasons for this poor witness.

There is a certain question I had recently posed to the Teacher (Spirit of Holiness): “When is it that we receive this new heart?”  Almost immediately a picture came to my mind, of Yeshua’s body as He hung on the execution tree and the centurion thrusting the head of his spear up through the side and into the heart.  I saw water mingling with blood oozing out of the wound, and slowly running down His body to the ground (John 19:34). Following this picture, a very tender thought came to my mind:  “Here at the “cross” is where I removed your evil heart, when you believed and accepted My Son as your Savior, Redeemer and Messiah. Right then and there you were given the new heart.”  I wept at the compassion and love that I felt at that moment.  I also knew that I could not have received His Spirit life without this heart transplant.  The new creation spirit man cannot dwell in the habitation of the old heart; it would be like putting new wine in old wine skins (Matt 9:17).

 Thus says YHVH: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh” (Ez. 36:26).  Again He says, "I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh” (Ez. 11:19).   “I will cast away from you all your transgressions, wherein you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, O house of Israel” (Ez. 18:31).  Through Yeshua’s death on Passover YHVH removed “As far as the east is from the west… our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12).  If that had not happened on Passover, there would be no Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost).  Therefore, if the fulfillment of the above scriptures constitutes the life of a true believer in Yeshua, what then is our problem?  The answer may be found in those very same scriptures, where YHVH says that He will take out of our flesh one kind of heart and will replace it with another.  In other words, He places the new heart in the very same ‘flesh pot’.  What does the “flesh” indicate?  The Hebrew word is “basar”, which could designate only the physical part of man’s being. In last week’s article we used the typology of the Tabernacle to describe natural man (see

1Cor. 3:16-12).  If we were to continue along the same vein, “flesh” would represent the “outer court”.  However, there is still another part of the Tabernacle that stands between the “heart” and the “flesh” (outer court), and that is the soul (the Hebrew word is “nephesh”) - “the holy place”. 

Last week I maintained that the heart was comparable to the “Holy of Holies”. But as I was contemplating this, I realized that “aron hakodesh”, literally the “holy cabinet” or “box” which is the article in the “Holy of Holies” known as the “ark of the testimony”, more accurately defines our heart.  This cabinet housed the rod of Aaron, the manna and the tablets of stone.  All of these are symbolic of the presence of Yeshua in the new heart; Aaron’s rod which budded would be His high priestly calling, and anointing for bring forth life from the dead. The manna is the “bread of life”, while the tablets are the living Torah or Word of life.   The Spirit of Holiness, shining in and through Yeshua, is the light (Shekinah) that emanates above the “mercy seat” and fills the Holy of Holies. Hopefully this gives us a glimpse into what our innermost being looks like. 

However, our Tabernacle, as we all know so well, is not without its difficulties.  In letter 181 (enemies of the cross) this problem was addressed.  Paul describes it as “something that is at work in our members”, or, to use his own words, “the law of sin working in my[his] members” (Rom. 7:23).  What did the apostle mean by the term “members”?   I believe he was speaking of the “members of the soul”, that is the mind, will and emotions.  We know that the heart of man is not the soul, as the scriptures do not say that the soul is to be replaced.  Rather, it must be renewed or restored. Psalms 19:7 and 23:3 both tell us that YHVH’s desire is to restore our soul.  Restore it from what? - From the influence of the old heart condition or spiritual nature, or in other words, from “the old man of sin”.  Our Holy Place has been desecrated by the “spirits of this evil world”, and even as believers if our mind (lamp-stand), will (table of showbread) and emotions (incense altar) have not been renewed, we will continue to behave in the same manner that we did before our heart transplant. 

YHVH’s command or requirement upon all His people is to: “Fear YHVH Elohay’nu,  to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Him with all our heart and with all our soul” (Deut. 10:12).  YHVH has known all along that without changing the heart, it would virtually be impossible for man’s soul to respond to His love.  He, therefore, by His tender mercies, initiated and accomplished the first of these promises, and that was to give us a heart to love Him; but not only Him, also our own self and one another.