Saturday, November 26, 2011

Letter 152 (Mystery of His Will) 14/06/02

While on our trip last week, we had the opportunity to read some articles written by fellow Two-House teachers. In each case I found that some of the conclusions reached watered down the significance of YHVH’s faithfulness to His covenant with our forefathers. I discussed this with Rimona, and only found myself getting more upset. Many thoughts and scriptures were racing through my head, like a stampede of African ‘be-wilder-ment’ beasts. In the course of this past week I talked about it at length with a friend, and with his help I settled back down to grazing in the pastures of YHVH’s rest. It is from this position that I hope to share a couple of thoughts on the subject of the Elohim of Israel’s faithfulness to His own will and covenant.

As I was pondering the content of this week’s Prayer Psalm (number 44), a little portion toward the end seemed to define the reason for my aggravation. “Help us, El Yeshu’atenu (God of our Salvation), not to forget Your name, nor to deal falsely with Your covenant. Protect our heart so that it will not turn back, and our steps so that they will not depart from Your ways.”

“… Nor to deal falsely with Your covenant”. That was where I located the problem in these articles. I felt YHVH’s will and word, in relationship to the covenant that He made with our forefathers, was somehow being compromised and that we were not being faithful witnesses. In Ephesians 1:11 we read, “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will…” Yeshua taught his disciples to pray: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Again in verse 9 of Ephesians 1, He says that “He has made known to us THE MYSTERY OF HIS WILL, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself”, and that it had to do with an administration, or a governmental order for the fullness of time, which He was summing up in the Messiah.

What is this mystery that YHVH is “summing up in the Messiah” that has to do with His will, and with an administration suitable for these times?

I’m sure the question has a hundred possible answers. One that I would draw our attention to, has to do with the mystery of the “I will” of the Almighty, who not only stated what He wills to do, but has also sealed His statements by swearing by His own name. In the covenant that He made with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob lies this mystery of the “will of Elohim”.

The following are some of the “I will” statements of the God of Israel with in the context of the covenant.
“I will give you a land…
I will make you a great nation…
I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing…
I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen 12:2-3).

“I will give to you and your descendents all the land which you see, forever…
I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered” (Gen: 13:14-16).

This is followed by YHVH’s “I will”, confirmed to Abraham and to the future seed of promise that Sarah would give birth to:
"I will make My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly…
I will make you exceedingly fruitful…
I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you…
I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you…
I will give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession;
I will be their God."
(Gen. 17:2, 6-8).

“I will bless Sarah your wife, she will bear a son and will become the mother of nations (goyim)…
I will establish my covenant with him (Isaac) as an everlasting covenant…
I will bless him…
I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers…
I will make him a great nation…
I will establish My covenant with Isaac” (Gen.17:16, 19-21).

After Abraham’s test of giving to YHVH his only begotten son, YHVH again reiterates His will.

"By Myself I have sworn, says YHVH, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice" (Gen. 22:16-18).

After Isaac returned from Egypt to the land, YHVH again confirmed the covenant by His “I will” statements.

“I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands…
I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father…
I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven…
I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed”(Gen 26:3-5)

Then Jacob (the chosen nation) was brought into the covenant of the “I will” of the Elohim of his fathers in a dream.

“I will give to you and to your seed the land on which you lie. Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and I will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you" Gen 28:13-15.

The question is, how will we ever know that YHVH was faithful to His covenant with these natural men, unless at some point in history He identifies each and every descendent of the seed of these forefathers, and gives to them all the land that was promised? Actually, one of the job descriptions of the true Messiah of Israel had to do with this very task. He was not to sow the seed, but rather to gather the fruit, so that in the time of the harvest He, the Messiah, would bring forth a true testimony to a covenant that was made four thousands years ago. He will prove “the greatness of the day of Jezreel” (God’s sowing, Hos. 1:11). When a seed is sown in a field it cannot be seen; it lies in a hidden state. Thus a mystery refers to something that has been hidden. Is it in this generation that the mystery of YHVH’s will is being unveiled? Will we be a faithful testimony to that reality?“Help us, El Yeshu’atenu (God of our Salvation), not to forget Your name, nor to deal falsely with Your covenant. Protect our heart so that it will not turn back, and our steps so that they will not depart from Your ways.

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