Tag: Old Testament

Understanding ‘Holy’ Through Scripture: A Deep Dive

Understanding ‘Holy’ Through Scripture: A Deep Dive

2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All Scripture is from the breath of Elohim. Making it a profitable instrument for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness. So that the man of Elohim may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.”

Paul writes to a young pastor in Ephesus. He writes to encourage him. He writes to instruct him. He writes to warn him. The root of this letter for me is found in the passage above. Where Paul writes about the importance of Scripture as the foundation for ministry and life. We in the west are spoiled with the written Word. Most homes have a Bible whether it is read or collecting dust on their coffee table. Still many others have one in a box that they forgot is even there. In Timothy’s time the Word was not as available, not even close. For now we are spoiled. We are so accustomed to having the Word even at our fingertips. In fact, everywhere we go whether, on a computer or a smartphone, or the beautiful crinkle of a turning page. Absolutely, no one can use the excuse that they don’t have a Bible. Everyone has access to the Word.

Paul writes to Timothy and to you this instruction. “But as for you, continue in the things you have learned. In which you firmly believed, since you know from whom you have learned them. From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures. Which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Messiah Yahoshua.” Paul writes this just before the passage above. The Scripture is paramount to instruction, conviction, correction and for training in righteousness. It is for our equipping to carryout the work of Elohim set before us.

Peter writes these words in his letter to the remnant of Jewish believers in Messiah. “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. But as He who called you is Holy, you also be Holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, ‘You shall be Holy, for I am Holy.‘” (1 Peter 1:16) Where does Paul and Peter get such wild ideas? Well from the Torah! Of course. “And Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said, ‘Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel. Tell them, You shall be holy. For I Yahweh your Elohim am Holy. Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father. You shall keep the Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your Elohim. Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal. I am Yahweh your Elohim.‘” This from Leviticus 19:1-4 which isn’t even the more common reference to this quote. Rather Leviticus 11:44-45 is often sited. “For I am Yahweh your Elohim. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy. For I am Holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. For I am Yahweh who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your Elohim. You shall therefore be holy for I am holy.”

Do you know what the word holy means? If you look it up in a dictionary you will get definitions like, sacred, revered, purity. These are not wrong definitions but they are not whole either. The word Holy in all of these instances comes from the words Qadash and Qadosh. Qadash and Qadosh are Hebrew and they have similar meanings. However, when used together they present a very powerful message. “Be Qadash, for I am Qadosh.” It means this, Be (Qadash) clean, consecrated, dedicated, pure, sanctified, set apart; for I am (Qadosh) Elohim, Holy-One, Sanctuary.

We set ourselves apart when we follow the Way of the Rabbi. Yahoshua, followed Torah, He was after all sinless. He observed the Sabbath. He ate clean. He honored His earthly parents. This intrigue’s me. Here we have our Messiah following the ways of the Father. Later, Paul writes, “imitate me as I also imitate Messiah.” Yet, so many find ways not to. Loophole after loophole because they have found comfort in their way. Yet very clearly we are taught to look to all of Scripture. We are told to live to a standard of Qadash because we serve Yahweh who is Qadosh! Is there grace? Of course there is. Is there forgiveness? Absolutely! Is there still a standard by which we are called to live? Without a doubt.

Hebrews 8 and Jeremiah 11 tell us of the coming renewed covenant. In which Elohim will write the law on our hearts and minds. So many will say that this is for Israel. They would be right. However, Romans 11 puts this in perspective when we read that we are grafted into Israel. This is not replacement theology it is adoption theology. We are adopted into the people of Elohim as Galatians 3 tells us. “You are all sons of Elohim through faith in Messiah Yahoshua. For all of you who were baptized into Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Messiah Yahoshua. And if you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.”

What was Israel’s sin? Ezekiel writes, “Her priest have done violence to my Torah. They have profaned My holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common. Neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean. They have disregarded My Sabbaths so that I am profaned among them.” This is on Paul’s heart when he writes to the Romans. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of Elohim. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy (Qadash) and acceptable to Elohim. Which is your spiritual act of Worship. Do not be conformed to this WORLD, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. That by testing you may discern what is the will of Elohim. What it is that is good and acceptable and perfect.” Later in the same 12th chapter he writes, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”

In Isaiah and Ezekiel we read about a time to come and what will be expected. Not just of Israel by blood but also by those grafted into Israel by adoption. Isaiah writes, “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath. From doing your pleasure on My holy day. Calling the Sabbath a delight and the Holy day of Yahweh honorable. If you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure talking idly. Then you shall take delight in Yahweh and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.” (Isaiah 58:13-14) Ezekiel writes in the 44th chapter this (23-24). “They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common. Showing them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. In a dispute they shall act as Judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep My Torah and My statutes and all My appointed feasts, and they shall keep My Sabbaths Holy.”

We are to take on the full counsel of Scripture. The Berean’s were of more noble character. They eagerly received the words of the Apostles. Then, they searched the Scriptures to verify the teachings. This is what we are called to do! What Scriptures are we to search? The same ones that Paul tells Timothy to study. It is the Torah, and the Tanakh. We call it today the Old Testament. It is what Yahoshua quoted from and taught from and lived from. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” What will you do with the words of Yahweh, “Be Holy (Qadash), for I am Holy (Qadosh)?” May you search the Scriptures for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness. So that you, a child of Elohim, may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.

This is the Way of the Rabbi,
You are loved,
cj

Know His Voice

“When He has brought out all His own, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice.” John 10:4

You know what i find interesting, this verse in John is 10:4 and 10-4 is radio speak for “understood” basically, “Okay, I hear you and understand.” i don’t know where the radio call signs come from or what influenced them but i wouldn’t be surprised if somehow it was related to John 10:4. Knowing and recognizing the voice of Yahoshua is key and becoming increasingly critical as we step into the last days. Yes, i do believe we are entering the last of the last days. It is my goal to be as responsive to the voice of Yahoshua as my dog Shiloh is to mine. i want to recognize His voice as so familiar it is like that of my boys recognizing the voice of their dad, me.

We need to be so in tuned with Yahoshua that we hear, recognize, and obey. We may hear a similar voice, but if it goes against Elohim’s Word it is a counterfeit. Now we may hear and we may recognize, but if we do not obey we are only fooling ourselves. We need all three to truly walk with Adonai Yahoshua. Perilous times are upon us as described in 2 Timothy 3 and 4.

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of Elohim, having an idea of divinity, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

This instruction to Timothy is a warning much like that of Yahoshua’s teaching in John 10 — “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. . . He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.” (John 10:10, 12-13)

People who truly don’t know the voice of Yahoshua will follow that of the thief, and the stranger, who brings teachings that tickle the ears but harden the heart. Yahoshua continues in John 10 —

“I am the good shepherd. I know My own and My own know me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:14-16)

Who are the other sheep not of this fold? The fold He is talking about is Israel, the other sheep are those out of the gentile nations. We must learn to recognize His voice. Also, notice that we become one! There are not two separate people, but one people of Elohim through Yahoshua. We did not replace Israel, and we are not on a different level or end time path, we are one! Paul instructs Timothy, “All Scripture is breathed out by Elohim and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of El may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

The “All Scripture,” Paul is referring to here is what we know today as the Old Testament. Yahoshua never quoted the New Testament, obviously, as it hadn’t been written. All the Apostles, taught as Yahoshua taught, from the “Old.” Yahoshua, is the Word made flesh, as John describes— “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. He was in the beginning with Elohim. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” A few verses down John adds, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory , glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” In essence, Yahoshua is the Torah. More than just the five Books of Moses, He is the major and minor prophets, He is the books of wisdom, He is the Word made flesh. He cannot contradict Himself.

Would it not make sense if we are to truly understand the Word made flesh that we look at the whole of the Word. “My sheep know My voice and come to Me.” Do you know His voice? Will you be able to recognize it over the noise, distractions, and falsehoods, that are coming in these last days? Are you willing to follow the Good Shepherd when — “Indeed, all who desire to live a divinely inspired life in Messiah Yahoshua will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:12-13)

We need to to begin to understand Him by reading the very Word He represents. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Do you know His voice?

You are loved,
cj