Charles YTK
2nd August 2005, 08:15 PM
Our God seems to work in patterns doesn’t He. This is not because He is so simple and predictable, but rather so that we, who are simple of mind, can better understand Him and what He is doing and what He might expect of us. I want to take a little time to show you one of these sort of patterns. The Lord Says,
“[3] Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? [4] He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. [5] He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” PS 24:4 As we can see by this passage, we are not talking about washing our hands before serving God, but rather about approaching the Lord with righteousness. Although in a sense this simplification of the clean hands, or the washing of hands became part of the mitzvah of the ancient Jews.
Our God Elohim calls us to be a holy and righteous people. And this means a changed heart. [4] He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. And the reward of this relationship is to be blessed of God and to come into His presence.
[5] He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. [6] This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob.
God preserved a people from Abraham, according to His promise, His Covenant. Yet it was 430 years before that promise begins to look anything like what He said to Abraham. The Children of the promise had become a numerous people in Egypt, and in the eyes of some, a bit of a threat, because of their numbers. It was time for God to separate them from the world system of that day, Egypt. So God sends one old man, Moshe, who was 80 years old. That’s a bit different than what Hollywood depicts isn’t it? And to help him, his brother Aaron, a slave of Egypt, pretty close in age to moshe. I shall not go into the many beautiful pictures this deliverance draws for us, but I want you to se that, Gods deliverance came in a most unlikely way, by two elderly men, who faced off with the most powerful nation and army in the world of that day. But these two, had the hand of God behind them. Through the trusting faith of these two brothers, god was bringing deliverance to His chosen people, to establish them as a nation, in their own land, from which they hand long ago left, because of a great famine in the land.
After God delivers them from the Egyptians, He leads them into the wilderness. His plan as we have said is to bring them to a place where they can be a special people to God, His representatives, a nation of priests. But first they need to be prepared. They must be cleansed from the ways of the pagan world, Egypt, and the many nations that were mixed in with them. You will notice that God does not take them at once to a place of His holy presence, but in stead to a place in the wilderness. And in this place He gives them the law. The torah of God, which is His instruction, or teaching for how to be a successful and righteous people. You see God created us to be Human beings, and over the years and through the corruption of a fallen sinful world we have become more a kin to the animal world around us. God was first going to need to make us back into Humans. The Law or Torah is like the owners manual that comes in the glove box of every new human. It tells us all about the proper care and feeding, literaly and spiritually of this marvelous creature called the Human being. We are special in all the animal world. Made in the very image of God, having free will, and intuitive ablility, and even more importantly, we have been given the responsibility to bring forth new eternal souls. YES! Think on this for a minute. Only we, mankind, can produce a new eternal soul for God. The Angels are not given this responsibility and if we understand the 6th Chapter of Genesis correctly, them we can see what a mess it made when the angels tried to do this.
So God stops at the mountain, so that the people can hear His voice and know that He is. And he establishes his Covenant of law with them, so that they can become a righteous people. This is not the end of their journey though, because the point is to take them to the next station which is to the tabernacle of God, the actual dwelling place of Gods Shekeina Glory. He wants them to enter into the place of worship and service. Service to Him, and service to one another and service to the rest of the unbelieving world. But before they can do all these glorious things, first there is the stop at the mountain, to get the law, that is to be instructed in what it really means to be a human being according to the design of God! .
So the pattern is, Deliverance, or if you will, Salvation. Then righteousness, through obedience to Gods commands or laws. And then, entering into the holy place, of His presence, the place of worship and service. There is yet another step, which none of us will understand fully until the Millennial Kingdom is in place. This is the place of Glory.
So now lets look again at this pattern as shown in the Holy place, the Tent of meeting. As you enter the outer court of the tent, you are faced first with the brazen altar, the place where your sins must be covered with blood. The Priest kills the sacrifice and sprinkles the blood on the corners of the altar, and symbolically and through your faith in this process of sin covering, you are saved from the penalty of sin. This is redemption or salvation in symbolic images. Now in front of you is the path to the Holy place, where Gods presence of Shekeina is. But before you get there, there is another station, which is the bronze laver. This was a large vessel which was filled with flowing water, and it had a polished finish so that as you washed your hands and feet, you could see yourself reflected in its surface. This was the place where one must look at himself to see if he is holy, and righteous in the way that God expects of us. If you are about to enter into the presence of a holy God, do you dare carry in you any uncleaness or sin? I should hope not. Having completed this step and entering the curtain of the holy place, you were surrounded in total darkness except for one source of light. This light came from the Golden menorah, the seven branched candle stand which stood on the right hand side of the ark of the covenant. This lamp represents Yeshua, who is the light of the world and is filled with the seven spirits of God, and stands at the right hand of the father. Centered up in front of this in front of the veil to the Holy of Holies is the altar of incense, where the prayers of the people go up before God.
Now the problem today is that most of the Christian faith has taken a supposed short cut from salvation then directly to the place of worship and service, completely bypassing the place of righteousness. Now the law is not the active force of our becoming righteous, but the law is the witness of what righteousness is when born of faith in Yeshua.
Ro. 3: [20] Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. [21] But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; [22] Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe
Ro 9: : [31] But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. [32] Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.
So again, the law does not save us. Neither did it save the Jews of the days of Egypt. What it did was to make us aware of our need for His Mercy, and for our need to trust in the blood covering. The Blood that ultimately would be that of Messiah Yeshua. The Law shows us where we are wrong, or to put it better, where we are in conflict with the will or ways of God. The law is instruction in what righteousness is, and even a help in discovering the means to obtain it, which is faith through the rebirth of the spirit. But if we bypass this place of instruction all together, then we reduce instruction from God to a sort of believism. Say the sinners prayer, learn the 4 spiritual laws, and then just live like the devil and wait for the train to heaven. My friends, it just is not that way. The pattern of God says, Salvation, instruction in righteousness, and then enter the place of worship.
Why is it that so many churches seem to have no life in them? When you enter into a fellowship where the people have been saved, have truly repented of their sins, and have given themselves to know God and to follow His word, His Torah, and have thereby been filled with His spirit, then worship takes you into the very presence of God. This is where I want to be. This is where I was meant to be. This is where we were all meant to be. Are you there? Have you spent time at each of these stations?
No, not everything in the Mosaic law is for us. Some of it looked forward to things that would be fulfilled by Yeshua. And having been fulfilled, they are no longer of beenefit to us. With the change in covenant comes a change in the law. The priesthood and the temple system of sacrifice are two of these that are passed away and the book of Hebrews speaks of it in length. The new priesthood is the one in the order of Melchesedek, the king of Righteousness, which Yeshua is. He is both King and priest just as this priest to whom Abram gave a tenth. The king of righteousness. We are sons of Zadok, sons of righteousness, if the Spirit of God is living in us. Our high priest is in the tabernacle of Heaven, of which the tabernacle on earth was only a copy.
Is the Law for today? Is Gods instruction for moral behavior for today? Is His law for justice for today. Is His law for how we are to correctly love God with all our soul and strength and our neighbor as ourselves, is that not still for us today? Gods appointed times, could it be that He had a very specific reason for picking those days and having us practice them in that way? I say yes. Many of us say Yes. Because the ways of God are higher and greater than the ways of men. Lets just trust God and do it His way what do you say. Amen? Amen!
“[3] Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? [4] He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. [5] He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” PS 24:4 As we can see by this passage, we are not talking about washing our hands before serving God, but rather about approaching the Lord with righteousness. Although in a sense this simplification of the clean hands, or the washing of hands became part of the mitzvah of the ancient Jews.
Our God Elohim calls us to be a holy and righteous people. And this means a changed heart. [4] He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. And the reward of this relationship is to be blessed of God and to come into His presence.
[5] He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. [6] This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob.
God preserved a people from Abraham, according to His promise, His Covenant. Yet it was 430 years before that promise begins to look anything like what He said to Abraham. The Children of the promise had become a numerous people in Egypt, and in the eyes of some, a bit of a threat, because of their numbers. It was time for God to separate them from the world system of that day, Egypt. So God sends one old man, Moshe, who was 80 years old. That’s a bit different than what Hollywood depicts isn’t it? And to help him, his brother Aaron, a slave of Egypt, pretty close in age to moshe. I shall not go into the many beautiful pictures this deliverance draws for us, but I want you to se that, Gods deliverance came in a most unlikely way, by two elderly men, who faced off with the most powerful nation and army in the world of that day. But these two, had the hand of God behind them. Through the trusting faith of these two brothers, god was bringing deliverance to His chosen people, to establish them as a nation, in their own land, from which they hand long ago left, because of a great famine in the land.
After God delivers them from the Egyptians, He leads them into the wilderness. His plan as we have said is to bring them to a place where they can be a special people to God, His representatives, a nation of priests. But first they need to be prepared. They must be cleansed from the ways of the pagan world, Egypt, and the many nations that were mixed in with them. You will notice that God does not take them at once to a place of His holy presence, but in stead to a place in the wilderness. And in this place He gives them the law. The torah of God, which is His instruction, or teaching for how to be a successful and righteous people. You see God created us to be Human beings, and over the years and through the corruption of a fallen sinful world we have become more a kin to the animal world around us. God was first going to need to make us back into Humans. The Law or Torah is like the owners manual that comes in the glove box of every new human. It tells us all about the proper care and feeding, literaly and spiritually of this marvelous creature called the Human being. We are special in all the animal world. Made in the very image of God, having free will, and intuitive ablility, and even more importantly, we have been given the responsibility to bring forth new eternal souls. YES! Think on this for a minute. Only we, mankind, can produce a new eternal soul for God. The Angels are not given this responsibility and if we understand the 6th Chapter of Genesis correctly, them we can see what a mess it made when the angels tried to do this.
So God stops at the mountain, so that the people can hear His voice and know that He is. And he establishes his Covenant of law with them, so that they can become a righteous people. This is not the end of their journey though, because the point is to take them to the next station which is to the tabernacle of God, the actual dwelling place of Gods Shekeina Glory. He wants them to enter into the place of worship and service. Service to Him, and service to one another and service to the rest of the unbelieving world. But before they can do all these glorious things, first there is the stop at the mountain, to get the law, that is to be instructed in what it really means to be a human being according to the design of God! .
So the pattern is, Deliverance, or if you will, Salvation. Then righteousness, through obedience to Gods commands or laws. And then, entering into the holy place, of His presence, the place of worship and service. There is yet another step, which none of us will understand fully until the Millennial Kingdom is in place. This is the place of Glory.
So now lets look again at this pattern as shown in the Holy place, the Tent of meeting. As you enter the outer court of the tent, you are faced first with the brazen altar, the place where your sins must be covered with blood. The Priest kills the sacrifice and sprinkles the blood on the corners of the altar, and symbolically and through your faith in this process of sin covering, you are saved from the penalty of sin. This is redemption or salvation in symbolic images. Now in front of you is the path to the Holy place, where Gods presence of Shekeina is. But before you get there, there is another station, which is the bronze laver. This was a large vessel which was filled with flowing water, and it had a polished finish so that as you washed your hands and feet, you could see yourself reflected in its surface. This was the place where one must look at himself to see if he is holy, and righteous in the way that God expects of us. If you are about to enter into the presence of a holy God, do you dare carry in you any uncleaness or sin? I should hope not. Having completed this step and entering the curtain of the holy place, you were surrounded in total darkness except for one source of light. This light came from the Golden menorah, the seven branched candle stand which stood on the right hand side of the ark of the covenant. This lamp represents Yeshua, who is the light of the world and is filled with the seven spirits of God, and stands at the right hand of the father. Centered up in front of this in front of the veil to the Holy of Holies is the altar of incense, where the prayers of the people go up before God.
Now the problem today is that most of the Christian faith has taken a supposed short cut from salvation then directly to the place of worship and service, completely bypassing the place of righteousness. Now the law is not the active force of our becoming righteous, but the law is the witness of what righteousness is when born of faith in Yeshua.
Ro. 3: [20] Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. [21] But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; [22] Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe
Ro 9: : [31] But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. [32] Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.
So again, the law does not save us. Neither did it save the Jews of the days of Egypt. What it did was to make us aware of our need for His Mercy, and for our need to trust in the blood covering. The Blood that ultimately would be that of Messiah Yeshua. The Law shows us where we are wrong, or to put it better, where we are in conflict with the will or ways of God. The law is instruction in what righteousness is, and even a help in discovering the means to obtain it, which is faith through the rebirth of the spirit. But if we bypass this place of instruction all together, then we reduce instruction from God to a sort of believism. Say the sinners prayer, learn the 4 spiritual laws, and then just live like the devil and wait for the train to heaven. My friends, it just is not that way. The pattern of God says, Salvation, instruction in righteousness, and then enter the place of worship.
Why is it that so many churches seem to have no life in them? When you enter into a fellowship where the people have been saved, have truly repented of their sins, and have given themselves to know God and to follow His word, His Torah, and have thereby been filled with His spirit, then worship takes you into the very presence of God. This is where I want to be. This is where I was meant to be. This is where we were all meant to be. Are you there? Have you spent time at each of these stations?
No, not everything in the Mosaic law is for us. Some of it looked forward to things that would be fulfilled by Yeshua. And having been fulfilled, they are no longer of beenefit to us. With the change in covenant comes a change in the law. The priesthood and the temple system of sacrifice are two of these that are passed away and the book of Hebrews speaks of it in length. The new priesthood is the one in the order of Melchesedek, the king of Righteousness, which Yeshua is. He is both King and priest just as this priest to whom Abram gave a tenth. The king of righteousness. We are sons of Zadok, sons of righteousness, if the Spirit of God is living in us. Our high priest is in the tabernacle of Heaven, of which the tabernacle on earth was only a copy.
Is the Law for today? Is Gods instruction for moral behavior for today? Is His law for justice for today. Is His law for how we are to correctly love God with all our soul and strength and our neighbor as ourselves, is that not still for us today? Gods appointed times, could it be that He had a very specific reason for picking those days and having us practice them in that way? I say yes. Many of us say Yes. Because the ways of God are higher and greater than the ways of men. Lets just trust God and do it His way what do you say. Amen? Amen!