1 John 1:3,6“And by this we know that we know YHVH , if we guard His commands. The one who says ‘I know Him’ and does not guard His commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever guards His Word, truly the love of Elohim has been perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.”
Repentance is turning back to Elohim from the world. Our heart is circumcised and His way of life has entered in to us because He is the giver of life. That is, radical and change is evidenced because He is now in us. “The one who says he stays in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked.”
Immediately, we will want to know His commands and walk in them. Therefore, salvation does not give emotional evidence but is a spiritual truth leading us into His Righteousness of a changed life, giving us His evidence. Hebrews 8:10 says, “I will put my laws into their minds.”
The Torah of Salvation is from Mashiyach
Torah means instruction in righteousness and is the law of Mashiyach to be written on our heart . But first, how can we know what His laws are without learning and understanding them?
His Ten Words
His commands are Righteous and found in Exodus 20:1-17 and can best be understood in two parts. The first four are our new foundation building blocks upon which our lives now reside. They will teach us ‘to love Elohim YHVH with all our heart and mind and our neighbor as ourselves.’ (the Book of Deuteronomy)
To acknowledge YHVH our Elohim as the one who bought us out of Egypt, out of slavery
- To have no other god before Him. Not to make any image, neither depicting anything in heaven or on earth. Nor bow down to it and worship it, in His place
- Never to bring His Name to nothing by dispute, degeneration, idle words, annul or vain thinking and disparagement
- We are to keep the Shabbat. The seventh and one day of the week He has Set-apart for a specific purpose The second set of six will lead us to love our neighbor as our self
- To respect our mother and father all the days of our lives
- Do not murder
- Do not commit adultery
- Do not steal
- Do not lie or bear false witness of our neighbor
- Do not covert anything that our neighbor has
His Right-rulings
The right-rulings explain what the commands entail and make it easier for us to understand right from wrong in a matter. The important thing to remember is that salvation moves us from His Mercy into His Grace that enables us to keep our new choices. Whilst the list seems long people mostly do what is right seemingly automatically because they were inclined to His goodness in the first place.
Exodus 21:1 to 24-9 His right-rulings flow through to our daily lives and concern:-
- Treatment and dealings with servants or those we hire to work for us
- Spouse and children and our treatment of them
- Accidental physical harm to our family or neighbor coming from our hand including, manslaughter, kidnapping, ambush, cursing, joining mobs to inflict damage causing death or permanent disability
- Pregnancy and care of the unborn are of utmost concern
- Appropriate justice for infliction we cause upon someone. Providing compensation for their injury in equality
- We are responsible for animal welfare to care for them and not mistreat them in any way
- We are not to cause grievance by neglect, abuse, theft or other means
- Our business dealings are to be honest with each other and submit to the judgement of our piers for wrongdoing. Society will judge us by our actions
- Not to swear falsely about a matter. Honesty is the best policy
- Not to force ourselves upon the vulnerable who have weak or little defense
- Not to practice witchcraft or occult lest we think it is from YHVH Elohim and it is not
- Not to practice bestiality or homosexuality as these will not cause us to procreate, develop or change into the image or likeness of Him who made us
- Not to deal falsely with people we do not know who pass through our lives
- Treat widows, widowers and motherless and fatherless children fairly without inflicting burdens upon them
- Do not inflict undue monetary charges upon the vulnerable
- Do not take shelter, security or safety from the vulnerable
- Do not give malicious or false reports about anyone or anything
- Give to Elohim YHVH what is due to Him.
The method of salvation
A ruler said to Y’shua, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Answering he said, “You know the commands, keep them.” “These I have done this since I was a youth.” On hearing this Y’shua said to him, ‘one thing you lack: sell all you have and distribute to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven. And come, follow Me.” But when he heard this he became intensely sad, for he was extremely rich. And when Y’shua saw how very sad he became He said, “How hard it is for those who have money to enter into the reign of Elohim!” (Luke 18:18-24)
This does not say rich people cannot enter into His kingdom because the opposite is true. Any person who chooses to obey His rules can enter. After all, His reign; He sets the rule or condition of entry. Scripture continues in verse 25, “For it is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the reign of Elohim.”
I believe the word camel is misread for in Hebrew the word is rope. Even a rope would seem difficult to thread. But, could it be done? A rope would need to be unraveled down to the barest, finest hair/fiber of jute, then it could be done.
The rope symbolizes our lives before salvation. YHVH Elohim who is Mashiyach, also known as Yeshua the Messiah. Elohim on earth and dwelling amongst us loves us for who we are not for what we have done. We are accepted as we are but He will not leave us as He found us. His gift of salvation will unravel us like rope as He continues to refine us into the likeness of His Son, the Word of Elohim.
We consider our riches that we have gained in this world precious to us. Usually they are hard won and we guard them. Unfortunately, they get between us and our Father YHVH because we value them more than Him. We put them before Him in our lives. Elohim considers them useless for gaining entry into His kingdom. That is what He was telling the ruler in this verse.
The reward of salvation
“Peter said, “See we have left all and followed you. And He said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the reign of Elohim who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come everlasting life” (Luke 18:28-30).
Conclusion
- Salvation opens the door to enter into His goodness, deliberately not automatically
- We are given the gift of grace to enable us to live fulfilled and useful lives for the Master and to each other
- We are given grace to enrich and touch and support others
- We are given a moral standard to enrich and guide us through this life and into the next
- We are given entry into eternal life through the forgiveness of our sin and sins
- We give up a life of corruption for in-corruption
- We go from imperfection to perfection
- We are raised from death to life, immortal
- We will live with Him, eternally
The best part is, it is only the beginning of that which He has for us
