“My people are destroyed and will perish as a result of a lack of knowledge and corrupted information. Indeed because you have rejected and avoided understanding, I will also reject and avoid you, so you shall be separated from serving as My ministers. And since you have ignored and forgotten Almighty God’s Towrah, I will ignore, cease to care about, and forget your children also. So then as they became more numerous and influential, they continued to sin against Me. Therefore I will substitute their glory for disgrace.” (Hosea 4:6-7)

According to God, our responsibility regarding His Covenant is to “shamar – observe” it – literally and continually.

admin writes, "According to God, our responsibility regarding His Covenant is to “shamar – observe” it – literally and continually. It is the same instruction He gives us regarding His Towrah—which not so coincidently represents the one and only place where we can go to “observe” Yah’s Covenant, as it is the only place where its codicils are recorded. The means to become a “zera’ – offspring” of the “beryth – family-oriented covenant relationship,” and thereby “dowr – live throughout time in God’s dwelling place” is breathtakingly simple: “shamar – actually and consistently, carefully and diligently observe and examine every detail” associated with Yahowah’s Covenant as it is presented in His Towrah. We should do this, as should our fathers and our children, no matter where or when we live or with whom we are related. And although “shamar – observe” serves as the operative verb with respect to our participation in the Covenant, shamar is among the least understood words in Scripture. It is almost always translated “keep” in English bibles even though etymologically shamar is based entirely upon the notions of “using our sense of sight to be watchful, carefully examining and scrutinizing that which can be seen,” of “being focused and visually alert by keeping one’s eyes open,” and of “overseeing things from the proper perspective so as to be aware of what is occurring.” The linguistic inference is that those who “carefully observe and diligently examine everything within their purview will come to understand what they witness,” and that “through this understanding they will protect that which they value and those they love, keeping that which they revere secure.” Shamar conveys the idea that “people should keep their eyes open, that they should always be on guard, and that they should be focused, alert, aware, and perceptive.” Therefore, shamar is being used to encourage us to “observe” the terms and conditions of the Covenant by using our eyes to read, indeed to focus upon, what is written in the Towrah. God wants us to “examine and consider” the requirements and benefits of the Covenant as they are delineated in His Towrah so that we are secure, protecting those we love. Shamar is related to shama’, “whereby we are encouraged to use our sense of hearing to listen” to what God has to say to us. Collectively then, the senses of sight and hearing enable us to know Yahowah and understand His Towrah by “qara’ – reading and reciting” it. But there is more: by observing Yahowah’s Guidance, by listening to God’s Instructions regarding His Covenant, by coming to know and understand His Teaching regarding our salvation, we come to trust Yahowah and rely upon His Directions. Trust and reliance then become the Way, the means to our adoption and to our salvation. You may have noticed that this proclamation from Yahowah regarding what He expects from those who want to participate in His Covenant was direct and unequivocal. Simply stated: shamar beryth is a requirement. If you want to have a relationship with God, you do so by carefully and continually observing His written Towrah testimony regarding His Covenant. What many miss, and especially those who are religious, is that this statement from God is utterly devastating to Pauline Doctrine. Paul’s thesis, better known as the “Gospel of Grace,” is based upon the notion that Abraham was saved, not because He closely examined and carefully considered what Yahowah had personally revealed to him regarding His Covenant, but instead because he “believed God.” According to Paul, Abraham’s salvation was a product of his faith and not his actions. But “being observant,” especially during personal experiences like this one, leads to knowing, to understanding, to trusting, and to relying, while “belief” is the product of not knowing and of not understanding. In fact, belief all too often leads to faith in things which are neither reliable nor true."

Posted on Jan 19, 2013 19:21pm. Read more... | Comments

The fruit of the Covenant is growth – both ours and God’s.

admin writes, "According to Yahowah, not only will those He adopts by way of His Covenant become abundantly rich, and be exceedingly empowered, He will grow as well… “And (wa) I will grow, be fruitful, and flourish (parah – I choose to grow by branching off and bearing fruit (scribed using the hiphil stem denoting a relationship in which both parties participate in the action; perfect conjugation telling us that this growth will complete God just as children make a family whole; and in the consecutive form which conveys volition; first person singular, affirming that it is God who is choosing to branch off, blossom and grow, be fruitful and to flourish relationally)) with you (‘eth – in association with you) in (ba – with) the extreme and to the greatest extent possible (ma’od ma’od – to the uttermost capacity of energy and capability, to the highest possible and most complete dimension, place, and status).” (Re’syth / Beginning / Genesis 17:6) Yahowah has defined the purpose of the Covenant from His perspective. Family relationships complete Him; children cause Him to grow, to branch out, to blossom, and to flourish. The hope of developing a mutually beneficial and engaged relationship with us is the reason God created the universe. It is the reason we exist. You and I actually provide the means for Yahowah to grow, for Him to become greater than He already is. Without the Covenant, deprived of these relationships, God ceases to be infinite, because by definition, to be infinite, one must continue to grow. Loving relationships, a flourishing family, children to nurture, companions to enjoy, a universe to share and explore with supportive friends, represent the only things God cannot provide for Himself. The fruit of the Covenant is growth – both ours and God’s. Our Loving and Merciful Father grows and is enriched when His family grows and is enriched. It is that simple. It is that profound. We know these things because ma’od is an adverb modifying the verb “parah – I will be fruitful and grow.” Just four verses ago, in Re’syth 17:2, ma’od was used to modify “rabah – I will cause you to increase and grow.” And because ma’od was scribed ma’od ma’od in both sentences, God is telling us that the Covenant will not only cause us to increase and grow beyond our wildest imagination, it will also cause Yahowah to be fruitful and grow to His maximum potential. By helping His children flourish, our Heavenly Father grows. Loving family relationships empower and enrich everyone—including God. As with most things, however, relationships can also be painful, even counterproductive. For example, have you ever loved someone who didn’t return your love? Have you ever cared about someone who didn’t seem to care about you? If you have, you know that there are few experiences as frustrating or exasperating as being rebuffed, rejected, or just ignored. Trying to initiate and nurture a relationship which is not reciprocated can drain the life right out of a person. And so it would be with God if He personally solicited everyone on earth. So I suppose this is why God loves those who love Him. It is why His mercy has been and will be bequeathed upon thousands, not millions or billions of souls. It is why His family will ultimately be small compared to the number of people who have rejected or ignored His overtures."

Posted on Jan 19, 2013 19:19pm. Read more... | Comments

Yahowah has asked us to walk individually to Him so that He could give us His Covenant:

admin writes, "Yahowah has asked us to walk individually to Him so that He could give us His Covenant: personally inviting us into His family, adopting us as His children, and making us His heirs. It is what God wants, and He wants it more than anything else. But before He can do any of these things, before He can welcome us in His home and put His arms around us, He must first perfect us. And that is the reason He has specified the specific path He wants us to follow to meet with Him, naming the doorway He wants us to enter and describing the threshold He wants us to cross en route to Him. For us to enter into His presence, God must first reconcile, renew, and then transform us from blemished material beings who are subject to sin, death and decay, who are guilty for having failed to live up to His standard, into perfect spiritual beings who are not only innocent and eternal, but who are now unblemished and undying. In other words, since God already is what He intends for us, He must perfect and improve us to adopt us. And that means that salvation, rather than being God’s gift, is simply the means to deliver the real gift, which are the benefits of the Familial Covenant Relationship. While Yahowah’s “natan – gift” is His Covenant, being vindicated is an essential part of the process. As a result, we are afforded the opportunity to be included in His family and are bestowed the right to live with Him in His home—forever. Beyond this, we will be empowered, enabled, and enriched beyond our wildest expectations – all of which has far-reaching implications. Written in the cohortative mood, natan expresses Yahowah’s desire to invite us into His home. It tells us that He wants to adopt us as His children. God has chosen to engage in this relationship with us. He is on record, ready and willing to bestow these benefits upon us. The qal stem serves to make this promise and offer genuine. It literally makes the Covenant a “natan – gift” of relationship. The imperfect conjugation reveals that the gift of the Covenant has eternal, everlasting, ramifications, the benefits of which unfold over time. Moreover, the imperfect underscores the fact that Yahowah is consistent in this regard, and that the nature of this gift of relationship is uninterrupted, unchanging, and unfailing throughout the whole fabric of time. And that my friends is an insight you do not want to ignore. Therefore, by using this remarkable verb in this way, Yahowah has told us: “I want to actually give, I yearn to genuinely bestow the everlasting gift of, I desire to grant the ongoing reward of, I choose to literally offer the unfolding present of, I choose to ascribe and entrust the eternal endowment of, and I wish to devote and dedicate without interruption or alteration, even pay for and consistently provide into perpetuity (natan), My Familial Covenant Relationship (beryth-y) as a means to recognize Me as the source of understanding with regard to an association between Me (byn) and (wa) between you, to help you observe, think, and respond to this relationship (byn).” (Re’syth 17:2) A sound argument could be made that “beryth – covenant” is the single most important word and concept in the whole of Scripture. Based as you know on beyth, it describes a “family-oriented relationship.” The beryth is God’s nurturing agreement with humankind and His binding promise with His creation. The beryth is a solemn oath of friendship. It represents a mutual alliance and pledge and is based upon a marriage vow. This beryth is focused upon a home where family is fostered and encouraged, even protected. God’s beryth is His constitution, His compact and contract. It represents His treaty with mankind and serves as a partnership."

Posted on Jan 19, 2013 19:18pm. Read more... | Comments

We can come to know Yahowah and serve with Him at any point in our lives.

admin writes, "As Yahowah’s Covenant Relationship continues to unfold, I encourage you to keep this adoption process and transformation to perfection in mind. It is why, during their fourth meeting, Abram was called a “ben – son.” While he was actually old by man’s standards, he was young by God’s. Our Heavenly Father was in the process of adopting Abram—as He will us. And this serves to remind us that it is never too late. We can come to know Yahowah and serve with Him at any point in our lives. Abraham was a year shy of one-hundred when this conversation occurred… “And (wa) ‘Abram (‘Abram – Uplifting Father) had actually become (hayah – he had literally come to exist as (qal imperfect waw consecutive)) a son of (ben – a child of) ninety-nine years (tish’ym tesha’ sanah – one who observes, regards, and beholds change which leads to renewal). And (wa) Yahowah (efei) appeared (ra’ah – He revealed himself and was seen) as God to (‘el – as the Almighty to) ‘Abram. And (wa) He said (‘amar – affirmed) to him (‘elyw), ‘I Am (‘any) God (‘el) Almighty (shaday – the most powerful). Choose of your own volition to walk (halak – of your own accord come, travel, journey through life and come to exist as a unique individual engaging and proceeding (hithpael imperative)) to (la – toward) My presence (paneh – approach Me, exist by My side, face Me) and (wa) literally come to be (hayah – actually become as a result of this choice (qal imperative)) perfect (tamym – innocent and unblemished, upright and blameless, whole and complete, healthy, unimpaired, wholesome, and in complete accord with the truth).’” (Re’syth / Beginning / Genesis 17:1) This is the third request Yahowah has made with respect to us engaging in His Covenant. And it is directly related to the first two. If you recall, God began by asking: “I would like you of your own accord to literally walk away from and genuinely come out of your country (the land of Babylon and the realm of confusion and corruption), away from your relatives, and away from your father’s home and household, to God’s realm which as a result of the relationship and as a blessing I will show you and provide.” Then we were told: “And he completely trusted in and totally relied upon Yahowah, and so based upon this thinking and His plan, He decided as a result of this consideration to impute innocence and righteousness to him.” So now that path leads to: And He said to him, ‘I Am God Almighty. Choose of your own volition to walk to My presence and come to be perfect.’” This introduction to the Covenant Relationship depicts “Yahowah appearing as God,” with our Heavenly Father “revealing Himself” through His “Word” to Abram so as “to be seen” by him. For this to occur without incinerating His friend, God had to become corporeal—that is to say, He had to transform some of His Spiritual energy into matter. And to talk with him in this way, He to take on human form. While Abraham didn’t know it, this partial transformation from one state to another was accomplished using a formula whereby the resulting mass was diminished from the source of Spiritual Energy by the speed of light squared."

Posted on Jan 19, 2013 19:14pm. Read more... | Comments

The purpose of the Covenant is to bring God’s children home

admin writes, "The purpose of the Covenant is to bring God’s children home—for them to leave the world of death, destruction, separation, and human oppression, so that they are free to enter our Heavenly Father’s household and live with Him. To demonstrate this goal tangibly in human history, Abraham’s offspring would be enslaved by man in one of the most religious, political, and militant places on earth—a place called “mitsraym – the crucible.” There they would be forced to work for their mortal salvation. Oppressed by men, they would suffer and die separated from God. But that would not be the end of the story—only its beginning. Just as Abram had been led out and away from the religious, political, economic, and militant milieu of Babylon, and into a Familial Covenant Relationship with our Heavenly Father, so too would the Children of Yisra’el. Temporarily separated from God, and smothered by men for a “dowr – prescribed period of time,” they would return—they would come “dowr – home.” And yet the evil they would endure in the crucible was not yet in full bloom in the Promised Land, so a long intermission was required. But more on that in a moment. There are hundreds of places throughout God’s Word where time is quantified. This is one of them. And as with all of these presentations, we can assume either that God’s references are of no material or prophetic consequence and ignore them, or we can appreciate the fact that He shared these insights for a reason and then try to ascertain what that might have been. Virtually every Christian will tell you that since their bibles say “no one knows the day or the hour,” there is no value even trying to determine the dates God’s Scriptural promises have been or will be fulfilled—or even if those dates are relevant in any way. (Paul, after all, claims that Yah’s Feasts are of no consequence.) So the faithful’s head-in-the-sand approach is indicative of their disdain for the Hebrew Scriptures, and their universal ignorance of the Greek text underlying Yahowsha’s testimony. In this case, the Ma’aseyah is translated using oida—in the present tense—to say: “no one is currently aware of the day or hour” of His Taruw’ah Harvest or Yowm Kippurym return, depending upon which question you think He was answering. That means mankind’s collective ignorance of these dates was limited to those who were literate and open minded, with access to Yah’s Word in Yahuwdah (Judea) in 33 CE, at a time when the first four Called-Out Assemblies had not yet been fulfilled precisely on the most important schedule in God’s inventory. God did not say that we were so stupid that we wouldn’t ever be able to put the pieces together. Although He would have been accurate if He had said that not one in a million would bother to consider the countless clues He has strewn throughout His Word. But to suggest that God provided us with a veritable mountain of prophetic evidence and an equal number of precise fulfillments to affirm that He has a consistent and unchanging plan based on a simple mathematical formula, only to suggest that we are too ignorant and irrational to understand any of this, flies in the face of everything we know about Yahowah’s character and Word."

Posted on Jan 19, 2013 19:12pm. Read more... | Comments

View God as awesome, worthy and honorable.

admin writes, "Yahowah does not want us to fear Him, to be intimidated by Him, or to believe that some painful fate awaits mankind as a result of Him. It is Yahowah’s desire that we freely, on our own volition, choose to: 1) “yare’ ‘el – Revere God.” 2) “yare’ ‘el – Rest, while God renews.” 3) “yare’ ‘el – View God as awesome, worthy and honorable.” 4) “‘al yare’ – Do not be afraid or frightened,” or 5) “‘al yare’ – Do not be distressed or intimidated.” This is a loving father’s wish with regard to his children. It is what our Heavenly Father desires with regard to us. It is what the Covenant was created to achieve: “a reverence and respect for God’s honorable nature and awesome gift, which allows Him to renew us while we rest.” It speaks of a God who wants to be approached by His children, who wants to walk and talk with His family, who wants His children to rely on Him for their protection. Simply stated: Yahowah’s Covenant depicts a relaxed, personal relationship with the Creator of the universe. Yah wants us to be at ease around Him. Imagine that. Delineating two of the Covenant’s most wonderful benefits, Yahowah promises: “I am (‘anky) a defender and shield, a protective covering (magen – I am surrounding you, shielding and delivering you from harm and attack; from ganan, I will defend and protect by surrounding you and providing a covering) for you (la – on your behalf; written in the second person (you), feminine (and thus referring to the Ruwach Qodesh who represents the maternal aspect of God’s revelation)), your exceedingly (ma’od – your most ultimately empowering, energizing, facilitating, abundant, and) great (rabah – increasing and uplifting, making you more than you currently are, multiplicitous) reward (sakar – payment for passage, transit fee paid by a servant or shepherd, by a generous father and reliable doorkeeper).’” Magen describes “a protective covering,” which is not only provided by God, but is in fact God. Yahowah literally said: “I am a protective covering,” “I am surrounding you to protect you,” and “I am covering you to deliver you from harm.” Magen is based upon gan, which is “a protective enclosure.” It was first used to describe the “Gan – Protective Garden Enclosure” of “’Eden – Great Joy.”"

Posted on Jan 19, 2013 19:11pm. Read more... | Comments

The five things Yahowah asks of us in advance of adopting us into His family,…

admin writes, "While I could have taken you directly to the formation of the Covenant, and simply reported the five things Yahowah asks of us in advance of adopting us into His family, I would have failed you as a guide had I done so. You would have missed the foundation upon which this relationship is formed. Therefore, let’s stay the course en route to God’s succinct listing of Covenant codicils. And that keeps our attention focused upon the third meeting between Yahowah and Abram. Not surprisingly, it also began with a conversation. The man who had shared words with God, and who had walked with God, had proven himself worthy of continuing to be God’s friend and companion. “After (‘achar – following and pertaining to) these (‘el-leh) conversations (dabarym – communications), the Word (dabar) of Yahowah (efei) came to exist as (hayah – it [the Word] was, is, and will be (scribed in the third person masculine singular (He, addressing Yahowsha’ as the Word) and in the qal perfect, telling us that the Word of Yahowah is literally and completely) God unto (‘el) ‘Abram (‘abram – the father who uplifts) in the form of (ba ha) a personal, visual, and illuminating manifestation which could be seen and experienced (machazeh – as a personal revelation of enlightening communication which can be beheld and visualized; as a window or aperture constructed for the purpose of flooding an area with light) to say (la ‘amar – for the purpose of promising and answering, claiming and avowing): ‘Do not be awed (‘al yare’ – do not be frightened or intimidated) ‘Abram. I am (‘anky) a defender and shield, a protective covering (magen – surrounding you, shielding and delivering you from harm; from ganan, to defend and protect by surrounding and covering) for you (la – on your behalf; written in the second person (you), feminine (and thus referring to the Ruwach Qodesh who represents the maternal aspect of God’s revelation)), your exceedingly (ma’od – your most ultimately empowering, energizing, facilitating, abundant, and) great (rabah – increasing and uplifting, making you more than you currently are, multiplicitous) reward (sakar – payment for passage, transit fee paid by a servant or shepherd, by a generous father and reliable doorkeeper).’” (Re’syth / Beginning / Genesis 15:1) Yahowsha’ is the living embodiment of the Torah. And as such, it was Yahowsha’ who visited Abram on this occasion. So by saying that “the Word of Yahowah came to exist as God on behalf of Abram in the form of a personal, visual, and illuminating manifestation,” we are not only being introduced to the Ma’aseyah, the diminished corporeal representation of Yahowah, His very nature is being revealed before our very eyes. And few things could be as relevant considering the context. He is on a mission from God, here to facilitate our participation in the Covenant. Yahowah is always precise in His wording; and never more so than when His Word represents Him and His ambition."

Posted on Jan 19, 2013 19:02pm. Read more... | Comments

“And no longer will they teach mankind’s errant thoughts or corrupt reasoning, or mankind’s despondency and grief, his tale of woe claiming to know Yahuweh (YHWH). Because then indeed they will all know Me relationally, from the smallest, youngest, and least significant to the biggest, oldest, and most influential, prophetically declares Yahuweh. For indeed I will forgive their sin and remember their offenses against the standard no longer.” (Jeremiah 31:34)

• Getting to Know Yahweh