“What is man, that Thou art mindful of Him and shouldest MAGNIFY Him (“ye are gods”) and set Thou heart upon him…Be ye therefore PERFECT, even as your Father Who is in Heaven is perfect…observe ALL things WHATSOEVER I have COMMANDED YOU…” (Job 7:7; 22:21-23; Ps 8:4; Matt 5:48; 28:20)
There’s a veiled truth of startling significance to Israel and to the rest of humanity in Jn 10:34 which, quoted from Ps 82:6, Y’shua-Jesus recited in His defence: “I have said: ‘Ye are gods and ALL of you are children of the Most High (sons of God),” stopping short of verse seven (“but ye shall die like men (i.e. “in Adam”)…” which in that moment would have unnecessarily discouraged those accusing Him of blasphemy for claiming identity with God (Jn 10:30,31,36-39). He was using the carrot in preference to the stick
He was graciously offering them the choice which faith in Him represented, between “the death of the righteous” (Nu 23:9) and the dreadful finality of eternal death “in Adam,” by conveying to them the unbreakable, eternal Mystery of the Gospel (“the Scripture cannot be BROKEN” – Jn 10:35), which is that God with us (Is 7:13,14) as the Messiah-Christ in us as “the brightness of the glory and express image of the Person” of the uniplurality of the Godhead (Heb 1:3; Jn 10:30) is our hope of glory (restated plainly by Paul in Col 1:26-29), as we shake off the image of mere man and by aspiring to manifest the promise that “ye are gods” in our own lives, reclaim the image and likeness of God, through imitation of Y’shua’s virtuous example as Son of God to have life and life more abundantly (Jn 10:10), for He Who IS God, to BE God of a sanctified remnant of “gods” (Gen 1:26; Rom 8:29; Eph 4:22,23; Col 3:10).
That is the ideal of humanity raised to perfection in the Messiah (by overcoming all residual sin to delegitimize any grounds for satan to reserve a claim upon us), which formerly, even the angels couldn’t comprehend.
Imagine being able to say the same thing as our Master: satan “has nothing in me” (nothing in us in common with darkness in terms of persistent sin – 1 Jn 1)
For that, satan wanted the LORD’s Blood and is pursuing us to the death, if that were possible, because the proclamation, “ye are gods,” is way too much for his overweening pride to bear.
Wasn’t unborn Adam, created and formed perfect in the image and likeness of YHVH as a glorified immortal god-man-son of God, as a foretaste of the new birth, forerunner of the calling to stand perfect and complete in all the will of YHVH, the vocation WE inherit through the Last Adam? (Eph 4:1; Col 4:12).
Isn’t it the rôle of the glorified “Last Adam,” the Quickening Spirit Who “took on the seed of Abraham” to be the Seed of David (both “earthy” AND “from Heaven” – Rom 1:3,4; Heb 2:16), to be fully representative of what unborn Adam was originally as primordial Adam, as well as fully representative of what he PARENTED as the fallen human species (from which “Abram the Hebrew” was called out), to raise all who pursue the perfection of holiness in the love and power of God (2 Cor 7:1) to the “high degree” Adam enjoyed as “the first man” and prototype of the Son of David (1 Chr 17:17; 1 Cor 15:45-47) before the calamity of sin?
Isn’t this the principle cause of the ‘tikkun ha olam’ (the need for regeneration and repair of the world) which demanded expiation of sin by the Blood of the Creator Himself (Col 1:16-21), for His universal Jn 3:16 love for the world to produce the miracle of purification of the soul which can be accomplished only by the Spirit through obedience to the faith by obedience to the will of YHVH through refinement by fire to attain the unity of the faith which is defined by sound doctrine (Rom 1:5; Mk 9:49; Eph 4), so that schisms cease and men no longer profane God and reflect poorly on the efficacy of YHVH’s design by bringing reproach on themselves.
We should love and marvel at the way YHVH the Almighty “so loved the world…”, offering TO HIMSELF the redemption-price necessary to APPEASE (to propitiate) HIMSELF, AS the ransom necessary to restore the innocence of Eden to all creation which man’s breach of His image and likeness set at nought, and gifting us with His holy Instruction (Torah) to show us exactly, by the Spirit, HOW to keep the original innocence restored by salvation by grace, IN PERFECT TRIM, so that the regeneration will not be subject to defilement by a repeat of man’s former folly.
The LORD, the MESSIAH, is washing His Ekklesia (‘church’) from all trace of the fall of man by offering His congregations everywhere, instruction in sound doctrine for us to come to the Cross in repentance from prejudice, error, contention, dissension and complacency, to turn from disobedience to the wisdom of the righteous (Lk 1:17; Rom 3:31; 15:16-18; Eph 4:11-17,22-24; 5:10,15-17,25-27), for Him to be “fully formed” in us as He conforms us wholly to His image by His Spirit (Rom 8:29; Gal 4:19; Col 3:9,10; 1 Thess 2:13,14; 2 Thess 2:13), to present to Himself a spotless, blameless bride to be “blessed and holy,” for the second death to have no power over a faithful, glorious remnant (Heb 5:9; 02 Peter 3:9-18; Rev 17:14; 20:6).
If anyone needs STRONG MOTIVATION to find out how to be perfect in the sight of the Living God our Saviour WHO AS THE MESSIAH OBEYS HIMSELF, AS OUR EXAMPLE (Is 45:21-23; Jn 10:30; 14:31; 15:10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,17), let him soberly consider the fact that not every Christian will be a child of the First Resurrection.
That distinction is only for those who through resolute, dedicated and timeous preparation will have mastered their souls (by allowing the Holy Spirit to rewrite their worldly behavioural code with Godly “precept upon precept, line upon line…”) to be holy, to be “accounted worthy” of the victory designation of overcomers (“the blessed and HOLY”) WHO WILL NOT BE MANY (Is 28:9-13; Matt 7:13,14; Lk 20:35,36; 2 Tim 2:5; Rev 19:7-9; 20:6)
As this revelation of the UTMOST PURITY of the bride makes a deeper impression, as INIQUITY and IMPURITY overtake the world (Rev 22:11), many more sincere believers will come to regard the Gospel as the Finished Work (of Atonement for Torahlessness) which PAVES THE WAY for the ‘Finishing School of the Holy Spirit’ (the Master’s master-classes in the Way of YHVH – Is 28:9-13; 50:4,5; Matt 11:29,30; Eph 4:20) to produce harvests of cum laude graduating classes (Lk 6:40) in the discipline of the “doctrine according to Godliness” (Rom 6:17; 1 Tim 6:3), which develops “true Holiness” in conscientious, true and faithful seed of Torah-wise Abraham, to be without spot, harmless, faultless and blameless (Gen 18:18,19; 26:5; 2 Cor 11:1,2; Gal 3:29; Eph 4:11-16; 22-24; Phil 2:15,16; Col 1:22,23,28,29; 4:12; Heb 12; 1 Jn 3:4; Jude vs 24-26).
Nowhere in any of the God of Jacob’s covenants, is eternal life guaranteed by CONFESSION of truth ALONE (Matt 12:50; Rom 2:6-13; Heb 5:9; James 1:22-25; 2:8-26), because justification by faith in the Blood must produce abundant corresponding fruit of righteousness through obedience to the commandments as proof of repentance, for our sanctification (Acts 10:35; 26:18,20), for God to “justify the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness” (1 Kings 8:23,32; Ps 103:17,18; 1 Cor 7:19; 11:1,2; James 2:14-26; Jn 5:28,29; 1 Jn 2:29; 3:7; Rev 14:12).
Our salvation by grace is TESTED by our acceptance of and our willingness to enter into the marriage covenant of commandments “given in commandment” to “enter into YHVH’s oath” to consider us as His people and establish us as His people (Ex 19:5-8; 24:8; 34:27,28,32; Deut 28:9; 29:9,12-15), just as it was by Israel AFTER their Passover salvation-rescue, for us to walk LAWFULLY after the Spirit as Moses and Y’shua-Jesus did (Is 63:11-14; Rom 7:25; 8:1-4,14; 2 Tim 2:5), to “remain forever” in Christ (1 Jn 2:3-6,17).
The text is explicit: He will be to THEM a God, and THEY (those who co-operate with His Spirit to write His laws on their hearts to keep them as the apple of their eye) shall be to Him a people (Prov 7:1-3; Jer 31:31-34; Heb 8:10,11; 10:16)
So in any discussion of genuine “EVERLASTING salvation” (Is 45:17-25) and the wholehearted commitment to the spiritual growth to perfection needed that assure it, the following commandment should be taken very seriously
God would be an arbitrary and unjust Ruler had He created us as His offspring (Acts 17:28-32) without a conscience to recognize the iniquity of unrighteousness (our departure from the Way – Rom 3:12) and without free-will with capacity to receive a measure of faith as a deposit to acknowledge the need for repentance to receive salvation, to receive the Anointing and HIS own discernment, to examine and judge our own lives thereafter by the Spirit, to examine whether we’re actually in the genuine Gospel and therefore in the faith as described in the full counsel of God’s Word, to make our being called and chosen a certainty (1 Cor 11:28-32; 2 Cor 13:5; 2 Peter 1:10,11).
So too would He be unjust if He had not provided a baseline as plumbline to know whether and when we’ve been “perfectly trained” (Jn 6:40; Col 1:28), with a failsafe method (the vital ‘Berean test’ of two or more corroborating witnesses to truth from the Torah and the Prophets, in Acts 17:11; 24:14; 2 Cor 13:1) for us to mark and measure our own progress towards our perfection in holiness (2 Cor 7:1; Phil 2:12,13; Heb 12:14,28), as proof of our separation from the world (2 Cor 6; Rev 18:4,5), as proof of our professed love for God and fellow man (Mk 12:29-32).
God studies behaviour every minute (Job 7:17,18).
We are being minutely evaluated moment by moment, to give an account when the Books are opened (Lk 20:35; 2 Cor 5:9-11; Rev 20:12)
Behaviour reveals the heart, which God reads like a book.
The heart (the spirit of man which ought to be “the candle of the LORD”) is the rudder of the soul which determines our fate.
There’s no place to hide from Divine scrutiny.
Every behaviour EXCEPT reflex reactions (like involuntary adrenalin-charged responses to real or perceived danger) will be judged by the eternal moral law.
Our thought, perceptions and attitudes (how we garden our minds) determine our inclinations and actions, which is why temptation (often a test of our morality and free will) leads to death if not resisted by renewal (rewiring) of the mind (James 1:12-15).
Paul uses unnatural affection as a prime example, in Romans (Rom 1:18-32).
James generalizes, referring to failure to sanctify the soul as “friendship OF the world” (James 4:4,5).
God’s emphasis on our responsibility for what we do with our minds, in Romans 12:1,2, is a HUGE test of our commitment to “be perfect” (Matt 5:48; 2 Cor 13:8-11), to “do nothing against the truth,” to be “as our Master” (Lk 6:40).
Pastors who are not administering this revelation to their congregations, and urging that it be made a priority, are falling far short of their “charge” to help the Holy Spirit prepare a sanctified remnant (1 Tim 6:11-14).
Secrecy cannot veil unrighteousness (Job 34:21,22; Ps 139:7,8,12; Prov 15:3; Jer 23:24; Lk 8:17; Heb 4:13).
To be perfect (love being made perfect in us for us to be in the world AS HE IS, being the goal of faith) requires a heart and therefore a life to be regulated by Kingdom norms, in the form of the principles of righteousness which inundate the text of the Bible, for us to discover (Ps 119:45; Prov 25:2; 1Jn 4:17).
Evangelism is the ground floor of the spiritual house God is building, in that salvation (restoration of original innocence) is the first rung of the ladder of redemption of error and unbelief through conversion to the Way, that leads to redemption of our bodies (Rom 8:23) for those who “seek for immortality (eternal life)” through “continuance” in the ways of God, to “lay hold on eternal life” by guarding their hearts from repeat-contamination by sin, through growth in spiritual maturity in the use of the meat of the Word to REMAIN CLEAN, to be PURE, even as Y’shua is pure (Is 64:5; Jn 15:3,4; Rom 2:6-13; 8:4,23; 1🍖Tim 6:11-14; Heb 4&5; 1 Jn 3:3-10).
On the rare occasions when Israel walked in full repentance, their God described them as “Yeshurun,” ideal Israel observing mercy and justice/judgment by the rule of faith (Matt 23:23).
There is no merit in “dwelling carelessly,” instead of circumspectly (accurately) in all the ways of God (Zeph 2:3,15; Eph 5:10,15-17; Rev 3:10; 14:12)
He does not change. The bride (of which Israel has always been the firstfruits as the firstfruits of YHVH’s harvests – Jer 2:1-3; Rom 1:16; 2:9,10), will be endtime ‘Yeshurun,’ as perfected “gods” – the “jewels” who make up His OBEDIENT “peculiar treasure” (Ex 19:5-8; Deut 32:15-21; 33:26-29; Mal 3:16-18; Jn 10:35; Heb 5:9; 10:26,36; 12:28; 1 Jn 2:17).
If “we believe the deed was done, which shook the Earth and veiled the sun” (Anglican Hymn) for the Resurrection to justify us for newness of life, then proof that WE too delight in the law of the LORD, is the commitment which the Almighty expects of us, to demonstrate that impeccable life of the Son of God to the world (Ps 1; Rom 3:31; 7:22,25; 8:4).
I Jn 1:5-10 shows us that once we’re acquitted of sins past and reconciled to the Father through the remission of our sins (Rom 3:25), the Blood covers those who ALLOW the purging, cleansing and purifying work of the Spirit to help them uphold the call to holiness (Phil 2:12,13; 2 Cor 7:1), by learning to maintain unbroken fellowship by walking in the light; and that the Blood was shed to preserve THEM through their inevitable trial and error application of the knowledge of the ways of YHVH as they CONSCIENTIOUSLY close-in on perfection (narrowing their walk to match the narrow path) by faithfully working out their own salvation, to win the prize of life.
Those who defy the Gospel by expressing no interest in being led by the Spirit on the narrow path of sanctification (Rom 8:4,6,7,14), will at some point discover that that grace (the Blood covering) is no longer available to them because of having irrevocably grieved the Spirit by entertaining falsehoods which compromise the required integrity of holy sonship (Acts 5:32; Eph 4:22,23,30; 2 Thess 2:10-15; Heb 10; Rev 22:14,15,18,19).
Many more of us should pay attention to 1 Jn 1:6&7 to avoid complacency, because the Gospel is a stringent call to STUDY righteousness, to DO it as the work of love (Is 51:1-7; 64:5; Heb 4:11-14; 5:1-12; Titus 3:14).
No-one can fulfil that call, to “FULLY know doctrine” to “make FULL proof of their ministry,” unless their LOYALTY to the Word of God as a SEAMLESS REVELATION from Genesis to Revelation, is TESTED by STUDY of THE Torah (the first five Books) and Torah (Instruction throughout the Bible) in general, as their staple nourishment (Rom 15:4; 2 Tim 3:10,12-17; 4:5), to be the seal of Paul’s apostleship (1 Cor 9:2; 2 Cor 3:2,3).
Anyone who has an issue with the Torah had best read Rom 15:4. It’s not just background reading.
“LEARN of Me” said our Master, the Word (Deut 31:13; Matt 11:29,30; Rom 3:20). His easy yoke (the yoke of the Kingdom) which is not burdensome (as we can see from the glowing tributes to the wisdom of God’s ways in Ps 119), is Torah amplified and more perfectly explained in the light of the New Covenant, without uprooting the foundation of truth in the Hebrew Scriptures (Matt 5-7; Rom 3:31; 1 Jn 5:2,3).
“Learn of Me” is code for learning the Fear of God by learning the marvellous ways of the Way of the LORD, from a-z, to be COMPREHENSIVELY OBEDIENT (Deut 4:10; 5:29; 7:12; Col 4:12; Rev 14:6,7,12).
To those who obviously weren’t diligent in this matter, either in learning or application, Paul said “But ye have not so learned Christ” (Eph 4:20).
How to serve the LORD our God is life’s greatest quest (Ex 23:25,26, also 7:9-15; 15:26). That quest MUST begin deep in the first Books of the Bible, or the threads of truth running onward to Revelation in a brilliantly predetermined architecture, will inevitably be muddled.
This may not seem obvious to those who are unfamiliar with the PATTERNS of doctrines rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures, but The Most High began the work of presenting to Himself a glorious EKKLESIA, in the church in the WILDERNESS which drank from Y’shua the Messiah their spiritual Rock Who followed them and Whose Spirit taught and led Moses (Is 63; Acts 7:38; 1 Cor 10; Eph 5:27).
He was no less interested in Israel being holy and without blemish THEN, than in our lives and in our adopting nation’s FUTURE as chief of nations (Deut 4:5-8; Jer 31:31-34), because Eph 5:27 refers to the one and only church of the House of Jacob the firstborn amongst whose sanctified remnant, we are grafted in (Jer 31:31-36; Lk 1:33; Rom 11; Heb 12:23).
The profound finished work of THEIR Gospel (of which they had a foretaste in the desert – Heb 4:2) describes a purchased reality (this “newness of life” – Rom 6:4) which must be patiently IMPLEMENTED by sacrifice of self-will, for it to manifest to its fullness.
This is because OBEDIENCE and SPRINKLING (1 Peter 1:2b) run like a gilded twisted cord from Genesis to Revelation, holding the covenant together in perfect proportions.
The notion that the PRINCIPLE of there being no REMISSION of sins without the shedding of blood (without which there would have been no need for the Crucifixion) is NOT accompanied by a demand upon our loving OBEDIENCE, is an absurdity.
Hebrews confirms the opposite in Heb 9:19,20 where we read “This is the blood of the Testament (should read “Covenant”) which God hath ENJOINED unto you.”
This is implied in 1 Cor 11:25 and Lk 22:20.
Sprinkling of Blood is worthless without a baptismal faith commitment to be holy by being baptized into Y’shua’s death. This is Paul’s and Peter’s main point in Rom 6 and 1 Peter 1.
“Enjoined” means PRESCRIBED. The blood ENTAILS submission to the Messiah as MASTER. This is obvious in our confession in Rom 10:9 and in Heb 10:26-36.
The Hebrew Gospel is no less than a PRESCRIPTION for perfection through “obedience to righteousness,” made possible by the Sacrifice of “Christ our Passover” and the Gift of the Spirit (Lk 16:17; Rom 6; 1 Cor 5:7,8).
Luke 6:40 is therefore one of the greatest affirmations in Scripture, as the distillation of the promise of the feasibility of attaining perfection. We should all know it by heart: “…Everyone who is perfect, shall be as his Master” (KJV).
The very idea that a human being can be “like (or as) God,” as in “Ye ARE gods” (Jn 10:34), is revolutionary. This is the promise of the Crucifixion. This should motivate us daily to rise to the challenge of perfection by learning to love His ways.
Many more believers are coming to regard the Gospel as the Finished Work (of Atonement for sin which is Torahlessness – 1 Jn 3:4) which paves the way for the Finishing School of the Holy Spirit (the Master’s master-classes in “the Way of YHVH” – Gen 18:18,19; Is 28:9-13; 50:4,5; Matt 11:29,30; Eph 4:20) to produce harvests of cum laude graduating classes (Lk 6:40) in the discipline of the “doctrine according to Godliness” (Rom 6:17; 1 Tim 6:3) which develops “righteousness and TRUE Holiness,” from conscientious, true and faithful seed of Torah-wise Abraham, to be impeccable: without spot or wrinkle, harmless, faultless and blameless (Gen 18:18,19; 26:5; 2 Cor 11:1,2; Gal 3:29; Eph 4:11-16; 22-24; Phil 2:15,16; Col 1:22,23,28,29; 4:12; Heb 12; 1 Jn 3:4; Jude vs 24-26).
If the church weren’t so distracted from truth by tradition, 1 Cor 1:10 (the basis for perfection) wouldn’t seem an unrealistic goal
Israel went directly to Sinai to receive the bridal contract after the sacrifice of that first Passover (Ex 12:27); we were meant to go directly to Torah class to learn doctrine from Torah in order not to pull up the foundations of the Gospel (Acts 24:14; 2 Tim 3:14-17), to agree with that same contract, to learn YHVH’s ways be a faithful wife to the Lamb, after our translation out of our Egypt by reconciliation with the Father.
The first Passover foreshadowed our salvation. That sacrifice saved Israel through sprinkling, but their eligibility as individuals to enter the inheritance (crossing the Jordan represents entry into the everlasting Kingdom – 2 Peter 1:1-11) was repeatedly tested during their wilderness discipleship (instruction) in obedience. So too, our worthiness to inherit the age and world to come will hinge on our history as disciples (instructed ones) – on our willingness and obedience to be trained to perfection on the ladder of sanctification to be true sons in Messiah’s House (Lk 1:33; 17:10; 20:35; Heb 3:6-18; 12:14; 1 Peter 1:2).
It is the PRACTICE of righteousness, to produce abundant, “peaceable fruit of righteousness,” to be holy (Rom 6:22; Heb 12), that MAKES PERFECT.
The “crown of righteousness” (2 Tim 4:3-8) which awaits the DOCTRINALLY PURE who despite inevitable tribulations (suffering for righteousness) (Acts 14:22; Eph 4:13,14; 2 Tim 3:12; 2 Tim 3:10) keep the holy requirements of the faith as proof of ‘winning Christ’ (Phil 3:10-16), SEPARATES those committed to making the fallen image of Adam EXTINCT (by replicating and thereby exalting the image of the Last Adam, the man from Heaven, our God and Saviour), from also-ran’s (1 Cor 9:24-27).
A silversmith stops refining only when his image is perfectly visible in the metal he needs to repeatedly heat to obtain that result. Seven times is the norm.
YHVH as Master Gold and Silversmith is no less patient and painstaking, masterfully devising circumstances to throw necessary revelation knowledge of His WAYS into sharp relief, in the expectation that we’ll “turn from disobedience to the wisdom of the just,” for Him to conform us to the perfect image of His Son Who after all, is “the brightness of His Father’s Glory and the express image of His Person” (Rom 8:29; Heb 1:1-3).
Let’s see whether the Torah Portion (Ex 20:24-24:18) which was scheduled for this past Shabbat (29th January) and which begins in Ex 20 immediately after the Proclamation of the Ten Words (that distinguish between VIRTUE and BARBARIANISM/PHILISTINISM), can help us understand how to get to the ideal of perfect sonship portrayed in Matt 5:48 and Colossians 4:12, from what is written in Heb 10:10,12-14 and 13:12,20,21.
In other words, WHY and HOW, since the LORD “HATH (already) forever perfected” us by sanctifying us once-and-for-all by the Offering of His Body and the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant, are we now commanded to be perfect (“wholly sanctified spirit, soul and body) “in every good WORK,” to be “as our Master,” by doing His will (Matt 5:48; 12:50; Lk 6:40; Jn 17:17,19; Eph 2:8-10; 1 Thess 4:1-3; 5:23; Rev 2:5,26; 3:1-6; 14:6,7,12).
The simplest and most obvious reason is that just because INIQUITY is no longer imputed to us (Rom 4:3-8), does not give us permission to continue persisting in defiling behaviours (1 Cor 3:17; Gal 2:17-19; 2 Tim 2:19-26; Titus 2:14), any more than just because RIGHTEOUSNESS is imputed to us, we can claim to BE righteous without DOING works of righteousness necessary to remain sanctified by the Blood, as proof of repentance from sin, which is breach of Torah (Acts 10:35; 20:25-32; 26:18,20; Rom 2:13; 3:31; 8:4; Eph 2:10; 4:23,24; 2 Thess 2:13,14; Heb 10:26-36; James 1:22-25; 2:6-26;;1 Jn 2:3-6,17,28,29; 3:3-10).
Perfection IS attainable, because it was imputed to us along with original innocence when we were made whole, to go and sin no more (Jn 15:3), when by grace we BECAME “the righteousness of YHVH in Y’shua” (1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21) and received power and grace (the enabling power and anointing of the abiding Presence of the Holy Spirit) to “become” those spotless, faultless, unblameable sons as “partakers of His glory” by “serving Him acceptably (mixing faith with the Word because faith without corresponding works is dead) with reverence and Godly Fear” in “the obedience of faith” to be obedient to the vocation of “the one faith” (Mal 1:6; Jn 1:12; Rom 1:5; 15:16-18; 16:26; Eph 4:1-5; Col 1:28; Heb 12; Jude vs 3,21,24,25).
The answer to the question: HOW are we commanded to “be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect” (Matt 5:48; 2 Tim 3:14-17) is given in the beautiful and practical analogy of a perfect shadow.
We are to cut the identical spiritual SILHOUETTE as our God-Saviour-Master (to render Him the Honour and FEAR due to His Name – Mal 1:6; Rev 14:6,7) by “walking IN Him” (Col 2:6) by “putting OFF the old man” (i.e. renewing the spirit of one’s mind to PURGE and RESET our hearts to show we’ve achieved 1 Cor 1:10; Eph 4:13,14; Heb 8:10,11, by replacing detrimental behaviours which trigger the curse of the law of sin and death, with the blessing of the spiritual laws of YHVH described in the tussle in Rom 7:7,12-16,22-25) to “put on the Master Y’shua the Messiah” in thought, word and deed by following after righteousness for the Way of the LORD (originally known in part by Abraham) “to be fulfilled in us” just as it was in Y’shua by walking after the Spirit in obedience to the covenant (Gen 18:18,19; 26:5; Rom 2:13,26; 3:31; 6:6,10-13; 8:4,6,7,14; 13:9-14; Eph 4:22-24; Col 2:6; 3:5-10; 1 Tim 6:11-14; Jn 14:21-24; 15:1-15; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 5:3).
By learning and faithfully ENACTING our righteousness, is how we consummate the perfection freely attributed to us when first receiving salvation, as an act of good faith on YHVH’s part that He is well able (provided we co-operate) to purify us to perfection, to be worthy vessels of honour (Lk 20:35; Rom 9:21-23; Phil 1:6; Jude vs 24,26).
He promises that HIS Son’s character and perfected walk can likewise be OUR experience as the result of CLEAVING to Him in constant willing obedience to righteousness (Ps 15:1,2; 50:5,23; 106:3; Rom 6:12-22), which is when we become “dead to the law” by being “dead to sin” (a lawabiding walk puts us beyond righteous judgment of transgressors by the law) as PROOF OF LOVE (Deut 30:10-20; Rom 6:2; Gal 2:19; 2 Tim 2:5; 1 Jn 5:3; 2 Jn vs 5&6).
He will settle for nothing less than a heart that mirrors His own (2 Tim 2:19-21).
Sinai ITSELF was sanctified, to be fit to be the set apart place for Israel, the proto-bride, to be receptors of the foundations of the moral law upon which the Sermon on the Mnt expands.
If our sanctification by the commandments transferred onto our hearts by the Spirit (the Finger of YHVH) (Jn 17:17,19; Heb 8:10,11) is treated with any less gravity than Israel’s UNANIMOUS response to the will of God in Ex 19:3-8; 24:3-8 (saved by the Passover lambs FOR inheritance of Instruction/Torah, to fully consecrate themselves with “We will do and be obedient”), we have a different heart from that of God Himself and therefore a different heart from that of a would-be “chaste virgin,” and very likely follow “a different spirit” (2 Cor 10:1-4).
Sifting the detail in the lists of precepts in Ex 20-24 by the Spirit Who is given to lead us into ALL truth (Jn 12-16; 2 Tim 4:13-17), does wonders to build respect for the Holiness of our One and Only God and His calling (Mk 12:29-32; 1 Peter 1:15; 2 Tim 1:9; 2 Peter 1:3) by tweaking our discernment of what SEPARATION from worldliness actually requires of us (2 Cor 6:14-18; Rev 18:4,5; James 4:4,5).
In Acts 7:38, the Holy Spirit Himself intentionally calls Israel in the desert His church of called-out ones, to leave US no excuse for treating God’s holy laws with disdain, as if the Gospel were at enmity towards God (Rom 7 & 8).
Faith AND faithfulness (together = emunah in Hebrew) comprise the signature or ‘calling card’ of called-out ones who don’t make the mistake of magnifying the Holy Spirit ABOVE His Word (Ps 138:2), but who yield to the sanctifying work of the Spirit THROUGH acceptance and practice of “all truth” (Jn 17:17,19; 2 Thess 2:13,14).
There is none more wilfully ignorant than the soul who believes history is NOT a wise teacher in the hands of the Living God, and that our Master Y’shua, Head of the Household of God His Father, does NOT “bring forth out of His treasure, things OLD and new,” to refine our behaviour to perfection (Lk 1:33; Eph 2:19; 1 Cor 10:1-14; Col 2:2,3).
Note: “…old AND new.”
There’s more in the ‘Old’ Testament REFRESHED in the ‘New’ as our “heritage” as joint heirs in the eternal House of Jacob (Deut 33:4; Matt 5-7; Lk 1:33; Jn 10:16; Rom 3:31), than has entered the hearts of generations of professing believers, who would have done well to “awaken to the righteousness” of the precepts hidden in Torah for them to escape the defilement of the broad path that cunningly pretends to be the highway of liberty, including its deliberate obsfucation of the perpetuity of the ordinances of YHVH’s Sabbath and Seven Holy Convocations (Ps 119:1,45; Matt 7:13-27; 1 Cor 11:1,2; 15:34).
HalleluYaH for His eagerness to help any of us who profess union with the House of Jacob in the Messiah, as “one new man” (Lk 1:33; Eph 2:15; 3:6), to know what sonship of THAT one-and-only sheepfold (Is 56:6-8; Jn 10:16) entails as our fundamental duties, to be “profitable servants” and NOT be accounted unworthy of escape by being amongst those who, “opposing themselves” through pride and prejudice against the full counsel (Acts 20:25-32) have jeopardized their sanctification by having “gone out of the Way” by not seeking after God ON HIS TERMS (Lk 17:10; 20:35; 21:36;;Rom 3:12; 2 Tim 2:25,26).
The man who lays his head on his pillow without the Torah’s fine measurements of holiness in mind, to help procure him unbroken favour, will not long have peaceful nights as clouds of judgment gather over those who labour for acceptance stubbornly using the rule of faith of a quite different gospel (2 Cor 5:9-11; 10:1-4).
To SUM UP:
We prioritize study of the Torah (YHVH’s gift to greatly facilitate the Spirit’s calling to conform us to the image of His Son, the Living Torah) in conjunction with the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures, to strike the ideal balance because Matthew-Revelation is a SUMMARY of the New Covenant.
We do this to make sure that we’re omitting nothing that God has included in the Gospel of the New Covenant (which is hidden in the Hebrew Scriptures) for our TOTAL sanctification, without which no-one will see the LORD (1 Thess 5:23; Heb 12:14,28).
What then is perfection? (Ps 119:96-105; 2 Cor 13:9; Phil 3:12).
Perfection is attained through diligent covenant-keeping as proof of the purification of our souls, the deciding factor in the choice of the bride (Lk 21:19; 1 Peter 1:9).
Therefore, perfection is really the EXPECTANT WAITING which is necessary (letting the virtue of patience have her perfect work so that we can be “perfect and entire, lacking nothing” – James 1:4) for the seed of the Word to mature to harvest in the good soil of teachable hearts by the law of seed, time and harvest (Gen 8:22; Mk 4; Lk 8:15; 21:19) by allowing God the room to move in our lives to prove HOW IT IS, that not one of His precepts has been disqualified and disposed of by the New Covenant (Matt 5:17-19) – that none has a red line drawn through it to abrogate it by breaking, dissolving and cancelling it.
This is the Mystery of the “Everlasting Gospel” of “grace for grace” “from faith to faith” (Matt 13:11; Heb 4:2; Rev 14:6).
The purpose of this Mystery is to bind us to the Godhead by the Spirit in absolute trust in the wisdom of His perpetual regulation of our relationship with Him and others by commandment, ordinance and statute; in His interpretation of His regulations; and in the flawlessness of His directions
Anyone who takes a jaundiced (prejudiced) view of Torah Instruction (Rom 3:20b; 3:31; 7:25; 8:4,6,7) has rejected the spiritual law of seed time and harvest for themselves (by which perfection must be worked into them by working out their own salvation with fear and trembling), and by their choice of a limited diet of the Word, dictates an outcome for themselves which will inevitably fall short of the full measure of the blessing of the Gospel and which may, under certain circumstances, cost them salvation as foolish virgins overtaken by the Day of Reckoning “as a thief,” BECAUSE OF DISAVOWING GOD’S STANDARD OF HOLINESS and disqualifying themselves from being “children of light and of the day” (Matt 7:21-27; 10:38,39; 25:10-12; 1 Thess 5:4-7).
If the essence of love is obedience, which it is (1 Jn 5:3), through Heaven’s Ultimatum to mankind to repent and obey or be forever lost (Acts 5:32; 17:30,31), the Gospel is simply eternity’s greatest standard and measure of purity, as PROOF of a loving God, because in Him is no darkness AT ALL, because He is LIGHT (1 Jn 1:5-7).
Interestingly, if one goes further into the Scriptural meaning of the common noun ‘church’ in the original Greek of Acts 7:38, namely, “called-out ones” as ‘klesia’ comes from ‘kaleo,’ meaning ‘called out,’ we find that we are being reminded that just as ” .. they are not all Israel who are OF Israel” (Rom 9:6), NOR are all who are called by the Name of the LORD to be OF the New Covenant remnant church, necessarily going to be accounted worthy of the resurrection of life, because while many are called, few are chosen, because few surrender all to meet the test of full consecration as their “reasonable service” (Ps 50:5,23; 64:4; Lk 20:35; Jn 5:28,29; Rom 2:6-13; 12:1,2).
Therefore there’s considerable strength in the theme of “calling out” from which Ekklesia, and therefore ‘church,’ is derived. The existence of Acts 7:38 (showing the church having originated as Jacob/Israel in the Exodus) proves that in every generation of the dynasty of Abraham, the redeemed remnant of the House of Jacob to which a remnant from the nations is being joined, as was the original “mixed multitude” (Ex 12:38; Is 14:1; Lk 1:33; Rom 11; Eph 2:11,12,15,19; Gal 3:29), is the GENUINE one, holy apostolic, ‘catholic’ (universal) General Assembly and Church of Jacob, YHVH’s firstborn son (Gen 25:22,23; 28:14; Ex 4:22,23; Heb 12:23).
Sadly, not only the Gentiles, but most Jews have also deviated from the authentic Gospel of faith, which is SYNONOMOUS with obedience.
Caleb and Joshua epitomized that reality in their day. Only two out of an entire generation, met the litmus test of faithfulness.
It takes “awakening to righteousness,” faith, courage and settled knowledge of God, to respond to being called out from the crowd to serve God acceptably (Ex 23:2; Rom 15:16-18; 1 Cor 15:34)
