Commentary on Deut 7:12 – 11:25
An immediate response to this Portion would be to say, that what leaps off its pages, from Deut 11:21, is that any so-called ‘prosperity gospel’ that ELIMINATES TORAH as its foundation in Yeshua the Messiah, Who explicitly rejects the notion of its abolition (Matt 5:17-19; Rom 3:31), is as far removed from the truth, and from the Fear of God, and therefore from the Almighty’s master-vision, of “Zion, the perfection of beauty” (Ps 50:2), as it is possible to conceive.
Besides being the consummation of Jerusalem’s calling through its crowning as the restored house, throne and kingdom “(sukkah) of David” (Amos 9:11-15; Mk 11:10; Acts 15:14-17), “Zion” is a metaphor for raising humanity to its most noble state of existence through reconstitution of civilization in the unique covenant rules-based array of virtues given in God’s love, TO MAKE LIFE AN ART through the beauty and power of Torah’s pallette of traits of the Divine Nature being imprinted on the soul, for translation of Torah ideals into reality through the Presence and power of the Spirit (Rom 8:29; 2 Peter 1:1-13)
Only accepting our HERITAGE of training in discernment, which Torah (the only guarantee of pure doctrine) alone provides, can BURN OUR BRIDGES TO BABYLON, by willing exposure to the conflagration of fiery extinction of our error, unbelief and rebellion, for the purging necessary, in the increasing heat of the crucible of refinement of human MOTIVE and UNDERSTANDING in the finishing school of the Spirit, to “do nothing against the truth” (2 Cor 13), for satan to “have nothing in [common with] us” (Deut 33:2,4; Jn 14:30).
This is the promised THIRD baptism, the baptism of FIRE by trials of the heart, as Abram suffered on Moriah to prove His Fear of God (Gen 22), and as Yeshua suffered in Gethsemane, as the greatest test of love, in all eternity (Matt 3:11; 26:38-44; Lk 12:50; Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; 1 Peter 1,4,5).
Because Torah is interlaced throughout the New Testament, it’s only the inspired “one new man,” the Torah-wise remnant civilization of true worshippers in Spirit AND IN TRUTH (not prejudiced against Torah), comprising that future universal kingdom civilization (Is 60-62; Zech 14:9; Eph 2:11,12,15,19; 1 Peter 2:9,10; Rev 5:9,10; 11:15) that will appreciate and safeguard the prophesied “everlasting righteousness” (Dan 9:24) that alone guarantees mankind’s survival.
Snared in human tradition by looking back and returning to worldly ways (Jer 16:19; James 4:4,5; 2 Peter 2:20-22), is the innate, unregenerate, unreformed, Adamic WEAKNESS of untutored, undisciplined souls who in conceit and arrogance, show contempt for Instruction in righteousness BY NOT LETTING THE LAW SHOW THEM THEIR SIN in order to remorsefully humble themselves in ongoing repentance, to renounce and convert from error to return fully to God (Rom 3:20; 1 Tim 1:8-11)
We are not guilty of transgression and iniquity, only if we’re not INSULTING the Spirit of grace, by not FAILING grace by not FALLING short of Torah (the mark of Christlikeness), by NOT “going out of the Way,” because sin which is Lawlessness, means to ‘fall short of the mark’ (2 Tim 2:19-26; Heb 6:1-11; 10:26-39; 12:14,15,28; 1 Jn 3:3,4).
There is warning upon warning in Scripture that there is no acknowledgment of those who continue wilfully limiting their obedience to a standard that falls beneath the range of the duties of sonship that define loyalty to God and His covenant (Lk 17:9,10; Heb 13:20,21).
We are not redeemed to redesign the pattern for holiness, to stay within the limits of our comfort.
Deut 11:13-22 exposes the flaws in the prosperity teaching of Replacement Theology by proving that the full counsel makes MATERIAL blessing CONDITIONAL upon unequivocal consecration to the necessity for refinement by “sanctification wholly, spirit, soul and body,” by dedication to purification of the soul by obedience, to be made wise for salvation (Deut 28:1-14; 1 Thess 5:23; 2 Tim 3:14-17; 1 Peter 1:13-17,22; 3 Jn 2).
3 Jn 2 clearly prioritizes the soul (moral education, for sanctification by discipleship of the soul in the truth of the commandments) above personal gratification
3 John 2-5
King James Version
2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, EVEN AS THOU SOUL PROSPERS.
3 For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest IN THE TRUTH.
4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children WALK IN TRUTH.
Attaining that degree of purity (equivalent to our Saviour’s) by transfiguration (Lk 6:40; 2 Cor 3:18; 1 Jn 3:3,4), to be glorified with Yeshua, is rendered futile by prejudice against, and denial and dismissal of Torah as the plumbline of truth and righteousness.
That is what will disqualify us from being taken seriously as disciples of Yeshua and Paul, and by showing contempt for the narrowness of the Way, raises a severe question mark over our likely fate (Matt 5:17-20; Acts 24:14; 1 Cor 9:24-27).
Anyone who recognizes the richness of the origin of our faith in our Hebrew spiritual heritage (Jn 4:22; Rom 9:4,5), ought to know that the relationship between a devout Jew and his God’s Torah is meant to rebuke the SKIN-DEEP familiarity with the Hebrew Scriptures that characterizes most of the church.
To understand the relevance of Deuteronomy to the Books of the New Covenant, it would therefore be wise to note that the ENTIRE Bible is considered to be the “law of Truth” (and of righteousness which produces “true holiness” as Yeshua forms Himself in us – Zech 8:8; Mal 2:5-7; Gal 4:19; Eph 4:23,24)
So when we allow our “eyes to be opened,” to get a grip on large canvasses of historical narrative like Deuteronomy, and recognizing the scale of its gravitas, find ourselves exclaiming, Oh, LORD, “I behold the wondrous things out of Thy law” (Ps 119:17,18), we are paying the LORD the highest compliment and inviting Him to “deal bountifully with us that we may live, and KEEP His Word,” because frankly, no-one rejecting the truth (which would have no foundation in Christ if we stripped out the laws of God – Rom 8:6,7), can justify continuing living (Ps 119:71,73,77,92).
Which is why we should be very interested in WHY, WHAT is contained in and taught in certain chapters that FOLLOW ONE ANOTHER, either in the Hebrew Scriptures or the New Testament (which are inextricably related), is found there, such as Rom 9-11 (our adoption in the House of Jacob to “provoke THEM to jealousy” to fulfil THEIR irrevocable purpose-in-election as YHWH’s primary witnesses – Is 44:1-8; Rom 11:11,31) following Rom 8 (esp. vs 4-23,29 – our need to walk after the Spirit by submitting to sanctification by the commandments, for the righteousness of the law to be fulfilled in us as it was in Christ, in order to be conformed to the image of Christ); and Is 52-53 (the Crucifixion, which gives us power over sin, because sin is transgression of the law) following Is 51 (espec. vs 1-11), the call of Abram to instruct his household, which would eventually become Israel, in Torah (Instruction in righteousness) as “the Way of YHWH” which Yeshua, “Whose Day Abram saw,” would embody and demonstrate – Jn 8:56; Acts 24:14; 1 Jn 2:3-6, to be perfected in holiness to be worthy heirs of Zion – Gen 18:18,19; 26:5; Ps 50:2; Is 35:8-10; 2 Cor 7:1.
Our heavenly Father’s commandments are the reason we were born, to PRESERVE us in Christ once reconciled to the Father by grace, for sanctification by the Spirit (Ps 119:73; Acts 26:18,20; Rom 15:16-18; 2 Thess 2:13-15; Jude vs 1).
Deuteronomy, a powerhouse of affirmation of pure doctrine, continues this week to consistently, insistently and intensively remind us in passage after passage (e.g. Deut 7:12-15; 8:1-11; 9:10-12; 10:1-4,12-17; 11:1-9,13-22) that since we from the nations are the latter day “mixed multitude,” assimilating to the more glorious “latter House” of Jacob (Ex 12:38; Gen 28:14; Lk 1:33; Eph 2:11,12; Heb 12:23), Israel’s Exodus was very much the pattern for OUR SANCTIFICATION TOO (as Gentile Kennezite Caleb’s adoption amongst Judah, showed), as redeemed, righteous co-heirs of Israel.
This is due to the wilderness journey having been our adopting nation’s FORMATIVE TRAINING in the ways of God, for its eventual role as exemplary “heirs of the world” (Deut 4:5-8; Rom 4:13,16), to again raise up Jerusalem, YHWH’s “Footstool” (Lam 2:1), and a “virgin bride of Israel,” this time in Christ (Jer 31:4,31-34; Matt 25:10-12), through obedience to walk as He walked, in His expanded and more refined interpretation of Torah (Deut 18:18,19; Is 42:21; Matt 5:19; Acts 3:22,23; 1 Jn 2:3-6).
In practice, so shall Jerusalem finally become “the faithful City,” “the City of righteousness” “redeemed with judgment (7000 deaths, to save the City – Rev 11:13) and her converts with righteousness,” as ideal “Zion, the perfection of beauty,” AFTER “destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners together, and the consumption of those who forsake the LORD” (Ps 50:2; Is 1:25-27), to be “a praise in the earth” (Is 62:6,7) as bearer of the Titles “Princess of the Provinces” (Lam 1:1), and “YHWH TZIDKENU” (“YHWH our Righteousness” – Jer 33:16, also a Title of the Messiah – Jer 23:6), hence the advice to us all in Ps 137:5,6 – “If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem MY HIGHEST JOY.”
This is why even in Paul’s day collections were taken for the needy evangelical Jerusalem saints (e.g. 1 Cor 16:1-3; 2 Cor 8&9) as a debt to Israel for the Gospel and the Scriptures (Rom 11:31; 15:27)
The call to “enquire after the welfare (eternal and temporal) of Jerusalem,” which is the literal meaning of Ps 122:6-9 which obviously entails prayer, is ultimately for our Father’s vision of Zion as the impeccable future Hebrew Capital of the world, to be fulfilled as the cornerstone of His Complete plan of Redemption of man and Creation, for the reconciliation and unification “of all things which are in heaven and on earth in the Messiah” (1 Cor 15:22-28; Eph 1:10; Col 1:20), as Precious Cornerstone of the “coming Kingdom of our father David” (Mk 11:10; 1 Peter 2:9,10; 2 Peter 1:1-12) which will be the fulfilment of God’s promise to David’s dynasty, of an eternal Monarchy in Jerusalem (2 Sam 7:16,23-29; Ps 122:5; Is 9:6,7; Amodls 9:11-15; Dan 7:13,14) which the Messiah-Son of David, having fulfilled His first assignment as Ransom for our sin (Is 53; Matt 1:21), would inherit by ‘undoubted succession’ by having been Resurrected as “the sure mercies of David” (2 Sam 7:16; Ps 89; Is 55:1-5; Jer 33:14-16; Lk 1:32,33; Acts 13:32-39).
Full and Final Redemption of Israel as a NATION, as well as of ALL CREATION, is impossible unless the LORD’s vision of Zion is fulfilled, because it is a Jerusalem mother church of the House of Jacob which must recall Yeshua to earth (Matt 23:37-39, Lk 1:33).
No wonder, therefore, that Jerusalem’s destruction is an imperative (the goal of Armageddon and Gog & Magog), if satan is to ever have his way.
YHWH’s promise of its defence makes that implausible – the LORD holds the world and god of this world in derision, at the very thought (Ps 2; Is 29:1-7; 30:18-33; 31:4-9; 32:15-20; 33:17-24; Zech 1:12-21; 8; 9:5-17; 12-14(
The great English poet William Blake (1757-1827) evidently wrote the magnificent anthem “Jerusalem” with this revelation in mind, applying it to England, hoping it would remain true to the faith of the Realm, or if disrupted by any means, fight the good fight to recover its heritage to regain its stature as a sheep nation in the orbit of Israel’s Zion, and doing so quite legitimately on the premise that all nations were created to seek the LORD and that their national redemption would likewise hinge to greater or lesser extent on the spiritual integrity of their CAPITAL CITIES for which Jerusalem is intended to be untouchable as heaven’s aspirational standard, reflecting the purity and grandeur of Zion above.
Hence the poem/anthem’s conclusion,
“Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows if desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I WILL NOT CEASE from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have ‘built’ Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land”
There seems little reason to doubt that theory, given what satan has already done to sever London from the root of the natural olive tree (Rom 11), and by way of illegal alien invasion, cast a very dark shadow over the nation’s very identity.
So much is quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures in the New Testament, that it’s astonishing that anyone should feel uncomfortable venturing into the seventy five percent of the Bible which is the Hebrew Scriptures.
484 passages from the Hebrew Scriptures are cited a total of 695 times in the New Testament, with extensive quotes from Deut amongst them.
Of the 404 verses in Revelation, 278 are direct quotes from the root Scriptures in the Torah and the Prophets, which is why Paul declared to Governor Felix: “But this I confess to you, ‘I worship the God of my fathers in accordance with the Way (which they call a sect). I continue to believe EVERYTHING that accords with the Torah and EVERYTHING written in the Prophets” (Acts 24:14), which is why we know that the Berean test (Acts 17:11; 2 Cor 13:1,5; 2 Tim 3:14-17) is the ONLY INFALLIBLE TEST of accuracy of interpretation.
By design of our Father, wanting to make us impartial in the Scriptures (not favouring any part of the Bible over any other part, as Israel did – Mal 2:9b), it’s only by a diligent comparison of precepts in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament (Rom 3:20b; 1 Tim 1:8-11) that we can discern the full extent of our covenant responsibilities, as duties of sonship (Lk 17:9,10), and firmly establish the laws of God by faith (Rom 3:31), to establish the “everlasting covenant” for the praise of YHWH’s glory (Matt 6:9,10; Heb 13:20,21).
Colossians 1:27, the mystery concept of “Christ IN us, the hope of glory” (i.e. Christ in us to refine and mature us for us to be “presented perfect in Christ Jesus” – Col 1:28,29), relates to the “fellowship of the mystery of the Messiah” in Eph 3:1-10, which in turn refers to “the Gospel preached beforehand to Abraham” (Gen 12:3b; Gal 3:8,9), as the hope of ISRAEL’S glorification (Is 46:13; Lk 2:32b) apparently dependent to a large extent upon OUR justification by faith through Yeshua’s Atonement for His Spirit to be the seal of our redemption as a “purchased possession,” in the expectation that all who are saved by grace and grafted in to Israel (the House of Jacob), will obediently receive “Instruction in righteousness” to “keep the unity of ‘the faith’ ” by following the same doctrine in order for the “one fold” to be undivided (1 Cor 1:10), to attract the full measure of the blessing of the Messianic Gospel (Ex 15:16; Ps 133:1; Eph 1:13,14; 4 11-14).
It will be this uncompromising, united, purified church (Eph 5:26,27; Col 1:21-23,28,29; 1 Peter 1:22), conversant with the detailed requirements of Matt 28:20 which will require Torah study, which will be the springboard for the final harvest in this age.
This will become clearer as you consider the fact that the DEFINITION of being “IN Christ,” by abiding in the Vine, found in passages such as Jn 15:3-15; Rom 7:25-8:3; 1 Jn 2:3-6,17,28,29, is always faithfulness to keep covenant by obeying the commandments for our sanctification by the Spirit, in all the will of God, to be conformed to the image of Yeshua for our restoration to the image of the Godhead, lost in Eden (1 Cor 7:19; 11:1,2; Col 1:21-23,28,29; 4:12; 1 Thess 4:1-3a; 5:23; 2 Thess 2:13-15).
Eph 3:1-10 and Col 1:27 are therefore a vital revelation of our function as co-heirs.
The two cross-references describe the endtime role of an ingrafted fully consecrated Messianic remnant from the NATIONS, brought to FULLNESS OF UNDERSTANDING of the “everlasting covenant” (not so much fullness as a NUMERIC quantity, since we know “few” will find the narrow path – Rom 11:25b), enthusiastically immersed and fully versed in Torah (like the original Jerusalem church in Acts 21:20; Heb 13:20,21) “striving for masteries” of the Way, to be “dead with Christ” to sin (2 Cor 5:9-11; 2 Tim 2:5,11), to “provoke Israel to jealousy” (Rom 2:14-24,26,27; 11:11) to help catapult them to shalom-shalom and pre-eminence, and into their own great calling through their own Gospel (Jer 31:7; Jn 4:22).
Ours is the only faith, the only Mono-Theism that UNITES HEAVEN AND EARTH through the beauty of the holiness produced by the righteousness of the “perfect, holy, just, good, spiritual” laws of the Creator of heaven and earth, being “fulfilled in us” by the Spirit, “precept by precept” (Matt 6:9,10; Jn 14:21-23; 15:3-15; 1 Jn 2:3-6), for the “conversion of our souls” (“from disobedience, to the wisdom of the just”) for us to “walk at liberty, undefiled in the Way” (Ps 19:7; 119:1,45; Is 28:9-12; Jn 8:31-36,51; Acts 24:14; Rom 2:13; 3:31; 6:12-22; 7:7,12-26,22,25; 8:4-14; 12:1,2).
So if we were to pause and properly reflect on the truth, by using the gift of sanctified Biblical reasoning to make careful comparison of Scriptures, we’d SURELY have to AGREE that if Torah can produce “days of heaven on earth” to bless and exalt ISRAEL to pre-eminence as “My son, even My firstborn” (Ex 4:22,23; Deut 4:5-8; 11:21; 26:16-19), the enviable righteousness of Torah’s laws MUST HAVE SIMILAR POTENTIAL to exalt ANY nation mired in the reproach of sin (Prov 14:34), if it seeks to be joined to Israel and its commonwealth through their Gospel’s mission of sanctification and unification through the Blood of the Lamb (Deut 6:4,5; Is 14:1; Eph 2:15; 1 Thess 5:23), to help accelerate Israel’s salvation, to reach for their own extremely high calling in the Spirit (Is 2:2-4; 14:1; 49:5-8; Acts 17:26-31; Rom 1:5; 3:31; 4:1,5,11-14,23,24; 8:4-14; 15:16-18; Eph 2:11,12).
One thing’s for sure, like spending time in God’s Presence early in the day (that “one thing is needful” Lk 10:38-42), no amount of time spent studying Torah to be made a perfect man or woman (Ps 101; Acts 24:14; Eph 4:11-14; 2 Tim 3:14-17), will ever fail to bring one closer to that noble goal.
HalleluYaH
