“For unto us was the Gospel preached (justification by faith for entry into the race by grace, but eternal life CONDITIONAL upon REMAINING in Christ by “sanctification wholly, spirit, soul and body” by obedience to the faith, precept by precept, through the Spirit, as proof of repentance, to be holy – Acts 26:18,20; Rom 1:5; 1 Cor 9:24-27; 1 Thess 5:23; 2 Thess 2:13,14; Heb 5:9; 12:14,28; 1 Peter 1:2,13-17,22; 1 Jn 2:3-6,17,28,29), AS WELL AS UNTO THEM…”

A Commentary on Deut 7:12 – 11:25 :

It’s tempting to imagine that Israel did NOT HAVE the Holy Spirit (whereas Is 63:8-14 proves He was “WITHIN Moses,” and Stephen testified in Acts 7:51-54 that they RESISTED the Spirit), and that in practice, the promises that close this Portion (11:18-25) were beyond Israel’s reach, because, we surmise, the condition stated in the opening text (Deut 7:12) was too burdensome to fulfil.

Not so!

They were no more burdensome THEN, than NOW. In fact, the yoke of Heaven’s decrees (Matt 6:9,10) is FAR BROADER today, because Y’shua-Jesus was sent to “MAGNIFY” Instruction (‘fill Torah to the full’ – as anticipated by Moses – Deut 18:18,19; Acts 3:22,23) to put us (and the nations) in awe of its Wisdom (Deut 4:5-8; Is 2:2-4), to make it honourable for the sake of His Father’s righteousness (Is 42:21; Matt 5:17-20,48; 11:29,30; 28:20; I Jn 5:2&3; 2 Jn vs 5&6).

They COULD HAVE circumcised their hearts but were DISINCLINED to do so for lack of appreciation of the BEAUTY of “TRUE (AUTHENTIC) holiness (sanctification by the commandments),” which is the crux of “EVERLASTING salvation” at any time in history (Is 45:17-23; Eph 4:23,24; Heb 12:14,28).

So it is the core purpose of the New Covenant to CANCEL the historic disinclination to work righteousness, by disposing of the congenitally adversarial Adamic nature by supernatural heart circumcision, to “condemn sin in the flesh” (Acts 10:35; Rom 6:1-22; 8:3) to restore THE FEAR OF GOD, which by Divine design is acquired by learning righteousness by learning the commandments, to understand them by doing them (Ps 111:10; Eccl 12:13; Deut 4:10; 5:29; 10:12-17; 17:19,20; Heb 8:8-13; Rev 14:6,7,12).

By so doing, meeting the terms of separation, to walk as Jesus did in all His Father’s ways as proof of our Love AND Awe of Him, to BE righteous and pure as He is, to be able to claim that we both know and love Him (Lk 6:40; Jn 14:15,21-24; 15:3-14; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 3:3-10; 4:17).

In other words, the Gospel and its unique regenerative baptism of repentance for the remission of sins to facilitate crucifixion of our unregenerated nature, to “walk in Christ” (Mk 16:16; Col 2:6,9-13; Titus 3:5), is the ultimate remedy for lawlessness, to make “everlasting righteousness” a future reality (Dan 9:24; Rom 8:4-14; Gal 3:27).

This we can achieve and is an ongoing process of sanctification we must allow the Holy Spirit to complete, by having the spirit of our minds renewed by the truth, and our souls transfigured from glory to glory to be conformed to the Messiah’s image (2 Cor 3:18; Eph 4:23,24; 5:26,27; Col 3:9,10; 2 Thess 2:13-15), for the beauty of holiness (the light and purity of the innocency of absolute set apartness on the narrow path – Ps 24:3-6; 29:2; Matt 7:13-27; Jn 14:30) to CAPTIVATE us, to win us over to wholehearted covenant-keeping, as proof of repentance from sin which is transgression of the law (Acts 20:25,32; 26:18,20; 1 Jn 3:4)

A Perspective on Deuteronomy 1-3, taking a long view of History

The Synergy of the Ages

Isaiah 41:4; 43:10,11; 44:6-8; Rev 1:17,18

“Who hath wrought and done it, CALLING THE GENERATIONS FROM THE BEGINNING? I the LORD, the First, and with the Last; I am He”

Psalm 145:4

4 “One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts”

Ecclesiastes 1:4

4 “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever”

As seed of Abraham by adoption (Rom 11; Gal 3:29), we’re ALL members of the “everlasting covenant” (‘chaverim B’rit’) through faith in the Hebrew Glad Tidings (Gospel) of the ﹰﹰLORD Y’shua-Jesus as Saviour, and soon returning King of Jacob (Is 41:21,27; 52:5-10,13-15; 53; Lk 1:32,33; Jn 4:22; Rom 9:4,5; Heb 13:20,21), as ingrafted members of the everlasting household of the dynasty of Abraham and David which is the household of YHWH, the God of the Hebrews (Lk 1:33; Eph 2:11,12,19).

To honour God and our ancestry through whom He chose to give us life, and to avoid desecrating the brick and mortar of our homes which He’s given us to minister peace to us (as a safe refuge and sanctuary of rest and nurture of fine values and aims), we are to learn how to “behave ourselves wisely, in a perfect way,” to “walk within our homes with perfect hearts” by being instructed out of His good laws (Job 22:21-27; Ps 94:12,13), to ‘square’ every aspect of our lives with His everlasting covenant which is “ordered (with certainty to be absolutely reliable) in all things (in every part)” for our ultimate good as well as for the good of others (2 Sam 23:5; Ps 50:5,23; 101; Rom 3:31; Col 1:28,29).

This is critically important because the righteous legacy of faithful households is the foundation of righteous nation-building (nations which “keepeth the truth”), without which there is no hope for personal or national well-being (2 Chr 7:14; Prov 14:34; Is 26:2,3).

There is a far tighter relationship between the three sub-divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Torah; the Writings; and the Prophets) and the Books of the New Testament (“the New Covenant of the House of Judah and the House of Israel” – Jer 31:31-34), than most Christians have been led to believe.

In Deut 1:3-5, we discover how, by recitation to the “church of the House of Jacob in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38; Is 14:1; Rom 11 – to which WE’RE joined through the Hebrew New Covenant by adoption through baptism into Y’shua-Jesus), just before having to ascend Mt Abarim/Pisgah to die and not enter Israel’s set apart Landed inheritance (Nu 29:7-13; 27:12-14; Deut 3:24-29 – as the penalty for just one episode of impatience, irritation and disobedience), Moses REITERATES (recapitulates) the righteous laws of the coming Kingdom of Israel (Acts 1:6,7; Mk 11:10) which the nation and their co-heirs would have to keep as PROOF of love for God (Lk 1:33; 1 Jn 5:2&3), to ensure continuous possession and blessing (Deut 4:10,13,14; 26:16-19; 27:1-26) – HOLY LAWS ratified by the New Covenant along with “the promises to the fathers” (Rom 3:31; 15:8); precepts which will one day distinguish Israel as “chief of nations” (Is 2:2-4; 28:9-12; Jer 31:7,10,17; Micah 4:1-8; 7:8-20; Haggai 2:7-9; Lk 1:33; 2:32) by the RIGHTEOUSNESS of those Godly laws (e.g. Deut 27:15-26); and Israel, by their WISDOM and UNDERSTANDING of those immutable laws based on the Ten Words (Ex 34:27,28,32; Deut 4:5-8,10-14) which, as anticipated by Moses in Deut 18:18,19, Y’shua-Jesus would “magnify” by ‘filling them to the full’ (fully expounding them by enlarging upon them) from first principles in the Torah, as illustrated in the sample Sermon on the Mnt (Is 42:21; Matt 5:17-20; Acts 3:22,23; Rom 3:31).

In a parallel act, as His final Word in Matt 28:18-20, just before His Ascension, the Resurrected Messiah confirms the importance of His Torah-grounded teachings, for His disciplers to “fully know doctrine” (“all things whatsoever I have commanded you”) (e.g. 2 Tim 3:10,14-17), to be WORTHY of the vocation of disciplers of nations, in order not to inadvertently lead them into error and apostasy (1 Tim 4:16).

Matt 28:20 therefore contains an implicit warning that His Presence is not to be presumed upon.

He’s with those who are with Him by being ‘all in’ as covenant devotees, through the Spirit, in the holy Fear of God (Deut 7:9-15; 29:12-15; 2 Chr 15:2; Ps 50:5,23; 119:29,38,45,94-105; Rom 8:4-14; 1 Peter 1:13-17,22).

He’s with us for as long as we demonstrate good faith by “following on to know Him” (Hosea 6:1-3) by continuing in His Word (Is 64:5; 1 Jn 2:3-6), to eradicate all error and unbelief that would distort and bring discredit upon the Gospel and His Holy Name (Rom 2:6-13,26; James 1:25).

We see evidence of redeemed, righteous ABRAHAM’s zeal for Torah (Instruction in righteousness) before our very eyes in the New Covenant, in the love for God by his household (the House of Jacob, his seed, the proclaimers-in-chief of the ‘Shema/Hear’ – Mk 12:28-32; Eph 2:11,12,19) PROVEN by delight in His laws as the apple of their eye (Prov 7:1-3), taken to heart to renew the spirit of the minds of the thousands of redeemed Jews in whose faithfulness to the covenant, Peter James and John boasted in the LORD, including Paul (Acts 20:21-24; Rom 7:12-16,22,25).

All those mentioned in Acts 20:21 were “weaned from spiritual milk” by imitating the delight in obedience to “precept-upon-precept, line-upon-line” (Is 28:9-12), of their LORD and Saviour (Ps 40:7,8), as we too are urged to do “through the Spirit” (Rom 3:31; 8:4-14; 1 Cor 7:19; 11:1,2; 2 Thess 2:13-15).

Their zeal for Torah (“Instruction in righteousness”) and conversely, for the means to accurately define sin to be convicted of both, by the Spirit, when walking wide of the mark in worldliness (Jn 16:8), WAS IN DEADLY EARNEST.

It had to be, to be sure to IDENTIFY unrighteousness (sin, which is lawlessness) to know what ‘falling short of the mark’ comprises (Rom 3:20,31; 2 Cor 13:1,5; Phil 3:8-17; 2 Tim 3:14-17), to accurately discern the boundary between the narrow and broad paths, in order to “win the Messiah” by winning “the crown of righteousness” in a well run and finished race (1 Cor 9:24-27; 2 Tim 4:3-8).

Their zeal for the knowledge of Father and Son by acquiring deeper and deeper revelation- knowledge of their WAYS (1 Cor 15:34; Jn 12:44-50; 1 Jn 2:3-6) sprang from deep gratitude for the remission of their “sins that were PAST” (Rom 3:25); and in anticipation of mercy and grace for the cleansing of the unrighteousness of any UNINTENTIONAL RELAPSES into sin (1 Jn 1&2) by the sprinkled Blood of “the Messiah our Passover” through Whose forgiveness their transgressions were “blotted out” and forgotten (Ps 103:12; Is 43:25; 44:22) by justification by faith in His Blood and Resurrection, “from all things from which they could not be justified (and your conscience purged and cleansed) by the law given through Moses” (Acts 13:39).

THAT’s why righteous Abraham, as “father of us all,” set the example of what it means to “walk before Me and be thou perfect,” by learning “the Way of the LORD” (Gen 17:1; 18:18,19; 26:5; Matt 5:19,48), which Jesus AS “the Way, the Truth and the Life,” demonstrates to us to perfection for us to “see the Son” as our Rôle Model of righteousness (1 Jn 3:7) through close attention to the Word (Lk 20:21; Jn 6:40; Acts 24:14; 1 Jn 2:3-6).

Those thousands of Pentecostal Jewish believers were under no illusion how “great a salvation” the setting aside of the “first” system, to admit the “second” (Heb 10:9), meant in practical and spiritual terms, to produce unprecedented peace of mind (“My peace I give you…”) through “hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and bodies cleansed with pure water” (Jer 31:33,34; Heb 9:14; 10:9-11,14,22).

That erasure of guilt was never possible under the former annual system of repetitive atonement for sin that couldn’t provide the ABSOLUTE REMISSION and therefore the COMPLETE REDEMPTION AND EVERLASTING RELEASE enabled by the sprinkling of Heaven’s Mercy Seat by the infinitely better Atonement by the spotless Blood of the Jerusalem Passover Sacrifice of the Messiah as the Lamb of God (Heb 9:12; 10:1-4).

The redeemed firstfruits of Israel weren’t about to “neglect so great a salvation” (Heb 2:1-3), as so many Christians from the nations have done, as prey of disinformation, through suppression of truth and proliferation of gross misconceptions of the delicate balance between law and grace in the genuine full counsel, both of which are needed to bring us to the goal of perfection of faith in obedience to the faith (Rom 1:5,16:26: James 2), for the purification of our souls by covenant-keeping, for the “transfiguring of our (fallen human nature), from glory to glory” (2 Cor 3:18), to bear the “express image” of YHWH in Christ (Rom 8:4,29; Heb 1:1-3), to restore our identity (“in Our Image and after Our Likeness”) which was forfeited by the corruption of Adam’s character (Gen 1:26).

Adam was created innocent, but erred in spirit and lost his innocence through disrespect for the righteousness of God’s law.

We were made CLEAN by the Word of faith (Jn 15:3), and had Adam’s original innocence attributed to us as the Righteousness of God, when we were reborn.

When we were baptized by full immersion, even the Divine Nature (mature Godly character) was imputed to us, for us to safeguard and develop through ongoing covenant obedience which is the womb of stable, virtuous character (Gal 3:27; 4:19).

We can just as easily lose it all, by treating His commandments as irrelevant or inconsequential, and thereby compromising Christ’s character in us and not remaining in His love (Jn 15:4-14).

No wonder we have to contend with and for Phil 2:12,13, in fear and trembling.

Adam was banished from Eden (Gen 3:22-24). We can just as easily be banished from the final Eden, the New Jerusalem, for diminishing and neglecting the laws of life through which liberty is assured to covenant keepers (1 Tim 1:8-11; James 2:8-12; Rev 22:14,15)

The multitude of reborn Jews in Acts 20 were well aware that being SEALED FOR IMMORTALITY by the “firstfruits of the Spirit” was a rescindable, revocable covenant provision in the event of GRIEVING the Spirit by resistance to truth and therefore, persistent lack of co-operation in the essential preparatory work to enter “the Everlasting Kingdom,” which requires mastering the righteousness of God’s ways (“striving for masteries”), to attain “true holiness” (the prize of the high calling that crowns us with full assurance of hope) in order to reign virtuously with Christ in glory (2 Cor 5:9-11; Eph 1:13-15; 4:23-30; 2 Tim 2:5; 2 Peter 1:1-11; 3:9-18).

At the very least, they all knew that the sublime absolutism of the Supreme Moral Code of the Ten Words (the ‘Ketubah,’ or Marriage Covenant for a virgin bride) “given in commandmenT” (Ex 20; 34:32; Deut 30:10,11; 2 Jn vs 5&6), is given as an INDIVISIBLE ORDINANCE (Is 24:5), and that all who dissent and disturb and DIVIDE that unity, “have no light in them,” for lack of the Fear of God, for halfhearted study of the terms of separation for true sonship (Is 8:13,14,16,20; 29:13; Heb 12; Rev 14:6,7,12).

Torah ratified by the New Covenant cannot be broken (Jn 10:35). Those who break the chain of obedience from antiquity, break faith. Breaking the marriage covenant by arrogantly disputing Ex 20:8-11’s claim to the seventh day as the one-and-only Holy Sabbath of the one faith (Eph 4), is beyond reckless

Woe therefore, to anyone who through WILFUL ignorance or complacency boasts against the natural olive tree and its branches, by continuing to defy the true Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment (Matt 12:8; Heb 1-4,6,9-11), thereby both misusing and polluting Shabbat (Is 56:6; 58:13) by calling “the first day of the week” the ‘Christian Sabbath,’ to try to justify keeping the doctrine and tradition of men.

James confirms this principle of integrity of faith & faithfulness as a joint-obligation, in his reference to “the Royal Law” (which comprises the Fifth to Tenth commandment), in James 1:22-25; 2:8-26.

Every day is therefore potentially “a day of salvation,” in that we are to “work out our own salvation in fear and trembling” in reverence and Godly Awe, rightly fearful of “NEGLECTING so great a salvation” and thereby FORFEITING its offer of “escape” from the second death, by “FAILING the grace” (by which we were purchased back/ Ransomed from darkness by the redemption which is in the Blood of Y’shua-Jesus) available to “work righteousness” as proof of faithfulness “worthy of repentance” (Ps 15; 24; 106;4; Acts 10:35; 26:18,20; Heb 5:9; 10:26-31,36-39), to attain HIS PURITY, by sanctification by the commandments, to overcome sin which is lawlessness, to win “the crown of righteousness,” to lay hold on eternal life (Lk 20:35; 21:36; Acts 10:35; Rom 2:13,26; 3:31; 15:16-18; Phil 2:12,13; 2 Tim 4:3-8; Heb 2:1-3; 3 12:14,15,28; 1 Peter 1:2,14-17,22; 1 Jn 2:28,29; 3:3-10)

All of which is summarized by John Wesley, as follows:

“The righteousness of Christ is necessary to ENTITLE us to Heaven (by surnaming and adoption);
personal holiness (sanctification by being doers of righteousness, to be pure as the LORD is pure – 1 Jn 3:3,4,7), to QUALIFY us for it”

Every one of us represents a family and a history and heritage that dates back to the creation of Adam.

Therefore, every one of us has cause to ‘raise our Ebenezers’ to the LORD in thanksgiving for bringing US, and therefore our particular family LINE in our family TREE, “thus far,” helping us and keeping us alive under grace, to receive correction of worldly ways, to LEARN “the everlasting covenant” and God’s ways, to abide in the Vine, to walk in the light in order to acquire Godly virtue to “behave ourselves wisely in a perfect way” like David (Ps 101; Acts 13:22), to attain the holiness without which “no-one will see the LORD” (Ps 119:17,18,77,78; Jn 15:3-15; Phil 3:10-17; Col 1:21-24,28,29; Heb 12:14; 1 Jn 1-3; 2:3-6)

“Then Samuel took a STONE and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He NAMED it EBENEZER, saying, “THUS FAR the LORD has helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12)

Ebenezer is only mentioned three times in the Bible. By definition, Ebenezer means “STONE of HELP”

Y’shua-Jesus is “the Shepherd and STONE of Israel” (Gen 49:24; 1 Peter 2:6) Who is our “God and Saviour” (Is 45:21; Titus 2:13), the God of HELP to Jacob (Ps 146:5), Incarnate as the Word-made-flesh, as the Messiah through Whom our trust and hope is in God (1 Peter 1:20,21).

He has become our Ebenezer.

The background of the meaning and significance of Ebenezer begins in 1 Samuel 4 with Israel and the Philistines.

In one of the most poignant passages in the Bible (2 Sam 7:18-29, a ‘must read’), David offers ‘an Ebenezer’ to God for protecting, nurturing and endowing his family lineage with holy vision and the great grace to see it fulfilled by his royal dynasty in time to come, as “the coming (Messianic) Kingdom of our father David” (2 Sam 7:18-21,23-29; Is 9:6,7; Mk 11:10), just as He has vision from heaven, and corresponding purpose and plans for US, to prosper and not to harm US (Jer 31-33; Eph 1:11; 3:20; 3 Jn 2).

Our lives were and are still lived ‘on credit’ under grace (“But by the grace of God I am what I am…” – 1 Cor 15:10), under covering of the Holy Spirit and the Blood and baptism that remitted our sins, in the solemn expectation that we would return to the One God and Saviour by adoption as children, to be holy and blameless PRACTITIONERS of His righteousness, because the Almighty God and King of Jacob no longer allows ignorance of the knowledge of God to pass unnoticed (Is 41:21,27; Acts 17:26-31; 1 Cor 15:34; Titus 2:11-15).

As Job correctly discerned in Job 10:14 :

“If I sin, then Thou markest me, and Thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity (unless I return and repent to be guiltless)”

“But if ye will not do so…be sure your sin will find you out” (Nu 32:23).

Sin is a serious matter in the life of a household, a lineage and a nation (Prov 14:34; 1 Jn 1-3).

If we refuse to obtain “the knowledge of sin” AND of righteousness by study of God’s “holy, just, good, spiritual laws” (Rom 3:20b; 7:7,12-16; 1 Cor 15:34; 1 Tim 1:8-11; 2 Tim 3:14-17), we’ll inevitably sin and not necessarily recognize the need to repent, thereby entrenching defilement of our temples of God’s Spirit, which in the end could spell destruction on the broad path (1 Cor 3:17).

Not keeping our repentance up-to-date, is potentially spiritual suicide.

There’s a reason why our God is pre-occupied with the spiritual PURITY of the “pedigree” of the lineage of His dynastic patriarchal household (Num 1:18,52; 2:2; 1 Jn 3:3-10; Lk 1:33; Gal 3:29).

Moses ‘saw’ Israel domiciled in their Land, as Balaam had done by vision, from Pisgah (Nu 23:14; Deut 3:27).

But whereas, after showing signs of being faithful to the One God of Jacob, Balaam was destroyed by rebellion (through treasonous counsel to Israel’s enemies by which he forfeited “the death of the righteous” – Nu 23:9,10; 31:8; Heb 6:4-8; Rev 2:14), Moses’ virtually impeccable track record of righteousness would, on balance, pose no threat to his salvation and inheritance of the Land, in future.

He’s even visited the Land in the interim, on the highest Kingdom business (Lk 9:28-36).

YHWH’s pre-occupation with RIGHTSTANDING in “the paths of righteousness” (Ps 23:3; Lk 20:21; Acts 10:35; 1 Jn 2:28,29; 3:7,10) is reflected in Moses’ being unctioned by the Holy Spirit “on THIS side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab,” to proclaim “ALL that YHWH had given him ‘in commandmenT’ (i.e. as an indivisible whole), for the generation who were about to cross over into their inheritance to UNDERSTAND THE TERMS OF SEPARATION, as we too are required to do (Deut 1:3-5; 12:28-32; 30:10,11; 34:27,28,32; Matt 28:20; Rom 3:20b,31; 2 Cor 6:14-18; James 4:4,5; 2 Jn vs 5&6).

In short, the earth, not just Israel, was created to support a RIGHTEOUS population.

Perversion of righteousness by rebellion (i.e. ‘changing the ordinance’ – Is 24:3-6), turns the earth AGAINST humanity.

Israel’s ENLARGEMENT many times over in future (Gen 22:16-18; Deut 1:10,11; Jer 33:22-26), would depend on ratification of their New Covenant through which “the mystery of the Messiah” would be the incorporation of a remnant (a latter-day “mixed multitude” – Ex 12:38) from the nations, responding to “the call to glory and virtue” (the vocation of holiness/mission of sanctity – Eph 4), to be one with the House of Jacob, the natural olive tree, as “one new man” (Is 14:1; 54:3; 55:5; Rom 11; Eph 2:11,12,15,19; 3:1-10; 2 Peter 1:3-11).

Our intimate connectivity with history through the synergy of spiritual faithfulness and integrity, is in the receiving of the BATON of righteousness and its corresponding blessings, PASSED DOWN as a heritage and testimony by Godfearing forebears who comprise the great cloud of witnesses (Deut 7:9; 2 Chr 15:2; Heb 12).

Every generation since the birth of Seth and Enos (when, following the disgrace of Adam, “men began to call upon the Name of the LORD” – Gen 4:25,26), has had an equal opportunity through the mercy of God which made inheritance of His righteousness by faith, an open offer (e.g. Enoch, Noah and Abram), to be RESCUED from the curse of the Adamic nature, because the curse and the blessing operate in CYCLES (curses filling any vacuum caused by unGodliness) – curses “to the third and fourth generation” of those who disregard the Almighty, needing to be stopped in their tracks for mercy and blessings to continue for “a thousand generations of those who love and obey His commandments” (Ex 20:5,6; Deut 7:11-15).

How?

By our corrupted, impaired, compromised human nature being voluntarily TRANSFIGURED (“if you’re willing and obedient” – Is 1:19) into the Divine Nature/Holy Character (2 Cor 3:18; 2 Peter 1:4), to contribute (by sharing His holy traits) to the advancement of the righteousness of the Kingdom of YHWH (Matt 6:33) which one day soon, due to the “consumption” of the wicked by Judgment of their iniquity, transgression and sin, will triumph over all unrighteousness and be vested, as an “everlasting” reality (Dan 9:24).

Everyone of us was born in the image of fallen Adam (Gen 5:1; Ps 51:5).

The New Covenant makes a way where there seemed to be no way, to undo six thousand years of degeneration of the human spirit, through our regeneration by water and Spirit through baptism (burial) into Y’shua’s Death, to be raised to moral resurrection through exercise of righteousness by the Spirit (Heb 5:11-14), to be perfect to be “as He is,” even now (Lk 6:40; Rom 6; Eph 4:11-30; 2 Tim 3:14-17; Titus 3:4-8; 1 Jn 4:17).

We all look forward to that Day of everlasting righteousness which will begin with the inauguration of the millennial Kingdom age after vindication of Israel’s inheritance of all of Canaan in the battle of Armageddon, when the Monarchy of the second Kingdom of the dynasty of David, is restored to Jerusalem as an everlasting Theocracy, for our LORD Y’shua-Jesus to Reign over the earth forever as Ruler of the House of Jacob (Ps 59:13; Is 9:6,7; Micah 5:2; Lk 1:32,33; Mk 11:10).

The spiritual drama of Israel’s Passover redemption followed by their re-education in “the Way (of YHWH)” under grace in the wilderness (foreshadowing our walk to freedom through obedience to the faith – Jn 8:31-36,51; Rom 1:5; 6:12-22; James 1:22-25; 2:8-12) for a remnant to be qualified to enter into and possess the promised Land, is the PATTERN for “everlasting salvation” (Is 45:17-23; Phil 2:6-9) and access to the ETERNAL inheritance, restricted to those who “choose life” (Deut 30) by being faithful to adhere to the narrow path to be “chaste virgins” (1 Cor 11:1,2; Col 1:28,29; Heb 5:9; Rev 17:14).

We ‘spy the land’ and YHWH’s promise of “hope and a future,” by meditating the spiritual meat in Torah Instruction as even Abraham “the father of us all,” did (Gen 26:5; Rom 4; Heb 5:11-14), which confirms again and again that OUR pre-occupation, for the love of God (1 Jn 5:2&3), is to learn His ways at all costs (Lk 14), to find the liberty (rest and refreshing) promised to those who obey His precepts in the holy Fear of God (Ps 119:1,45; Is 28:9-12; Heb 12:14,28; Rev 14:6,7,12).

Every family TREE is a mixture of Godliness and unGodliness (Lk 12:49-53).

The generational threads of lineage are a portrait of righteous opportunities gained or lost.

The goal of course, is household salvation followed by CONSTANCY in sanctification by the commandments, to finish the race by keeping the faith (Rom 1:5; 1 Thess 4:1-3a; 5:23; 2 Thess 2:13-15; 2 Tim 4:3-8).

History is the process of winnowing the wheat (Matt 3:12; Mk 9:49).

History is therefore best explained by the ebb and flow of righteousness.

History will culminate in iniquity reaching its vilest depths in these latter days of Noah (Matt 24:37), for “everlasting righteousness” to VINDICATE obedience to the revealed will of God, and faith in Y’shua (Rev 12:17; 14:12).

The baton of righteousness is therefore a precious legacy (the greatest parents can leave us) upon which each generation is expected to build with diligence as an act of honouring parents while they’re still alive, but especially, posthumously (Eph 6:2,3), to fulfil its obligation to be a link in the chain of redemption of mankind and the Universe (Rom 8:4-23).

Perhaps the greatest proof of this conclusion, is the destruction of an entire generation in the wilderness (Nu 14), for treating the righteousness of YHWH with contempt, by provoking Him ten times, as if once wasn’t one too many!

An entire link was removed FROM the chain, to PRESERVE the chain.

Attainment of the eternal inheritance is therefore a GENERATIONAL PROJECT of “perfection of holiness” (Matt 5:19,48; Lk 6:40; 2 Cor 7:1).

One way or another, each ancestral pathway in the vast gene pool of civilization, feeds into its downstream, like the headwaters of a river, for the redeemed in every generation to be accounted for as co-heirs with Israel in the House of Jacob (Lk 1:33; Rom 11), to whose Twelve Tribes we’ll ultimately assimilate, for access to the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:12), just as the “mixed multitude” did in the Exodus (Ex 12:38), to be accepted with Israel, to cross the Jordan to partake of their promise, to jointly possess their inheritance (Rom 15:8,27).

This is why we’re learning to distinguish between covenant precepts on the one hand, and doctrines, traditions and commandments of MEN, on the other (Is 29:13; Mk 7:6,7,9,13; Col 2:8,22).

Each of the generations which the Creator-Father of all the family which is in heaven and earth has “brought forth,” has had its own challenge to be restored to favour with Him, AND TO RETAIN THAT FAVOUR.

Israel’s trials in the wilderness illustrate the necessity to know and to keep covenant, to RETAIN one’s sanctification without which no-one will see the LORD (Deut 7:9-15; Rom 15:16-18; Heb 12:14,28; 13:20,21; 1 Jn 2:3-6,17,28,29).

Deut 1-3 also alerts us to the resistance and discouragement from darkness which inevitably awaits those who “wait for God’s mercy” to bring us into the eternal inheritance (Deut 2&3; 1 Peter 1:13,14; Jude vs 21).

Obedience is required, to the end, or we shall not be overcomers of resistance to our acquiring holiness, to endure in faithfulness, to the end (Matt 24:13; 1 Peter 1:14-17)

That is the main message of Revelation

HalleluYaH for the beauty of Holiness (“be ye holy because I am holy”), which must be OUR greatest quest or we are not of His Spirit.

Just as He was, so we too, as “the sons of God,” are to be declared to be so, “with power according to the Spirit of HOLINESS, by our resurrection from the dead” (Rom 1:3,4; 8:4-23; 1 Jn 3)

The Rôle of VIRTUE, in business conducted and projects built” ‘by My Spirit,’ says the LORD, ‘NOT (carnally) by Might, nor by Power” (Ezra 5:2; Zech 4:6; Rom 8:6,7; 2 Peter 1:3,5,10,11).

Dive with us into Deut 8:17,18 (the principal Word to business) to see what the Hebrew reveals in verse 18, in the words: “koach la’asot chai’l,” which were spoken by the One “Who “called us by and to His own Glory and VIRTUE (moral excellence)” (2 Peter 1:3).

We’re going to discover that the right perspective to have of business is that every day we’re given breath to engage in what we believe is our life’s work (Mk 13:34: Eph 1:11), is a step towards being brought to “the unity of the faith” through “the knowledge of the Son of God, to be a perfect man in the measure of the STATURE of the FULLNESS of (God in) Christ (the Messiah)…” (Job 8:20-22; Ps 101; Eph 3:19; 4:11-14), ESPECIALLY in BUSINESS.

This is the promise of Ps 90:17 and Rom 3:31 in the words: “And let the beauty and delightfulness and favour of YHWH be upon us. Confirm and establish the work of our hands – yes, the work of our hands LORD, please establish it”; and “Do we then by faith make the Law of no effect (in the lives of the redeemed), overthrow it and make it a dead letter? Certainly NOT! On the contrary, we confirm and establish and uphold the Law” (confirmed by Jn 14:15,21-24; Rom 2:13; 7:22,25; 8:4; James 1:22-25; 2:8-26; 1 Jn 2:3-6).

Immersion in study of the laws of the Kingdom from Genesis to Revelation (Ps 119; Matt 5:19; 13:44,45,52), which includes the Masterbuilder’s wisdom, understanding and knowledge which is from above (Ps 127:1; Prov 3:19-21; 24:3,4; James 1:5-7,22-25; 3:17,18) to master living “in but not OF the world,” in commerce, is vitally necessary because that which is called the knowledge of the world will be found more often than not to make men CUNNING, not GOOD.’

The revolutionary truth, is that instead of business being a daily eight hour plus DETOUR and exemption from serious spirituality, it’s actually intended to be the greatest CONSISTENT DEMONSTRATION of ‘Applied Faith,’ to the Gospel’s call to “live and walk in the Spirit” (Gal 5:25), to REVEAL the righteousness of God in action (Ps 106:3; Rom 1:17; 15:16-18).

A little thought will persuade you that OF our experience of life in the range of activity that generally occupies us during a sample week, our VOCATIONS and all they demand of us are the most intensive and extensive challenge to the application of Biblical principle

Just as Adam was given care of Eden, we are engraved in the Palm of God’s Hand, to CARE for and be exemplary STEWARDS of the entire resource-base of Creation, not just of the Earth, His Footstool (so watch out Elon Musk), and everything DERIVED from it by application of health, imagination, insight, knowledge, reasoning & experience, enthusiasm, physical and emotional energy and effort, time and money.

We speak about “getting down to business,” and about pursuing closures of deals and expediting plans and their strategies, as “the business end of things,” but the term “business” isn’t breathed even once, anywhere in the Scriptures, except by convention, not by translation from the original tongues.

Beware of words that name, because descriptors are satan’s last refuge of deceit, the malevolent political chicanery of the coinage of ‘Palestine’ (Palestina of the Plishtim of the Plain of Philistia) being amongst the most profoundly damaging instances, to belief in the truth, by the occult art of dissimulation, as a “hiding place” of truth (truth smothered by the camouflage of cognitive conditioning revising the world’s perception of history) (Is 28:16,17)

‘Business’ is no different.

That noun’s etymology (linguistic origination) is Old English ‘bisiģnis,’ from ‘bisiģ’ (feminine) which means ‘busy,’ to which -ness was added as a suffix.

But ‘bisigness’ USED TO mean ‘solicitude,’ a noble, compassionate term, the state of being solicitous (implying complaisance, the inclination/willingness and desire to help) meaning, as a matter of principle (i.e. under compunction), to show regard (interest or concern) and considerateness by being anxious/alarmed and concerned about something or someone.

One of the greatest examples in Scripture would be Ps 122:6-9 where “Shaalu shalom Yerushalayim'” in verse six literally means “Enquire after the well-being of Jerusalem.”

Only a shadow of these properties of probity, unselfishness and consolation in that Old English word, have survived the passage of time, in today’s common colloquial useage of the word.

Now, generally, the meaning ascribed to ‘business,’ though primarily with commercial connotations, includes anything ‘marked by activity,’ in which one is more or less ‘constantly and fully occupied’ (on any day of the week, the true Sabbath being almost universally disregarded, and the false sabbath no more than an extension of the Babylonian business week), ‘actively pursuing an occupational interest’ whether lay or professional.

The focus on organizational ethos, perks, efficiency, speed, worldly business doctrine and operating philosophies, competitive advantage at almost all costs, profit maximization vis a vis market share penetration, self-actualization (self-made success) and arising from that, to greater or lesser extent, economic fame, with only some socially responsible sacrifice budgeted, for the common good, skewed more and more by man-pleasing WOKE- agenda-sensitivities now a pressing consideration to hold one’s relative market position, are all markers of ‘business’ in our proud, materialistic covetousness- and idolatry-prone twenty first century’s race between the desperate urgency of Biblical education (to avoid being brainwashed by the hectic, internet- enabled rush for carnal head-knowledge), and utter disaster as the wages of sin (Dan 12:4; 2 Thess 1:8-10; 1 Peter 4:17-19; Rev 6-19).

Much of which is cultural absorption of Babylonian principles and concepts which to the un-anointed, aren’t OBVIOUSLY the OPPOSITE of what being “led by the Spirit” to “walk after (i.e. in the Way of) the Spirit,” entails (Lk 20:21; Rom 8:4-14; Gal 5:24,25), the core tenet of which being WAITING on and for, and Hearing God (Prov 8:32-36; Matt 17:5; Acts 3:22,23) meaning that “he that believeth shall NOT MAKE HASTE,” or we conduct ‘business’ after the flesh, not with the mind of Christ through direction and empowerment by the Spirit (Rom 8:1,9,14).

As the months go by and the birthpains of the millennial age begin to bite, many will be forced by humbling circumstances to start pealing away the layers of encrustation of their minds by prejudice and error inherited by tradition and peddled with great sophistication as necessary for success, to turn from disobedience to the wisdom of Rev 3:10 to find Divine protection and assurance (Jer 16:19; Lk 1:17; 1 Tim 6:11-14; Heb 5:11-14; 6:1-11).

Running the spiritual race to win the crown of righteousness (2 Tim 4:3-8), “remembering the Name of the LORD our God” (Deut 8:18; 1 Cor 9:24-27), isn’t even close to the worldly definitions of goal-setting and executing priorities as most do, “trusting in chariots and horses” on the broad path (Ps 20:5-8; Matt 7:13,14).

Isaiah 28:16-18
King James Version

16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a Stone, a tried Stone, a precious corner Stone (Gen 49:24; 1 Peter 2:1-11), a sure foundation: he that believeth shall NOT MAKE HASTE

17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall SWEEP AWAY THE REFUGE OF LIES, and the waters shall overflow the HIDING PLACE

18 And your COVENANT WITH DEATH shall be DISANNULLED, and your AGREEMENT WITH HELL shall not stand…”

You’ll notice how by operating by the Spirit, by waiting on and for God, Isaac was led to create PHENOMENAL wealth (“an hundred-fold” – Gen 26:12-14), to further establish the promises made to Abraham and his seed (Gen 12:1-7; Rom 15:8), to establish the law of inheritance (cut in the blood covenant God made with Abraham – Gen 15:7-21; Ps 105:8-11) in the eyes of the nations (e.g. Abimelech in Gen 26:3,4,11,16,26-33, king of the Philistines whose territory, the coastal plain of Philistia, is modern- day Gaza which belongs to Judah – Zeph 2:4-7).

This is the ulterior motive/purpose of our call to obedience to the Spirit, in Acts 5:32 & Rom 3:31.

We’re not to be about solely creating wealth in our workaday business life, but by doing it in such a way (His way, according to “THE Way if YHWH” that made Abraham very rich – Gen 13:2; 18:18,19; 24:34,35) that it ADVERTISES the ways, means, well-being, provision and obligations of the COVENANT (Heb 13:20,21; 3 Jn 2), to help prepare the world for the epic rollover from satan’s hegemony, to Y’shua-Jesus’ PHYSICAL Reign on Earth as the Greater David and Solomon, with Israel glorified as the reinstated Royal hub (“former/’first’ royal dominion” – Is 46:13; Micah 4:8; Lk 1:32,33; 2:32; Acts 1:6,7) of the Hebrew commonwealth of YHWH (Ps 57:13), for global government of the nations from Jerusalem, as Hebrew Capital of the age to come (HaBirah ha’Ivrit shel ha’olam haBa) (Is 9:6,7; Micah 4:1-8; 7:8-20; Mk 11:10; Eph 2:11,12; Rev 11:15).
.
We’ve all received grace through the Great Apostleship of Christ, to be “obedient to the faith” in ALL we think say and do (Rom 1:5).

Business STEMS from the dominion mandate in Gen 1:26, and as we submit to walk “the paths of righteousness” (Ps 23:3) to be conformed back to the image of the Living God our Creator-Redeemer-Sanctifier, by learning and living life according to the pattern of “the Way” which Jesus showed us, to be cleansed and sanctified by His Holiness en route to our finish line (Lk 20:21; Rom 8:29; 1 Cor 9:24-27; 2 Tim 2:5; 4:3-8; 1 Jn 2:3-6), business has the potential to significantly affect the extent and pace of redemption of the entire Creation, from its bondage to corruption by defilement by mankind’s sin (Rom 8:4-14,18-22).

Jews, who are called to spearhead ‘the repair of the world’ (tikkun ha olam) are God’s greatest demonstration of His commercial gifting, and within THEIR prayer tradition (which has become ours as their co-heirs, “cleaving to the House of Jacob” – Is 14:1; Rom 11) is a prayer (below) which describes the potential catalytic rôle of those who have “the power to get wealth” :

“Through repentance, may I be cleansed and sanctified through Your Holiness from on high, (my soul purified from any uncleanliness, to serve You in truth and righteousness), so that through me, through decisions and actions true to Your covenant (Rom 3:31; Heb 13:20,21) and worthy of a vessel of honour (Rom 9:21; 2 Tim 3:20,21), there may flow a rich stream of regeneration and renewal through ALL WORLDS You have made (Matt 19:28; Acts 3:21; Heb 1:1-3; 11:3), to rectify Your WHOLE CREATION from dross and defect, for all things to be imbued with Your sublime Holiness (set apartness for glory) through the “everlasting righteousness” of which we are Your witness nation” (Ps 104:30; Is 44:1-8; Dan 9:26; Lk 1:33; 1 Jn 3:7).

ANY business decision which is CONTRARY to and which DIMINISHES the wisdom of the liberating precepts of “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” which underpins the “everlasting covenant” (Ps 119:45; Matt 5:19; James 1:22-25; Heb 13:20,21), is morally reprehensible and anti-Christ, because WORLDLY CONDUCT of business originates in pride and the love of money, in satan’s commerce and mismanagement of his fiduciary responsibilities, in heaven (Is 13:12-17; Ezek 28:13-19).

Business becomes covetousness very easily.

When we DISREGARD THE LAW OF TRUTH by corrupting and holding the holiness of the covenant in contempt, thereby “profaning the holiness of the LORD,” as in the past (Mal 2:5-12; Heb 10:26-39), we bring shame upon the very brick and mortar (“for the stone shall cry out from the wall”) and timber of our own homes (“and the beam out of the timber shall answer”), making all we own “a proverb and a byword” to the LORD and others (Hab 2:6,9-11).

It’s significant that so many references to breaches of private homes by breach of covenant, occur in the Prophets (e.g. Jer 9:19; Amos 3:6-15; 6:8-11; Nahum 2:6; Zeph 3:7).

It’s as if God has made the report-back to Himself by and from the houses we call home, the decisive test of our spiritual condition, like the soil of Sodom and Gomorrah that cried out to God for deliverance from the sins of sodomy, pride and selfishness (Gen 18:20,21; Rom 8:21,22).

Our homes are meant to be oases of righteousness that minister (serve) delight, contentment, security and peace to us, not cesspools of uncleanness and idolatry that CONDEMN us.

Science says matter has intelligence and memory. What worldliness we entertain and pick up and bring home as contamination of our spirits, souls and bodies (undoing 1 Thess 5:23), doesn’t go unnoticed!

The WORST POSSIBLE thing we could say “in our hearts” about our achievements, would be:

“…MY power and the might of MY hand hath gotten ME this wealth” (Deut 8:17)

We know what trouble king Nebuchadnezzar brought upon himself when he did just that, a form of idolatry

30 The king spake, and said, ‘Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of MY power, and for the honour of MY majesty?
31 While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, ‘O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee’
32 And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, UNTIL YOU ACKNOWLEDGE that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever HE will”

(Dan 4:30,31)

The BIBLICAL fathers of the faith, whose humility and integrity our God commends and commemorates, were wise to that self-reliant, self-appraising, solipsistic, prideful human fault – the revolting culture of ‘me and mine.’

Abraham (a Gentile Iraqi who was already a Hebrew by responding to the call as “Abram,” as are we, by crossing over from death to life – Gen 14:13; Jn 5:24; Gal 3:29) and his Hebrew seed Isaac and Jacob, were highly favoured, iconic entrepreneurs, amongst many other superlative firstborn abilities in their anointed gift sets as in “to every man according to their SEVERAL ability” (Matt 25:15,29).

Their giftedness would become known as the product of the ‘mishpat bachor,’ the irrevocable anointing of the consecrated true heir to the birthright of the firstborn male,” which is a double-portion of grace for “excellency of dignity and excellency of power” (Gen 49:3) which distinguishes the House of Jacob to this day as the remnant elect nation of Ex 19:5-8; Lk 1:33, the natural branches whose unique order- and purpose-in-election is irrevocable, and agsinst whom we are not to boast, on account of God’s love for their fathers (Rom 11:18,29-31).

Few of us were ever told that Abraham is the pioneer of “the Way of the LORD” (Gen 18:18,19; 26:5) the detail of which Jesus, the Seed of Abraham (Gal 3:16) ‘filled to the full’ (refined by amplification) (Matt 5:17-20) on original instructions from His Father through Abraham (Gen 18:18,19).

No coincidence therefore that “the one faith” into which we have been adopted amongst Jacob (Gen 28:14; Is 29:22-24; Lk 1:33; Rom 11; Eph 2:11,12,19), is more accurately defined as the Messianic Nazarene Way (Acts 24:5,14), than as Christ-ianity.

So the three fathers’ curiously wonderful economic dominion, each under very different circumstances, was no accident, but a reward for “walking before God” to “be perfect” by keeping covenant, to sanctify the Name of the One God, as the pattern for us (Gen 15:1; 17:1; Deut 4:39; Matt 5:19,48; 6:9,10).

In other words, the combination of faith in YHWH, and the VIRTUE of the fathers whose promises of inheritance of the nations and of the Universe as a Hebrew reality (Is 54:3; Matt 19:28-30), Jesus was sent to confirm (Rom 15:8), are the BASIS of their extraordinary testimony which included economic dominion (Gen 1:26).

The Gospels teach us that there are times when it will be prudent to be “as SHREWD as a serpent and HARMLESS (and by implication, as INNOCENT and GENTLE) as a dove” or, for that matter, a lamb, since Jesus’ essential quality of gentleness, we’re told, was evident to all (Matt 10:16).

This seems like an extreme contradiction in terms.

Not necessarily.

The ‘shrewdness’ of YHWH is in an entirely different class.

Matthew 10:16,24,25 and Lk 6:40 which call us higher to be “as our Master,” alert us to the need to always rely exclusively on Divinely INSPIRED, usually counter-intuitive direction (at the risk of our thought process seeming stupid to the world), so that “the Cross of Christ should NOT be deprived of its force and emptied of its power and nullified and made of NO EFFECT,” because “wisdom from above” RELEASES the power of God to “destroy the wisdom of the wise, the learning of the learned, the sophistry of philosophers, the cleverness of the clever, and bring to nothing, the discernment and understanding of the logician and debater (and worldly business genius)” BECAUSE to create testimony for Himself, “God makes foolish the wisdom of this world” by demonstrating that what SEEMS to be the “weakness” and “foolishness of God,” is certain to “confound the wisdom of men” and eclipse their mortal strength (1 Cor 1:17-30).

Deut 8:5,6,16-18 sheds light on what His expectations are of a businessman, namely, unswerving conscientious living for righteousness (Ps 15:1-5; 106:3; Acts 10:35; Rom 6:12-22; 15:16-8; 1 Peter 2:24), to be holy, under the guidance of the HOLY Spirit in the timeless moral law (Job 22:21-27; Rom 2:13; 3:31; 8:4-14; 1 Cor 7:19; Heb 12:14,28; 1 Peter 1:13-17; 2 Jn vs 5&6).

Instinctively, we ought to know that in that maxim about the serpent and the dove, SHREWDNESS/cunning must be GOVERNED and therefore justified BY THE CRITERION OF HARMLESSNESS (as in “do thy neighbour no harm”) if we’re not to be tripped up by “friendship with the world” by TAKING, rather than petitioning God to provide His way, in His timing (James 4:2-5), or we “fail grace” by not remaining innocent (Heb 12:14,15), by not reflecting the heart, mind and therefore the image of Christ (1 Cor 2:16; Rom 8:29).

It’s all to easy to CONFUSE and EXCUSE presumption, as bearing one’s cross (Matt 16:24-27).

It’s impossible to fulfil “the call to glory and VIRTUE” (2 Peter 1:3) by meeting the Biblical test of virtue, without the patience and longsuffering needed to remain in the joy of the LORD in a state of thanksgiving (Eph 5:20; 1 Thess 5:16-18; Heb 13:16) when our knowledge of the everlasting covenant quickened by the Spirit (Heb 13:20,21) points to circumstances requiring that we FORBEAR, and DEFER PERSONAL GRATIFICATION to serve a higher good, hence the axiom: “An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning (or, an inheritance gained early), but the end thereof shall NOT BE BLESSED” (Prov 20:21).

This goes hand-in-hand with the judgment of God on the matter, that instititutionalized competition (any form of structural rivalry such as markets are, for those who don’t know how to relate to and sanctify them, by their being unredeemed, in and of the world) is demonic (James 3:13-16), reflecting the economic philosophy and practices of Mammon (1 Tim 6:3-19).

Gain is not equivalent to Godliness unless we “strive for masteries” of Godliness, with CONTENTMENT (1 Tim 6:5,6; 2 Tim 2:5 & Heb 13:5), which requires considerable faith and patience to maintain integrity by “holding to the covenant” (Is 56:6).

Overtly competing for market share is covetousness.

But if one is led by the Spirit in the vision and ways of God, to fulfil our personalized purpose- in-predestination in the commanded work received from the Son of Man as our vocation (Matt 25:14,15,23; Mk 13:34,35; Rom 8:4-14; Eph 1:11; 3:20), a business need never PERCEIVE itself as having competitors and act as if it itself were a competitor, because daily, early, Spirit-led prayer and guidance (waiting on God “more than watchmen wait for the morning” to receive the “certain rate” of spiritual manna at daybreak/sunrise – Ex 16:4-23; Prov 8:32-36; Is 50:4,5) will carve out success and a living BY THE SPIRIT, and NOT by carnal power and by might (Zech 4:6).

Few of us have even BEGUN to tap into the great grace described by that promise.

There should never be a ‘fight’ for market share through perception of others as adversaries in a culture of suspicion and espionage.

That would hardly be conducive to loving one’s neighbour as oneself and “preferring others” and “looking out for the well-being and prosperity of others” (without anxiety, knowing that a man reaps what he sows); and without that, we vitiate the promises and relapse into “the ways of the Gentiles”

We have a choice: “prosper in the world” (Ps 73:12), operating in worldly paradigms, or prosper through steady application of the covenant (constancy in the commandments – ), to “put on the new man which after God (God’s own image) is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Rom 8:29; Eph 4:23,24), to be in but not of the world, to attract the favour reserved for true sons who’ve paid the price (Lk 14:27,33; Heb 12).

There’s no reward for supplanting Biblical tradition.

YHWH’s economy is extremely time-sensitive, because in the roots of the Hebrew New Covenant with which the Gospel must agree (Jer 31:31-34; Acts 17:11; 24:14), responsibility is given in particular to firstborn male believers, to lead the community in “the Way of the LORD” as Abraham (who knew the original and only Sabbath) did (Gen 18:18,19), for Israel and their commonwealth to keep the Almighty’s Own Appointments Holy (Ex 23:12-17).

God’s ‘Sabbatical economy’ (‘kalkalah ha Shabbat ha mechabedet’ – the Biblical economy of Zion which is bounded/bookended by the perpetual, sanctified and blessed Genesis 2:2,3 Sabbaths, NOT Roman/Protestant Sunday counterfeits) in which Israel flourishes from Sat-Friday mid afternoon as the pre-eminent start-up economy, from the Biblical first day of the week to the sixth day of the week, carries the overflow of the incomparable blessing (Is 58:14) which is upon the Fourth Commandment (Ex 20:8-11; 31:13,16; Is 56:6; 58:13,14; 66:22-24; Mk 2:27,28; Heb 4:1-11).

So look at the following gem, hidden in the Bible’s most powerful statement about ANY FORM OF ENTERPRISE:

“But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God, for it is HE Who giveth thee power/s (ability, insight, access, creativity, holy inventive power/witty wisdom – Prov 8:12; 10:22) to get wealth VIRTUOUSLY (chai’l being a compound noun binding the concept of virtue to tangible wealth and visa versa, which is why Hebrew teaching is so deep and very compact)” : in Hebrew, virtuous holy power (Koach Kadosh) to get wealth is “Koach Kadosh la’asot CHAI’L”

Chai’l is the same Hebrew word used to describe the ideal, righteous, enterprising wife and mother (a type of the wife of the Lamb) in the prophetic eulogy in Prov 31:10-29 spoken over the mother by her admiring and loving husband, in the seventh day-Sabbath eve dinner liturgy, the untransferable, unchangeable Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment (Ex 20:8-11) that the church arrogantly abandoned by betraying the Word and the Apostles by following Rome’s counterfeit on “the first day of the (official Biblical working) week,” the result of Rome’s influence by Hellenism which is offended by the depths, purity and clarifying power of Biblical Hebrew tradition symbolized by the Shabbat covenant sign (Ex 31:13; Acts 16:20,21; 2 Thess 2:15).

Friday evening-Saturday evening according to Genesis (“there was evening, and morning…” because God’s days are not measured from midnight to midnight as pagan culture has done) forever being the TRUE Sabbath “made for man(kind)” (Mk 2:27,28) INDEPENDENTLY of the Jewish people, before there was a Judah-ite (Jews descended from Abraham’s grandson Jacob’s son Judah) as so much as a twinkle in Abraham’s eye!

The unique sanctity and double-portion of shalom-shalom of the foreordained, DESIGNATED Shabbat, makes it the antithesis of slavery to sin and therefore, the blessed, true 24 hr Intermission of the Biblical weeks, the EXACT SEVENTH on which our Maker refreshed HIMSELF, for it to be our first imitation of God (Eph 5:1,10; Heb 4:1-11), as the everlasting sign of our sanctification by the Father, for preservation in the Son (Jude vs 1) as a covenant in its own right WITHIN the “everlasting covenant” (Ex 31:13,16; Is 56:6; Heb 13:20,21).

See how Shabbat is conspicuously singled out in Is 56:6-8 a prophecy to the endtime church in general and to believers from the nations in particular:

“Also the sons of the stranger (i.e. foreigners as in Jn 10:16; Eph 2:11,12,19) that join themselves to YHWH, to serve Him and to love the Name of the LORD, to be His servants, every one who KEEPETH the Sabbath (Is 58:13,14; 66:22-24; Matt 12:8) from polluting it, AND who takes hold of My covenant (Heb 8:8-12; 13:20,21)…”

So Shabbat is not just WITHIN “the everlasting covenant” as a whole, but due to the singular pedigree of its unique sanctity as the cornerstone legacy-precept through which all the promises made to Abraham (whom Malki Tzedek most likely blessed on Shabbat – Gen 14:18-20) will be fulfilled (Is 58:14; Gal 3:16) as it perpetually orders the Divine procession of time (Ex 31:16), it is the ‘holy hinge’ within the MARRIAGE COVENANT of Ten Words, together with the related Fifth Commandment (Lev 19:1-3; Eph 6:1-3), where Shabbat, the greatest “covenant of promise” – Is 58:14, is implied, from Eph 2:12.

Shabbat which, incidentally, is the ordinance providing statutory protection for the earth (Is 24:5), is given to man (Mk 2:27,28) to MARVEL at the distinction between Creation-from-nothing on Shabbat and creation-from-something, as He blesses HIS Sun-Frid post- and pre-Sabbatical working week to empower those who keep HIS Shabbat intact and holy, with the Holy KOACH (see definition above and below) to be creatively industrious in BY FAR the most significant ways, in the UNLIMITED promise of Deut 8:18; Is 58:13,14.

For what purpose in particular?

To remind us from Is 33:20/Lam 1:1-5/Matt 5:35; 12:8 that “Jerusalem (“the Princess of the Provinces”), the City of OUR Solemnities,” YHWH’s Splendour, the Dwelling Place of Right(eousness)” (Ps 137:5,6; Is 1:26-27; Zech 2:12; 8:2,3,8) that weekly demonstrates Shabbat by TOTAL LOCKDOWN OF ITS ECONOMY according to the commandment, to meet the two chief requirements for the Messiah to enter His City on His white stallion (Jer 17:19-27; Neh 13:15-22; Matt 12:50; 23:39; Rev 19:11-13), is a challenge to the ENTIRE WORLD and its CAPITALS to anticipate Sunday being CANCELLED as a sabbath, and forever relegated to nothing more than the head (Yom Rishon) of the working week (Is 66:22-24), for despising God’s rulings.

Neither will it ever again be be coined as ‘our (weekly) Resurrection day’ which is yet another Gentile fiction, since the covenant ordains only an official ANNUAL rememberance of the Resurrection, on the “Feast of Firstfruits” (Bikkurim) which falls during the seven days of the Passover Feast of Unleavened Bread which Jesus has commanded us to keep, through Paul’s Gospel which was endorsed by James, Peter and John (Gal 2; 1 Cor 5:7,8)

If there are those who STILL wonder why such an issue is being made of Shabbat in the context of Deut 8:18, it’s because reform (repair of breach – Is 58:12-14) must precede lasting revival since disobedience never goes unnoticed because breach of the economic ban which is the CORE of the commandment pollutes the holiest of commandments (Ex 20:8-11; Is 56:6 KJV; Jer 17; Neh 13), and because the Fouth Commandment wasn’t broken even by Jesus’s closest handmaidens, even in His death, despite the best intentions (Lk 23:54-56; 24:1), because it is the ‘threshold covenant’ (Ex 31:16; Matt 12:8) that provides the first answer to Ps 42:2,4 (to settle which church is serving the truth, to avoid falling into apostasy), which tests our loyalty to God and our commitment to sanctification by the Spirit by belief of the truth (2 Thess 2:13-15).

It should be the first decision after baptism (which secures our adoption), to set one’s course on the NARROW path, for “full assurance of hope, to the end” (Matt 7:13-27; Heb 6:11).

Wilfully ignorant breach of Shabbat is breach of ALL Ten Commandments because they’re given AS ONE, “in commandmenT,” for the REDEEMED to be fully obedient (Ex 34:27,28,32; Matt 5:19; 28:20; Rom 3:31; 2 Jn vs 5&6; James 2:8-12).

We’d be making a fatal mistake if we imagine that the Sabbath issue is inconsequential.

Breach is an invitation to be “cut off” for “not continuing in the LORD’s kindness,” by boasting against the covenant and Israel its chief steward (Jer 31:31-34; Rom 9:4,5; 11:18,22,29).

The Father is DEFERRING judgment to allow us ample time for repentance and course-correction (Is 42:14; 48:9; 57:11; 2 Peter 3:9-18) so we are not destroyed.

The reality is that God is ‘giving all things on collateral.’ He is extending credit like a shopkeeper. He will call in the debt. Though our certificate of debt (record of wrongs; bill of charges) was nailed to the Cross, again “going out of the Way” by falling back under the power of sin (Rom 3:12; 1 Cor 6:12; Gal 2:17,18) exposes us anew to sanction by the curse of the law of sin and death.

God keeps a perfect record of our deeds and ultimately, when the Books that determine whether our names remain forever in the Book of Life, are opened (1 Jn 2:3-6,17; Rev 3:2-6; 20:12), we will have to pay the price because “our sin,” which is transgression of the law, “WILL find us out” (Nu 32:23).

Unlike Israel (historically held to the highest moral standards – Nu 14:22-37; Acts 5:1-11), because WE from the nations are not punished IMMEDIATELY for our misdeeds, we who don’t put fear of sin before wisdom, may be tempted to believe that that grace is justifying our UNSOUND doctrine

DISPUTING the Word and holding truth in CONTEMPT, is always REBELLION (1 Sam 15:22,23), the surest way to subvert one’s own soul and impose one’s own limitations (Ps 78:8,40,41; 107:11).

If you’re still sceptical, look up Tuesday in any reputable dictionary with historical depth, and it will be defined as the THIRD day of the week. Even a child could put two and two together!

Facts argue their own rebuttal.

There can therefore be no doubt that Shabbat is a ‘logical necessity,’ meaning a truth that will outlast its naysayers, because Sunday, the ADVERSARY’s trumped-up OPPOSITE of Shabbat, is inconceivable if one has truly set one’s heart and mind on historical accuracy and doctrinal purity.

“A false interpretation will inevitably betray itself” (Trench)

As the first Biblical mention of holiness AND the first commandment for mankind (not just Israel) framed in Scripture (Gen 2:2,3), Shabbat, the jewel of the moral law as the ‘Prologue’ to God’s perpetual Holy Convocations, is the locomotive of highest national attainments, as PER CAPITA Jewish economics proves

Despite its relatively tiny size, not much larger than New Jersey, and its population (9m) not much bigger than New York City (8,5m), Israel has become a global technological and entrepreneurial powerhouse. The recent Bloomberg Innovation Index, an annual ranking of countries that measures performance in research and development, technology education, patents and other marks of technological prowess, listed Israel at #5 in the world.

On a per capita basis, Israel’s economy – which produced some $500 billion last year – grew 4.4% versus an OECD average of 2.6%.

That, of course, is all due to God’s mercy and grace (Is 42:14,15; 48:9; 57:11), not due to their own righteousness (Rom 10:1-3), and for their sake, Israel’s remarkable success must not lull them into deadly complacency, because their rejection of their Messiah and their wandering away from many of the righteous laws by which they are yet to be known as a wise nation (Deut 4:5-8; Is 2:2-4), will soon bring the worst ever “time of Jacob’s trouble” upon them (Jer 30; Dan 12; Zech 9-14; Matt 24; Lk 21), to “vex” them until they believe the Report (Is 28:19; 53:1-6 KJV) that the Lamb of Is 53 (verses 8-11) is their Incarnate God and Saviour, as it is written in Is 7:13,14; 45:17-25, and expounded more fully in Phil 2:6-15 & Titus 2:11-14 in their own New Covenant writings (Jer 31:31-34).

Since, as YHWH’s Personal Testimony-in-Chief as Creator-Redeemer (Ex 20:8-11; Deut 5:12-15), the covenant of SHABBAT is the PORTAL (Ps 25:10,14) to the deepest understanding of the Everlasting Gospel (Rev 14:6,7,12), Everlasting Salvation (Is 45:17-25), the Everlasting Covenant (Heb 13:20,21) AND the Everlasting Kingdom (2 Peter 1:11), it is indisputably the crown of the moral theme running throughout Scripture, continuing unbroken into the millennial age and beyond, on the New Earth (Is 66:22-24).

So we dare not defile ourselves and Creation (Is 24:5; 1 Cor 3:17; 7:19) by condoning continuing attempts to justify “changing the ordinance” to nullify THIS covenant, by the PRESUMPTION that Sunday is acceptable to the Legislator of the Sinai marriage covenant as a SUBSTITUTE or RIVAL sabbath – our “LawGiver and Judge” being Pre-Incarnate Jesus, “the Shepherd and (Cotner)Stone of Israel” (Gen 49:24) Who shadowed (followed) Israel in the wilderness as the spiritual Rock from which they drank (1 Cor 10:1-4).

Speaking of which, it was MORAL POWER, not brute force, that raised Jesus for our justification (Rom 4:25)

Moral power is defined by VIRTUE, which defines true and faithful sons who worship in Spirit and in Truth (Heb 12)

The Purity of uncompromised morality PROJECTS power (Mk 5:30; Lk 6:19; 8:46).

Impeccable character can’t BUT raise the dead.

Those who did so yet weren’t yet as pure as the Master (1 Jn 3:3,4), had to have purity imputed to them by grace, to do so, in the hope that they would continue in “the Way” of Holiness, having their character steadily refined to become perfect, to be “as the Master” (Matt 5:48; Lk 6:40)

Business is not a separate specie of sonship. Christian morality and ethics aren’t compartmentalized. Righteousness is as universal and absolute as Truth itself, which is why they are matched (Zech 8:8).

Moral power is likewise available to dignify and raise up formidable, magnanimous Christian business-people who devote themselves to learning the Fear of God (Deut 4:10; 5:29; 7:9-15; 13:4; Ps 34:11) by learning the qualities of virtue (uprightness/righteousness, purity, honour, fairness, justness, honesty, probity, integrity, goodness, scrupulous, trustworthy, unsullied, blameless) from study of “precept by precept” (Is 28:9-12; Matt 5:19; Rom 3:20b,31; 1 Cor 7:19; 11:1,2; 2 Thess 2:15), to release the fruits of the Spirit by UNLEARNING “the way/s of the heathen/Gentiles” (Jer 10:2), to remain undefiled by sin, to obtain irrefutable testimony to establish God’s covenant which He swore to the fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so that by learning to keep “the Way of YHWH,” “He may bring upon ABRAHAM that which He hath spoken of (prophesied over) him.”

Boadly speaking, that vast prospective blessing is prophecy that we from the nations will indeed become “heirs of the world” amongst the House of Jacob, Abraham’s dynasty in which Jesus emerged in the house of David, to rule the House of Jacob forever on the Throne of David He will soon restore to Jerusalem (Gen 18:18,19; Deut 8:18; Ps 119:1,38,45; Is 9:6,7; 28:9-12; 33:6; Mk 11:10; Lk 1:32,33; Rom 1:3,4; 3:20b,31; 4:13-16; Rev 14:6,7,12).

The vocational gifting and cognitive capacities and leanings granted, for each of us to be so different (1 Cor 4:7), to make a difference, find provision, and ‘get ahead’ economically, is justified (like life itself) only if we renew the spirit of our minds to conduct life and our economic activity VIRTUOUSLY, to vindicate and “establish” the greatness and beauty of the holiness of the “everlasting covenant,” as the only way to navigate life, to receive the crown of righteousness and the crown of life (Ps 119:17,53,77; Matt 7:13-27; Rom 12:1,2; Eph 4:23,24; 2 Tim 4:3-8; Heb 13:20,21).

The Passion of Christ for US, is meant to be translated into zeal (passion) on OUR part to “count the cost” of bearing our crosses, in pursuit of perfection of holiness (= set apartness by obedience to precept – Rom 2:13,26; 6:12-22; 8:4-14; 2 Cor 7:1), through the knowledge and application of “the Way” of the Kingdom of which Jesus is the Cornerstone as the Living Torah (=Instruction/Word), or we have neither HEARD and nor “SEEN,” nor LOVE or KNOW Him (Job 42:5; Matt 7:21-24; 17:5; Lk 6:40; Jn 5:24; 6:40; Acts 3:20,21; 21:20; Rom 3:31; 1 Jn 3:3-10; 5:2&3

If we miss this, we miss the architecture of the complete plan of redemption, namely :

Because YHWH created the entire Universe for the House of Jacob/Israel (Is 54:3; 55:5; Lk 1:33; Rom 9-11), its progenitor – righteous, law-abiding, covenant-keeping Abraham (Gen 18:18,19; 26:5), has been made the FULCRUM, in Christ, of the ENTIRE plan for redemption of humanity and the universe, which is why we’re defined as his seed (Gal 3:29).

All we’re being asked to do in the love of God (Mk 12:28-34; 1 Jn 5:2&3) to fulfil our duty to keep “the Way” (Eccl 12:13; Ps 103:17,18; Gen 18:19; Lk 12:47-53; 17:7-10), is therefore ultimately for the sake of the FOUNDING fathers of the faith, whom He loves (Deut 4:37-39; Rom 11:29), not ‘the church fathers’ who’ve done so much to lead the enlarged House of Jacob (Lk 1:33, Rom 11) into apostasy, through Rome.

So the challenge is to search out the PRECEPTS (not just the promises), to keep the SCRIPTURAL identikit of VIRTUE before our eyes as the plumbline for a chaste virgin bride, for God’s laws to be written on our hearts by Holy Spirit, to make them the apple of our eye, just as they are to Jesus our LawGiver and Judge (Ps 40:7,8; Prov 7:1-3; Jn 5:28,29; 2 Cor 11:2; Col 1:21-23,28,29; Heb 8:8-12; 10:16; James 1:22-25; 2:7-26).

Father

As the “one fold” (Is 56:6-8; Jn 10:16), we unify on this Shabbat, the amalgam of the Hebrew “one new man” (Mk 2:27,28; Gal 3:29; Eph 2:11,12,15), to pray for the salvation of Your nation:

“Hear the voice of our supplications as we cry unto Thee, as we lift up our hands towards Thy Holy Oracle” (Ps 28:2)

“Save Thy people Jacob, the remnant of Israel, the Israel of YHWH, the chief of nations who shall never cease to be a nation before You in their Blood covenanted homeland; bless Thine inheritance; feed them also (bread and water never failing them), as You nourish them up on the Word of faith and the doctrine of salvation by grace (Ps 28:9; 105:8-11; Is 33:16,17; Jer 31:7,10,17,31-36; Rom 10:1-3; 15:8; Gal 6:16; 1 Tim 4:6).

“Hitherto hath YHWH helped us” (1 Sam 7:12)

The stone of Ebenezer should signify to us that trusting in anything or anyone short of Christ, is a precursor to failure.

Therefore prophetically, we lift up our Stone of Ebenezer (as Y’shua, “the Shepherd and STONE of Israel” – Gen 49:10,24; Is 28:16; 1 Peter 2;9), to thank You for keeping us in Your love, to return us to Shabbat, Your and our delight (Is 58:13), in and of itself a COMPRESSED SEASON of intense sanctity for us to learn righteousness, to ensure we’re wholly sanctified en route to Shavuo’t, on the upward path of righteousness marked out by the seven Shabbatot ‘omer count’ (Lev 23:15,16).

How fitting that David, the foreshadow of the Lion of Judah, should have prophesied that before Creation, You “REFUSED the tabernacle of Joseph and CHOSE NOT the tribe of Ephraim,” but “chose the tribe of JUDAH, (synonomous with) the Mnt Zion that You loved” (Ps 79:68-72), for the Messiah to “deliver not the soul of Thy turtledove into the multitude of the wicked” (Ps 74:19), but to “redeem Thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph” (Ps 77:15) through the “plenteous redemption” obtained by the “blotting out of all transgression and its memory,” by the Passion and Resurrection of the Son of David, “the sure mercies of David” (Ps 130:7; Is 43:25; 44:22; Acts 13:32-39; Lk 1:32-79; Heb 7:25).

In so doing, BY HIM, the One Whose “express image” You are (Is 45:21-23; Titus 2:13; Heb 1:1-3), “justifying all who believe “from ALL things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses,” for You to fulfil the succession (Acts 13:38,39; Jer 33:15-26) by ascending king David’s throne as Royal High Priest in the order of Malki Tzedek, as Immanu-El (Ps 132:17,18; Mk 11:10; Lk 1:32) “so that all will be confounded and turned back (by Him), who hate Zion” (Ps 129:5-8; Lk 1:69-75; Rev 19), in order to make David’s dynasty flourish (Ps 89:1-5,27-37; 132:18).

So shall You be greatly Feared (reverenced in Godly Fear – Ps 119:37,38; Is 33:6; Heb 12:28) in “the Church and General Assembly of the firstborn,” Jacob the prince (Gen 25:20-23; 32:28; Ex 4:22,23; Ps 89:7; Is 29:22-24; Lk 1:32,33; Heb 12:23).

HalleluYaH

May those who stand with YOU, the LORD Who made heaven and earth, for THIS glorious outcome, Israel’s exaltation (Deut 26:16-19; Is 46:13; Haggai 2:7-9; Lk 2:32), to be accomplished in Your mercy, be blessed out of Zion from which Your salvation and all blessings flow. All our springs are in her, the City of our Redeemer and of our solemnities (YOUR Set Times) (Ps 87; 134:3; Is 33:20)

In Y’shua’s Name we pray

Amein