Monday, February 25, 2013

Whom shall we glorify?

It is written in Philippians 2: 5-11 (Young's Literal Trans.) about our Master Yeshua the Anointed One:
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For, let this mind be in you that [is] also in Christ Jesus,
who, being in the form of God, thought [it] not robbery to be equal to God,
but did empty himself, the form of a servant having taken, in the likeness of men having been made,
and in fashion having been found as a man, he humbled himself, having become obedient unto death -- death even of a cross,
wherefore, also, God did highly exalt him, and gave to him a name that [is] above every name,
that in the name of Jesus every knee may bow -- of heavenlies, and earthlies, and what are under the earth --
and every tongue may confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
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Many who read this passage in Philippians chapter 2 are so engrossed with the Humility of the Anointed One that they do not see the Hand of God, the Father of our Master Yeshua. Some of us are so preoccupied with this "Jesus" that we want to adore and worship nothing else.


However, if we take a closer look at the passage, we can see much more than Jesus. We see the actions carried out by the Hand of God:

It was God who exalted him to the highest place.
It was God who gave him the highest name.
It was God who made him Lord.

This act of love, it was an act of God.

When every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Yeshua Messiah is Lord, it is done to the glory of God the Father.

Many Christians are taught in church today to praise Jesus, thank Jesus, love Jesus, magnify Jesus' name, bow to Jesus, confess Jesus etc etc so much so that this Greek Name "Jesus" has virtually taken the place of the Only True God, the God who is called many times in the NT as the "God and Father of our Master Yeshua the Messiah".
(see 2 Cor.1:3, Eph.1:3, Col.1:3, 1 Pet.1:3)

Dear brothers and sisters, why is there so little praise for our Father in Heaven? Why are so few giving glory to the Only True God?

Let us do all things to the glory of God our Father in Heaven.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

A tale of two Yeshuas


To all who worship YeHoVaH Elohim, who guard the commandment to rest on the Seventh Day,

Shabbat Shalom.
Psalm 95: 6 - 11 NIV
Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before YHWH our Maker;
for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
TODAY*, if only you would hear his voice,
‘Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways.”
So I declared on oath in my anger,
“They shall never enter my rest.”’
* TODAY: Explained in Hebrews 4: 8 - 11 NIV
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.


It is noteworthy that the first Joshua, called Yeshua ben Nun (or simply Joshua by most people) did not succeed in giving rest to Israel of old because of their hardened hearts and rebellious ways, so much so that YHWH had sworn in His wrath that they would never enter His rest.

In contrast, the second Joshua, called Yeshua ben Elohim (who is called "Jesus" today), by his death, resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God, has succeeded in becoming the eternal High Priest to intercede and mediate on behalf of all who repent and turn to God through him and become grafted into the vine of Israel.

Thus, TODAY, there remains a Sabbath rest for such people of God. Let us strive to enter this rest.