Is Every Believer the Bride?

Eph 5:27  in order to present it to Himself a splendid assembly, not having spot or wrinkle or any of this sort, but that it might be set-apart and blameless.

taw-meem’  Hebrew

perfect, without blemish, undefiled (means spiritually mature)

Genesis 24 (gives us the marriage of Isaac & Rebekah)  Abraham desired a bride for his son

1.  Abraham (spiritual pic of God the Father)

2.  Eliezer (spiritual pic of Holy Spirit)

3.  Rebekah (spiritual pic of Bride of Christ)

4.  Isaac (spiritual pic off Jesus the Bridegroom)

Spiritual Characteristics of the Bride

1.  They lodged at a house which was prepared for them

(Jn 14:1-3  in my Father’s house there are many mansions, I go to prepare a place or you)

(chupah (wedding canopy) = in Jesus’ day a Hebrew wedding the father of the bridegroom prepared a room)

2.  The wife was taken from among Abraham’s people

3.  Rebekah was a damsel (girl from infancy to adolescense; spiritually mature)

-she begins as a spiritual babe (carnal christian) but grows into a spiritual mature adult (a believer that is fully intimate with               Yahweh)

4.  She was willing to follow (pleasing Yahweh is a consuming desire of the Bride; she loves Yahweh with all her heart, mind, soul, & strength)

5.  She comes out of Babylon (pic of world, spiritual idolatry, spiritual whoredom)

6.  She will be a virgin & holy (2 Cor 11:2 For I am jealous for you with a jealousy according to Elohim. For I gave you in marriage to one husband, to present you as an innocent maiden to Messiah.)

7.  She walks in the ways of Yahweh (Israel knew the acts of Yahweh but Mosheh or Moses knew the ways of Yahweh)

-she doesnt commit spiritual idolatry (one foot in the world and the other in the things of Yahweh)

8.  She endures the trials and tribulations of life

9.  She is the servant of Yahweh

10. She will serve Elohim in truth (we will look at truth in a minute)

11. She will reign (in marriage) with Yahshua during the Messianic Age

12. She will be a nation of Kings of Priests

Many of us have preached that salvation was the ultimate goal of Christianity & once saved, you have met that goal.

Heb 6:1  Therefore, having left the word of the beginning of the Messiah, let us go on to perfection (completeness, consumation, high calling, spiritual maturity), not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of belief toward Elohim,

Rom 12:1-2  I call upon you, therefore, brothers, through the compassion of Elohim, to present your bodies a living offering – set-apart, well-pleasing to Elohim – your reasonable worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you prove what is that good and well-pleasing and perfect desire of Elohim.  (3 levels of Yahweh’s will)  good, acceptable or well pleasing, & perfect and the Bride passes through each one of these thus walking in the perfect will of Yahweh

How do we walk in the perfect will (high calling) of Yahweh

-the goal of believers is to grow from a babe to a full grown son or daughter in Yahshua

-the goal of every believer is to think like Yahshua, look like him, talk like him, act like him, so @ the end of your life you have a Yahshua life & Yahshua ministry

-fulilling Eph 2:22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of Elohim in the Spirit.

IS EVERY BELIEVER EQUAL IN ETERNITY????

2 Tim 4:8  For the rest, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Master, the righteous Judge, shall give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all those loving His appearing.

-crown of salvation that every believer will receive

Matt 20     the 11th hour worker gets same wages as those who worked the full day

-this crown will look exactly the same for every believer

James 1:12  Blessed is the man who does endure trial, for when he has been proved, he shall receive the crown of life which the Master has promised to those who love Him.

Rev 2:10  ”Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. See, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, in order to try you, and you shall have pressure ten days. Be trustworthy until death, and I shall give you the crown of life.

-life (zoe = abundant life, fullness of spirutual maturity, high calling of Yahweh, plateau of life)

Mat 19:16  And see, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good shall I do to have everlasting life (zoe = to reach the fullness of spiritual maturity)?”

Yahshua responded

Math 19:21

יהושע  said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. And come, follow Me.”

-Yahshua didnt respond by saying if you will be saved….  but if you will be perfect (complete or spiritually mature)

-we can see from this story that those who obtain eternal life (zoe) arent only saved and in heaven but will also be those with the highest rewards in heaven (b/c the disciples were told they would be sitting on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel)

-so no not everyone is equal in eternity

Mat 5:17-19  ”Do not think that I came to destroy (add to or subtract from) the Torah (teaching or instructions) or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy (add to or subtract rom) but to complete (give full meaning to or fill up completely with meaning). “For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done. “Whoever, then, breaks one of the least of these commands, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the reign of the heavens; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens.

-again we see that there will be those great and those who are least in the reign of heaven

Let’s examine Torah

Isa 26:2  ”Open the gates, let the righteous nation which guards the truth enter in.

-the righteous nation w/h keeps truth (Torah) will enter into the gates of heaven to be married to Yahshua

Psa 119:142  Your righteousness is righteousness forever, And Your Torah is truth.

Rom 7:7  What, then, shall we say? Is the Torah sin? Let it not be! However, I did not know sin except through the Torah.

-Torah is not a book of do’s and donts

-it teaches us what is sin and leads & guides us along with the Holy Spirit into all righteousness

-Torah was never intended for salvation but for instruction after salvation; teaching us how to love Yahweh & live obedient to Him, pleasing Him in everything

Why do Believers need to keep TORAH AFTER salvation?

There are several reasons:

1.  In Psalm 119:1, the undefiled, (“Taw-meem” = Spiritually mature) walk in the Torah of God. Being undefiled is a priestly term that is associated with being “sanctified and clean” before God. The Bride of Christ is a priest before God (I Peter 2:5,9).

2.  Since the TORAH is truth (Psalm 119:142, Malachi 2:1, 6-7), Yahshua       Prayed that we would be “sanctified through truth” (John 17:17).

3.  The Bride of Christ is “sanctified and cleansed” by the washing of water by the word (TORAH) and is spiritually mature and “without blemish” (Ephesians 5:26-27)

Torah was given by God to not only “make clean or sanctify” Yahweh’s people,

(Psalm 119:9-11,17-19, John 15:3, John 17:7) but Yahweh’s Torah is “truth” (Psalm 119:142, Malachi 2:1, 6-7) and by walking in His Torah, His people become “undefiled” (Psalm 119:1) which is the Hebrew word, “Taw-meem” = without blemish”). Through this, we can understand what is being spoken in Ephesians 5:26-27 when it tells us that the Bride of Christ will be “sanctified and without blemish.”

What happens when we dont keep the teachings/instructions of YHVH (Torah)

-we are doing the same as the rich young ruler

-we are choosing to remain a babe in Yahshua, never growing to spiritual maturity, never doing the perfect will of Yahweh; thus disqualifying ourselves in becoming the bride

The temple is a prophetic type and shadow of 3 types of believers

-the outer court, holy place, holy of holies

OUTER COURT BELIEVERS

1.  largest area of the temple (majority of people in eternity will be outer court believers)

2.  had the brazen altar (represents the cross, when we receive Yahshua & die to our old        nature)

3.  had the brazen laver (represents the cleansing of sin by the washing of the Word)

-outer court believers are saved but live their lives according to the natural ways of the world

-they know the acts of Yahweh but dont know the ways of Yahweh

HOLY PLACE BELIEVERS

1.  had the menorah or lampstand (represents the Holy Spirit)

2.  had the table of shewbread (represents the daily bread of Yahweh’s Word)

3.  had the altar of incense (represents the prayers of the believers)

-holy place believers have a deeper understanding of the Word, have a prayer life, & are led by the Spirit and walk in some of Torah

HOLY OF HOLIES

1.  had the ark of the covenant (represents the presence of Yahweh)

2.  had the mercy seat (represents the glory of Yahweh)

-holy of holy believers are saved, have a deeper understranding of the Word, have a prayer life, are led by the Holy Spirit, & keep   Torah

-holy of holies believers are the Bride of Yahshua

THE SPIRITUAL APPLICATION TO THE 3 AREAS IN THE TABERNACLE

1 Jn 2:12-14   I write to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His Name.  I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him from the beginning.  I wrote to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of Elohim stays in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.

little children (sins forgiven), young men (know the Word), & fathers (know Him)

Joh 14:6  יהושע  said to him, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (outer court = way;    holy place = truth;     holy of holies = life )

Way, Truth, & Life

Acts 3:19-21  ”Repent therefore and turn back, for the blotting out of your sins, in order that times of refreshing might come from the presence of the Master,   and that He sends יהושע  Messiah, pre-appointed for you, whom heaven needs to receive until the times of restoration of all matters, of which Elohim spoke through the mouth of all His set-apart prophets since of old.

-before Yahweh returns for the believers; He is coming to the believers revealing Himsel in the believers; so He can flow through the believers

1st Yahweh brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt (revealing Himself to them)

2nd Yahweh gave them Torah (revealing Himsel in them)

3rd Yahweh helped the children of Israel conquer their enemies in the Promised Land (revealing Himself through them)

To You, In You, & Through You

Mar 4:13-20  (parable of the sower)

-there are 3 levels of fruit that are brought forth in this parable  (30, 60, 100)

Rom 12:1-2 (read this earlier; good, acceptable, & perect will of Yahweh)

passover (coming to you) = outer court; by accepting Yahshua into our lives he is our passover lamb

pentecost (revealing in you) = holy place; the Torah & Holy Spirit was given on this feast

tabernacles (revealing through you) = holy of holies; conquering the Promise Land & Holy of Holies believers walk in the promised land of Yahweh

PASSOVER, PENTECOST, TABERNACLES

OUTER COURT               HOLY PLACE                  HOLY OF HOLIES

Little Children                     Young Men                             Fathers

Way                                Truth                                       Life

Passover                         Pentecost                             Tabernacles

30 fold                              60 fold                                  100 fold

To You                               In You                               Through You

Sins forgiven                     Know Word                             Know Him

Good Will                      Acceptable Will                           Perfect Will

Eph 5:27  in order to present it to Himself a splendid assembly, not having spot or wrinkle or any of this sort, but that it might be set-apart and blameless.

taw-meem’  Hebrew

perfect, without blemish, undefiled (means spiritually mature)

Genesis 24 (gives us the marriage of Isaac & Rebekah)  Abraham desired a bride for his son

1.  Abraham (spiritual pic of God the Father)

2.  Eliezer (spiritual pic of Holy Spirit)

3.  Rebekah (spiritual pic of Bride of Christ)

4.  Isaac (spiritual pic off Jesus the Bridegroom)

Spiritual Characteristics of the Bride

1.  They lodged at a house which was prepared for them

(Jn 14:1-3  in my Father’s house there are many mansions, I go to prepare a place or you)

(chupah (wedding canopy) = in Jesus’ day a Hebrew wedding the father of the bridegroom prepared a room)

2.  The wife was taken from among Abraham’s people

3.  Rebekah was a damsel (girl from infancy to adolescense; spiritually mature)

-she begins as a spiritual babe (carnal christian) but grows into a spiritual mature adult (a believer that is fully intimate with               Yahweh)

4.  She was willing to follow (pleasing Yahweh is a consuming desire of the Bride; she loves Yahweh with all her heart, mind, soul, & strength)

5.  She comes out of Babylon (pic of world, spiritual idolatry, spiritual whoredom)

6.  She will be a virgin & holy (2 Cor 11:2 For I am jealous for you with a jealousy according to Elohim. For I gave you in marriage to one husband, to present you as an innocent maiden to Messiah.)

7.  She walks in the ways of Yahweh (Israel knew the acts of Yahweh but Mosheh or Moses knew the ways of Yahweh)

-she doesnt commit spiritual idolatry (one foot in the world and the other in the things of Yahweh)

8.  She endures the trials and tribulations of life

9.  She is the servant of Yahweh

10. She will serve Elohim in truth (we will look at truth in a minute)

11. She will reign (in marriage) with Yahshua during the Messianic Age

12. She will be a nation of Kings of Priests

Many of us have preached that salvation was the ultimate goal of Christianity & once saved, you have met that goal.

Heb 6:1  Therefore, having left the word of the beginning of the Messiah, let us go on to perfection (completeness, consumation, high calling, spiritual maturity), not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of belief toward Elohim,

Rom 12:1-2  I call upon you, therefore, brothers, through the compassion of Elohim, to present your bodies a living offering – set-apart, well-pleasing to Elohim – your reasonable worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you prove what is that good and well-pleasing and perfect desire of Elohim.  (3 levels of Yahweh’s will)  good, acceptable or well pleasing, & perfect and the Bride passes through each one of these thus walking in the perfect will of Yahweh

How do we walk in the perfect will (high calling) of Yahweh

-the goal of believers is to grow from a babe to a full grown son or daughter in Yahshua

-the goal of every believer is to think like Yahshua, look like him, talk like him, act like him, so @ the end of your life you have a Yahshua life & Yahshua ministry

-fulilling Eph 2:22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of Elohim in the Spirit.

IS EVERY BELIEVER EQUAL IN ETERNITY????

2 Tim 4:8  For the rest, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Master, the righteous Judge, shall give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all those loving His appearing.

-crown of salvation that every believer will receive

Matt 20     the 11th hour worker gets same wages as those who worked the full day

-this crown will look exactly the same for every believer

James 1:12  Blessed is the man who does endure trial, for when he has been proved, he shall receive the crown of life which the Master has promised to those who love Him.

Rev 2:10  ”Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. See, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, in order to try you, and you shall have pressure ten days. Be trustworthy until death, and I shall give you the crown of life.

-life (zoe = abundant life, fullness of spirutual maturity, high calling of Yahweh, plateau of life)

Mat 19:16  And see, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good shall I do to have everlasting life (zoe = to reach the fullness of spiritual maturity)?”

Yahshua responded

Math 19:21

יהושע  said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. And come, follow Me.”

-Yahshua didnt respond by saying if you will be saved….  but if you will be perfect (complete or spiritually mature)

-we can see from this story that those who obtain eternal life (zoe) arent only saved and in heaven but will also be those with the highest rewards in heaven (b/c the disciples were told they would be sitting on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel)

-so no not everyone is equal in eternity

Mat 5:17-19  ”Do not think that I came to destroy (add to or subtract from) the Torah (teaching or instructions) or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy (add to or subtract rom) but to complete (give full meaning to or fill up completely with meaning). “For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done. “Whoever, then, breaks one of the least of these commands, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the reign of the heavens; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens.

-again we see that there will be those great and those who are least in the reign of heaven

Let’s examine Torah

Isa 26:2  ”Open the gates, let the righteous nation which guards the truth enter in.

-the righteous nation w/h keeps truth (Torah) will enter into the gates of heaven to be married to Yahshua

Psa 119:142  Your righteousness is righteousness forever, And Your Torah is truth.

Rom 7:7  What, then, shall we say? Is the Torah sin? Let it not be! However, I did not know sin except through the Torah.

-Torah is not a book of do’s and donts

-it teaches us what is sin and leads & guides us along with the Holy Spirit into all righteousness

-Torah was never intended for salvation but for instruction after salvation; teaching us how to love Yahweh & live obedient to Him, pleasing Him in everything

Why do Believers need to keep TORAH AFTER salvation?

There are several reasons:

1.  In Psalm 119:1, the undefiled, (“Taw-meem” = Spiritually mature) walk in the Torah of God. Being undefiled is a priestly term that is associated with being “sanctified and clean” before God. The Bride of Christ is a priest before God (I Peter 2:5,9).

2.  Since the TORAH is truth (Psalm 119:142, Malachi 2:1, 6-7), Yahshua       Prayed that we would be “sanctified through truth” (John 17:17).

3.  The Bride of Christ is “sanctified and cleansed” by the washing of water by the word (TORAH) and is spiritually mature and “without blemish” (Ephesians 5:26-27)

Torah was given by God to not only “make clean or sanctify” Yahweh’s people,

(Psalm 119:9-11,17-19, John 15:3, John 17:7) but Yahweh’s Torah is “truth” (Psalm 119:142, Malachi 2:1, 6-7) and by walking in His Torah, His people become “undefiled” (Psalm 119:1) which is the Hebrew word, “Taw-meem” = without blemish”). Through this, we can understand what is being spoken in Ephesians 5:26-27 when it tells us that the Bride of Christ will be “sanctified and without blemish.”

What happens when we dont keep the teachings/instructions of YHVH (Torah)

-we are doing the same as the rich young ruler

-we are choosing to remain a babe in Yahshua, never growing to spiritual maturity, never doing the perfect will of Yahweh; thus disqualifying ourselves in becoming the bride

The temple is a prophetic type and shadow of 3 types of believers

-the outer court, holy place, holy of holies

OUTER COURT BELIEVERS

1.  largest area of the temple (majority of people in eternity will be outer court believers)

2.  had the brazen altar (represents the cross, when we receive Yahshua & die to our old        nature)

3.  had the brazen laver (represents the cleansing of sin by the washing of the Word)

-outer court believers are saved but live their lives according to the natural ways of the world

-they know the acts of Yahweh but dont know the ways of Yahweh

HOLY PLACE BELIEVERS

1.  had the menorah or lampstand (represents the Holy Spirit)

2.  had the table of shewbread (represents the daily bread of Yahweh’s Word)

3.  had the altar of incense (represents the prayers of the believers)

-holy place believers have a deeper understanding of the Word, have a prayer life, & are led by the Spirit and walk in some of Torah

HOLY OF HOLIES

1.  had the ark of the covenant (represents the presence of Yahweh)

2.  had the mercy seat (represents the glory of Yahweh)

-holy of holy believers are saved, have a deeper understranding of the Word, have a prayer life, are led by the Holy Spirit, & keep   Torah

-holy of holies believers are the Bride of Yahshua

THE SPIRITUAL APPLICATION TO THE 3 AREAS IN THE TABERNACLE

1 Jn 2:12-14   I write to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His Name.  I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him from the beginning.  I wrote to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of Elohim stays in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.

little children (sins forgiven), young men (know the Word), & fathers (know Him)

Joh 14:6  יהושע  said to him, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (outer court = way;    holy place = truth;     holy of holies = life )

Way, Truth, & Life

Acts 3:19-21  ”Repent therefore and turn back, for the blotting out of your sins, in order that times of refreshing might come from the presence of the Master,   and that He sends יהושע  Messiah, pre-appointed for you, whom heaven needs to receive until the times of restoration of all matters, of which Elohim spoke through the mouth of all His set-apart prophets since of old.

-before Yahweh returns for the believers; He is coming to the believers revealing Himsel in the believers; so He can flow through the believers

1st Yahweh brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt (revealing Himself to them)

2nd Yahweh gave them Torah (revealing Himsel in them)

3rd Yahweh helped the children of Israel conquer their enemies in the Promised Land (revealing Himself through them)

To You, In You, & Through You

Mar 4:13-20  (parable of the sower)

-there are 3 levels of fruit that are brought forth in this parable  (30, 60, 100)

Rom 12:1-2 (read this earlier; good, acceptable, & perect will of Yahweh)

passover (coming to you) = outer court; by accepting Yahshua into our lives he is our passover lamb

pentecost (revealing in you) = holy place; the Torah & Holy Spirit was given on this feast

tabernacles (revealing through you) = holy of holies; conquering the Promise Land & Holy of Holies believers walk in the promised land of Yahweh

PASSOVER, PENTECOST, TABERNACLES

1st column is Outer Court, 2nd is Inner Court, 3rd Holy of Holies

Little Children                   Young Men                                Fathers

Way                                     Truth                                            Life

Passover                          Pentecost                                Tabernacles

30 fold                                60 fold                                      100 fold

To You                                In You                                   Through You

Sins forgiven                     Know Word                                Know Him

Good Will                       Acceptable Will                         Perfect Will

100, 60, & 30

And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Matt 13:3-8
Here is a parable that most of us have heard preached hundreds of times but let me present it in a way that you probably have never heard. Before we begin keep your money in your pockets. I am not going to use this passage to manipulate you into ‘sowing into my ministry’. I will leave that for the white suit slick tongued televangelists. We see the Messiah talking about four types of soils here. I don’t have time to go into it but if you do a word study on the first three soils, they will point you right back to Esau or characteristics of Esau and his life. Remember the Scriptures have nothing good to say about Esau or they are always in a negative sense. Just keep that in mind. A side note. Isn’t it interesting that the Palestinians are descendants of Esau and even better, descendants of Amalek. Now you can see why the Israelites were commanded to totally destroy the Amalekites and now it is even clearer that today the Israelites are suffering still from not obeying Yahweh in what he commanded. The Father knew that in the end of days that Esau or the Amalekites would be a thorn in Israel’s side.

Ok back to the parable. Let’s focus on the fourth soil. It was good soil that produced 100, 60, & 30 fold. Naturally we would say 30, 60, & 100 fold but why does it say it in reverse order? I believe there is a specific reason that Matthew gives it to us in reverse order. Shaul (Paul) tells us we’re heirs to Abraham’s seed according to the promise (Gal 3:29).

Let me be very clear here that the physical seed wasn’t what Yahweh was speaking of. He was speaking of those of ‘faith’ who will bless all the families of the earth. Abraham’s seed is an Hebrew idiom referring to those who come forth or the fruit of Abraham. Remember Gen 1:11 tells us the seed is in the fruit, so if we don’t produce the fruit, the seed is only in the fruit. This is why it’s important that it produces fruit because the seed is only in the fruit. So Abraham’s seed is in his fruit. We go and see when Abraham’s seed was produced and there you have it, Isaac. And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Yitzak (Isaac) was born unto him (Gen 21:5).

Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was reproduced. Next, we see Yitzak producing a son named Yacov (Jacob) when he was 60. His name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore (60) years old when she bore them (Gen 25:26b).

Lastly, Yacov had twelve sons but what is interesting is we don’t see them producing fruit. The one son we do see that produces fruit is Yosef (Joseph). We remember that Yosef was later placed with the house of Yisrael and we also see that Yosef was the one that produced the fruit when he was in the land. Yosef, whose name means to multiply, he was Yacov’s fruit. Remember Yosef was thrown into a pit, sold into slavery and placed in jail. He didn’t produce fruit during this time. It was when he interpreted the King’s dream and had the Egyptians save up in the land for he famine that fruit came forth. Now Scripture doesn’t just give us the ages of folks to just fill up space on the pages of the Bible.

There is a specific purpose for this. So when Yosef goes into the land and begins to produce the same faith (fruit) that his fathers had it says and Yosef was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh… (Gen 41:46). So there you have it 100, 60, & 30. So if we are Abraham’s seed, are we producing the fruit he produced? Yahweh’s fruit is the fruit of Abraham, Yitzak, and Yacov. Abraham believed, Yitzak was called and Yosef produced the fruit. Now we see why the parable says the true seeds (the one’s producing Yah’s Word) produce 100, 60, & 30. He’s never called the God of Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. No He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because this was the order when they produced their fruit. So what does this mean for us today? It means the true believers in the end times will be restored back to the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and produce the fruit i.e. faith they produced.

Meaning you will be able to distinguish the tares amongst the wheat because the only way to distinguish which is wheat and which is a tare is by the fruit. Wheat produces fruit and bows itself over i.e. humility and the tare sticks straight up i.e. pride, arrogance, stiff necked. The tares don’t obey fully God’s Word and try to take away from the wheat and keep the wheat from producing or fully obeying God’s Word. You want to be wheat that produces fruit because remember it’s the tares who are taken out of here first and thrown into the fire and burnt up (Matt 13:30).

Mixed Salad (Ensalada Mixta in Spanish)

Chukat/Balak: “Ordinances/Balak”

Torah : Numbers 19:1-22:1/Numbers 22:2-25:9

Haftarah : Judges 11:1-33/Michah 5:6-6:8

Brit Hadasha : I John 5:1-21/ I John 4:16

Thought for the Week:

“And you shall remember that יהוה  your Elohim led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, prove you (i.e. to test you), to know what is in your heart, whether you guard His commands or not. “And He humbled you, and let you suffer hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, to make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of יהוה. Deut 8:2-3

Commentary:

It has been a long long time since I wrote a commentary due to being gone so much from home, but I really wanted to write this week about this portion since it deals with mixing and how this is one of the main issues we as believers will face in the tribulation not only from our ‘new covenant brethren’ who don’t know about all this “Jewish” stuff as they call it (i.e. Torah, Feasts, Sabbath, & Dietary Instructions) but also from so called Torah observant believers in Messiah Yahshua.  One thing that is interesting about the ‘thought of the week scripture’ is that the Eternal tested Am Yisrael (the children of Israel) in the wilderness not the enemy but the Eternal Father.  Why in the world did He do this?  Well verse 2 gives us the answer when it tells us to see if Israel would keep the commandments or not keep them.  We all know the outcome and if they kept them or not.  We are still swimming around in the great Ocean of the wilderness today and it still is a heated debate with our new covenant bretheren whether or not to keep the commandments of Yahweh.

So what is this portion all about.  One word MIXING.  Some would say that this doctrine only applies to eating of foods sacraficed to idols and sexual sin but these are just manifestations and not the root of Balaam’s doctrine.  We all know that the Brit Chadasha (Newer Test.) doesn’t speak very highly of Balaam, matter of fact it always condems him or his actions or better stated his doctrine.1 We will see just exactly what is the doctrine of Balaam later but for now we can state that this doctrine has been thought out and planned by the enemy originating in his heart since the beginning (the Garden).  The problem with this doctrine is that it causes Israel (all believers in Messiah) to stumble.  Balaam and his doctrine is so alive and well today amongst us and Scripture teaches that this end time generation is full of it (see Rev 2).  It will affect you and I as end time believers becasue we find a pattern in the Tanak (Older Test.) and that pattern is that every time Am Yisrael gets ready to turn back to Yahweh or go into the Land, good ole doctrine of Balaam is right there to thwart them in their quest.  So for us being this end time generation who will go back to the Land, we need to look back to the Tanak and find out how Am Yisrael stumbled so that we will not commit the same errors. We should be learning from our forefathers mistakes.2 Remember Biblical history is prophecy and what happened to the forefathers will happen to the descendants.  This is a principal and you can take it to the bank.  The Tanak (Older Test.) has MORE to say about our future than does the Brit Chadasha (Newer Test) so now do you see why the enemy is so hard pressed to keep us away from studying the beginning?

So lets get into what is the doctrine of Balaam.  You would think that we need to start with the story of Balaam to find this, right?  Well we actually can find this all over the Tanak in places like the Garden of Eden and Hamor’s temptation of Jacob.3 We see Satan there right in the middle giving advice and this advice was against what the Word said.  Mixing his agenda into Yahweh’s agenda.  Satan was using Hamor to present the doctrine of assimilation to Jacob.  In others words Hamor said stay here live with us eat, marry and be happy don’t fully go all the way with Yahweh.  What we have is sufficient and where you are at is good enough.  We know that this clearly goes against the covenant that Yahweh made with Abraham several chapters earlier in Genesis 12 to start a special nation to bring forth and demonstrate the glory and speldour of Yahweh to all the gentiles (heathens & heathen nations outside the covenant of the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob).

While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the LORD was angry against Israel. And the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you slay his men who have joined themselves to Baal of Peor.” Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the body. So the plague on the sons of Israel was checked. And those who died by the plague were 24,000. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel, in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. “Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give him My covenant of peace; and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’” Now the name of the slain man of Israel who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s household among the Simeonites. And the name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Be hostile to the Midianites and strike them;  Num 25:1-17

So lets take a look at the five things above that occured at Baal Peor:

1.  Worship of other gods (idolatry)

2.  Joined themselves to Baal Peor (idolatry)

3.  Ate with them (forming a covenant with them)

4.   Harlotry  (idolatry)

5.   Sexual immorality  (idolatry)

One aspect of the doctrine of Balaam is ha Satan’s doctirne to defeat Yahweh’s people before they receive thier inheritance or make it into the land.  It places a stumbling block of greed and wealth in front of us causing us to sell out short of fully doing what the Eternal wants us to do or has commanded us to do.  We see this in the story of Hamor and Jacob.  I know I kind of jumped the track from Numbers but wanted to throw those Scriptures out there so we could see how Balaam’s doctrine plays out.  We are laying a foundation right now with this doctrine and how the enemy tries to weave it into our lives.  Lets look at Ezra 9.

Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. “For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.” And when I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering. But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God; and I said, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to Thee, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads, and our guilt has grown even to the heavens. “Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder and to open shame, as it is this day. “But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. “For we are slaves; yet in our bondage, our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem. “And now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Thy commandments, which Thou hast commanded by Thy servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end and with their impurity. ‘So now do not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and never seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’ “And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, since Thou our God hast requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us an escaped remnant as this, shall we again break Thy commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Wouldst Thou not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape? Ezra 9:1-14

Here we see the root of Balaam’s doctrine.  It is about intermarriage here but verse 14 lays it out for us as to where the hidden root is found.  The doctrine of Balaam is purposed by the enemy for us to break (not keep or say they have been done away with and no longer apply to us) the commandments so that Yahweh will be in disfavor with us because we are disobeying His Word thus keeping us from completing our destiny.  So there you have it folks the root of the doctrine of Balaam is mixing the false with the truth to keep believers from obeying the Eternal fully or completly.  As a friend of mine teaches, Its a Satanic message promoted by the culture around us given to lure the saints using greed, lusts & so forth, into assimilation with the pagan culture around them to such an extent that it causes us break Yahweh’s commandments whether we know it or not.  Thats what it is all about.

Lets bring this into todays culture.

‘But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality. ‘Thus you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Rev 2:14-15

Shaul (Paul) talks about this issue and lets us know that these idols that are being sacraficed to are basically nothing because there is only One True God.

Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. 1 Cor 8:1-4

Lets see what Shaul goes on to say about this same subject though.

But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.  1 Cor 10:20

Shaul is saying here that we know they aren’t sacraficing to the True God but what is actually happening here when they offer sacrafices to these idols, they are sacraficing to devils of false religions.  Did Shaul just make a new doctrine here as many teach?  No, he got it straight from the Torah as he did with the rest of his teachings.4 Its because we have never studied the Tanak (Older Test.) to find out where the Brit Chadasha (Newer Test) writers were referencing and writing from.  The Brit Chadasha is written from a perspective that doesn’t formulate beliefs it assumes beliefs.  What do I mean by that?  I mean that the writers of the Newer Test. assume that you, the reader, have read and understand what is written in the Older Test. Scriptures so they don’t go into details on explaining the Torah all over again.  We err when we believe and teach faslely that ‘new’ beliefs are taught or ‘formulated’ in the Newer Test.  Scripture teaches us that there is nothing ‘new’ under the sun,5 it has been there since the beginning of time.  As a friend of mine says, “There is nothing ‘New’ in the ‘New Test.’, its only True.

Back to Lev 17:1-4.  What Scripture teaches us here is if you went and sacraficed an animal and offered it to the Eternal and you didn’t bring it to where He said to offer it, He counted that animals blood against you.  You are probably thinking right now, Joel, why in the world did you jump track here.  Well, I didn’t what Yahweh is trying to teach us is that we have to do it His way not our way.  This is the main problem with ‘religion’ today and yes ‘Christianity’ falls in under that catageory.  The problem is that we have thousands of different denominations all saying they have the corner market on ‘truth’ and claiming to have perfect doctrine but many are doing things ‘THEIR’ own way and not how Yahweh perscribed it.  Thus this is why there are thousands of different denominations and yes the Non Denomination, ‘denomination’ falls in under a denomination also.  I can say that because I was a part of a non denominational fellowship one time and we ‘prided’ ourselves on the fact that we were non denominational and not a part of any other denomination.  How we forget to look at ourselves in the mirror.  The point here that I want to make and have made in past commentaries is the old adage of well God knows my heart (many times used to not deal with Scriptures or justify disobedience) doesnt work and make it right.  We are 100% correct God does know our hearts as Jeremiah 17:9 tells us The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Also, take time to read Rev. 2 to see what Scripture says.  He knows their works and it never mentions I know your hearts.  We have allowed our pagan culture to define what the Word of Yahweh means.  We better get back to His ways or else suffer the consequences.  Folks, the issue that I am trying to point out here is PROPER worship.  Do we just worship Him the way we want to and feel like.  I submit to you that many are doing this today and saying they worship in spirit and truth but we clearly know that the true spirit of Yahweh does not tell us to do  something that contradicts His Word.  So the point I am making here is that we can’t say that we worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob using methods that He doesn’t approve of.  It just doesn’t work.  Well it may work for a seared conscience but for those who want to do it Yahweh’s way MUST do it according to the Book and not traditions or mans false doctrines.

What do we find then in the story of Baal Peor?  We find Am Yisrael forsaking the true worship of Yahweh and following the commandments of the demons who inspired the false worship.  Point blank no room for justifying or debating here.  FALSE WORSHIP not by my standards but by Yahweh’s standards!!!

So again the root of the doctrine of Balaam is mixing the false with the truth to keep believers from obeying the Eternal fully or completly.  Its a Satanic message promoted by the culture around us given to lure the saints using greed, lusts & so forth, into assimilation with the pagan culture around them to such an extent that it causes us break Yahweh’s commandments whether we know it or not.

I just want to mention something here that I have written on extensively in the past.  If our current holidays i.e. Christmas or Christ’s mass and Easter cant be found in the Word then we shouldn’t be doing those.  I will leave you with two Scriptures that we all need to meditate on.  Daniel 7:25 speaks of the anti Messiah changing the appointed times of Yahweh in the end of days and Jeremiah 16:19 about the lies the gentiles have inherited that profit nothing.

May we stop following the doctrines that have been formed in the imagination of man and begin to follow the doctrines that are written in the Scriptures so that we can worship the Father, the way He said He wants to be worshipped and not they way men say.  Blessings and Shalom.

I welcome your comments and thoughts about this commentary.    Email    admin@crucifiedlifemin.com

Endnotes

1  II Peter 2:15, Jude 1:11, Rev 2:14-15

2  I Cor 10:1-12

3  Genesis 34

4  Leviticus 17:1-9

5  Ecclesiastes 1:9

Mixed Salad (Ensalada Mixta in Spanish)

Chukat/Balak: “Ordinances/Balak”

Torah : Numbers 19:1-22:1/Numbers 22:2-25:9

Haftarah : Judges 11:1-33/Michah 5:6-6:8

Brit Hadasha : I John 5:1-21/ I John 4:16

Thought for the Week:

“And you shall remember that יהוה  your Elohim led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, prove you (i.e. to test you), to know what is in your heart, whether you guard His commands or not. “And He humbled you, and let you suffer hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, to make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of יהוה. Deut 8:2-3

Commentary:

It has been a long long time since I wrote a commentary due to being gone so much from home, but I really wanted to write this week about this portion since it deals with mixing and how this is one of the main issues we as believers will face in the tribulation not only from our ‘new covenant brethren’ who don’t know about all this “Jewish” stuff as they call it (i.e. Torah, Feasts, Sabbath, & Dietary Instructions) but also from so called Torah observant believers in Messiah Yahshua.  One thing that is interesting about the ‘thought of the week scripture’ is that the Eternal tested Am Yisrael (the children of Israel) in the wilderness not the enemy but the Eternal Father.  Why in the world did He do this?  Well verse 2 gives us the answer when it tells us to see if Israel would keep the commandments or not keep them.  We all know the outcome and if they kept them or not.  We are still swimming around in the great Ocean of the wilderness today and it still is a heated debate with our new covenant bretheren whether or not to keep the commandments of Yahweh.

So what is this portion all about.  One word MIXING.  Some would say that this doctrine only applies to eating of foods sacraficed to idols and sexual sin but these are just manifestations and not the root of Balaam’s doctrine.  We all know that the Brit Chadasha (Newer Test.) doesn’t speak very highly of Balaam, matter of fact it always condems him or his actions or better stated his doctrine.1  We will see just exactly what is the doctrine of Balaam later but for now we can state that this doctrine has been thought out and planned by the enemy originating in his heart since the beginning (the Garden).  The problem with this doctrine is that it causes Israel (all believers in Messiah) to stumble.  Balaam and his doctrine is so alive and well today amongst us and Scripture teaches that this end time generation is full of it (see Rev 2).  It will affect you and I as end time believers becasue we find a pattern in the Tanak (Older Test.) and that pattern is that every time Am Yisrael gets ready to turn back to Yahweh or go into the Land, good ole doctrine of Balaam is right there to thwart them in their quest.  So for us being this end time generation who will go back to the Land, we need to look back to the Tanak and find out how Am Yisrael stumbled so that we will not commit the same errors. We should be learning from our forefathers mistakes.2  Remember Biblical history is prophecy and what happened to the forefathers will happen to the descendants.  This is a principal and you can take it to the bank.  The Tanak (Older Test.) has MORE to say about our future than does the Brit Chadasha (Newer Test) so now do you see why the enemy is so hard pressed to keep us away from studying the beginning?

So lets get into what is the doctrine of Balaam.  You would think that we need to start with the story of Balaam to find this, right?  Well we actually can find this all over the Tanak in places like the Garden of Eden and Hamor’s temptation of Jacob.3  We see Satan there right in the middle giving advice and this advice was against what the Word said.  Mixing his agenda into Yahweh’s agenda.  Satan was using Hamor to present the doctrine of assimilation to Jacob.  In others words Hamor said stay here live with us eat, marry and be happy don’t fully go all the way with Yahweh.  What we have is sufficient and where you are at is good enough.  We know that this clearly goes against the covenant that Yahweh made with Abraham several chapters earlier in Genesis 12 to start a special nation to bring forth and demonstrate the glory and speldour of Yahweh to all the gentiles (heathens & heathen nations outside the covenant of the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob).

While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the LORD was angry against Israel. And the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you slay his men who have joined themselves to Baal of Peor.” Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the body. So the plague on the sons of Israel was checked. And those who died by the plague were 24,000. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel, in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. “Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give him My covenant of peace; and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’” Now the name of the slain man of Israel who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s household among the Simeonites. And the name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Be hostile to the Midianites and strike them;  Num 25:1-17

So lets take a look at the five things above that occured at Baal Peor:

1.  Worship of other gods (idolatry)

2.  Joined themselves to Baal Peor (idolatry)

3.  Ate with them (forming a covenant with them)

4.   Harlotry  (idolatry)

5.   Sexual immorality  (idolatry)

One aspect of the doctrine of Balaam is ha Satan’s doctirne to defeat Yahweh’s people before they receive thier inheritance or make it into the land.  It places a stumbling block of greed and wealth in front of us causing us to sell out short of fully doing what the Eternal wants us to do or has commanded us to do.  We see this in the story of Hamor and Jacob.  I know I kind of jumped the track from Numbers but wanted to throw those Scriptures out there so we could see how Balaam’s doctrine plays out.  We are laying a foundation right now with this doctrine and how the enemy tries to weave it into our lives.  Lets look at Ezra 9.

Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. “For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.” And when I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering. But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God; and I said, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to Thee, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads, and our guilt has grown even to the heavens. “Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder and to open shame, as it is this day. “But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. “For we are slaves; yet in our bondage, our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem. “And now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Thy commandments, which Thou hast commanded by Thy servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end and with their impurity. ‘So now do not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and never seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’ “And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, since Thou our God hast requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us an escaped remnant as this, shall we again break Thy commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Wouldst Thou not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape?

Ezr 9:1-14

Here we see the root of Balaam’s doctrine.  It is about intermarriage here but verse 14 lays it out for us as to where the hidden root is found.  The doctrine of Balaam is purposed by the enemy for us to break (not keep or say they have been done away with and no longer apply to us) the commandments so that Yahweh will be in disfavor with us because we are disobeying His Word thus keeping us from completing our destiny.  So there you have it folks the root of the doctrine of Balaam is mixing the false with the truth to keep believers from obeying the Eternal fully or completly.  As a friend of mine teaches, Its a Satanic message promoted by the culture around us given to lure the saints using greed, lusts & so forth, into assimilation with the pagan culture around them to such an extent that it causes us break Yahweh’s commandments whether we know it or not.  Thats what it is all about.

Lets bring this into todays culture.

‘But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality. ‘Thus you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Rev 2:14-15

Shaul (Paul) talks about this issue and lets us know that these idols that are being sacraficed to are basically nothing because there is only One True God.

Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. 1 Cor 8:1-4

Lets see what Shaul goes on to say about this same subject though.

But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.  1 Cor 10:20

Shaul is saying here that we know they aren’t sacraficing to the True God but what is actually happening here when they offer sacrafices to these idols, they are sacraficing to devils of false religions.  Did Shaul just make a new doctrine here as many teach?  No, he got it straight from the Torah as he did with the rest of his teachings.4  Its because we have never studied the Tanak (Older Test.) to find out where the Brit Chadasha (Newer Test) writers were referencing and writing from.  The Brit Chadasha is written from a perspective that doesn’t formulate beliefs it assumes beliefs.  What do I mean by that?  I mean that the writers of the Newer Test. assume that you, the reader, have read and understand what is written in the Older Test. Scriptures so they don’t go into details on explaining the Torah all over again.  We err when we believe and teach faslely that ‘new’ beliefs are taught or ‘formulated’ in the Newer Test.  Scripture teaches us that there is nothing ‘new’ under the sun,5 it has been there since the beginning of time.  As a friend of mine says, “There is nothing ‘New’ in the ‘New Test.’, its only True.

Back to Lev 19.  What Scripture teaches us here is if you went and sacraficed an animal and offered it to the Eternal and you didn’t bring it to where He said to offer it, He counted that animals blood against you.  You are probably thinking right now, Joel, why in the world did you jump track here.  Well, I didn’t what Yahweh is trying to teach us is that we have to do it His way not our way.  This is the main problem with ‘religion’ today and yes ‘Christianity’ falls in under that catageory.  The problem is that we have thousands of different denominations all saying they have the corner market on ‘truth’ and claiming to have perfect doctrine but many are doing things ‘THEIR’ own way and not how Yahweh perscribed it.  Thus this is why there are thousands of different denominations and yes the Non Denomination, ‘denomination’ falls in under a denomination also.  I can say that because I was a part of a non denominational fellowship one time and we ‘prided’ ourselves on the fact that we were non denominational and not a part of any other denomination.  How we forget to look at ourselves in the mirror.  The point here that I want to make and have made in past commentaries is the old adage of well God knows my heart (many times used to not deal with Scriptures or justify disobedience) doesnt work and make it right.  We are 100% correct God does know our hearts as Jeremiah 17:9 tells us The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Also, take time to read Rev. 2 to see what Scripture says.  He knows their works and it never mentions I know your hearts.  We have allowed our pagan culture to define what the Word of Yahweh means.  We better get back to His ways or else suffer the consequences.  Folks, the issue that I am trying to point out here is PROPER worship.  Do we just worship Him the way we want to and feel like.  I submit to you that many are doing this today and saying they worship in spirit and truth but we clearly know that the true spirit of Yahweh does not tell us to do  something that contradicts His Word.  So the point I am making here is that we can’t say that we worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob using methods that He doesn’t approve of.  It just doesn’t work.  Well it may work for a seared conscience but for those who want to do it Yahweh’s way MUST do it according to the Book and not traditions or mans false doctrines.

What do we find then in the story of Baal Peor?  We find Am Yisrael forsaking the true worship of Yahweh and following the commandments of the demons who inspired the false worship.  Point blank no room for justifying or debating here.  FALSE WORSHIP not by my standards but by Yahweh’s standards!!!

So again the root of the doctrine of Balaam is mixing the false with the truth to keep believers from obeying the Eternal fully or completly.  Its a Satanic message promoted by the culture around us given to lure the saints using greed, lusts & so forth, into assimilation with the pagan culture around them to such an extent that it causes us break Yahweh’s commandments whether we know it or not.

I just want to mention something here that I have written on extensively in the past.  If our current holidays i.e. Christmas or Christ’s mass and Easter cant be found in the Word then we shouldn’t be doing those.  I will leave you with two Scriptures that we all need to meditate on.  Daniel 7:25 speaks of the anti Messiah changing the appointed times of Yahweh in the end of days and Jeremiah 16:19 about the lies the gentiles have inherited that profit nothing.

May we stop following the doctrines that have been formed in the imagination of man and begin to follow the doctrines that are written in the Scriptures so that we can worship the Father, the way He said He wants to be worshipped and not they way men say.  Blessings and Shalom.

I welcome your comments and thoughts about this commentary.    Email    admin@crucifiedlifemin.com

Endnotes

1  II Peter 2:15, Jude 1:11, Rev 2:14-15

2  I Cor 10:1-12

3  Genesis 34

4  Leviticus 17:1-9

5  Ecclesiastes 1Mixed Salad (Ensalada Mixta in Spanish)

Chukat/Balak: “Ordinances/Balak”

Torah : Numbers 19:1-22:1/Numbers 22:2-25:9

Haftarah : Judges 11:1-33/Michah 5:6-6:8

Brit Hadasha : I John 5:1-21/ I John 4:16

Thought for the Week:

“And you shall remember that יהוה  your Elohim led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, prove you (i.e. to test you), to know what is in your heart, whether you guard His commands or not. “And He humbled you, and let you suffer hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, to make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of יהוה. Deut 8:2-3

Commentary:

It has been a long long time since I wrote a commentary due to being gone so much from home, but I really wanted to write this week about this portion since it deals with mixing and how this is one of the main issues we as believers will face in the tribulation not only from our ‘new covenant brethren’ who don’t know about all this “Jewish” stuff as they call it (i.e. Torah, Feasts, Sabbath, & Dietary Instructions) but also from so called Torah observant believers in Messiah Yahshua.  One thing that is interesting about the ‘thought of the week scripture’ is that the Eternal tested Am Yisrael (the children of Israel) in the wilderness not the enemy but the Eternal Father.  Why in the world did He do this?  Well verse 2 gives us the answer when it tells us to see if Israel would keep the commandments or not keep them.  We all know the outcome and if they kept them or not.  We are still swimming around in the great Ocean of the wilderness today and it still is a heated debate with our new covenant bretheren whether or not to keep the commandments of Yahweh.

So what is this portion all about.  One word MIXING.  Some would say that this doctrine only applies to eating of foods sacraficed to idols and sexual sin but these are just manifestations and not the root of Balaam’s doctrine.  We all know that the Brit Chadasha (Newer Test.) doesn’t speak very highly of Balaam, matter of fact it always condems him or his actions or better stated his doctrine.1  We will see just exactly what is the doctrine of Balaam later but for now we can state that this doctrine has been thought out and planned by the enemy originating in his heart since the beginning (the Garden).  The problem with this doctrine is that it causes Israel (all believers in Messiah) to stumble.  Balaam and his doctrine is so alive and well today amongst us and Scripture teaches that this end time generation is full of it (see Rev 2).  It will affect you and I as end time believers becasue we find a pattern in the Tanak (Older Test.) and that pattern is that every time Am Yisrael gets ready to turn back to Yahweh or go into the Land, good ole doctrine of Balaam is right there to thwart them in their quest.  So for us being this end time generation who will go back to the Land, we need to look back to the Tanak and find out how Am Yisrael stumbled so that we will not commit the same errors. We should be learning from our forefathers mistakes.2  Remember Biblical history is prophecy and what happened to the forefathers will happen to the descendants.  This is a principal and you can take it to the bank.  The Tanak (Older Test.) has MORE to say about our future than does the Brit Chadasha (Newer Test) so now do you see why the enemy is so hard pressed to keep us away from studying the beginning?

So lets get into what is the doctrine of Balaam.  You would think that we need to start with the story of Balaam to find this, right?  Well we actually can find this all over the Tanak in places like the Garden of Eden and Hamor’s temptation of Jacob.3  We see Satan there right in the middle giving advice and this advice was against what the Word said.  Mixing his agenda into Yahweh’s agenda.  Satan was using Hamor to present the doctrine of assimilation to Jacob.  In others words Hamor said stay here live with us eat, marry and be happy don’t fully go all the way with Yahweh.  What we have is sufficient and where you are at is good enough.  We know that this clearly goes against the covenant that Yahweh made with Abraham several chapters earlier in Genesis 12 to start a special nation to bring forth and demonstrate the glory and speldour of Yahweh to all the gentiles (heathens & heathen nations outside the covenant of the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob).

While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the LORD was angry against Israel. And the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you slay his men who have joined themselves to Baal of Peor.” Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the body. So the plague on the sons of Israel was checked. And those who died by the plague were 24,000. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel, in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. “Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give him My covenant of peace; and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’” Now the name of the slain man of Israel who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s household among the Simeonites. And the name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Be hostile to the Midianites and strike them;  Num 25:1-17

So lets take a look at the five things above that occured at Baal Peor:

1.  Worship of other gods (idolatry)

2.  Joined themselves to Baal Peor (idolatry)

3.  Ate with them (forming a covenant with them)

4.   Harlotry  (idolatry)

5.   Sexual immorality  (idolatry)

One aspect of the doctrine of Balaam is ha Satan’s doctirne to defeat Yahweh’s people before they receive thier inheritance or make it into the land.  It places a stumbling block of greed and wealth in front of us causing us to sell out short of fully doing what the Eternal wants us to do or has commanded us to do.  We see this in the story of Hamor and Jacob.  I know I kind of jumped the track from Numbers but wanted to throw those Scriptures out there so we could see how Balaam’s doctrine plays out.  We are laying a foundation right now with this doctrine and how the enemy tries to weave it into our lives.  Lets look at Ezra 9.

Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. “For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.” And when I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering. But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God; and I said, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to Thee, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads, and our guilt has grown even to the heavens. “Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder and to open shame, as it is this day. “But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. “For we are slaves; yet in our bondage, our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem. “And now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Thy commandments, which Thou hast commanded by Thy servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end and with their impurity. ‘So now do not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and never seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’ “And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, since Thou our God hast requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us an escaped remnant as this, shall we again break Thy commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Wouldst Thou not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape?

Ezr 9:1-14

Here we see the root of Balaam’s doctrine.  It is about intermarriage here but verse 14 lays it out for us as to where the hidden root is found.  The doctrine of Balaam is purposed by the enemy for us to break (not keep or say they have been done away with and no longer apply to us) the commandments so that Yahweh will be in disfavor with us because we are disobeying His Word thus keeping us from completing our destiny.  So there you have it folks the root of the doctrine of Balaam is mixing the false with the truth to keep believers from obeying the Eternal fully or completly.  As a friend of mine teaches, Its a Satanic message promoted by the culture around us given to lure the saints using greed, lusts & so forth, into assimilation with the pagan culture around them to such an extent that it causes us break Yahweh’s commandments whether we know it or not.  Thats what it is all about.

Lets bring this into todays culture.

‘But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality. ‘Thus you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Rev 2:14-15

Shaul (Paul) talks about this issue and lets us know that these idols that are being sacraficed to are basically nothing because there is only One True God.

Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. 1 Cor 8:1-4

Lets see what Shaul goes on to say about this same subject though.

But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.  1 Cor 10:20

Shaul is saying here that we know they aren’t sacraficing to the True God but what is actually happening here when they offer sacrafices to these idols, they are sacraficing to devils of false religions.  Did Shaul just make a new doctrine here as many teach?  No, he got it straight from the Torah as he did with the rest of his teachings.4  Its because we have never studied the Tanak (Older Test.) to find out where the Brit Chadasha (Newer Test) writers were referencing and writing from.  The Brit Chadasha is written from a perspective that doesn’t formulate beliefs it assumes beliefs.  What do I mean by that?  I mean that the writers of the Newer Test. assume that you, the reader, have read and understand what is written in the Older Test. Scriptures so they don’t go into details on explaining the Torah all over again.  We err when we believe and teach faslely that ‘new’ beliefs are taught or ‘formulated’ in the Newer Test.  Scripture teaches us that there is nothing ‘new’ under the sun,5 it has been there since the beginning of time.  As a friend of mine says, “There is nothing ‘New’ in the ‘New Test.’, its only True.

Back to Lev 19.  What Scripture teaches us here is if you went and sacraficed an animal and offered it to the Eternal and you didn’t bring it to where He said to offer it, He counted that animals blood against you.  You are probably thinking right now, Joel, why in the world did you jump track here.  Well, I didn’t what Yahweh is trying to teach us is that we have to do it His way not our way.  This is the main problem with ‘religion’ today and yes ‘Christianity’ falls in under that catageory.  The problem is that we have thousands of different denominations all saying they have the corner market on ‘truth’ and claiming to have perfect doctrine but many are doing things ‘THEIR’ own way and not how Yahweh perscribed it.  Thus this is why there are thousands of different denominations and yes the Non Denomination, ‘denomination’ falls in under a denomination also.  I can say that because I was a part of a non denominational fellowship one time and we ‘prided’ ourselves on the fact that we were non denominational and not a part of any other denomination.  How we forget to look at ourselves in the mirror.  The point here that I want to make and have made in past commentaries is the old adage of well God knows my heart (many times used to not deal with Scriptures or justify disobedience) doesnt work and make it right.  We are 100% correct God does know our hearts as Jeremiah 17:9 tells us The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Also, take time to read Rev. 2 to see what Scripture says.  He knows their works and it never mentions I know your hearts.  We have allowed our pagan culture to define what the Word of Yahweh means.  We better get back to His ways or else suffer the consequences.  Folks, the issue that I am trying to point out here is PROPER worship.  Do we just worship Him the way we want to and feel like.  I submit to you that many are doing this today and saying they worship in spirit and truth but we clearly know that the true spirit of Yahweh does not tell us to do  something that contradicts His Word.  So the point I am making here is that we can’t say that we worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob using methods that He doesn’t approve of.  It just doesn’t work.  Well it may work for a seared conscience but for those who want to do it Yahweh’s way MUST do it according to the Book and not traditions or mans false doctrines.

What do we find then in the story of Baal Peor?  We find Am Yisrael forsaking the true worship of Yahweh and following the commandments of the demons who inspired the false worship.  Point blank no room for justifying or debating here.  FALSE WORSHIP not by my standards but by Yahweh’s standards!!!

So again the root of the doctrine of Balaam is mixing the false with the truth to keep believers from obeying the Eternal fully or completly.  Its a Satanic message promoted by the culture around us given to lure the saints using greed, lusts & so forth, into assimilation with the pagan culture around them to such an extent that it causes us break Yahweh’s commandments whether we know it or not.

I just want to mention something here that I have written on extensively in the past.  If our current holidays i.e. Christmas or Christ’s mass and Easter cant be found in the Word then we shouldn’t be doing those.  I will leave you with two Scriptures that we all need to meditate on.  Daniel 7:25 speaks of the anti Messiah changing the appointed times of Yahweh in the end of days and Jeremiah 16:19 about the lies the gentiles have inherited that profit nothing.

May we stop following the doctrines that have been formed in the imagination of man and begin to follow the doctrines that are written in the Scriptures so that we can worship the Father, the way He said He wants to be worshipped and not they way men say.  Blessings and Shalom.

I welcome your comments and thoughts about this commentary.    Email    admin@crucifiedlifemin.com

Endnotes

1  II Peter 2:15, Jude 1:11, Rev 2:14-15

2  I Cor 10:1-12

3  Genesis 34

4  Leviticus 17:1-9

5  Ecclesiastes 1:9