Psalm 119 is about loving God’s Torah, His statutes, commands and precepts. It is broken up into sections with strange looking words or letters which are the Hebrew alphabet. In the Hebrew Scriptures, each line of each section starts with a word beginning with this letter. This is called an acrostic poem. Each Hebrew letter also has a word picture associated with it giving greater meaning and symbolism to each line of the specific letter-ed section.
ק Kof – The Back of the Head
What is Behind, What is Final
“Wholeheartedly I am calling on you; answer me, Adonai; I will keep your laws. I am calling on you; save me; and I will observe your instruction. I rise before dawn and cry for help; I put my hope in your word. My eyes are open before the night watches, so that I can meditate on your promise. In your grace, hear my voice; Adonai, in keeping with your justice, revive me. The pursuers of carnality are getting close; they are distancing themselves from your Torah. You are close by, Adonai; and all your mitzvot are truth. Long ago I learned from your instruction that you established it forever.”
David writes about those who pursue a carnal life and how they distance themselves from Torah. Carnality as described by Paul as strife and jealousy, walking like mere men without the Spirit of God. Timothy describes more specific actions of those who live carnal lives, but consider themselves religious: “People will be self-loving, money-loving, proud, arrogant, insulting, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, uncontrolled, brutal, hateful of good, traitorous, headstrong, swollen with conceit, loving pleasure rather than God, as they retain the outer form of religion but deny its power” (2 Timothy 3:2-6).
In Matthew 24, Yeshua reveals signs of the end times. Along with famines and earthquakes are false prophets who deceive people. The love of many will grow cold because of increased lawlessness and iniquity. Iniquity starts as a seed in the heart and when it comes to bear fruit, it is sin and breaks God’s commandments (James 1:14-16, 1 John 3:4).
Because of an increased distance from Torah, people will love sin and be proud of their sin. They will become more carnal. For centuries an increased distancing from Torah has been embraced by the church giving the ‘man of lawlessness’ a spirit with which to deceive the world through the church. Yeshua warns of the ‘great apostasy’ or the ‘falling away from the apostles’ teachings’ (Vines Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words).
Paul explains that the carnal man who lives according to the flesh is hostile to God. The carnal person does not submit (will not submit) to God’s Torah nor can they because it is impossible for a carnal person (Romans 8:5-8). Each person must become spiritual, born again of water and God’s Spirit so the iniquity of sin can be removed from the heart and God’s instructions written on it.
David is pursued by carnal men, men who hate God’s Torah. He does not whine or complain about their lawless behavior, he continues to seek God with his whole heart. He calls on Adonai by rising before dawn and crying for help. During the night watches, his eyes are open and he meditates on God’s promises. He understands God’s justice because “long ago I learned from your instructions that you established it forever.”
Yeshua says that Torah will exist until there is a new heaven and new earth. As long as the present heaven and earth exist, God’s instructions will continue on. Those who obey the commandments and teach others to obey will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. This describes King David. He will be great in the Messianic Era. He will be raised up by Adonai to rule as a prince with King Yeshua (Jeremiah 30:6). Those who disobey the least of the commandments and teach others to disobey will be called ‘the least’ in the Kingdom of God. Though these people will be in the Kingdom, they will not have a preeminent place like Torah teachers. Those who teach that Torah has been ‘abolished’ or ‘fulfilled and done away with at the cross’ aren’t even mentioned in Yeshua’s discourse. These are the people who have fallen into the ‘great apostasy’ of faith. They will not see the face of Adonai rise upon them; they will not look into his countenance. The carnal ones will see the ‘back of his head’ as he turns away and shuts the door behind him (Isaiah 59:2).
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