As the world crashes around the people of Adonai and chaos ensues with calling evil good and good evil, what is it we are to do? In my recent prayer time, I asked the Lord that very question. His response, “patient endurance” and then He reminded me of Revelation 14:12.
“This is when perseverance is needed on the part of God’s people, those who observe his commands and exercise Yeshua’s faithfulness.”
Looking at the first part of the verse, the Greek word for ‘perseverance’ is hupomone and means “a remaining behind, a patient enduring.” What does it mean to “remain behind?” It means that Adonai’s people do not go forward with the wicked generation’s evil actions, and when the wicked are judged by being removed from the earth, Adonai’s people remain behind.
“God’s people” in the Greek is hagios and means ‘holy or sacred.’ From hagios comes the word ‘saint.’ This means that it is the saints of Adonai, His sanctified, holy people who are called to patiently endure. A little more in-depth study shows that holy means ‘to be set apart to Adonai.’ To be ‘set apart’ means to come out from the world, its gods, and its ungodly customs even if they appear to be ‘right.’ King Solomon stated in Proverbs 14:12: “There can be a way which seems right to a man, but at its end are the ways of death.”
The first of the two-fold qualifications for being a saint involves observing Adonai’s commands. These commands are reiterated throughout Scriptures, but specifically written in the first five books of the Bible –– Torah. Yeshua, our Rabbi, teaches that the entire Torah explains the ‘how to’ of the two greatest commandments of loving God and loving our neighbor (Matthew 22:40). He also explains to the people of Israel in his great teaching in Matthew chapter 5 that he did not come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets; he came to make them full, explain them, and show us how to live them out so that we are serving Adonai in the new way He provided –– by the Spirit.
Recently, after reading an article online about a transgender woman saying she is made in the image of a ‘she-god,’ I shared a verse in the comments from Deuteronomy: “A woman is not to wear men’s clothing, and a man is not to put on women’s clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable to Adonai your God” (Deuteronomy 22:5).
I received a lot of interesting replies, but the most significant came from someone who argued that the old testament is for Jews and the new testament is for Christians. This heresy has plagued Christiandom and ultimately birthed the problem that has brought the world to where it is today. When those Yeshua called to be the ‘light of the world’ reject the commandments of Adonai, the world has no light (Psalm 119:105).
It is an impossible argument for someone to say that homosexuality or transgenderism is wrong, but then claim the ‘clean’ and ‘unclean foods’ and the Biblical holy days have been abolished. Was Sha’ul incorrect in saying, “So the Torah is holy; that is, the commandment is holy, just and good” (Romans 7:12)? If he stated Truth, then picking and choosing which commands are valid since the death and resurrection of Yeshua has not been “rightly dividing the word of Truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). In reality, this false understanding of Torah has rendered the Christian movement impotent in bringing the gospel of repentance to the world (Romans 7:14). Where there are no laws or rules, there be no repentance from sin and a return to the ways of Adonai.
Even trying to reason with this person about the foundation of faith being the Torah and Prophets brought more condemnation about the Word of Adonai (Ephesians 2:16-22). This person’s arguments ultimately ended with judgment against me and a reflection of his own hatred toward the totality of Adonai’s Word.
The second of the two-fold qualifications for a saint is more specific. A saint exercises Yeshua’s faithfulness. The Hebrew says “keep Yeshua’s faith.” This could be construed to mean that a person puts their faith in Yeshua for salvation, but what does it mean to “keep Yeshua’s faith?” The Greek word for ‘keep’ is terero and means ‘to watch over or to guard.’ A saint guards the faith of Yeshua or his faithfulness to the commandments of the Father. “Even though he was the Son, he [Yeshua] learned obedience through his sufferings” (Hebrews 5:8).
When Christians ignore God’s teachings and instructions in Torah, they cannot be considered saints because they have only one of the qualifications: faith in Yeshua’s faithful work. Jews, in general, have only one of the qualifications as well: obedience to Torah. ‘Whole’ saints guard the Torah and Yeshua’s faithfulness. By acting on the commands of Adonai in the same faithfulness of Yeshua, saints remain in Adonai’s presence just as Yeshua did. ‘Whole’ saints receive the power of Adonai to ‘endure patiently’ through adversity because they obey His Word as Truth (John 17:17).
The times in which we live and those that are ahead will bring a hotter refining fire to those claiming to love Adonai. Adonai begins judgment with His own household, with his adopted sons and daughters (1 Peter 4:17). The time for restoring righteousness to the family of Adonai has come and “he will pay back misery and anguish to every human being who does evil [rejects His Torah], to the Jew first, then to the Gentile; but glory and honor and shalom to everyone who keeps doing what is good [obeying His Torah], to the Jew first, then to the Gentile” (Romans 2:9-10).
When judgment comes on the household of Adonai, saints have a unique position in the Kingdom because they have both qualifications. They not only have faith in Yeshua’s work of faithfulness, they also obey the commandments of Adonai as written in Torah. These unique people are told to “patiently endure” as the chaos around them continues to grow –– when good is quenched through evil and evil is celebrated as good.
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