This teaching follows Separating Sinners From The Bride. Please read and/or listen to that. It has information that will not be presented here but that you need in order to understand this segment.
YHVH’s people are in a war between righteousness and unrighteousness; between obedience and disobedience; loyalty and rebellion. The separation of the Bride, her preparation time, has already begun. The woman’s flight to the wilderness found in Revelation 12:6 is the final stage of separation and preparation, not the beginning of it. I believe to qualify for that final preparatory stage, we must have already begun preparing ourselves. Let me show you why.
Matthew 25:1 “Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom.
These virgins are all betrothed to the Kingdom of Heaven and there are certain requirements for them to fulfill their betrothal vows.
When did they go out? When it was time to flee to the wilderness. See, they were already supposed to have their stuff ready to go by now.
Matthew 25:2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
Matthew 25:3 Those who were foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them,
The oil is understanding. They lacked understanding of what it takes to be Yeshua’s Kingdom Bride.
Matthew 25:4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
These understand what it takes to be Yeshua’s Kingdom Bride.
Matthew 25:5 Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
They were safe in the wilderness.
Matthew 25:6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Behold! The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him!’
Matthew 25:7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
Matthew 25:8 The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
Matthew 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘What if there isn’t enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’
All of this takes time, as you know.
Matthew 25:10 While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
The foolish virgins were separated from the wise ones because of their need to get oil, the Ruach of YHVH, through which His understanding comes. Ezekiel 20 describes YHVH putting His people under the rod and separating the rebels from obedient in the wilderness. The rebels have no oil, no Ruach of YHVH. The obedient have the oil, the Ruach of YHVH. It may be that the rebels will use whatever time they have from that 3.5 years to try to “get” their oil, their understanding, but it will be too late then. They need to have done this preparation beforehand.
The closer we get to Yeshua’s arrival, the worse this war will get and the more the Bride will need to separate herself in preparation. Last week, I said it is our job as the people of YHVH to clean ourselves up and that the way to do this is found in Deuteronomy 17:8-13 and Matthew 18:15-17.
It is important for us to understand that we are to do our own cleaning up. It seems that some have the idea that YHVH will clean us up to make us fit to be His Bride but that is not the case. Brides always do their own cleaning up before a wedding. The groom doesn’t come in to give her a bath and dress her and fix her hair. We are to do this ourselves and the most important way for us to get this done is to submit to each other when others see sins in us. In others words, the righteous help prepare each other since no one can see all of his own mistakes.
Revelation 19:7 Let’s rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let’s give the glory to him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.”
Matthew 25:1 “Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom.
Matthew 25:2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
Matthew 25:3 Those who were foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them,
Matthew 25:4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Taking the Ruach (oil) is preparation. The wise virgins were prepared; the foolish ones were not prepared.
Exodus 19:10 Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments,
Exodus 19:11 and be ready against the third day; for on the third day Yahweh will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai.
The people prepared themselves the first time Biblical Israel was established. YHVH’s patterns and instructions do not change. Therefore, we must prepare ourselves. How do we do that?
Revelation 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation [these are the virgins form the wilderness who came through the Tribulation], and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Who washed their robes? The people did it; the Bride did it.
Who made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb? The people did it; the Bride did it.
The problem is that we don’t know how to clean ourselves up because, for the most part, our Israelite ancestors did not clean themselves up and did not teach their descendants how to do that. So, here we are 3500 years later with a last generation that must now bear the brunt of 3500 years of iniquity against our God and King, Yeshua.
Getting cleaned up means that we not only check others but we check ourselves. We are not just to check for sins in our lives but we have to check whether we are even in the faith. Did you know that you can be a church-goer and someone with the appearance of being in the faith but actually not be?
Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12 and 13 discusses the various sins being committed by individuals in that congregation, then in 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul tells us to examine whether we are even in the faith.
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don’t you know as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. -WEB
Examine, checking to see if we have been disqualified from entering the Kingdom. What does that mean? It means you’ve been sinning and either no one has had the courage to come to you (which is a sin for that person) or they have come to you but nothing was ever done if you refused to repent. The process of Matthew 18 was never followed to completion. No, they simply said “love covers a multitude of sins” and “forgave” you without your repentance. There is no forgiveness from YHVH without your repentance no matter how many times some mortal says you are forgiven.
Furthermore, not sentencing sinners and carrying out the sentence in Matthew 18:17 leads to a congregation full of sinners, a congregation full of people who YHVH thinks are not in the faith! And you know what? I believe YHVH is right! (And yes, that is a facetious tongue-in-cheek statement). He made the rules by which we are to live if we want to live in His House.
Congregations, worldwide, are full of sinners – people who are not in the faith! The faithful are not necessarily without sin. However, they repent when their sin is pointed out to them and they do not continue in sin. Congregations which take the course of not allowing people to judge each other righteously, who do not teach righteous judging, but teach that all judging is wicked will necessarily be full of sinners who do not know their own condition. Sinners continuing in sin is regarded by YHVH as not being faithful, they are not in the faith.
YHVH has given us power to do something about our sins through people who are in the faith and who are willing to act on His behalf through the instructions in Deuteronomy 17:8-13 and Matthew 18:15-17. This is the system set up by YHVH to keep His people clean and in the faith!
Here is what happens when we do not clean ourselves up or allow others to help clean us up:
Ezekiel 18:24 “But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.
There is a price to pay for not checking ourselves and submitting to others’ righteous judgments. One of those is that we lose all rewards for what was done when we were acting righteously. We go back to zero. If we repent after this backsliding, we start all over again. With this in mind, let’s get to some more of the details of Deuteronomy 17 and Matthew 18.
Deuteronomy 17:8 If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates; then you shall arise, and go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses.
Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother.
Deuteronomy 17:9 You shall come to the priests who are Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict.
Matthew 18:16 But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Matthew 18:17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector.
Deuteronomy 17:10 You shall do according to the decisions of the verdict which they shall give you from that place which Yahweh chooses. You shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you:
Deuteronomy 17:11 according to the decisions of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn away from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left.
Matthew 18:18 Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven.
Deuteronomy 17:12 The man who does presumptuously, in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. You shall put away the evil from Israel.
Deuteronomy 17:13 All the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
Matthew 18:19 Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.”
The Matthew 18:15-17 process comes straight out of Deuteronomy 17:8-13. It is the same judicial process now in the hands of the renewed Biblical Israel starting with the 12 Disciples then extending through time and geography to the entire global “new man”. This authority was never removed from that time to now.
Last week, I talked about the importance and process of righteous judgment with each other. This week, we need to move into Matthew 18:18-20, into what happens after the sentencing in Matthew 18:17.
Verse 17’s sentence of all sinners is limited to converting them from being Israelite to being a traitor (a publican) and a Gentile. Literally, the sentence means that person is no longer part of the congregation, the “new man”, not just your own little congregation but YHVH’s Heavenly congregation. The reason for this new status is found in verse 18.
Matthew 18:18 Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven.
What happens to a decree made by the priests and judge in Deuteronomy 17? It becomes law. What happens to decrees made by the congregation in Matthew 18:17 regarding the sinner? Those become law bound in Heaven.
Believers are used to using the terms “binding” and “loosing” but few understand that these are legal terms that create a reality about the sinner in YHVH’s Heaven.
The word “bind” is a legal term, not philosophical or a religious one. It means to ‘impose legal obligations or duties upon a person or party to an agreement’. The Greek word for “bind” is ‘deo’.
Matthew 18:15-17 has parties to an agreement (we will discuss this agreement in a minute), the alleged sinner, the individual who has to go to his brother to tell the brother he has sinned; the 1 or 2 more people he may have to take with him as witnesses to talk with the sinning brother and the congregation. These are the parties to and agreement.
But what agreement binds these people together? What are they in agreement with? The Law of Moses. These are people who agree to serve YHVH’s Kingdom under the edicts, the decrees, of YHVH. The Law of Moses governs our legal system. It sets out Israel’s laws of justice toward YHVH (between us individually and YHVH and as a congregation and YHVH) and between individuals (to each other individually and each individual to the entire congregation). We agree to be “bound” – there’s that word again – when we accept the responsibility of being Israelite. You know, when we converted from being Gentile to being Israelite. Here’s some food for thought because most Christian congregations don’t tell people they converted to being Israelite but that they converted to being Christian. Sorry – there is no Christian nation in scripture just like there is no Jewish nation in scripture. There is only Israel from Genesis to Revelation but most Christians and Jews do not understand this.
What have we agreed to be bound by? The Law of Moses.
Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;
Exodus 19:6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
Exodus 19:7 Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which Yahweh commanded him.
Exodus 19:8 All the people answered together, and said, “All that Yahweh has spoken we will do.” Moses reported the words of the people to Yahweh.
The Law agreed to by our ancestors is the Law that will be enforced in the coming Millennium and beyond in Heaven and on the earth. It did not get replaced with any other law or with no law at all. Citizenship in the Kingdom has required its citizens to follow the Law of Moses from the ordination of the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai forward. In fact Abraham kept this same law as did Noah and so forth going back in time all the way to Adam. The Law of YHVH has never changed for those who are citizens of His realm.
Now, in the history of Israel since Mount Sinai, upholding YHVH’s laws was never done. The entirety of the scriptures has to do with YHVH’s struggles with Israel getting them to do His will instead of what they wanted to do!
What are we binding when we have one of these “court hearings” in our midst? We are determining whether or not the alleged sinner has really committed the sin he is accused of. The congregation hears all the testimony. The sinner brings his own witnesses, as well. The congregation goes through this arduous process because it is very important. This last step is not to be arrived at nonchalantly. The congregation will render a verdict of guilt or innocence by voting just as the Sanhedrin did. The decree that comes forth “binds” the sinner to his iniquity or “looses” (or releases) him from it.
The process in the congregational setting is the same as in the ancient and Biblical Sanhedrin that existed from Moses’ time. Seventy one representatives from each of the 12 tribes originally constituted the Sanhedrin. They heard all the testimony and deliberated, making statements to the other members within the walls of the courtroom, until such time as a vote was taken. We are familiar with the process through the way laws are enacted with testimony, deliberations and voting of the members of Congress. In the case of the Sanhedrin, laws were not enacted. YHVH is the only lawgiver in scripture. The job of the Sanhedrin was to determine guilt or innocence of an alleged sinner using the Law of Moses. The process is the same in each congregation across the globe.
What happens if everyone in the congregation does not agree with the outcome? What if some vote guilty and others vote not guilty?
Deuteronomy 17:10 You shall do according to the decisions of the verdict which they shall give you from that place which Yahweh chooses. You shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you:
Deuteronomy 17:11 according to the decisions of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn away from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left.
Deuteronomy 17:12 The man who does presumptuously, in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. You shall put away the evil from Israel.
Deuteronomy 17:13 All the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
The 71 men of the Sanhedrin almost never agreed 100% but they were required to follow the decree made by the majority. So, let’s do a scenario. Let’s say that your congregation has 72 people in it and 1 is accused of stealing. The process has been followed by the brother who had his item stolen going to the brother who stole it. The alleged thief says he didn’t steal the item so the one alleging the crime brings 1 or 2 more people as witnesses. Still the alleged thief claims he did not steal the item. Now the entire congregation of 71 will hear from both sides through witnesses and will determine whether the alleged thief is truly a thief or not.
If he is found guilty by a majority vote, he becomes a traitor no one will receive in their midst and a Gentile who is not allowed to darken the door of the congregation.
I will return to some things I said last week but in a different way. Matthew 18:17 is Yeshua’s command to treat an unrepentant sinner as a Publican. How were Publicans treated? Like traitors. They were shunned! Totally separated from the congregation through 1st, 2nd and 3rd-hand relationships. A word that can replace “Publican” in our day is the word “traitor”. We all know what that means!
What does it mean for that person to be a Gentile? He literally becomes “not an Israelite” any longer. We don’t understand that conversion goes both ways. The House of Israel was divorced from the nation of Israel by YHVH. What did they become? Gentiles! Conversion runs both ways. A Gentile can convert to being an Israelite and an Israelite can be forcibly converted by authoritative decree of YHVH or His vested congregation to being Gentile! We don’t worship with Gentiles.
A Gentile can convert to being Israelite through repentance. It is this step that the decreed sinner must take in order to return to the Kingdom. This is not about just the little congregation we attend each week. No! This is a Kingdom issue and an issue for the Bride! This is what I am trying to explain. The decreed sinner becomes a Gentile, one who is no longer in the Kingdom!
If the decree releases the alleged sinner, nothing more need be done. He is free to continue fellowshipping and remains an Israelite. What’s on the line is whether this man or woman is an Israelite or a Gentile.
The process is simple but often the details are complex. Nonetheless, this process is designed to put the evil away from the congregation, to stop the congregation from continuing being defiled.
Sin is rampant in our congregations. We must make sure that we are not letting an actual sinner off the hook but we must also not punish someone who is innocent. This is why it is so important to do this right and is likely the reason so few congregations go through this process with congregants. It is difficult and we do not want to make mistakes. There must be irrefutable proof of the sin(s) committed.
Sinners often go to other congregations or fellowships. What can or should we do about this? If we know where that person has gone, we must report it to that congregation. Most often people in the other congregation will say they know nothing of the situation and will let the sinner come in. What should happen is that there should be a meeting between the sinner’s new congregation and his old one in which testimony can be given about his sin. This almost never happens. And the people who refuse to take a stand against such a sinner are now themselves sinning because there is a law bound in Heaven regarding this person.
We are not separate congregations as it appears with our eyes. Geographic distance means nothing to YHVH. Until this sinner repents, he is not to be allowed among people who are calling themselves “Bride” if they know he has been convicted. In fact, the sinner being totally shunned wherever he goes is YHVH’s way of getting him to repent.
WHY DID YESHUA VEST THIS AUTHORITY IN HIS PEOPLE?
It is because the authority was already vested in His people in the beginning. The Sanhedrin (the court given to Israel in Exodus 18 which was formalized in Deuteronomy 17) was only a representative court. It represented the legal interests of the entire nation of people. We read throughout the Torah that it was the congregation that put the evil away from Israel, not the priests and the Judge. More on that in a minute.
The Sanhedrin had lost its authority over punishing capital crimes under the Romans in 30AD just prior to Yeshua’s ministry. It was necessary for there to continue being authority on earth over YHVH’s people which is the reason for Yeshua giving the Matthew 18 similar instruction found in Deuteronomy 17. Similar but different in a very important way. The loss of authority to execute sinners to death. It won’t be until Yeshua returns and Israel once again reigns over the entire world that Israel’s authority in capital punishment will return. In exile, we lose all authority except what Yeshua gave to the congregation to keep sin out. We are commanded to remove the evil from among us.
Remember that Deuteronomy refers legal authority to either the priests or the judge. As I said last week, we are the judge(s). It was that way from the beginning. YHVH made His entire congregation responsible for getting the evil out of His congregation which is why He said once a decree is made everyone must follow it. Yeshua made no change in the Law nor did He do away with it.
THE DIFFICULTY
This is a very simple thing to do but it is also very important. The problem the Bride now contends with is the lack of obedience of those around her. The Bride understands that all the Laws of Moses are still in force and to be obeyed to the best of our ability. We cannot perform those laws that require sacrificing and performing capital punishment but we can do everything else. The problem is that most believers do not agree on the definitions of the various sins.
YHVH’s people are engaged with sins that they don’t even see. Making, having, using images from the list of prohibited images YHVH’s provided in Deuteronomy 4:15-19 is such a stronghold in people’s lives that they cannot understand this concept at all. From the imagery prohibition in the second commandment, Exodus 20:4-6 which is defined in Deuteronomy 4:15-19 and expanded on throughout the scripture, to where YHVH finally YHVH calls the people “whores” for admiring portraits of Assyrian soldiers painted on the Assyrian walls in Ezekiel 23:14, then to where He describes another account of image worship separate from the original golden calf image worship in the Book of Daniel to YHVH letting us all know that one of our final tests will be whether or not to worship the image of a beast made by the people (just like with the golden calf) in Revelation 13:15. These should be clues that we need to stay away from images, get them out of our lives. But people give me the same worn out arguments: This only applies to statues and paintings intended for worship. YHVH used images in the Temple…
Let me quickly address these. The people in Ezekiel 23, Aholah (the House of Israel) and Aholibah (House of Judah) were not worshiping the images that YHVH brought to their attention to in this chapter. These images were simply portraits that Ezekiel said they were admiring, lusting – ‘agab’ in Hebrew – after. These portraits painted in vermillion on the walls of buildings in Assyria of the fine-looking Assyrian military men lured the Israelites into fornication. These images, which were not used for worship in Assyria – they were for the purpose of portraying military victories – led the Israelites into idolatry, worshiping other gods through images, standing stones and obelisks.
Do you think it’s possible that YHVH has a reason for wanting to stop His people from making images and having possession of images by telling them to not make them and to tear down both the idols and the images throughout Israel? YHVH’s definition of image-worship begins with making, goes to admiring paintings on walls and ends with worshiping them. Worship – attributing authority to manmade created things that belongs only to Him!
Well, people say, YHVH used images in the Tabernacle so why can’t we use them? Because He owns the copyright of the things He created. He can do whatever He want swith the things He creates. We are not permitted to anything we like with what He owns! Actually, when it comes right down to it, making images of things YHVH owns without His express permission – and He did give permission for the use of images such as the bronze serpent on the pole which was later used for worship – is stealing! It’s breaking another commandment, too! But our people don’t understand, they don’t see it, and they feel oppressed by this prohibition. YHVH’s images prohibition is actually an elevation of Israel above all others by giving us access to Him that the heathen do not have, whose only method of worship is through images. Israel is not only a step above heathens in that they get to have direct contact with YHVH, but that we are miles above the heathen in this way. Our direct contact with YHVH, though, has a price which is to stop having images in our lives whether they are for worship or not because they always lead to worship of other gods or, in the end of days, worshiping the image of the beast!
YHVH’s definition of the prohibition of images is don’t make, don’t serve, don’t worship and destroy images when you find them.
Another stronghold among YHVH’s people has to do with the Feasts being only authorized in Jerusalem. Teachers in the Hebrew Roots Movement teach people to do YHVH’s celebrations everywhere but Jerusalem. They say with their mouth that the Feasts are to be done 3 times a year in Jerusalem but they schedule their own Feasts anywhere they choose. This is happening all over the earth.
There is an occult trend within Christianity with the New Age philosophies and occult arts that now permeate and defile Christian congregations. These practices have found their way into Hebrew Roots via Kabbalism and Talmud teachings. The occult is based on the twisted heathenish practices of our ancient ancestors. Before there ever was a nation of Israel, there were occult practices among the heathen. These same practices were learned by the Israelites against YHVH’s express commands. Israelites took their occult practices with them wherever they went. These occult ideas are latent within Christianity and Judaism as codified under Kabbalism. Yes, Kabbalistic practices and thought exist within Christianity which is why the coming deception will trap Christians!
What is occult practice? Idolatry! The occult is the heathen’s way to practice spirituality but this spirituality is bereft of YHVH. He is not in it at all! The heathen’s way spiritualizes everything and this spiritualization permeates Christian thought so that nothing in scripture is concrete or applicable the way YHVH meant it to be, such things as the Law of Moses, for instance.
Divination is a cancer throughout the body of Christians, Hebrew Roots and Messianic Jews, and divination is the foundation of Kabbalah! People are so used to divining – foretelling the future in all kinds of ways – that the practices go unnoticed. One of the better known forms of divination in Judaism is Bible coding. Christians rarely involve themselves in Bible coding but do another form of divination – date setting. They set specific dates for the Rapture (which is a false doctrine to begin with), dates for the start of the Tribulation, dates for Yeshua’s return, dates for when the stock market will crash (usually September 23rd). I know a wicked woman who foretells people’s death date using Bible Codes! Date setting is divination, foretelling the future. Israelites are not permitted to foretell the future. We are only to watch for the times and seasons.
YHVH never set a date when prophesying through any prophet from the beginning to the end of the Bible. The Disciples were told by Yeshua that the day and the time of His return was known only to the Father and that they should get about the business of just doing His will.
One problem we have is that our people want to interpret the Law of Moses. The Law is not there for us to interpret. It is there for us to obey or disobey. The stop sign at the intersection is “truth” just like YHVH’s Law is “truth”. They are not “THE truth”. Adding “the” in front of “truth” makes the “truth” relative and subjective from individual to individual. The stop sign governs everyone alike. It is just there without your approval or your vote and no one needs your opinion about it. The same with YHVH’s Law!
Revelation 22:14 Blessed are those who DO his commandments [not interpret them properly], that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.
Interpreting the Law of Moses is how people find ways to get out of doing certain things that don’t appeal to their flesh.
We don’t understand how YHVH defines sin, so how can we adjudicate properly to put the evil away from the congregation, from the Kingdom? This is a Kingdom issue. It is not just an issue in all the little assemblies around the world and now it is up to those who desire to be called “Bride” to change her ways.
Repentance and obedience are such small prices to pay in exchange for not losing your citizenship in the Kingdom.
LOVE – THE LOVE OF THE BRIDE
Aren’t we just supposed to “love” one another? Isn’t that what Yeshua said? Didn’t He distill the entire Torah down to just “love” in the New Testament? No. The requirement of loving YHVH and others is not new in the New Testament. Love is the foundation of the Torah. And because “God is love”, He cannot be anywhere near sin. Sin is opposite of love.
Why is this? Because sin is disobedience and rebellion and love is obedience and loyalty. “Love” in scripture is not affection in most cases. It is loyalty and it is action, and it is loyalty and action according to the expectations of our King, Yeshua who is YHVH, not according to how we want to do it. Sin is not stopped by allowing it to continue which is most believers’ idea of “love”, an idea that means “working with” the sinner instead of putting him out of the congregation. For those who view confronting sin as “not love”, putting a sinner out is abhorrent.
We also fail to understand that the group of people called the Bride is in an arranged marriage. This is not a romantic relationship so “love” in our modern romantic idea does not apply. I am not saying The Bride does not experience the emotion of deep abiding affection toward Yeshua. I am saying, however, that this affection is not the basis of our relationship with Him. Loyalty to Him and His Laws are the basis of the relationship. If we squander that, there is no amount of affection that will help us on Judgment Day. The Bride of Yeshua is bound to Him first by duty, then by affection. Remember, breaking one commandment breaks them all.
Yeshua did not romance the Hebrews that came out of Egypt. He came, He took them to Mount Sinai and then once He had them there, He asked “are you willing to live by MY rules”? Really, that’s all! The first duty of the Bride is obedience! Affection comes because of obedience, not despite it! Affection is not true affection if it does not seek to please the husband.
This is an arranged marriage because no one comes to Yeshua except the Father calls them which means we ought to be grateful that we have been called and do the obedience thing.
John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.
In Genesis 24, we have the account of Isaac’s arranged marriage as our example of the marriage between Yeshua and His Bride.
The Bride is now, and will be in the future, in service to the entire Kingdom. She has to be up to many tasks and she must be so equally yoked and in tune with her Husband that He will trust her to run His entire “House”, His Kingdom, as it were. Proverbs 31 describes Yeshua’s Bride. Unless the Bride is in full agreement through loyalty and the DOING of the Law, she will be unfit to rule Yeshua’s Kingdom this way.
The Bride’s love, her loyalty, for her husband, to do things His way, is paramount and her loyalty requires unquestioning obedience, blind obedience, doing what the plain sense, the basic understanding and face value of the Law says (because these are the Laws of the House she hopes to inhabit). And sometimes it takes doing without understanding “why”. I have found that understanding comes with doing.
One of my own examples has to do with keeping the celebrations, the Feasts, only in Jerusalem. I, like other teachers, said the Feasts were to be done in Jerusalem but then proceeded to set up Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot somewhere else.
YHVH told me in August 2014 to be in Jerusalem for Sukkot in 2015. The story of how I got there is amazing but long so I will save it for another time. At Sukkot in 2015, as I stood praying at the Western Wall, I began to get an inkling of understanding but the full understanding took going back to Jerusalem for the following Passover. I “got it” like a ton of bricks! Standing at the Western Wall praying, I understood through the experience of being there something I cannot express. The Feasts are like chocolate. Just try to explain to someone who refuses to eat chocolate what a wonderful thing it is. It can’t be done. There are some things that only experience can explain. But I will say this. That experience anchored me to Jerusalem. Who can remove me from Yeshua? No one! Who can remove me from Jerusalem? No one!
YHVH’s people are the method He uses to clean up the congregation. That is the way it will be in the wilderness. That’s the way it has always been supposed to be and the way it will always remain. We are a self-cleaning Kingdom!
There is a war going on between two opposing forces of people in the Kingdom both who claim to know YHVH – the righteous and the unrighteous. It is the unenviable, but honorable, job of the righteous and faithful congregation to separate the unrighteous and unfaithful people from the Kingdom. And we need to get this done because He is coming soon!
Email me with your questions. And be sure to go to Beast Watch News for details on how the prophecies are being fulfilled every day!
Be blessed!
Kimberly Rogers-Brown
beastwatchnews@gmail.com
09-18-2020
