176 The covenant with Elohim is all abou

The covenant with Elohim is all about character building.

We are given the reason why our earth is polluted and why countries like South Africa and especially the people descended from Europe and the United Kingdom are being punished at this time in Isaiah 24: 3 – 5, as follows: ‘The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for YHVH has spoken this word. (4) The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. (5) The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. (6) Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.’ Yet, most South Africans descended from Europe and the U. K. living in our beautiful country insists that they know their G-d. This is in fact true for most the inhabitants of the western world.

Even though most people hate rules and regulations, such rules give us guidelines in which to perform a given task according to the requirements to receive the reward for doing it. Because of mankind’s aversion to be told what to do, we always look for ideas to circumvent the rules to try and still get the benefit of accomplishing the task, or do just the opposite to show their disdain for authority. This is where the idea of ‘if there is a rule, it can be broken’ comes from. We therefore read the serious indictment against our people who insist that they believe in Messiah, or as they refer to Him, ‘C*h*r*i*s*t*, given by the word of YHVH to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 22: 25 & 26, in this way: “There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. (26) Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My Sabbaths, (weekly and annual) and I am profaned among them.” This is talking about a people who believe their Messiah and Savior has either abolished or fulfilled the Torah for them, so that it is no longer applicable to them. The truth of the matter is, that right from the very beginning YHVH Elohim introduced laws of cause and effect and like with the law of gravity, if we transgress Elohim’s commandments and statutes we will come under the judgments of the Torah and will be punished or cursed accordingly, whether we believe it or not. The average thinking person alive today, is fully aware of the condition of the earth and the fact that it is deteriorating fast. But, because most people are so busy living their own little lives and are trying to make ends meet, they are totally oblivious of what is happening around them. Whilst, ever since the fall of man, Satan has been very busy deceiving the rest of mankind, to believe lies about the reward mankind will receive for obedience to Elohim, as is also confirmed in Revelation 12: 9, as follows: ‘And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.’ This leaves us with two questions namely, how and why did he and his human agents determine to keep us blinded? Fully aware of the feud between Jacob and Esau because of the blessing Jacob’s descendants are promised to inherit the Promised Land eternally, provided Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob remain obedient to YHVH and as a sign of the covenant circumcise their male children at eight days old, Satan through the agency of Esau or Rome introduced a false gospel as well as a false messiah to those descendants of Jacob, who did not remain loyal to Elohim and were scattered into the world, because of idolatry.

After the house of Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians during 721 – 718BCE, the Assyrians took them into Europe where they were introduced to Christianity through the Roman Catholic church and eventually accepted a false messiah as well as a false gospel, where ‘those’ who remain true to the Christian Church will go to heaven at death, whilst those who reject it, will be damned to eternal life in an ever burning hellfire. In this way Satan has succeeded in keeping the bridegroom (the true Messiah) who was promised to return to the world to establish the Kingdom of Elohim on earth, from His bride made up of the commonwealth of Israel. Most of the members of the house of Israel have been deceived to forget about the original covenant YHVH made with both houses of Israel at Mount Sinai and as a result they rejected Elohim’s Torah, including His Sabbaths given in Leviticus 23 and the Kosher Laws given in Leviticus 11. From the verses quoted earlier from Ezekiel 22, it is clear that it is talking about Christianity. Very few people are aware of this ongoing deception that will eventually result in the demise of the entire church system, as we are suitably warned in Revelation 18: 3 – 8, in this way: “For all the nations, have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.” (4) And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues; (5) for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and Elohim has remembered her iniquities. (6) Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her. (7) To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, I SIT AS A QUEEN AND I AM NOT A WIDOW, and will never see mourning.’ (8) For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for Adonai Elohim who judges her is strong.” It is for this very reason that most in Churchianity are totally unaware of the reason for mankind’s creation.

However, because Elohim is not a man and did not forget the covenant that He made with our fathers in the faith, His plan to bring a remnant of the lost sheep of the house of Israel back to both the Father and the house of Judah during the latter days, is right on track as He confirmed in Deuteronomy 4: 25 – 31, saying: “When you become the father of children and children’s children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of YHVH your Elohim so as to provoke Him to anger, (26) I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you shall surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but shall be utterly destroyed. (27) And YHVH will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where YHVH shall drive you. (28) And there you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. (29) But from there you will seek YHVH your Elohim, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. (30) When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days, you will return to YHVH your Elohim and listen to His voice. (31) For YHVH your Elohim is a compassionate Elohim; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.” But, it is important to know that because of (YHVH)’s promise to Abraham to make him a multitude of nations (transliterated as ‘Melo HaGoyim’ in Hebrew) that He split the nation into two separate houses to ensure that the second part of His promise to Abraham; to bring a remnant of the lost sheep of Israel back to the covenant He made with both houses at Mount Sinai, through Abraham’s One seed Yahshua Messiah, when He comes to rule the commonwealth of Israel during His millennial rule and beyond, through whom He will also save the rest of mankind during the Great White Throne period. We read Elohim’s reply to Rehoboam when the house of Judah wanted to force Jeroboam and the house of Israel to return to them and be ruled by the house of David from 1 Kings 12: 20 – 24, as follows: ‘And it came about when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all (the house of) Israel. None but the tribe of Judah followed the house of David. (21) Now when Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. (22) But the word of Elohim came to Shemaiah the man of Elohim, saying, (23) “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the rest of the people, saying, (24) Thus says YHVH, “You must not go up and fight against your relatives the sons of Israel; return every man to his house, for this thing has come from Me.” So, we see that Elohim’s plan of salvation for all mankind, as revealed to us through obedience to His Feast Days revealed in Leviticus 23 will come to fruition, despite of Satan’s deceptive influence on mankind. Because Elohim knows the end from the beginning, the split in the united nation of Israel into two separate nations, was His doing.

For the same reason YHVH did not create mankind as perfect beings from the beginning, even though He is omnipotent. Instead He created us from physical matter requiring us to live very demanding lives. The reason for so doing is, because of what happened prior to recreating the earth and populated it with human beings. At the very beginning YHVH planned to bring forth angels that would become his ‘helpers’ and that these helpers or ‘children’ would be like Him in every respect. They would have His perfect, righteous character reproduced in them by His Set-apart Spirit. YHVH commenced His plan to reproduce Himself by creating powerful spiritual beings called angels. These angels were free moral agents, with the ability to choose to go the way of Elohim – the way of giving and sharing, or the wrong way - which is a way of get. For many years these angels followed Elohim’s way, until one day, a third of them followed the archangel Lucifer in rebellion against Elohim to take over Elohim’s throne in the third heaven. They fought against the other two thirds of the created angels, still loyal to Elohim, but were overcome and thrown down to earth, where they are now living as fallen angels or demons (as per Revelation 12: 3,4 & 9). These angels, who are spirit beings with full knowledge, could not change once they decided to follow a life of wrongdoing (as per Isaiah 14: 12 – 15 and Ezekiel 28: 13 - 15), because they sinned. The war between the angels and demons left the world formless and void (‘Tohu’ and ‘bohu’ in Hebrew); the condition in which we find it when we open our Scriptures at Genesis 1: 2. This was when YHVH decided to recreate the heavens and the earth. He also at that point chose not to create his future children as spirit beings, but to create them from physical matter, in His image with the mind power to think and plan and create. They too would have free moral agency to decide between good and evil and had to prove throughout their lives that they would develop the perfect character of Elohim and follow His way of life. Nevertheless, we know that induced by the lies and temptation of Satan, Adam and Eve did not remain loyal to Elohim and sinned.

Adam’s choice of eating from the Tree of Knowledge excluded his ‘eating’ of the Tree of Life. Therefore we live in a world of good and evil, which came forth from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. We need to understand that eternal life that comes from the Tree of Life has always been available. It is mankind who left the Tree of Life, not it that left us. It is therefore incumbent upon each one of us to restore the Tree of Life, eat of its fruits and rectify our world. The statement of belief in the coming of Messiah is simply not enough. We must do something and thereby bring about the final redemption, as confirmed in Hosea 5: 15, as follows: ‘I will go away and return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction (or tribulation) they will earnestly seek Me.’ In fact Moses commanded us to observe Torah in Deuteronomy 33: 4 – it is an inheritance for the entire congregation of Jacob, not only for the house of Judah. However, we read from Psalm 78: 67 & 68, that after YHVH rejected the house of Israel because of idolatry, He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion whom He loved. Even so, because of His promises to our fathers in the faith, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob YHVH is again choosing a remnant of the lost ten tribes according to Elohim’s gracious choice (as per Romans 11: 5), in order to reestablish the Tabernacle of David which has fallen. But the importance for us to study and practice Torah cannot be overly emphasized. The sin of Adam was that he decided to observe and experience the physical world at the level of intellect and not at the level which we refer to today as spiritual. The human intellect is a great thing, yet it is very limited. There is only so much consciousness that one can grasp with the limited abilities of human understanding.

Prior to the sin of Adam and Eve, YHVH planned for such an eventuality and decided from the foundation of the earth that His visible image will come as Yahshua the salvation of YHVH, to reconcile the house of Israel back to the covenant we made with the Father, together with the house of Judah. But also to eventually save the rest of mankind after Messiah’s millennial rule during the Great White Throne period. YHVH did not want to make the same mistake that He made with the angels who were blameless from the start (as we read from Ezekiel 28: 15), until they sinned – after that Satan and His demons who all sinned with full knowledge, could not change, because they were spirit beings. It is for that very reason that YHVH created us from physical matter to start with. His intention for us is to develop perfect character during our lives here on earth by making the correct decisions, since that is the only thing that we are able to take with us into the kingdom of Elohim. Mankind does not have all knowledge and may as a result misunderstand. In addition most are also partly blinded. Because YHVH is not interested in making robots without personal characters, He created us with freedom to choose between what is right or wrong. He created us like Him, with the ability to make choices limited only by our knowledge and character. This is why we either have to learn from birth what is right from wrong or after we returned to the covenant our forefathers made with Elohim at Mount Sinai, to allow our characters to develop over time by the decisions that we make under the guidance of Elohim’s Torah and the Set-apart spirit. We need to understand that YHVH is not finished with us after we are born as little children. We remain His workmanship for the period of seventy years (or more if we are blessed), during which He is creating in us His perfect character allowing us to remain Torah observant, as we read from Ephesians 1: 4 & 5, in this way: ‘just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (set-apart) and blameless before Him in love. (5) He predestined us to adoption as sons through Yahshua Messiah to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.’ However, this is only talking about the lost sheep (including a number of real Gentiles) whom He has called and who answered the call, as we read from verses 13 & 14 of Ephesians 1, ‘In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Set-apart Spirit of promise, (14) who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of Elohim’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.’ Whilst we are flesh and blood human beings, our characters are not permanent. We are able to change our minds and the patterns of our behavior – learning from our mistakes and successful decisions. Because we can change our minds and repent from our wrong decisions in the past; Elohim is able to create in us the will and capacity to slowly but surely choose the right way of Torah over what is wrong. However, as we gain additional knowledge, Elohim requires that we recognize where we have gone wrong, and be willing to change for the better on an ongoing basis. It is for this reason that He gives us a portion of His Set-apart Spirit, which allows us to produce the fruit of the spirit in our lives.

Other than man, Elohim is not concerned with whether we are good looking and well educated. He does not look at physical attributes, but He looks at our intentions, as we read from 1 Samuel 16: 7, as follows: ‘But YHVH said to Samuel, “Do not look at his (talking about Eliab, before anointing David) appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for Elohim sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but YHVH looks at the heart.”’ We also need to be aware of the fact that the Scriptures talks about what motivates us and the way we live and think, as our hearts. YHVH will never force anyone to obey Him; He wants us to serve Him willingly from the heart and not because someone else forced us to serve Him. Those people whom Yahshua personally taught knew this, as may be understood from the teachings of Rav Shaul. In fact many misunderstand the teachings of Rav Shaul, thinking that he taught against the sections of Torah which they do not want to accept, such as the wearing of tzitzit, circumcision and the law prohibiting eating meat and milk products together. Rav Shaul was really teaching about the importance of all the commandments including those viewed as least, or the ones that people believe they need not to keep any longer and stressed that the Set-apart Spirit is the necessary agent for enabling righteousness. YHVH our Elohim requires that we follow the steps set-out in the Scriptures exactly, if we want to receive the Set-apart Spirit to enable us to start obeying Torah, which leads to righteousness. It is like we read from James 2: 26, as follows: ‘For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.’ However, we should never compel new believers to do things for which they are not ready yet. People should do things because they came to understand and believe the same. Repentance is a process and as people learn more by self-study and from teachers, who themselves went through the discipleship program started by Yahshua our Messiah; they will begin to understand better and start obeying from the heart. Yahshua himself taught that we should not lord it over people, since that is what the Gentiles do, as we read from Mark 10: 42 – 45: ‘And calling them to Himself, Yahshua said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. (43) But it is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; (44) and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. (45) For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Because Elohim is all-knowing, He also knows what motivates us, right down to our very thoughts. Knowing this should motivate us to make sure that we get rid of the filth that we think about from time to time and start living the way Elohim prescribed for us in His word. In fact Elohim knows what motivates us and evaluates our every intent. It is for that reason incumbent upon each and every one of us whom He has called to use His Torah to guide our every thought and action in this lifetime. Everything we do should ultimately be measured against the word of Elohim, as we read from Hebrews 4: 12 & 13, in this way: ‘For the word of Elohim is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (13) And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.’ A second witness to this is found in Jeremiah 17: 10 & 11, as follows: “I, YHVH, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. (11) As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, so is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly; in the midst of his days it will forsake him, and in the end he will be a fool.” Think about it; you can lie to other human beings and even yourself, but you cannot lie to Elohim. The point is that if you lie long enough to yourself, you will eventually believe your own lies.

It is only when we repent from our deceptive ways and are immersed into Yahshua’s saving name that we are able to do what YHVH requires of us, as witnessed in Ezekiel 36: 26 & 27, in this way: ‘Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (27) And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.’ The reason we should be immersed in Yahshua’s name is that it is only by so doing that we will receive the Set-apart Sprit, the same way members of the house of Judah get because of obedience to Torah, as we read from Acts 2: 38, ‘And Peter (Rav Kepha) said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be immersed in the name of Yahshua Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Set-apart Spirit.”’ We need the Set-apart Spirit of Elohim if we want to know and do the things that YHVH require of us, as may be understood from 1 Corinthians 2: 11, as follows: ‘For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of Elohim no one knows except the Spirit of Elohim.’ Yahshua our Messiah confirmed this in John 16: 13 - 15, saying: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears (from the Father), He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. (14) He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. (15) All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said; that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.”

If we are humble enough and yield our will to YHVH our Elohim, He will give us His Set-apart Spirit to follow His Torah teachings given throughout the Scriptures (from Genesis to Revelations). As those who are destined to eventually become priests who will be teaching this code of righteousness, each one of us are required to study the Scriptures to become approved by Elohim, as Rav Shaul tells us in 2 Timothy 2: 15, saying: ‘Be diligent to present yourself approved to Elohim as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.’ Ultimately Elohim will write the spiritual truths that we learnt in our hearts, making it part of our thinking and character, as we read from 2 Corinthians 3: 2 & 3, as follows: ‘You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; (3) being manifested that you are a letter of Messiah, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living Elohim, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.’ It is for this reason that we face trials and difficulties so that Elohim may know how committed we are to follow Him and His way of life. YHVH needs to know if our character will endure during the hardships and troubles that we are about to face in this world. It is only after He is totally convinced that He can trust us with the powers that He will give to those who He expects to rule under Yahshua. YHVH cannot entrust His eternal spiritual powers to someone who will misuse it again, like Satan did in the administration of His eternal Kingdom. This is also why YHVH tested our forefathers in the faith, to see if they will truly follow Him. We all recall how YHVH asked our father Abraham, after giving him an only son and after promising him that his descendants will become uncountable, to sacrifice Isaac to Him. We know from the account in Genesis 22 that Abraham obeyed and took Isaac his son with him to sacrifice him, as YHVH requested. We pick up the account in Genesis 22 and read from verse 9 – 12, as follows: ‘Then they came to the place of which Elohim had told him; and Abraham built the altar there, and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. (10) And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. (11) But the angel of YHVH called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” (12) And He (the angel of YHVH) said, ”Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear Elohim, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

In the same way Yahshua was tested when Satan tempted Him immediately after His immersion by John the Immerser. However, that was only a small test compared to what Yahshua had to suffer at the end of His very young life. Yahshua did not suffer because of His own sins; He suffered to pay for our sins – to reconcile us back to the Father. After Yahshua’s immersion and temptation by Satan, He started His ministry teaching about the coming kingdom of Elohim. During His ministry of about three and a half years, He was despised and rejected by the religious leaders of His day. At that time the religious leaders did not understand that Yahshua was in fact the wisdom and power of Elohim[1], as we read from 1 Corinthians 2: 4 – 8, in this way: ‘And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, (5) that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of Elohim (Yahshua). (6) Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; (7) but we speak Elohim’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which Elohim predestined before the ages to our glory; (8) the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Master of glory.’ In which case, we will still be in our sins. After His impalement, death and burial, Yahshua was resurrected three days and three nights later as He said. Immediately after His resurrection, He explained the reason for His suffering to His disciples, as we read from Luke 24: 46 – 49, as follows: ‘And He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; (47) and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (48) You are my witnesses of these things. (49) And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you (talking about the Set-apart Spirit); but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”’ Yahshua was sinless, but died for the sins of the world (including ours). He took the tremendous responsibility upon Himself, as the very Creator of mankind, to die as our Kinsman Redeemer, thus reconciling us back to the Father. It was absolutely necessary for Yahshua to die for us, and we read about His suffering for us from Hebrews 5: 7 – 10, in this way: ‘In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety (righteousness). (8) Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. (9) And having been made perfect (meaning a spirit being once again), He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, (10) being designated by Elohim as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.’

If Yahshua already suffered for us, why are we as believers in Him still required to suffer? We find the answer to this question in the writings of both Rav Kepha and Rav Shaul. Rav Kepha wrote in 1 Peter 2: 21, saying: ‘For you have been called for this purpose, since Messiah also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.’ In his letter to the Philippians in chapter 1: 29, Rav Shaul wrote, saying: ‘For to you it has been granted for Messiah’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.’ We also read Yahshua’s own words in this regard in Matthew 5: 10, saying: “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (which is coming to the earth).’ Yahshua further told us in John 15: 19 – 20, saying: “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (20) Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” But, it is important that we remember the promise given in Hebrews 2: 17 & 18, as follows: ‘Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to Elohim, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (18) For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.’ In addition we should know that YHVH will not allow us to be tested beyond what we are able to endure, as we are assured in 1 Corinthians 10: 13, ‘No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and Elohim is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way to escape also, that you may be able to endure it.’ Most of all, we need to remember that as human beings, our suffering is of a temporary nature. After we have shown like Abraham, that we will obey YHVH, He will put an end to our suffering, no matter what.

Finally Rav Shaul tells us about the permanent reward awaiting those who suffer for the sake of righteousness in 2 Timothy 2: 10 - 13, saying: ‘For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Messiah Yahshua and with it eternal glory. (11) It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him; (12) If we endure, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us; (13) If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself.’ Rav Yaa’cov added his thoughts to this in James 1: 2 – 5, saying: ‘Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, (3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. (4) And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (5) But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of Elohim, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.’ Halleluyah!

[1] Yahshua is the wisdom and power of Elohim, as witnessed in 1 Corinthians 1: 23 & 24, as follows: “but we preach Messiah crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks (a title sometimes used for the lost ten tribes of Israel), Messiah the power of Elohim and the wisdom of Elohim.”