Come to Understanding

Come to Understanding

They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding,

and they that murmured shall learn doctrine. — Isaiah 29:24

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense,

and caused them to understand the reading. — Nehemiah 8:8

February 14, 2007
Volume 6 Number 4

He Will Always Love You

Nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is received through Yahshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). Paul explains this unconditional love:

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in the Messiah Yahshua our Lord. -Romans 8

Even though the love of God does not change, our response to that love can make a great difference. It will determine whether we receive the fullness of the joy that He offers to us or the fierceness of His wrath. Yahshua explains that receiving the fullness of joy is conditional upon keeping the Word of God:

9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue you in my love.

10 If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

11 These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. -John 15

He also told believers that they must continue in His word. It is through His word that we learn the truth, which sets us free from the bondage that those who want to deceive us try to put upon us:

31 Then said Yahshua to those Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed;

32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. -John 8

We will not, however, continue in His word unless we love the truth. As Paul explains, we will otherwise be convinced to believe a lie:

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. -2 Thessalonians 2

If we are persuaded to believe a lie instead of the truth, then we have been deceived by the devil, Satan, who is the father of lies:

44 You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stayed not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. -John 8

Satan, transforming himself into an angel of light, spreads his lies through his ministers, who even pose as apostles of the Messiah and appear to be ministers of righteousness:

13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of the Messiah.

14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. -2 Corinthians 11

Could anyone who once knew the truth of the gospel still be deceived? Paul was amazed at how quickly the believing Galatians could be led astray:

6 I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of the Messiah unto another gospel:

7 Which is not another; but there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of the Messiah. -Galatians 1

Like Satan, many of his ministers pervert the gospel and confuse those who do not know the Word of God. They adopt the teachings of Jezebel, the wicked queen of Israel who seduced God’s people to commit spiritual fornication as she persuaded them to worship idols of the goddess in the groves. They emphasize works above faith and offer sacrifices to idols instead of praise to Yahweh:

19 I know your works, and charity, and service, and faith, and your patience, and your works; and the last to be more than the first.

20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, which calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. -Revelation 2

Even though Jezebel, and others like her, turned the hearts of Yahweh’s people away from Him and toward idols, Yahweh continued to offer them an opportunity to repent from idol worship:

6 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. -Ezekiel 14

However, despite repeated warnings and opportunities, Israel refused to repent. Therefore, they were judged for their sin and all but a small remnant of them were either destroyed or carried away into captivity by the Assyrians and the Babylonians.

Like Jezebel, many are being warned and given time to repent from their corrupt religious practices. Like her, many also refuse to repent and will receive the consequences for rejecting God’s love.

21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.

23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the assemblies shall know that I am he which searches the reins and hearts: and I will give to every one of you according to your works. -Revelation 2

If we find ourselves in a religious system like those who follow the teachings of Jezebel, why don’t we repent? In our pride, we may have been deceived into believing the lie that we have no sin:

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. -1 John 1

Persuaded that our works and religious rituals have somehow cleansed us from our sin, we trust in our own righteousness. We thereby reject the true means of salvation which is offered by Yahweh by His unconditional love, which He revealed to us through Yahshua the Messiah:

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. -John 3

Unless we believe in the name of Yahshua, which means "Yah is salvation," we reject God’s love and His salvation and stand condemned:

18 He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. -John 3

Once we reject the salvation of Yah (the short form of Yahweh), we commit spiritual fornication because we look elsewhere for love and for salvation. As we do so, we fall into the trap that Satan has waiting for us. He offers us another "savior."

Called "the Beast" in the Book of Revelation, this false "savior" will present himself as the all powerful ruler of the world, as the king of the modern "kingdom of Babylon." He will be represented by a "living" and "speaking" image that all who want to enjoy peace and economic prosperity must worship. Convinced that "the Beast" is their savior, many will believe in his name instead of the name of Yahshua. Demonstrating their faith and allegiance to him, they will receive a mark of his name. Then, instead of repenting from idol worship, they will worship the image that belongs to him. (see Revelation 13)

Because of His great love, God still sends people who have studied His word to warn others of the great consequence of rejecting His love by giving our love to "the Beast" and to his image:

9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

11 And the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. -Revelation 14

The people of God are those that keep His commandments and the faith of Yahshua (see Revelation 14:12). If God rebukes and chastens us, then we know that He loves us. Because of this love, He is persuading us to repent:

19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. -Revelation 3

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www.ibiblical.orgScriptures are taken from the Proper Name Version of the King James Bible.