True Freedom for the children of God
Maybe, we are not fully aware of the fact but humanity surely is in
bondage of the decay; in slavery to corruption.
Perhaps some people speak against this, and they promise us true
freedom, but in that case one of Yeshua’s most famous
apostles nevertheless contradicts them, saying: They
promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of corruption (2 Peter 2:19).
Peter wrote this inspired scripture in particular in view of the false
teachers who in the End times will stand up among the Jewish people and will secretly bring in destructive sects, at the same
time denying the Master who bought them, and therefore will bring swift
destruction upon themselves (2
Peter 2:1).
No, the famous Saul of the tribe of Benjamin,
cannot be successfully contradicted when he recorded this scripture under
inspiration:
19 For the eager
expectation of the creation awaits the revelation of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to the futility, not willingly, but because of
him who subjected, in hope.
21 that also the
creation itself will be set free from the bondage of the decay into the
glorious freedom of the children of God.
22 For we know that
all the creation groans together and is in travail together until now.
Of course, Saul (more known by his apostolic name Paul) was here,
according to Romans
8, referring to the essence of the creation account according to Genesis,
Chapter 3.
As we all know, in Gan Eden this
'conversation' developed:
Elohim [He called the man
and said to him]: Where are you?
After his
children had become lost and tried to hide themselves because of shame, YHWH
Elohim immediately went looking for them. He clearly did not drop
them. Although, by their disobedient act, they had violated the relations
with their heavenly Father, He nevertheless took immediately the initiative to
maintain that bond.
Man : I heard your voice in
the garden, but I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.
Elohim : Who told you that you were naked? Did you sometimes eat from the
tree of which I commanded you not to eat?
Man : The woman you gave me
to be with me, she gave me from the tree and so I ate.
Elohim [but
now the woman]: What is this you have done?
Woman : The Serpent – it
deceived me and so I ate.
Having thus the facts determined in
the ears of everyone YHWH Elohim pronounced his sentence upon each of the
offenders:
[To the serpent]: Because you did this, you are cursed among all
animals and among all the wild beasts of the field. Upon thy belly shall
you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between
your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him
in the heel.
[To the woman]: I shall geatly increase the pain of your
pregnancy; in birth pangs you will bring forth children, and your craving
will be for your husband, and he will dominate you.
[To Adam]: Because you listened to your wife's voice and went to eat from the tree concerning which I gave you the command: You must not
eat from it, is the ground for your sake cursed. With pain
you will eat its produce all the days of your life. And
thorns and thistles it will produce, and you must eat the vegetation of the
field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat
bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust and to dust you will return.
See: Genesis 3:8-21
Because of that development
man began to deteriorate, gradually returning to dust. The dying process
started and it is clear that Adam, the first man and our common ancestor, was
the cause of that new situation. As YHWH Elohim had
established: “Have you eaten from the tree
that I commanded you not to eat from?” Of course, the answer
was affirmative. The first man had broken Elohim's
clear commandment and now suffered the penalty for that offense:
And YHWH Elohim commanded
the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it. For in the day
that you eat of it you will surely die.”
In his First Letter to the Christian community
at
21 For since death
through a man, resurrection of [the] dead also through a man.
22 For just as in Adam all are
dying, so also in the Messiah all will be made
alive.
45 So also it is written, “The
first man, Adam, became into a living soul.” The last Adam
into an alive-making spirit.
As matters stand thus, we can rightly agree
with verse 20 of Romans 8, as quoted above: For
the creation was subjected to the futility, not willingly, but because of him
who subjected, in hope.
Yes, in hope, because in the Messiah there will
come a sure restoration to (human) life for most of the dead people who
suffered death because of Adam’s trespass.
So, on the one hand:
Therefore, just as sin
entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and thus death
spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12).
It is true,
on the other hand:
He will destroy in this
mountain the shroud that is enveloping all the peoples, and the veil that is woven over all nations. He will swallow up death
forever! The Lord YHWH will wipe away the tears from all faces. He will take
away the reproach of his people from all the earth, for YHWH himself has spoken
it (Isaiah
25:7-8).
Real
As we saw above, from Romans
And YHWH Elohim also
revealed the scope of that prospect by adding that
creation is in travail together until now.
What is the meaning of all that?
Answer: In God's providence the bringing forth of
humanity on earth would occur in two phases:
1st Phase:
Shut up under sin (disobedience): the creation being
in slavish subjection to the futility; in bondage of
the decay. Compare Romans
8:32-33, where we learn something about Elohim’s
wisdom in the matter!
2nd Phase:
Based on Yeshua’s
sin-atoning sacrifice and at Elohim’s appointed time,
giving birth to a new creation that will be freed from all servile bondage and
rejoices in the glorious liberty which characterizes Elohim's true children.
However, how does true freedom look like from Elohim’s point of view?
One dictionary defines freedom in the following terms:
- The state of being free; liberty;
self-determination; absence of restraint; the opposite of slavery.
-
The power of acting, in the character of a moral personality, according to the
dictates of the will, without other check, hindrance, or prohibition than
such as may be imposed by just and necessary laws and
the duties of social life.
- The prevalence, in the government
and constitution of a country, of such a system of laws and institutions
as secure civil liberty to the individual citizen.
Freedom, therefore is the acting and the
performance of acts freely according to one’s will, with or without restraints,
for the general welfare. Accordingly, the subject of freedom involves the
faculty of ‘free will’ which Elohim as the Creator Superior has given to angels
and men so that they can conduct themselves voluntarily in a way pleasing to
their Maker.
It is in this area of action where
man is allowed to excersise
his free will that the use of freedom comes in. It is in this field of ‘free
will’ action wherein geovernments, both theocratic
and man-made, grant controlled liberties and
freedoms.
From this, we can deduce that where
one is able to act at will without any restraints or bounds whatsoever, such a
one enjoys what might be described as total freedom.
That person must be one who is completely independent of every other.
However, there is only One who is in that totally independant
position.
Of course, we speak about YHWH
Elohim, the Sovereign Superior of the universe. All others, be they spirit
creatures in heaven or humans on earth, are works of his hands and thus
are dependant inferiors.
For that reason YHWH Elohim is the
Sole one who is free in the absolute or complete sense. He alone, in a unique
way, enjoys absolute freedom. None can question, limit or direct
this Fountainhead of freedom, the One who singly lives and dwells in the
unlimited climate of free action at all times.
Listen therefore how he challenges
the ones among his people
Shall the potter be
esteemed as clay; that the thing made should say of him who made it, He didn’t make me; or the thing formed say of him who formed
it, He has no understanding? (Is 29:15-16)
In
Psalm 94 YHWH Elohim is giving us the correct picture of Himself, being the
only and absolute Sovereign:
Yahweh, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph? They pour
out arrogant words; all the evildoers boast. They break your people in pieces,
Yahweh, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the alien, and
murder the fatherless. They say, “Yah will not see, neither will Jacob’s God
consider.” Consider, you senseless among the people; you fools, when will you
be wise?
He who implanted the
ear, won’t he hear? He who formed the eye, won’t he see? He who disciplines the nations, won’t he punish? He who teaches man knows. Yahweh knows the
thoughts of man, that they are futile.
Just as YHWH Elohim subjected the creation to the futility, so are the
thoughts of men: they are futile.
Nevertheless, YHWH, living and dwelling
everlastingly within the climate of freedom, has lovingly purposed that all his
faithful children must dwell within a similar climate of freedom. As we previously
ascertained in Romans 8 >> That
also the creation itself will be set free from the bondage of the decay into
the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Man, being originally created in the
image and likeness of his Elohim, was surely brought forth to
exist forever within this element of freedom (Gn 1:26).
Of course however, with one exception: While YHWH Elohim created none of
his servants to bondage and granted them the gift of free will, their freedom
is relative; it does not exist apart from their heavenly Father. Hence, spirit
creatures and men possess what usually is designated
as relative freedom.
Consequently, their freedom lies in living and acting in harmony with
the laws and conditions that the Sovereign Superior has made to apply to them.
Their field of acting at will is hedged in, or limited by
boundaries. However, within that area of freedom Elohim's
faithful servants have a wide range in which to exercise their free will for
good to themselves and their faithful associates.
Given this situation of relative freedom, it is by no
means accidental that YHWH Elohim made that truth to the first learning point
for newly created man.
No doubt, there were many things
that Adam had to learn closely after his appearance in Gan
Eden. Yet
Scripture makes mention only of that one learning point: Freedom in dependence
on his grand Creator:
Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Yahweh God
commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely
eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat
of it: for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.”
So, the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil became a symbol of Elohim’s right to set
the standards for man as to what is “good” (approved by YHWH Elohim) and what
is “bad” (condemned by him). It thus constituted a test of man’s respect for
his Creator’s position and his willingness to remain within the area of freedom
decreed by God, an area that was by no means cramped
and that allowed for the greatest enjoyment of human life.
Therefore, to violate the boundaries of the
prohibited area by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad
would be an invasion of or a revolt against Elohim’s
domain and authority.
As
we all know in Gan Eden,
except the tree of knowledge of good and evil, there was also
another tree to which YHWH Elohim attached a special significance: the
tree of life.
Connoisseurs
of Biblical gematria know that between the two trees
numerically exists the proportion 1:4, namely:
* Tree of Life: 70 + 90 + 5 + 8 + 10 + 10 + 40 =
233
* Tree of knowledge of good and evil:
70
+ 90 + 5 + 4 + 70 + 400 + 9 + 6 + 2 + 6 + 200 + 70 = 932.
And indeed: 233:932 = 1:4. Why is
that an interesting observation?
As
we know the knowledge tree appears in Genesis, chapter 2, where
we also find the so-called second report of creation, a story that is characterized by vapour / water, while the
first report (chapter 1) was characterized by light.
From
chapter 2 we learn that
>>
a vapour went up from the earth, and watered the whole
surface of the ground (verse 6), but also that
>>
a river went out of
Well,
the gematria of vapour (אד 'ed) is 1 + 4, while one river was parted into four streams; in both cases, therefore, also
a 1:4 ratio.
In
that same chapter (verse 7) the creation of man, Adam, is
described: Yahweh God formed man from
the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living soul.
The
value of adam is 1 + 4 + 40 (אדם), so, also
characterized by the ratio 1:4, which is also the case with adamah
(earth) out of which he was formed, namely: 1 + 4 + 40 + 5 (אדמה).
But we can go even further with
the principle of the 1:4 ratio.
The
Hebrew word for truth (אמת emeth) appears in the form of 1 + 40 + 400, which indicates
a certain relationship between man (1 + 4 + 40) and truth.
If
we now remove the number
*
In the case of man (1 + 4 + 40) one
obtains 4 + 40, which is the word for blood (דם dam).
Conversely,
therefore, if blood is connected with 1, blood
becomes man.
* In the case of truth (1 + 40 + 400)
the result is 40 + 400, the word for death (תמ).
Conclusion:
1.)
Connection or disconnection with the number 1,
modifies the essence of the word completely: Man without the 1 is
only blood; truth without the 1 has death
as a result.
2.)
Returning to the 1:4 ratio of the two trees in Gan Eden, for man there would be no future without the
No wonder that we read splendid things about the
tree of life in other parts of the Bible.
See: Proverbs
3:13-18 and Revelation
2:7.
The
promise that the days of Elohim’s restored people
will be like those of a tree (Isaiah
65:22) is made more meaningful by the fact that some trees of Palestine
live for centuries, even up to a thousand years or more.
In
Ezekiel’s vision a stream flowing from the visionary
temple was lined with fruitful trees of healing foliage, and a similar vision
is presented in the book of Revelation.
(Ezekiel 47:7, 12; Revelation 22:1-2, 14)
But
most important is the numerical value of that tree of life, 233, which is also the
value of the Pesach Lamb that had to be slaughtered and eaten on the 14th
of the month Nisan, a type of Yeshua, the lamb
of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
As
we read in Ex 12:27 >>
It
is the sacrifice of the Passover to YHWH [>> value 233], who passed over the
houses of the sons of
Neglecting Elohim's
command not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil
would therefore mean going knowingly beyond the boundaries of relative freedom.
Such one commits sin; he is a rebel and acts lawless. Those who ‘kick over the
traces’ by going beyond their relative freedom may think they are making
a break for greater freedom, perhaps attaining absolute freedom as belongs to
YHWH Elohim himself. However, such persons deceive themselves. As is written:
But each one is tempted by
being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. Then the lust, when it has
become fertile, gives birth to sin; and the sin, when it has been accomplished,
brings forth death (James 1:14-15).
Exactly that happened to Eve after being
enticed by the Serpent who had told her the lie: You
won’t surely die, for Elohim knows that in the
day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil.
Now her
inner desire had become fertile, and sin was just ‘round the corner’:
When the woman saw that
the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the
tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit of it, and ate;
and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.
It is surely of great interest that the current
generation of people worldwide thoroughly become familiar with this procedure. Why?
Because very soon and worldwide Satan, that old
Serpent, by means of a big Lie will attempt to put whole humanity on the wrong
track in the Messiah issue.
Based on Paul’s Second Letter to the
Thessalonians, long ago penned by him under inspiration, we know previously
that a false messiah figure will appear on the world stage. A pseudo messiah,
to be recognized as the Lawless One in person, and all
that with the intention to erase completely in men’s mind the identity of the
true Messiah, Elohim's own Son:
Let none deceive you in
any matter, because the apostasy comes first and the Man of Lawlessness will be
revealed, the Son of Destruction, he who resists and exalts himself above all
that is called god or object of worship, so that he sits down in the temple
sanctuary of The God, showing himself that he is divine…
And than the Lawless will
be revealed, whom the Lord Yeshua will do away with by the spirit of his mouth
and destroy by the manifestation of his presence. But the Lawless one’s
presence will be according to [an] operation of Satan in all power and lying signs and
portents and in all unrighteous deception for those that perish, as a retribution
because they did not accept the love of the Truth [true Messiah Yeshua] for their salvation. And for this reason Elohim shall send them an operation of error so
that they will believe the Lie [embodied
in the pseudo Messiah], that all may be judged, those who did not put
faith in the truth but delighted in unrighteousness.
Once again we return to Romans 8, the Scripture
where the promise is given which applies to the creation, in
particular referring to the true children of God. From verse 17 we must conclude that the sons of God will
have everything to do in the achieving of creation’s expectations: For the eager expectation of the creation awaits the
revelation of the sons of God.
However, even those among humanity who are very well aware that mankind’s world system is staggering from crisis to crisis,
have no understanding whatsoever about the purpose that YHWH Elohim precisely
has with those sons of him, namely the members of Yeshua's
Congregational Body.
Nevertheless, those spiritual sons of him are the ones who, after their
spiritual resurrection and marriage with his principal Son in heaven, will be
fully "committed" to the task bringing about healing and deliverance
for the troubled creation.
But again, as the creation was subjected to vanity
(futility) without wanting and without knowing it - the same vanity about which
the Preacher (in Ecclesiastes) expatiates so extensively – the members of
creation do not even know from which 'angle' liberation can be expected. After
all, outside Yeshua's Congregational Body the
"doings" of the Gentile world take place in the emptiness of
their thinking, focused as they are on the fruitless ambitions of this
world. In Elohim's eyes, they are devoid of all true
reality as these things are pursued entirely beyond
his divine purpose. Hence the admonition to those who are really Christians:
That
you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of
their mind, being
darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the
ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts; who having
become callous gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with
greediness (Eph 4:17-19).
To those Body
members of the Messiah, Paul also wrote:
If you were raised together with the Messiah, then seek the things
above, where the Messiah is, seated at Elohim's right
hand. Set your affection on the things above, not on the things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hid together with the Messiah in
Elohim. When the Messiah, your life, is made
manifest, then you also will be made manifest together with him in glory.
And it is exactly that coming event, being
made manifest to the world together with Messiah Yeshua, the creation
is eagerly awaiting, even without having the least knowledge about that fact!
Only with the coming of the Messiah in power and much glory, the peoples on
earth for the first time will get really acquainted
with his congregational Body. And only then they shall
understand what role the members of that Body will play in being helpful to the
groaning, still travailing creation. Moreover, all that with the intention that
the creation may attain the glorious freedom that characterizes Elohim's true children.
To get anyway some idea about that future task
we refer to an event from Yeshua's own earthly
ministry:
Behold, there came a
man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the
synagogue. He fell down at Yeshua’s feet, and begged him
to come into his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of
age, and she was dying. But as he went, the multitudes
pressed against him.
A woman who had a flow
of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians, and
could not be healed by any, came behind him, and touched the fringe of his
cloak, and immediately the flow of her blood stopped. Yeshua
said, “Who touched me?”
When all denied it,
Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes press and jostle you,
and you say, ‘Who touched me?’”
But Yeshua
said, “Someone did touch me, for I perceived that power has gone
out of me.” When the woman saw that she was not hidden,
she came trembling, and falling down before him declared to him in the presence
of all the people the reason why she had touched him, and how she was healed
immediately. He said to her, “Daughter, cheer up. Your faith has made
you well. Go in peace.”
While he still spoke, one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house came, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Don’t trouble the Teacher.” But Yeshua hearing it, answered him, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe, and she will be healed.”
When he came to the
house, he didn’t allow anyone to enter in, except
Peter, John, James, the father of the child, and her mother. All were
weeping and mourning her, but he said, “Don’t weep. She isn’t dead, but
sleeping.” They were ridiculing him, knowing that she was dead. But he put them all outside, and taking her by the hand, he
called, saying, “Child, arise!” Her spirit returned, and she rose up
immediately. He commanded that something be given to
her to eat (Luke 8).
The two miracles give us some idea of the miraculous cure that will befall
the creation from the transition to the Millennium kingdom of the Messiah.
Jairus is a representative son of
Disease has invaded the house of Jairus, and
that threatens the life of his only-begotten daughter. Jairus
must have been familiar with the miraculous healing of a servant of the army
chief who had provided funds for the construction of the synagogue (Luke
7:1-10). Therefore, he does not hesitate; he has to go to Yeshua for help
to his dying daughter. Yeshua responds to his request; and accompanied by the crowd
they go on their way to Jairus' house.
The woman avails herself of the thronging crowd around Yeshua. Taking
into consideration all the things she had heard about him, she had come to this
conclusion: “If I only touch something of his garment, I will be healed”.
However, according to Thora an action like
such was for her an unprecedented act, given her impure state. In that
situation, contact with anyone was forbidden, for not to transfer her
uncleanness to that person. Nevertheless, with faith she goes out among the
crowd and manages to reach Yeshua and to touch him. And
she is confirmed in her faith: immediately the fountain of her blood dried up.
She sensed in her body that she had been healed of the
grievous sickness.
Compare: Lev
15:25 and 6:24-27.
Among the pressing crowd, many came in touch with Yeshua, but without
any beneficial effect for themselves. However, the touch of the woman that had
taken place in faith had immediate effect.
While she had hoped to remain in anonymity, implementing her plan
unnoticed, this delicate woman became the focus of everyone's attention. In
front of all the people she was forced to explain her
situation; for her a source of shame and embarrassment. However, precisely thus
to everyone became clear that she had acted with noble motives; her complete
trust in the power of the Messiah had helped her to put aside all scruples.
Yet, Yeshua said: “Someone touched me, for I perceived that power went out of me”.
With that statement, Yeshua revealed that during his ministry he too, in
all aspects, was dependent on his Father. YHWH Elohim was actually the One who
performed all the miracles, but with his Son as an intermediary.
We can readily see how deep had to be done in
the physical body of the woman to stop the blood issue. It is true that Yeshua,
as the "last Adam", was a perfect man, but still perfectly human (1 Cor 15:45). As a mere human,
without supernatural influence, he might never have been able to establish
these and other miracles. Supernatural influence was the essential factor and
in that, Elohim provided through the operation of his holy active force: his
spirit.
Compare: Matthew 12:28 >> But if it is by means of Elohim's
spirit that I cast out the demons, Elohim's kingdom
has really overtaken you.
Exactly in that way, it will happen in the Messianic kingdom of the
Millennium. On earth, the Jewish saints will represent the beloved city: heavenly
New Jerusalem. As the members of the earthly part of the Israel of God, they
shall work for the blessing of humanity. As is prophesied
in Isaiah:
Violence shall no more
be heard in your land, desolation nor destruction within your borders; but you
shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. The sun shall be
no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light to
you: but Yahweh will be to you an everlasting light, and your Elohim your
glory. Your sun shall no more go down, neither shall your moon withdraw
itself; for Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and
the days of your mourning shall be ended. Your people also shall be all
righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the
work of my hands, that I may be glorified. The little one shall
become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation; I, Yahweh, will
hasten it in its time… They shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the
waste cities, the desolations of many generations. Strangers shall stand
and feed your flocks, and foreigners shall be your plowmen
and your vine-dressers. But
you
shall be named the priests of Yahweh; men shall call you the ministers of our
Elohim: you shall eat the wealth of the nations [Gojim], and in their glory
shall you boast yourselves. Instead of your shame you
shall have double; and instead of dishonour they shall rejoice in their
portion: therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy
shall be to them.
(Is 60:18 – 61:7)
However, even in that privileged situation, their impact will be
limited. The supernatural influence of the heavenly part – the above-mentioned sons of God, whose revelation the eager expectation of the
creation is awaiting - will lead to the
actual healing of the nations, and therefore will constitute the decisive
factor.
As we have seen in the middle of the story - the awakening of Jairus' twelve year old daughter –
there appears the story of the healing of the woman who for twelve years
suffered a severe haemorrhage. For that reason, both miracles can apparently be
placed in an End-time perspective, when an awakening will come to a seemingly dead national
Actually, it is therefore one story with two aspects:
1. Complete in conformity with the vision of the prophet Ezekiel in Ez 37:1-14, Israel's tombs will be opened and YHWH
Elohim will bring forth his people from these 'tombs' and bring it on Israel's
ground. He will put his spirit in them and they will come to life; be saved, as happened with Jairus'
daughter. In that regard mark Yeshua's assurance to
her father: Have no fear, only believe and she
will be saved.
For that reason, the spiritual awakening of
Israel (Zion) should occur on the basis of the yet to conclude New Covenant
with the nation, but then a covenant that is firmly based on the sacrifice of Yeshua's own life, leaving sins really be reconciled: This means my blood of the covenant which is to be poured
out in behalf of many for forgiveness of sins.
See: Jer 31:31-34; Matth 26:26-28; Luke
22:19-20; Hebrews
8:1-13.
Fortunately, we know in advance that a Great Crowd will come on earth’s
scene out of the Diaspora, whose members will wash
their robes, and will make them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Consequently, they will be saved and they will ascribe
salvation to our Elohim who sits on the throne
and to the Lamb (Revelation
7:9-17).
See also the study: Melchizedek
in Hebrews
-.-.-.-