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by haRold Smith
from Jerusalem, Israel
Leading up to the Feast of Shavu'ot (Pentecost) just celebrated this past month, there was a heightened awareness in myself and attested to by others sensitive to the unction of Ruach haKodesh (the Holy Spirit), that this particular Feast of this year would be "momentous". We huddled together (as surely were others around the globe, likewise sensitively attuned), not knowing precisely what the Father was doing, waiting and expecting Him to be revealed in some spectacular fashion never seen before. However, the time came and went without any seeming accompaniment of fanfare until, looking through the news headlines of the past couple of weeks there it was.
It appeared in the same week as the Feast of Shavu'ot, buried among the sensationalized stories of more intense and more frequent earthquake activity in the world than has ever been recorded, the extraordinary melting of the polar icecaps, a volcano belching such a voluminous amount of ash into the atmosphere so as to halt the technological mobility of most of the world and the most devastating, man-made environmental disaster ever to vomit over mankind appearing incapable of being stopped in the Gulf of Mexico. In a single, non-descript headline was the announcement that a team of biologists had created a synthetic bacterial genome. Here was a report that these men had reproduced a living cell from a computer using knowledge gleaned from the mapping of the DNA structure a few years ago. Man has now successfully created the foundational building block of life and, thus, become as God (see Gibson, D. G. et al. 2010. "Creation of a bacterial cell controlled by a chemically synthesized genome" Science Express 20 May 2010 click on highlighted verse to see scripture).
This was the "momentous" event that took place in this week of Shavu'ot. It passed blithely under the radar of detection while all of this other, more sensationalistic clatter captivated our attention, gripped our consciousness and lulled us to sleep. While this event does not, seemingly, affect our immediate sphere of individual activity it will prove to be the singular, pivotal, catalectic point upon which we will see the emergence of Yeshua haMaschiach into this earthly realm. The Father was saying that man has just crossed a threshold, entering into a realm of epochal proportions. In looking up the definition of epochal for this article, I was stunned by what I found -
Epochal - 1) of or relating to an epoch (a time marked by an event that begins a new period or development) 2) uniquely or highly significant, unparalleled momentous.
What makes this event momentous is that man has now become the determining force as to what is good about life. With this creation, man can now fashion what kind of life cells become. Man has now slipped into the driver's seat of creation by creating life without a soul. So, what? It is just another scientific breakthrough - why would this one be considered momentous?
Every time this particular force of darkness rears its head, there comes a unique response from the Father. What caused Lucifer to be separated from
the Present Presence
was his self-determination to become as God and YahHoVeH responded, separating him from the Source of Life. It was this same fruit of self-determination held out to Adam and Eve who partook of it by thinking there to be a lack in God's hesed (Hebrew for goodness), thus, they became the determinant of what they thought should be good and what they thought should be evil. haSatan was not lying to Adam and Eve when he told them that in the day thy ate of this fruit they would become as God. It was a true statement. Instead of embracing the Father's Sufficiency as Good in all circumstance, they became as God and YahHoVeH responded, separating them from the Tree of Life found in the Garden
(Isaiah 14:12-15,
Genesis 3:22-25,
see One Covenant, Part One A History).
Man becoming the determinant of what is good about life apart from the Source of Life left all of mankind wicked before God and became the resultant cause of the flood when YahHoVeH responded. It was what motivated Nimrod to build a tower to the heavens it seemed good to become as and replace God. It was the embrace of this spirit of self that precipitated the catastrophe of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is what prevented a generation from entering into the Promised Land of the hesed of the One True God of Israel and what led to the earth swallowing a cadre of Israel in the wilderness. In each of these instances and many more not listed here, YahHoVeH responded, separating man from the Source of Life so as to not contaminate that Life with a spirit of self-determination (Genesis 6:1-7, Genesis 11:1-9, Genesis 19:1-25, Numbers 14:1-30, Numbers 16:1-33).
In each of these situations, so given over was he to this spirit of self, man was clueless as to what was about to befall him as he took the reins of control in his own hands and YahHoVeH said "enough". In each of these situations what fell on men had never been seen before. Most consider what is embraced about their lives today to be good and have not a clue. It will be as it was in the days of Noah and Lot - they were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, buying and selling, planting and building. So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:26-30)
It was through the righteous Spirit of self-denial, selfLESSness, defined in Exodus 34:1-7 and exemplified by Yeshua's Life that the spirit of self-determination was overcome and the Covenant God swore by Himself to attain became realized in this earthly realm. (see One Covenant, Part Two What's New?).
Shavu'ot was also the day described in Acts 2 that heaven became located within the hearts of men and the Power of the God of Creation, the God of Israel became accessible to all who would embrace the Life Yeshua exemplified. That Power of Ruach haKodesh (the Holy Spirit) is now accessible because, by His Resurrection from death, Yeshua made complete the Covenant and now possesses the gate of His enemy the gate of death. The question then becomes: if Yeshua has defeated the enemy and empowered us with the same Authority He has been given by the Father why don't we believe it? Remember that the definition of believing is behavioral. So, if Yeshua, by His Resurrection, fulfilled the Covenant of the Father (past tense already happened) and now possesses (in the present tense) the "gate of His enemy" - why don't we act like it?
(see One Covenant, Part Three The Fulfillment,
Genesis 22:15-18,
Luke 9:1-2,
To Believe).
What army in the history of the world, once the war has been won and the enemy defeated, continues to do battle? None do they occupy the territory won. Why are we, then, still trying to "fight" the enemy to "defeat" him and not "occupying" the ground already taken? Could it be that we do not understand the nature of the Authority we have been granted? Could it also be that we do not comprehend the Power that has been invested in us in the exercise of that Authority? (see what it means to have Authority).
Yeshua fought and won the war in order that we might exercise the Power available to us to depart from evil not to try and re-defeat it. We dont need to fight it again. For the most part, the motivation to fight evil has at its core fear. Fear is a choice. We choose to fear evil thinking it might "jump" on us somehow and contaminate us not understanding that when we walk around full of Ruach haKodesh the demons tremble. We have been taught more about the enemy than we have that, by the infilling of Ruach haKodesh, He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. Is it true that haSatan roams around as a roaring lion seeking whom he will devour? You bet He does. But what is Truth is that those demons don't want to have anything to do with such a one who is full of Ruach haKodesh. There are too many other "easier pickings" available. Most of our "bluster" concerning evil originates from our fear and anxiety over what "might" happen if we come into proximity with evil. Plus, we confuse evil with circumstance (James 2:19, see the difference between Faith and Fear).
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." Isaiah 45:7.
The evil being spoken of in this verse is not sinful evil, for the Father does not participate in sin. Sinful evil originates in the heart of men. The Hebrew word used here is ra` and means distress, misery, injury or calamity. These are the externalities of living in the world. Yeshua said it rains on the just as well as the unjust and, in this world, we will have tribulation. To try and take control of our circumstance is to become the determinant of what we consider to be good in our lives instead of allowing the Father to utilize the circumstances of our lives to shape and mold us into His Image. The Father is more interested in the eternality of our spirit than He is in the immediacy of our circumstance. He knows all flesh will pass away (James 1:13, Matthew 5:44-46, John 16:33, see Good and Evil).
What kind of Authority, then, was given to Yeshua? The scripture says the Father gave Him authority over ALL FLESH. This was the same Authority He gave to His disciples. This word authority comes from the Greek word eksousia and means are you ready for this? it means "power of choice". Interestingly, this same word, eksousia, is translated as Power in John 1:12. The choice we are confronted with is to choose His hesed in the midst of whatever circumstance we find ourselves in by thanking Him in and for the circumstance or to reach out, grasp the sword and wield it thus, becoming the determinant of the circumstance. Eternal Life means a return to the Garden of Eden, a return to the place of acknowledgement that His hesed is our complete sustenance (John 17:2, Luke 9:1-2).
To try and use His Power to change our circumstance is to become the determinant of what we consider to be good in our lives what we want to see happen. To submit to the circumstance of life, becoming vulnerable as Yeshua did, places the determination for what is hesed back into the Hands of the Father, forcing Him to become responsible for our situation and causing His Power to be unleashed to work on our behalf. This is why scripture tells us the will of God in Yeshua haMaschiach is in everything give thanks and for everything give thanks. It is in the fruit of the thanksgiving of our lips that we acknowledge His Sovereignty over our lives. It is in the giving of thanks, regardless of circumstance, that we release the determination of the course of our lives to Him (1Thessalonians 5:16-18, Ephesians 5:20, Hebrews 13:15, see Becoming Vulnerable).
When we try to utilize the power of God to change the things in our lives that we consider to be "not good" because they are inconvenient, uncomfortable or downright painful, we actually wind up diminishing that power by working against the standard Yeshua set with His Life. We want to be the determinant of what is "good" in our lives rather than to give thanks to the Father for His Goodness in the situation regardless of how it might affect me. For instance, we see the power Yeshua had over the elements of nature and want to utilize that power to control the same elements of nature in our life so that we can enjoy a pleasant excursion. We selfishly want the weather to be nice for our outing not realizing that the only time scripture describes such an event was to teach the disciples their fear of catastrophe was baseless. Yeshua did not exercise that power for His own benefit - He was perfectly at peace, asleep in the back of the boat while the storm raged around Him and the others, content in the Father's hesed for the moment
(Matthew 8:23-26).
Access to the Tree of Life first requires a denial of life. Yeshua said if any would come after Him, he must, first, "deny himself" relinquishing the self-determination of our lives and be resolved to "follow Him" (Matthew 16:24).
| "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for our spiritual benefit, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:29 |