Hagar or Sarah?

                                                          (Gal. 4: 21-24)

Why do people contend over opinions? YHWH says, "My people perish for lack of knowledge." (Hos. 4:6) They say, "You are a Christian, but I am a Messianic." Yahshúa the Christ is Messiah and Yahshúa the Messiah is Christ! The two words are identical and synonymous. It is that spirit of divisiveness and the urge to be more just, holier, or above someone else that was present in those who said, "I am of Paul, I am of Kefa (Peter) or I am of Apollos." (1Cor. 1:12) It is the spirit of Diotrephes at work for the love of primacy. (3JN 1:9) It is the mystery of iniquity still using deception to divide and conquer. Those who do this; have not understood justification, righteousness, or grace. They seek further justification through the works of the law and people who have not entered into Messiah's rest because of unbelief follow them because they cannot bring themselves to believe that God has given us a Covenant by which we can be fully and utterly justified forever. But the Scripture makes perfect distinction between two covenants:

Gal 4:21-24 " Tell me, those of you who want to live under the law: Are you really listening to what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. Now the son of the slave woman was conceived according to the flesh, but the son of the free woman was conceived through a promise. This is being said as an allegory, for these women represent two covenants. The one woman, Hagar, is from Mount Sinai, and her children are born into slavery."

The following words follow the proclamation of the terms of the New Covenant on Shavuot (Pentecost) which were loudly and decisively proclaimed by the Apostle Peter:

Acts 2:39 "For the PROMISE is unto you and to your children; unto those who are afar, even unto as many as the Lord our God shall call."

Those who are born into the New Covenant are children of promise. What business do we have trying to go back under Hagar's ordinances? Do we seek to understand them? Yes, because they are all types and shadows of Messiah and we will see their fulfillment in him. But once we understand how the Law fulfills itself in Christ, we realize the value of the words, "you are complete in Him." Only those who have not believed that God has fully justified them for all time feel the need to "do" something to achieve that justification. People who do that are trying to bring about the kingdom of God through their own efforts instead of remembering that it will not be by man's power or might that YHWH's kingdom will be come to be a reality. "But by my Spirit says YHWH"

The interjection of the covenant of the Law after the promise was made to Abraham served to prepare the way for those who would inherit to realize their need for a Savior who would return them to "right standing" (righteousness) with YHWH. No Law, No Consciousness of Sin! Guilty of sin=repentance=redemption through Messiah for those who humble themselves before God. People need to quit thinking that God sees things from their perspective. YHWH inhabits eternity! To us, this is occurring a generation at a time. To Him, this has already played itself out! Time is finite but God is infinite. This whole project of establishing His kingdom on earth is within a finite timeline. We are experiencing our part. He has already finished it and yet remains fully within every aspect of it. To Him, all participants in this whole endeavor are alive at one time. Do you really think he forgave you of part of your sins to "see" if you were going to remain faithful? He knew all the mistakes we would make in our lifetime; all the times we would fail and fall, and yet promised to "remember our iniquities no more." God's love for us is beyond comprehension, and his mercy, once given, endures forever. I'm surprised that some people act as though they have never read:

Phil 1:6 Being confident of this very thing; that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Yahshúa our Messiah:

False prophets speak of a renewed covenant in direct contradiction to the Word that speaks of a New Covenant. They do so to make the ordinances of the Covenant of the Law applicable to the New Covenant. They twist the words of those who were commissioned by YHWH as Apostles or Emissaries of the Kingdom, speak ill of them, or deny them altogether in an attempt to induce people into their mindset based on personal opinion. It is written: "Not as the covenant I made with their forefathers." That means the New Covenant does not operate on the same principles as the old one, but people continue to try and establish their own righteousness rather than accept the free gift of Righteousness as being total and complete. What greater dishonor can we perpetrate against the Holy One than to disbelieve HIS report? How dare anyone even suggest that we lack something until we do this or that after having complied with the terms of the New Covenant? Is this not reestablishing the letter of the law? I am amazed at some people's inability to understand or believe what the Scripture says:

Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Rom 13:8 owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loves another hath fulfilled the law.

Rom 13:9 for this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

What most people fail to comprehend is that we are called to a higher order than those who were under the Covenant of the Law. To them He said, "Do these things and you will live by them." To us he has said:

JN 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

1JN 3:23-24 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Yahshúa the Messiah and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

2Jn 1:5-6 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love; that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Notice the words "from the beginning?" What is that referring to? It is referring to the beginning of the New Covenant and the commandments as Messiah expressed them:

1: YHWH is One! Deut. 6:4, Mar 12:29
2: Love Him with all your heart - The first four Commandments of the Royal Law
3: Love your neighbor as yourself - The final six Commandments of the Royal Law

The Law is the Covenant and the Covenant is the Law! The first four commandments deal with our relationship to God. The last six are specific to our relationship with mankind. They are not burdensome to those who have been born again! We understand that the Ten Commandments are:

1. There is but One God: The Holy and Mighty YHWH of Israel!
2. We need no images because YHWH is a Spirit who is ever present!
3. We take the name of YHWH upon ourselves through baptism in Yahshúa's name because Yahshúa is YHWH and His name says so. We do not take it in vain. We take it to be transformed into useful vessels for YHWH's purposes. We are His!
4. Our Sabbath is Yahshúa and our day of rest is perpetual. Therefore, we learn to walk in the Spirit every day so that we do not violate the rest we have entered into. We have rested from the works of the flesh in Messiah. We died and are crucified with Him to our flesh, but we also rose with Him by the power of YHWH and are seated in heavenly places with Him in the Spirit. (Eph. 2:6) Question: And some would have us limit ourselves to one day?

5-10 We love our neighbor as ourselves. That means we do not do what these commandments tell us not to do and are empowered by the Spirit to do much more good than just what these six commandments ask for.

This is what was written on those two tablets of stone! This was the Covenant of the Law!

Deut. 4:13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

Where were these tablets kept?

1Ki 8:9  There was nothing in the *ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. (*Ark of the Covenant)

Initially, the Ark contained only the Covenant Tablets and the Ark is a type and shadow of Messiah. Other items were added later that we will not focus on at this time.  He is the real Ark of the Covenant and the New Covenant is contained in Him because it was He who shed his blood to establish it. Because Messiah is one with the Father and the Father is one with Messiah, we enter into full fellowship with the Father when we enter into Messiah via the terms of the New Covenant. We become one with God! Not through our efforts, but through obedience to the terms of His Covenant. Messiah was able to redeem us by first fulfilling the terms of the Covenant of the Law, which He understood perfectly as the Ten Commandments given at Sinai and also kept the ordinances pertaining to ceremonial (sacrifices etc.) and civil observance. He was therefore blameless and found spotless as the Lamb of God.

What about the ordinances that were written in accordance with the Law as additions to the Law that provided statutes for specific circumstances and ceremonial purposes, and which Messiah also kept?  Notice where Moses instructs the Levites to place those:

Deut. 31:26 "Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God; that it may be there for a witness against you.

Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

Col 2:14-17 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

 

This is the change in the Law that Scripture speaks of:

Heb 7:11, 12 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

What the passage is saying is that the Law, while rightfully demanding obedience, was given to set a minimum standard for us, it was not given to perfect us. That would come only after we could be reconciled to God through the blood of the Lamb. The Royal Law set a perpetual standard that would remain even after we were empowered by Messiah to rise above that minimum in our obedience. The ordinances were "statutes and judgments" taught by Moses as laws to define and establish a culture.

The Law served to show us our deficiency apart from God and our need for a Kinsman Redeemer who could pay the price of our redemption. While the Royal Law presented us with Ten Commandments as a covenant, the ordinances written by Moses were laws derived from those commandments. He created a set of ordinances that would "clarify" the Royal Law for the common man in circumstances that arose within the culture. The empowerment of the Spirit takes the need for those "handwritten" ordinances out by literally writing in our hearts the guidance in every circumstance so that we do what is right according to the leading of the Spirit of YAH who lives in us. We now have no excuse for not doing what we know to be the will of God. We can either choose to be obedient or suffer the correction of the children of disobedience. If we are left without correction, it is because God does not recognize us as his. (Heb. 12:6-8)

So to proclaim that we must go back to observing ordinances that were blotted out by Messiah through his sacrifice is to contradict Him and being against what Messiah has done would make us anti-Messiah. To do so out of ignorance is one thing, but to fight the Spirit of Truth purposely is to place ourselves in the position of Paul on the road to Damascus. We can only pray that YHWH's mercy would knock us off of our high horse and bring us to our senses. It is written:

Gal 2:18, 19 For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor. For I through the law died unto the law, that I might live unto God.

Gal 5:4 Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace.

Gal 5:1 For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.

So to say that the Law or Torah was done away with is a complete lie! The Royal Law remains and we are accountable to the One who established it. This Royal Law of Ten Commandments is condensed into two commandments that summarize the ten. We have been set free from condemnation to walk with our God, to seek understanding from his word, to learn who we are, where we came from, where we are going, and to live every day of our lives in the Spirit of YHWH who is our rest in and through Messiah Yahshúa. Scripture so eloquently yet simply says:

1Jn 5:10 The person who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in himself. The person who does not believe God has made him a liar by not believing the testimony that God has given about his Son.

Col 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

In other words, as we would say in Texas, the proof of the pudding is in the taste. Those who believe the testimony of what YAH has done for us are demonstrating that belief through their lives. Live in the Spirit and believe that you are the righteousness of YHWH in Messiah, and you will see how right believing leads to right living. Want to be able to truly see in the Spirit? Remember this:

Rev. 19:10 ...for the testimony of Yahshúa is the spirit of prophecy.

We are called to a ministry of reconciliation. That means we preach God's acceptance of us in Messiah Yahshúa. How can we possibly do this if we preach a message based on the precepts of a ministry of death and condemnation?

(2Co 3:7)

"Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone…"

That was the effect of the Law on us before being in Messiah! We were natural beings without the ability to hear or understand and obey the Royal Law. Those who refuse the free gift of Righteousness in Messiah are still under this condemnation, and to them, it is still a ministry of death and condemnation.

 

(2Co 3:9)

"For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory."

This is salvation from its condemnation! This is Reconciliation! The fruit of the Spirit is far above the requirements of the Royal Law. That is why "against these nine fruits, there is no law" because they are all positive and good. God has given us complete forgiveness and the means by which to live a life that honors those commandments instead of breaking them. He has given us of his Spirit! But it takes faith (belief, trust, and reliance) to walk in the Spirit; and so "the just shall live by faith."

                        Grace is a Person; His name is Yahshúa!

So, in closing, let me say this: You want to set the seventh day aside to study, worship, and pray? You want to understand and keep the Feasts of YHWH? Please do so and may YHWH bless your life for it. I am not here to tell you that you cannot do these things. I am also not here to tell you that the Royal Law was done away with.

My calling is to announce the free gift of Righteousness that is in Messiah; our only hope of Salvation. He is the hope of all Israel! If you are looking for way marks to return to your real roots, look to the Emissaries (Apostles) and Prophets who established a foundation in accordance with the Cornerstone; Messiah Yahshua. (Eph. 2:20) Let no man deceive you pretending to be "Torah Observant" while trying to place you back into bondage under ordinances that do not pertain to New Covenant believers.

There is a reason that the New Covenant is called "The Good News." Torah means "Law, Instruction, and Direction." Which of the words of the Emissaries would you not consider Torah? For if you do not consider them Torah, then you must not believe that it was Yahshúa in them who spoke these things that are written in the Brit Hadashah. That would mean that you do not believe that the Spirit of YAH has come to indwell those who accept the Messiah and the terms of his covenant. You see how it all unravels if we disbelieve because it is one and the same Spirit who has done all this. He is every one of those who comprise the "cloud of witnesses" that surrounds us. (Heb. 12:1) That is why he says, "I AM the first and the last." (Rev. 22:13) There is but "One Master, one faith, one baptism."

Francisco Gomez Luna

Dvar Emet Ministry