Exodus 33:12-16
“Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.”
“And He said, ‘My Presence shall go with you (singular), and I will give you rest.’ Then he said to Him, ‘If Your Presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I AND Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?’” (Emphasis added.)
Beloved, throughout these Genesis and Exodus-based meditations, we’ve said that not only is God being revealed, but Yeshua, His living Word, is also being revealed. ‘I will give you rest.’ Does that sound familiar? Does someone say that same thing in another part of Scripture?
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Emphasis added.)
Revelation of God’s living Word was being given right from the beginning, long before the Word was sent to become one of us and take on our human nature! Whenever God acts or speaks, He does it through His living, creative Word! The Word is at the heart of everything God does. His conversation with Moses is a good example. If someone were to ask you, ‘Who is speaking in the above text?’ Your answer would no doubt be, ‘God and Moses are speaking with each other.’ And that would be true. But it is also true that whenever Moses or anyone else hears God speak, it is the ‘Voice of God’ that they hear… that is, His living Word. The Word is the one they actually hear and with whom they actually interact.
So, in this section of Exodus, God is revealing something very important about His nature: no fallen, Sin-corrupted human can interact directly, that is, ‘face to FACE’, with our utterly Holy, Awesome, Almighty God. But throughout the whole of Scripture, God also reveals that He has always desired to live among men and to interact with them continually! We see this from the very beginning, when He would walk in the Garden of Eden with the first two humans. And, somehow, even after mankind fell into the Sin-corrupted, mortal state we all struggle with now, He was nevertheless able to abide and interact with Noah and with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses! And He was always with the nation of Israel in the wilderness… by and through His living Word and Holy Spirit.
And now, in the New Covenant era, God has made it possible for all of us to abide and interact with Him through the spiritual regeneration and the precious Gift of His own indwelling Holy Spirit that the Word’s atoning death made possible for us! Yes, Sin-corrupted humans can interact directly with Almighty God! But it is always done through the Presence and Authority of His living Word and the connecting Power of His Holy Spirit. It is the Word and Spirit of God that penetrate us. And God’s Spirit makes the Word real and alive to us so that through Him, we can bond with God, and from within us, He can reveal Himself, to others:
Exodus 33:18-23
“Then Moses said, ‘I pray You, show me Your Glory!’ And He (God’s Word) said, ‘I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the Name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.’ But He said, ‘You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!’ Then the Lord said, ‘Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My Glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My Hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My Hand away and you shall see My Back, but My Face shall not be seen.’” (Emphasis added.)
Let’s pause and ponder the awesome revelation being given here: ‘You shall see My Back, but My Face shall not be seen.’ What an awesome paradox! But it is also wonderful news. So let’s consider what God is revealing: If I am dealing with you, and for some reason I’m not permitted to see your face… but I can still approach you from behind… am I not still in your presence? And am I not still able to deal with you directly, even though I must do it while standing behind you? Isn’t it still possible for me to speak and interact with you in this way? And can you not still interact with me personally, even though I am not able to behold your face?
Yes, it’s true that when we deal with God, there is an aspect of His Presence and Nature before which fallen, Sin-corrupted, living dead humans cannot abide. His Holiness and infinitely Perfect Life and Righteousness are totally incompatible with our Sin-corrupted, Death-ridden nature. But in the future, after we too have received glorified bodies like that of our resurrected Lord Yeshua, we too will have direct access to God’s Face! But that will be possible when we’re made ready to abide with Him in eternity. For now, however, while we continue to finish our Exodus and get closer to our Destination, that eternal, face to Face aspect of our relationship with God cannot be experienced by us as long as we are still en route and limited to our present fallen flesh state.
But even now, there is an aspect of God that we can approach and abide with and understand. We can connect and interact with God’s spiritual Presence by faith in and through the revelation and promises of His living Word! God is with us because He has made a way by which He can share His Holy Spirit with us. His Spirit abides within regenerated believers and He enables us to recognize and know and interact, in a dynamic world-changing living way, with Messiah Yeshua, the resurrected living Word of God. He is able to abide within us through the Holy Spirit and He is ready and eager to teach and train us how to abide with Him, as His disciples!
God (And His Word and Spirit) Is One!
So, when you embrace and obey the Word God sends to you, you are also simultaneously interacting with the Father and His Spirit. This is how we can be in God’s Holy Presence! This has been possible since the dawn of Creation, and even after the human race fell into Sin and Death. It was possible all the way up to the Flood, and also after the Flood, when the human race began to multiply and flourish once again, through the family of Noah. And God also sent His Word and Spirit to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and the nation of Israel so that, through the Blood Covenant relationship into which God’s Word brings human beings, we can all be united with our Creator and Sustainer. And all of this is made possible for us, through God’s chosen instrument, Israel, and her Messiah.
We said that God does everything through His Word (Son) and Spirit. And the Word, acting in His Father’s Name, reveals Himself and reaches out to the rest of the world, through His chosen people, Israel. In His awesome Wisdom, Creativity and Ingenuity, this is the Way God made and opened for us. This is how we can draw near to Him, even while we still abide within our sinful fallen flesh. Thus, our God can be within each one of us and in the midst of all of us. And His Word can serve as the Perfect protective, sustaining Shepherd that we so desperately need.
And since we’ve been called to be Yeshua’s disciples and living extensions, we must remember that our Master clearly stated that when we know and interact with Him, we are, by that fact, knowing and interacting with the Father who sent Him to us! So, although we cannot approach God’s ‘Face’, we are always free to approach and abide with His ‘Back’. Through the Word, Messiah Yeshua, we can approach Almighty God Himself. We can connect with Him through the supernatural faith that His Holy Spirit imparts to us. So this passage in Exodus 33 is one of many revelations of Yeshua that God gives to us throughout the Torah and the rest of the Bible.
John 5:19-24
“For this reason therefore the (unbelieving Judean) Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
“Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.
“For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My Word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal Life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of Death into Life!’” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
John 14:1-7
“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.’ Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, ‘I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.’” (Emphasis added.)
John 5:39-47
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have Life. I do not receive glory from men; but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in My Father’s Name and you do not receive Me; if another (rabbi or sage) comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the Glory that is from the one and only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for HE WROTE ABOUT ME! But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
Truly the revelation concerning God’s Word in Exodus, and what God requires of Israel and the rest of the world, concerning how mankind is to respond to God’s living Word made flesh, can be seen in the texts above. Messiah Yeshua was reminding and affirming and demonstrating that what Moses had said about Him is absolutely true. And the Holy Spirit further confirms this truth about God’s living Word in the letter to the Hebrews:
Hebrews 4:12-16
“For the (Personal Creative) Word of God 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. 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.
“Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore (through His living Word) let us draw near with confidence to the Throne of Grace (to Almighty God Himself), so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Amplification added.)
Thus The Exodus Begins Within Our Own Hearts
So God sends His living Word to us, so that He can be and do and share with all of us, all that belongs to God. He must separate all the Sin-residue, and all traces of our former original, radically independent ways, that remain in us. Whatever remains in us that is incompatible with God’s Nature, must first be removed! So God’s Word begins with us; He separates us, from that which is false and ungodly. He separates the Light of His Father’s Truth and Reality, from the Darkness created by the lies and delusions of the Serpent. So whatever we formerly believed and embraced with our minds and hearts that comes from the Serpent, must be crucified… completely removed, buried and left behind, as we follow our Master into the Eternal Kingdom of God’s Reality and Truth!
When God’s Word comes after you to redeem you and set you free from the world, the flesh and the devil, He begins by working within the innermost depths of your heart. He speaks to you from there, and He works on you from the inside out. When God’s Word calls to any of us, He pierces, penetrates and reaches into our innermost being, separating what is soulish and Sin-corrupted, from what originates in Him and comes to us by His Holy Spirit of Truth. God speaks His Word and Spirit directly into our heart of hearts. And He begins to work from deep within us, opening our spiritual eyes and ears and giving us a new nature with new instincts and natural tendencies and urges that align us with His Truth. The new nature that God gives us, with its Word-reflecting and embodying tendencies, begins to work within us all by itself. Just as the nature and life of a vine works and produces fruit from within its living branches, so does the Spirit of God move us, naturally and easily, in brand new directions that lead further and further away from our former abodes and lifestyles in Egypt.
The effect that ‘hearing’ God’s call has on our inner workings, is similar to what happens to the canine nature that abides deep within a domesticated dog. The dog may have lived within a human family since birth, knowing nothing about the canine nature that abides deep within him. Living among the humans prevented him from knowing anything about who and what he really is. So the dog is forced to live according to human habits. It is an alien but habitual existence that is imposed upon him by outside forces. His human keepers control and dictate everything he learns from birth. So the dog picks up all sorts of ‘learned behavior patterns’ with which he begins to identify. Because of that, the dog sees himself as being part of a human ‘pack.’
The Disciples’ True Calling
But that isn’t true. In a real sense, it’s a delusion. But the real truth explodes within him, the moment he hears ‘The Call of the Wild’! Suddenly he hears this new wild song calling to him from somewhere in the distance. It is the call of canine nature that now calls out to and summons the canine nature within him. And that awakens something within him that he never knew existed! As soon as it happens, he is changed forever. The dog will never be the same because that call he hears makes something inside of him become fully alive in his heart of hearts. For the first time, his true canine nature is fully awakened and aroused! And this newly aroused equipment suddenly begins to operate like a ‘homing device’, a built in GPS system, that now draws and pulls at his heart…creating an intense, unexplainable desire to follow that call, no matter where it may lead, and no matter what it may cost!
And something similar to that happens to fallen, Sin-corrupted human beings from the moment they first begin to hear the Voice of their Heavenly Father, speaking His Word and Spirit into their innermost being. The humans know nothing about their Creator and the fact that He designed and created them to be His own image and likeness. Before we hear His call, all we know is the worldly, radically independent existence and lifestyle that all the decapitated people around us know and insist on imposing upon us. They believe that’s what it is to be ‘human’ so they teach and train each other to be self-adoring, self-determining, self-actualizing independent agents that do as their fallen passions, urges and instincts compel them to act. They have no clue that their kind of independent existence is actually ‘living Death!’ They do not know the true living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, nor do they realize that they have been ‘decapitated’ and separated from the ‘Headship’ of His living Word. And, because they do not know Him, who made us to be His image and likeness, they also have no idea of who and what they really are…what they were truly designed and created to be and to do. And thus they share their errors and delusions with us. And, from our birth… we believe them and think and live accordingly.
This is why worldly people insist on identifying themselves by their temporary native earthly ethnic and cultural roots. ‘I am Russian’ or ‘I’m an Englishman’ or ‘Irish’ or ‘Mexican’ or ‘Iranian,’ etc., etc., etc. And others like them choose to identify themselves by what they do to earn their living, or by the functions they perform within their families: ‘I am a business owner… a farmer… a mechanic… a housewife…a tribal leader, etc. etc. etc. And some identify themselves by their earthly creed or religion: a Jew… a Christian… a Muslim… an atheist, etc. etc. But none of these things go deep enough to constitute a human being’s true God-given essence, identity and purpose. There is a level to our human nature and makeup that is much deeper and much more basic than any of those other surface, temporary considerations and characteristics. We are made to be our Creator’s eternal image and likeness! And if we are ignorant of that fact… we are forced to settle for other options that are short-lived and that fall far, far short of the real Truth. And so God commissioned His chosen people Israel, to inform the fallen world of this delusion and to demonstrate the ways of God and the Word of God that is ready to lead them to freedom and righteousness and eternal Life.
Ecclesiastes 3:9-11
“What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? I have seen the task, which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. He has made everything appropriate in its time.
“He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that (the natural, unenlightened) man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.” (Emphasis added.)
Genesis 1:27-28
“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Emphasis added.)
God Himself gave us our true identity, purpose and destiny when He spoke His living Word and the Word created us. We are made to know Almighty God Personally! We are made to abide intimately and very closely with Him at all times and in all things! But the Serpent’s lies and the fall into Sin, Death and Darkness into which they led us, not only sever us from the Authority and interactive Presence of God’s Word, they also sever us from any understanding of our true selves… who and what we really are designed to be and to do!
But then God sends His Word after us; and the Word summons us and invites us to follow Him. And if we believe and submit to and obey His Authority, He reconnects us to Himself and covers our spiritual nakedness with His own Perfect Righteousness. Thus He becomes our Source of true Eternal Life. And then He begins to retrain us in order to liberate, cleanse and do His restoration work from within us. And that is how our Exodus truly gets under way. At the same time, God’s Holy Spirit also begins to abide within us. And He works to make God’s Word, real and alive and fruitfully effective within us. And as this work progresses, we begin to know more and more about who and what we really are designed to be and do… God’s own personal ‘image and likeness’!
But at first, because of what Sin did to us…from the time we’re born into this world, we’re like that domesticated dog. We know nothing about who or what we really were made to be and do. So we assume that we belong to this demon-possessed fallen world, and thus we identify with and become addicted to, created things. And they force us to become predators, scrounging and foraging across the earth, like abandoned orphans, waifs, who are forced to fend for ourselves in any way our natural circumstances and fallen passions may force us to go. So we settle for pathetic, paltry, mediocrity – and pursue inane temporary things that fall far, far short of the actual God-level realities for which we are truly designed and intended. As long as we remain ignorant and deluded, we will continue to be enslaved, toiling in utter frustration, lost, always disappointed and desolate…with souls that are forever ‘dislocated’.
But after God calls to us and activates that image and likeness part of our nature that has always been latent within us, our true human nature becomes like a ‘homing device.’ It awakens a sensitivity in us that enables us to begin to hear our Father’s Voice, His living Word. And the Word keeps drawing us closer and closer, creating an intense desire to be reunited with Him because now we realize that to be separated from our Source for everything…is Living Death! So now we begin to feel ‘homesick’ for the Father and Family and Home we were never allowed to see or even know about before. Suddenly, even though we have never seen or experienced our true Father and Home and Inheritance, they start to become much more real to our hearts than all of the worldly things we’ve known and loved and clung to before! Now the worldly temporal things we once esteemed in the past become like rubbish and ashes in our mouths. And the pull of what we were truly made for and what is ours and where we truly belong begins to draw and separate us from the familiar things of this world… with an ever-increasing, irresistible attracting force. Once we hear The Call… we feel compelled to break free and pursue it to its Source. Thus our Exodus begins to form in our hearts and wills.
Eventually, the pull becomes so strong, that we are compelled to seek release from the chains that bind us to this world. We cry out to the Word of God to set us free so that we can leave our slave pens behind and leave that dark world that is created by the demonic lies and twisted, deceptive misapprehensions and radically independent, self-adoring ways we once believed in and with which we identified. Suddenly we become aware of the Serpent and what he has done to the human race that God loves so much. And we see that his coils have us in a death grip! And we can see through his lies and realize that his deceit has turned us into grotesque caricatures of true humanity and realize that he has robbed us of the awesome things our true nature and identity and destiny make us capable of being and doing and having!
God has to reveal this to us first, in order to show us the need for our Exodus. And once we see it, He can deliver us from what Sin has made us to be! Once we see it, He begins to separate us from the Darkness that is within us and around us. In this sense, we die to what we started out to be. And the separating process joins us to our Messiah and His atoning death on the Cross. Our Covenant union with Him joins us to His death on the cross. And that atoning death sets us free from the clutches of Eternal Death, and the decapitated existence we once called ‘my life.’ This is how God restores our true identity and purpose and all of Heaven’s benefits, to us. It is not a mere shallow, superficial self-originated improvement process; it is a death and resurrection exodus transition that only our Creator can make possible.
The Exodus Always Begins With an Execution
It begins with the death of all the lies we originally believed. They twisted our minds and forced us to believe that what they conveyed was who we really were. So, what we once called ‘my life’ was nothing more than a demonic delusion! None of it was real. The Serpent blinded and deafened us to our true Heavenly Father and His Family and the Inheritance that is truly ours. So as the Holy Spirit begins to open our ‘eyes and ears’, we begin to see through the lies, and thus the chains of satanic delusion are cut away from us. That frees us to move so that we can enter into the glory of our Messiah’s total Resurrection. And that is why, once we receive our new regenerated nature, we must begin to retrain and update and reconfigure our minds and brains and wills and lifestyles accordingly. Now the absolutely crucial mind renewal is made possible, and necessary, when we receive our new Life and regenerated nature from our Messiah. Our union with Him imparts this new identity, purpose and destiny. So the Exodus causes us to die to the living death habits and addictions of our former identity that were caused by Sin and its lethal results and curses.
John 12:24-25
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to Life eternal.”
John 8:42-47
“Jesus said to them (those religious Judean Jews that opposed Him), ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the Truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the Truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak Truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God!’” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
So God’s Word delivers us from the Sin, Curse and Death Penalty of the Serpent who does whatever he can to keep us trapped within his coils. This is why this Exodus process is so necessary and critically important. We must repent of that Sinful, Death-inflicting, Serpent-originated part of ourselves. That inherited state of Sin gives the Serpent a legal claim over us. Sin is his property; and as long as we make peace with Sin, we remain his property. Thus the Serpent can claim to be our lord and owner. As long as we remain in that state, we give him the legal right to lay claim to us and keep us trapped under his domination. Thus he can continue to accuse us before God, and legally do with us as he pleases! So we must die to whatever keeps us in his clutches. We must die to eternal Death!
Choose Life!
And that means we must deliberately choose to change sides. We must willingly, deliberately, forsake Sin and willingly embrace our Redeemer and bond ourselves wholeheartedly to His Covenant Representation of us and become one with His atoning Death on the Cross. And once our state of Sin dies with Him, we die to what we started out to be… deluded victims of the Serpent’s lies! We cannot join God in His Eternal Kingdom of Light by self-improvement methods. We must do it by denying the self that Sin made us to be. Our Sinful, radically independent existence before God must be executed! Only when we die to that, are we free to live to God, in God, and from God. And then His Righteousness becomes ours to reflect and proclaim and embody.
God’s Word separated His chosen people from Egypt and its worldly, idolatrous system; and now, He summons us to follow Him, as He continues to lead His own in the continuation of that original separation process. So realize what is at stake: God will always separate His Light from the Serpent’s Darkness. God, separating Light from Darkness, is the essential Exodus issue. It is an issue between God and the demonic powers of Darkness, not between God and humanity and its classes and races.
Ephesians 6:10-12
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this Darkness, against the spiritual forces of Wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Emphasis added.)
God didn’t separate the Jewish people (and the others who joined them) from the Serpent-dominated Gentile world system because He favored them and hated and despised the Gentiles from whom He was separating them. He does not despise or discriminate against any human being He creates. He despises Sin and the deviant deformities it makes of us. He intends to separate and rescue every Sin-murdered child of Adam from the Serpent. He’s intent on fully restoring each of us to our original perfection. That’s why He leads them out of their former Darkness, and Death, into His Light and Eternal Life. It is only after a human rejects His redeeming Word, that God rejects the Sin that human decides to identify with. This is what every fallen human being must come to understand. Those that obey and follow God’s Word are Israelites, regardless of their ethnic roots and cultural and religious background. And those that reject and disobey God’s Word are choosing to remain as pagan Gentiles that worship false gods, even if they happen to be Jewish! So as far as God is concerned, He intends to eliminate all pagan Gentiles by transforming them into something brand new…His own beloved chosen Heavenly Israelite Covenant Family members.
This is why He even separates the Jews who choose to be His, from Jews that choose not to believe and obey His Word! And He separates Gentiles from other Gentiles for the same reason. At times, the Exodus even separates spouses and family members from each other! So please understand: the Exodus is not about personalities or human performance or ethnicity, cultural background, religious traditions and creeds, or geographical or sociological positions. The issue is each person’s personal relationship to and with the living Word of the one and only true Creator of all things. Will you obey His Word so that you can be what He designed and created you to be? Or will you choose to remain caught in the coils of the Serpent’s lies and continue to languish in your original state of deformity, disfigurement, dislocation and spiritual death? If you reject God and choose that over Him, God has no choice but to reject you in return. These are the vital questions every human being must face and answer. This is why God’s living Word, Messiah Yeshua, says:
Matthew 10:32-40
“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in Heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me (the Word that Almighty God speaks forth) is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me (from the Serpent’s Darkness and into My Father’s Light) is not worthy of Me. He who has found his (radically independent existence) life will lose it, and he who has lost his (radically independent existence) life, for My sake, will find it. He who receives you (My commissioned, Spirit-led, Jewish apostles) receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
Yeshua, clearly and sternly affirmed to the Israelites of His generation, the very same Truth He had previously revealed to Moses’ generation throughout their Exodus. It was the same thing He had earlier revealed to Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel, and to Noah, and then to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their families, in Genesis. Since the dawn of Creation, God has been separating Light from Darkness. And everything He does, is done by and through His living creative Word and Holy Spirit.
Genesis 3:21
“The (living Word of the ) Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed (covered) them.” (Amplification added.)
When Yeshua said that Moses had written about Him, He was actually claiming to be God’s living creative Word! And so now we know that there is an aspect of God that no flesh can approach or connect with. God’s Nature is totally other – utterly, infinitely, eternally Transcendent in Holiness, Righteousness and Purity. He abides on His Eternal Infinite side of the Infinite Chasm of Transcendence. But…in Yeshua, there is another aspect of the one true God that is totally approachable and attainable. We disciples know this aspect to be God’s living Word, our Messiah, Yeshua. And, we know that through Him, we fallen humans can be rescued and included in God’s Eternal Covenant, and made fit to abide with Him, at His Heavenly Throne!
John 15:4-5
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am The Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (Emphasis added.)
Colossians 3:1-3
“Therefore if (since) you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died (to your former radical independent existence) and your (true God-given eternal) Life is hidden WITH CHRIST IN GOD!” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
God Sent His Living Word to Reach Out to All of Us
The Word created and redeemed us and He sustains us in all ways and on every level, throughout each moment of our existence. And He even became one of us! He took on our human nature so He could legally, authentically serve as every human being’s Eternal Blood Covenant Representative before His Father. So He, being God, can unite us to God, and to the Perfection of His Finished Work that already exists and waits for us in eternity! Yes, Yeshua is The One Moses was revealing and announcing in the Torah! He, and the Father who spoke Him forth, are one! We might say the Father is the ‘Front’ and His living Word is His ‘Back’. So, although God is utterly one…yet, there is a composite aspect to His Nature. The one true God is our Father…who reaches out and can connect with us, through His Living creative Word, by the Power of His Holy Spirit. So, the Truth is: none of us is ever alone! God is always with us, whether we know or admit it or not!
Now we can see why the Exodus is so utterly divisive. It separates those of us who will accept and submit to the Truth-based Authority of God’s Word, from those who will not. This is true for every generation. And this Exodus is taking place at this very moment among all Jewish people, and among all Arab and Oriental and Middle Eastern and African and Indian and Latino and Caucasian peoples. There are no exceptions! God sends His Word to every child of Adam, regardless of the labels they put on themselves or each other. This takes place wherever humans may be living. He summons us all out of Death, and commands us to follow Him so that He can include us in His Eternal Life. So Yeshua warned His Jewish disciples, with these words:
Matthew 10:16-25
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. But beware of (decapitated, radically independent religious) men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you!
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated by all, because of My Name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his Teacher, nor a slave above his Master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his Teacher, and the slave like his Master. If they have called the Head of the House (God’s living Word) Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
God’s awesome Self-revelation confronts the entire human world. And in each generation, many worldly, radically independent people refuse to believe or accept His Word. Thus animosity is aroused between the two conflicting human races and the Exodus separation process continues to take place; people of all ethnic backgrounds and creeds hear the Word and choose to obey and follow Him. But, others from those same ethnic backgrounds and creeds cover their eyes and ears and turn away and refuse to obey Yeshua’s summons to ‘follow’ Him. So Yeshua’s disciples are caught in the middle of the Great Divide between the two human races that the Exodus creates. The disciples are part of those who leave Egypt… but they are also commissioned to serve as a priestly ‘bridge’ – a connecting link of guides who follow and demonstrate God’s ways and whose task it is to wait for, and welcome, and include all the others of each generation who are just beginning to hear Father’s call and are getting ready to leave their original existence and ties to the Serpent and the fallen world system. This is the awesome priestly purpose and function of God’s True Israel… His true image and likeness people… the disciples who follow His living and written Word. They are the ones that must be trained to have the heart and the wisdom and skills needed to receive the new ones into their midst and introduce them to God and orient them in the ways of His Holy, Righteous Household and Kingdom:
Deuteronomy 10:8-9
“…The Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve (minister to) Him and to bless (the people they represented) in His Name until this day. Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers; the Lord is his Inheritance, just as the Lord your God spoke (promised) to him.)” (Amplification added.)
John 6:66-69
“As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘You do not want to go away also, do you?’ Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.’”
So as the Holy Spirit of God does His work… drawing those who heed God’s Word and making them to be one with Him… these repenting humans become one with God’s ‘Back’ – the living Word that came to save, redeem, reconcile and restore all of us. And after we gather around God’s Word then, in all seriousness, He begins to lead us to our True Home Destination – eternal, intimate union with the Perfect Fullness of Almighty God!
This is the profound significance of what the second chapter of Ephesians, quoted below, is conveying to Jewish and non-Jewish disciples. Read it carefully. And ponder the words with the same seriousness the Holy Spirit means to convey to the world. May you sense the depths of the radical separation from God into which the Sin-full Serpent has dragged us. And when we begin to fathom the depths of the damage that the Serpent did to us, I pray that your understanding will light up, like a landscape over which an ever-advancing Dawn of Freedom begins to move. May you finally learn to appreciate and love our Liberator and Redeemer and follow Him into the Fullness of the true New Covenant Land of Promise Reality!
Here are the words of Paul, Yeshua’s chosen Israelite Apostle to the Gentiles. He said them to the New Covenant community at Ephesus, which was composed primarily of non-Jewish disciples:
Ephesians 2
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working (across the entire globe) in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all (New Covenant Jewish disciples) formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest (of the children of Adam are children of the same wrath).
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us (Jews and Gentiles) alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
“Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two (Jews and non-Jews alike) into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one Body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away (Gentiles), and peace to those who were near (Jews); for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
“So then you (non-Jewish disciples) are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the (Messianic Jewish) saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the (united and fulfilled) foundation of the (New Covenant) apostles and (and the Abrahamic Covenant) prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Corner Stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy (Renewed Covenant) Temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
This passage describes the New Covenant Fulfillment… the Spirit-empowered, Word-embodying One New Man in Messiah union that the Gift of the Holy Spirit now makes possible. This new regenerated people is what will populate the Ultimate, Eternal Land of Promise. This is what God had in mind, when He sent His Word to reveal Himself to Abram, the Chaldean moon worshipper:
Genesis 12:3
“And I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Emphasis added.)
John 17:22-26
“The Glory which You (the Front) have given Me (the Back) I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW THAT YOU SENT ME, AND LOVED THEM, EVEN AS YOU HAVE LOVED ME! Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
God and the disciples in whom, and through whom, His Word lives and acts will continue to proclaim the Messiah’s message of Salvation to the world until the end of time finally comes. And God will not stop revealing His Word’s Perfection and the utter Fullness of His Perfect, All-Sufficient Finished Work of Creation and Redemption until then. These truths are the foundational pilings – the granite-solid basis of God’s eternal Sabbath Rest, Joy and Peace for every human generation! So we disciples must never stop explaining this to each generation. We must understand it first. Then we must help as many others as possible to understand it, so we may all enter into our Master’s Kingdom, and know and experience His promises to the same depth and reality with which He means for all of us to have them.
But, as we observe the current state of this generation of humanity, it is obvious that we are still far from reaching the Fullness of God’s intended Destination. Our commission is yet to be finished and fulfilled. So we persevere in our Exodus Journey, continuing to overcome every obstacle that stands in our way:
Philippians 3:7-21
“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the Righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the Resurrection from the dead.
“Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on (persevering in my Exodus) so that I may lay hold of that for that (Ultimate Destination) which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same (Exodus lifestyle) standard to which we have attained.
“Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the (Exodus) pattern you have in us. For many walk (on the other path, the broad path), of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in Heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His Glory, by the exertion of the Power that He has, even to subject all things to Himself.” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
Beloved, after we have spent several years on this Sin-corrupted Earth, it should be very clear to us that the writer of Ecclesiastes ‘hit the nail on the head’ when he wrote these words about what life is like in this fallen world:
Ecclesiastes 1:1-8
“The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem: ‘Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher, ‘Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.’ What advantage does man have in all his work, which he does under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. Also the sun rises and the sun sets, and hastening to its place, it rises there again. Blowing toward the south, then turning toward the north, the wind continues swirling along; and on its circular courses the wind returns. All the rivers flow into the sea; yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again. All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing (what is temporary), nor is the ear filled with hearing (what will not last).” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
We are born into a temporary world. And, for the time being, we must occupy ourselves with temporary and transient pastimes and occupations. We live ‘by the sweat of our brow’ which is a consequence of Sin and a curse that is similar to trying endlessly to push a boulder up the side of a mountain, or having to use a small pail to bail water out of a boat that never stops springing leaks! This is the cursed lot of sinners! But this is not what God intends for His Son’s redeemed, regenerated, image and likeness disciples! They are not doomed for lives of cursed toil. They are meant for eternal Joy, Peace and Rest! So we dare not settle for, or try to fool ourselves into believing that we can be satisfied with anything less than being one with God, for all of eternity, as His embodiment! We are making this Exodus so that we can be free to abide with our Heavenly Father, and live with Him as His sons and eternal heirs! No temporary, fleeting, created thing will ever be able to satisfy our hearts! We are not slaves, or losers, or misfits! We are beloved, blessed, Spirit-filled sons of God! And our Master, God’s living Word, is leading us to our rightful home and status and inheritance in God’s own ‘House’!
Because God did set eternity in our hearts, it is inevitable that, as long as we remain in this world, we will feel a holy dissatisfaction… the heartache of a never-ending ‘homesickness.’ It is a loneliness and yearning to continue on our Exodus until we are truly, completely one with God, as we were created to be. We will feel the need to know Him more and more, until we are utterly one with Him as His image and likeness. That is who we really are and what we’re made to be. And nothing short of Him will ever satisfy or fulfill or complete the human heart. That is why we must pursue and continue this Exodus all the way across the finish line. We were made to enjoy our Heavenly Father’s Eternal Rest, Peace and Consummation with Him. Nothing short of that will ever satisfy us. So stop clinging to what is temporary, and root your entire being in what will never end:
Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
As long as we remain in this fallen temporary world, we will not ever see the entirety of the ‘Big Picture.’ We will not understand God or His ways and purposes. We will never be able to ‘figure Him out.’ In this world, we are limited by grossly inadequate, miniscule perspective and viewpoints. Compared to all there is to know, we know next to nothing! So we must learn to take God’s Word for everything, to live by faith in Him and His Word’s revelation. We are not to trust in human views, worldly perspectives and our very limited Sin-warped wits. We will not find out in this dimension all there is to know about God and what He has made us to be and to do and to have with Him for all of Eternity. Our present fallen faculties are much too small and limited to even approach a glimpse of an understanding and comprehension of what God has in store for us.
1 Corinthians 13:12
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then (we will see fully) face to face; now (for the time being) I know in part, but then (when God’s Restoration Plan is completed) I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” (Amplification and emphasis added)
So, if we persevere and overcome the snares, lies and temptations placed before us by the powers of Darkness, then God’s Word, our Master, will continue to teach and explain and train us as He continues to lead us toward that ‘finish line,’ to the ‘border’ that leads into the Fullness of our true Eternal Home and Endless Celebration with Almighty God.
Once our Exodus ends and we’re actually where we are supposed to be, we will see everything and have everything for which our hearts now continue to yearn and hunger. Then… we will not merely have some fleeting glimmers of the Lord God for whom we were made. We will have God Himself, forever! And He will reveal Himself to us in all of His Glory… FACE to face! And until that blessed moment is finally before us, nothing short of that will ever come close to satisfying or fulfilling or completing us. We are made to be one with Almighty God Himself, Front and Back! The Fullness of God is the Ultimate Destination of our Exodus Journey. It is for Him and Him alone that we are intended and designed!
Revelation 3:21
“He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne!” ( Emphasis added.)
What is it about the Serpent that we must overcome? A member of our Follow Me Ministry advisory group pointed out that in the original Hebrew, the word ‘serpent’ as used in Genesis 3, has the connotation of one that is ‘shining.’ There is also the element of whispering, as in the act of enchanting. I looked up some information on the meaning of that word ‘serpent’ (the Hebrew word is ‘nachash’). And here is some of what I found:
The word has connotations such as ‘shine’ (as in brass) or ‘whisper’ (as in the act of enchantment). So ‘the Serpent’ in Genesis is not meant to be understood as a literal snake. He is a demonic being that, to effect his lethal purposes, comes across to us as a ‘shining enchanter.’ He is glib and slick in the sense of being utterly shrewd and deceptively cunning. And when Genesis says: ‘Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made…’ it is saying that he is higher in intelligence than any other created living thing… including human beings.
Beware of the Lies of the Serpent
The ‘shining enchanter’ did not come across to Eve as a dreadful, wickedly sinister, evil snake. Yes, he is rightly called ‘The ‘Prince of Darkness.’ But he comes across to his victims as a shining hero, a rescuer, an ally that is going out of his way to set them straight and lead them into the fullness of all that he accuses God of preventing us from having and enjoying. And we are so wounded and maimed in our fallen nature that we’re hyper-vulnerable to his enticing, lying traps. That’s because his strategy is to appear on the scene when we least expect it. As we experience stress, troubles, neediness, frustration and pain, he suddenly appears as a rescuing hero. The truth is: he is the cause of all those dreadful agony-causing things! But he is often able to convince humans that God is the one to blame for all the misery that we experience in this world. And many believe him. So he comes across as our ultimate ally, our best and truest friend. And this is how he charms and enchants countless gullible humans. They can’t see through his lying schemes or discern the true intentions of his heart. Thus he toys and plays with people, luring them to their doom, like a crafty, experienced angler, enticing unsuspecting fish to nibble at the bait he dangles before them. But that bait always conceals some very deadly barbed hooks:
2 Corinthians 11:13-15
“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.” (Emphasis added.)
This is why what happens to us on this earth in relation to God’s living Word, and whether or not we will follow Him when He calls us, is so terribly serious. The Serpent and his demonic powers are insanely single-minded. They are driven by rage and despair and are filled with hatred and jealousy when they regard us. Hatred drives them with a never-ending compulsion… to harm, maim, kill and destroy every human being. If they succeed in severing us from our Head, the Word of God, they deprive God of ‘His image and likeness.’ And that is why they never stop their demonic opposition to the Lord and His disciples and the Exodus to which God summons the human race. They work continually, laying more and more hidden snares and traps. They never stop trying to hack into our ‘onboard computers’ in order to contaminate them with delusionary data and deceptive lies and scams so that they can turn us against God, and against one another.
Their ‘lures’ are meant to captivate our minds, hearts and natural desires so that we are overpowered by our fears and suspicions and our lustful passions and natural urges. All of these things quickly arouse our fallen, Sin-loving nature and compel us to take the bait. And when we do, the powers of Darkness sink their hooks into our innards and drag us to ultimate destruction. Once we swallow the bait, they yank us away from Truth. And we lose sight of our Master and wander off the Narrow Blood Covenant Path that leads to Eternal Life. Then we end up lost once more in the demonic Darkness. This is why the Lord warns us about persevering and remaining faithful and overcoming… all the way to the end of the Path… all the way across the ‘Finish Line’ that leads us into Father’s eternal Embrace, and our true endless Inheritance.
1 John 4:1-6
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ (Yeshua the Messiah) has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We (emissaries or apostles of Yeshua) are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the (Divine) Spirit of Truth and the (demonic) spirit of error.”
John 3:17-21
“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the Judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the Darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God!” (Emphasis added.)