I think we are ready to get started and today we are enjoying a very beautiful Sabbath. This is a day that is very special to Yahweh. It was a day that was sanctified - that means "set apart" - on the seventh day of the week, and we are told to remember this day.
In the Ten Commandments, He says, "Remember this day." This particular day He wants us to remember and to keep it holy. It is one of many things that Yahweh commands us concerning the importance of holiness.
We are going to talk about holiness today because it is all over the Scriptures - from one end to the other. Yahweh talks a whole lot about holiness, and so, it is something, I think, that we need to be familiar with. So what does it really mean to be holy?
I think that is something that we really lost in our generations today. You know, sometimes we have our own ideas of what it means to be holy.
I was talking to my parents this morning and I told them, I don't know... for some reason when I think of this word "holy" this picture comes to mind of a man wearing a robe and just... very solemn and... you know.. I don't know, something funny about it.
I don't know if that's how Yahweh sees what holiness is because when we look in Scriptures, we do see an interesting picture begin to unfold. So what does it really mean to be holy?
If you claim to be a holy person, a holy man, a holy woman - oh boy, people don't like to hear that. They don't want to hear you say, "I'm holy." It invokes certain negative connotations in our culture and I think that, you know, we need to have an understanding of what holiness is - what true holiness is.
You may not think of holiness being, you know, loving your neighbor and giving to the poor, but those are things that are holy.
Now, I would say.. if we were to look at.. if there is one word that would codify or would envelope everything that I try to share about some of the things that we've lost in two thousand years of Christian tradition, I would say that it would be "holiness."
The message that we're really trying to get out, whether it's Torah, or His Name, or whatever, it would be the message of: "Let's walk in holiness."
Now, what does "holy" mean? According to the Strong's Lexicon... or actually, this is the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon, "holiness" is from the Hebrew word "qodesh" (06944 ko'- desh). "Qodesh" means "holiness"; "qadosh" means "holy."
So, here is "qodesh" - it means: 1) apartness, holiness, sacredness, separateness; 1a) apartness, sacredness, holiness; 1a1) of {Elohim}; 1a2) of places; 1a3) of things; 1b) set-apartness, separateness.
Very interesting. So for something to be holy would mean it is separated. Separated from what? From what's common, from the everyday things.
Now, our English word also.. actually, if you look in an English dictionary, the word does mean: 1. set apart to the service or worship of Elohim; hallowed; sacred; reserved from profane or common use; holy vessels; a holy priesthood.
Now, some would say that the word "holy" is not a very good translation of "qadosh" or "qodesh," but this is Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary and it seems to indicate a pretty close agreement with what we see here in the Hebrew.
So we are understanding that holiness means to be set apart; to be different; to be sanctified; separate from human infirmities, impurities and sins and common things... dedicated, maybe is a good word.
You know, Yahweh is very concerned that we are able to know and understand the difference between the holy, or separate, and the common. Do you ever focus on that or think about that a whole lot? "Oh, that is holy... that's not holy." Does that ever enter your mind?
It doesn't generally enter our western-gentile minds that often, but Yahweh seems to put emphasis on it. And in ancient Israel, He was pretty upset with the priests. He was upset for multiple reasons, but one of the reasons that He was upset was that they did not make a distinction between the holy and the profane.
Ezekiel 22:26 - "Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known [the difference] between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
"I am profaned among them."
You see, when people fail to put this difference between the holy and the unholy, between the clean and the unclean, then Yahweh is profaned. To me, that's significant - if Yahweh is profaned. When those who are called par to His service do not make a difference between the clean and the unclean, between the holy and the unholy, Yahweh is profaned.
You're going to notice as we go through some of these Scriptures there are a lot of commonalities and side-by-side comparisons between unclean and clean, and then, holiness and unholiness. They're common. You're going to notice that. That's because Yahweh makes a distinction.
Now, today is a Holy Day. This particular day that we are in right now is considered to be a Holy Day. It's a day that Yahweh sanctified at Creation and Yahweh wants us to make a difference between the clean and the unclean, the holy and the unholy.
And this is why He says in the Scriptures here: "Sabbaths." He mentions the Sabbaths along with the clean and the unclean, along with the holy and the unholy, because His Sabbaths are Holy Days - whether they are a Sabbath every seven days, like today, or a different kind of Sabbath, like a Feast Day Sabbath.
Because He does say "Sabbaths" here. There are different Sabbaths out there.
And so, are we really putting a difference in the way we live our life? Are we putting a difference between the clean and the unclean, the holy and the unholy, between a Sabbath and not-a-Sabbath?
Now, we know that when Messiah returns He is going to (according to Ezekiel, according to Zechariah, according Isaiah)... He is going to restore a priesthood. And this priesthood, when you read about them in Ezekiel chapter 44... it says:
Ezekiel 44:19 - "When they go out to the outer court, to the outer court to the people, they shall take off their garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and put on other garments; and in their holy garments they shall not sanctify the people.
Ezekiel 44:20 - "They shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long; but they shall keep their hair well trimmed.
"They shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long" - that's an interesting comment.
These are the holy men.
Ezekiel 44:21 - "No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.
Ezekiel 44:22 - "They shall not take as wife a widow or a divorced woman, but take virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or widows of priests.
Ezekiel 44:23 - "And they shall teach My people [the difference] between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
We see here that when Yahweh's will is finally done on earth as it is in heaven, there will be people who will learn the difference between the clean and the unclean, between the holy and the unholy. You will notice many times in Scripture - clean and unclean, holy and unholy.. go hand-in-hand.
But we live in a generation, we live in a culture today, where there have been so many holy things that have been profaned, so many good things that have been perverted and been corrupted. We've lost some ability to recognize the difference between the holy and the unholy, and even if we saw a difference, to know what to do with it.
Scripture says in Isaiah chapter 5..
Isaiah 5:20 - Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isaiah 5:21 - Woe to [those who are] wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!
See, our culture treats the holy things as just being common, and I'm afraid that the church today has marginalized holy things as being trivial, outdated and unimportant - and we shouldn't do that.
I had a conversation this week with someone who, they just could hardly believe that Yahweh would institute the death penalty for picking up sticks on the Sabbath... or picking up logs or firewood. When people read that, they just laugh.
They think that's the most silly thing - that a man would be put to death for picking up wood or sticks on the Sabbath day. They don't know the difference between the holy and the unholy and to them, for this day to be a holy day... it's just silly. Why? Because our culture has long profaned Yahweh's holy things and not regarded it as being important.
And for that reason we have the fruits of this culture today. When they read something like that in Scripture, they dismiss it as something of a bygone era that is no longer relevant.
Now, I'm not suggesting to go stone people that break Shabbat, but the civil law that was in place when there was a Nation of Israel was that Sabbath breaking was just as significant as murder (as far as the penalty someone would get)... as adultery (death penalty)... homosexuality (death penalty)... Sabbath breaking (death penalty).
Now, I didn't say this; Yahweh said it. I didn't create the death penalty for Sabbath breaking; Yahweh did. Now if Yahweh gave the death penalty for breaking the Sabbath, doesn't that show you a little bit - maybe it's kind of important to Him?
You know, the first four commandments in the Ten Commandments deal with how we love Yahweh, our Heavenly Father. And then the later six commands, maybe the fifth command, have mainly to do with how we love our fellow man. And so, when Yahweh was giving the Ten Commandments, His holiness was on His mind.
He didn't want you mixing Him up with some idol somewhere, worshipping Him along some idol, because He is holy. He is not to be syncretised with unholy religions, with unholy practices, with pagan-rooted traditions. He's not to be associated with those things because He is holy.
And that's why we don't observe Christmas, and that's why we don't observe Easter and Lent and all the other Catholic holidays that's been handed down to us. And so, we don't participate in those things.
And then the third thing He was concerned about - the third commandment - was the holiness of His Name, that His Name would not be profaned. And so, that was important to Him. Now, if it's important to Him, shouldn't it be important to us, even if it's not important to our culture?
And the fourth thing He was concerned about was the holiness of His day. Again, it's not important to our culture. But does that matter? Is Yahweh going to consult our culture when He judges us on the Final Day? Is He going to come to us and say, "Well, what was your culture like?" No, He's going to say, "What did My Word say?"
"What were the Ten Commandments? What did they say?"... and.. "Were you obedient to those commandments, even though nobody else thought they were important? Did you read My Word and see how important they were to Me? Did you see where I commanded the man to be put to death for breaking the Sabbath Day?"
And so, we don't put emphasis today on the things that Yahweh put emphasis on when He thundered the very first things He wanted to say to the children of Israel - "Keep Me holy. Don't mix Me up with a bunch of idol stuff. Anything to do with Pagan stuff, I'm not any part of that."
"Don't make an idol out of Me. Don't make images of Me; you can't make an image of Me. Don't worship other gods and don't mix Me in with worship of other gods. And don't profane My Name. My Name is holy. And don't profane My Day. My Day is holy."
Those were the things that were on His mind when He wrote the Ten Commandments. And so, maybe we need to re-think a little bit here. Maybe we need to adjust our thinking and let our thinking be more in line with His thinking. That seems to make sense to me, anyway. Hopefully, it makes sense to you that way, too.
I want to show another Scripture here. I actually did not put it on the Power Point, but I'm going to put it on this Power Point here because it just came to mind as I was sharing this... because Yahweh gets particularly upset when we regard things that are unholy as being holy, and the things that are holy, we disregard.
If I can get this to come up.. for some reason it's not wanting to copy and paste into the screen here.. alright, I'm going to read it to you anyway:
Isaiah 65:2 - I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way [that is] not good, According to their own thoughts;
Isaiah 65:3 - A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face; Who sacrifice in gardens, And burn incense on altars of brick;
Isaiah 65:4 - Who sit among the graves, And spend the night in the tombs; Who eat swine's flesh, And the broth of abominable things is [in] their vessels;
(graves - unclean places; tombs - unclean places; swine's flesh - unclean food; vessels - that's the plates and the bowls that they eat from)
Isaiah 65:5 - Who say, `Keep to yourself, Do not come near me, For I am holier than you!' These [are] smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day.
Imagine that, did you ever get smoke up your nose? You know... "get away from me!" That's how Yahweh views it when people claim to be holy, and yet, the broth of abominable meats is in their vessels, in their bowls and the things they eat from, eating swine's flesh and not having any regard for the uncleanness of a tomb or anything of that regard.
He just hates that, and they provoke Him to anger continually to His face. It says they walk according to their own thoughts of what holiness is.
And so, to me, we need to get this down. We've got to. We've got to understand it. It's something that's significant to our Heavenly Father. And because we love our Heavenly Father, if He considers it to be significant, then don't you think we need to consider it to be significant? I think so.
So, do we consider it to be significant, or are we among those who are calling evil good and good evil.. and so on? Putting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter, being wise in our own eyes. "Come not near to me, I'm holier than thou." Have you ever heard that phrase.. "Oh, that man, he's holier than thou"?
Well, actually that quotation is from a Scripture. It says, "Don't come near me, I am holier than thou." And yet, they are not holy. So that is where that actually comes from. So Yahweh.. we see here, it bothers Him, and so, it needs to bother us.
Now we want to look at some Scripture here about holiness so that we can fully understand what holiness is and the importance of holiness. We see here in Isaiah chapter 6, verse 1, that Yahweh is holy (verses 1-3):
Isaiah 6:1 - In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw YAHWEH sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His [robe] filled the temple.
Isaiah 6:2 - Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
Isaiah 6:3 - And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy [is] YAHWEH of hosts; The whole earth [is] full of His glory!"
Three times holy! And we see also in Revelation 4:8..
Revelation 4:8 - [The] four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: "Holy, holy, holy, Master Elohim Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!"
In Hebrew: "qadosh, qadosh, qadosh, Yahweh Elohim Almighty, Who was and is and is to come, asher haya w'howeh w'yawoh!" declares these four living creatures, day and night, night and day, they do not rest, constantly in the presence of Yahweh, declaring how "qadosh," how holy He is. They never get tired of it. They don't rest.
So holy is Yahweh. Holy! Separate is Yahweh. Separate from what? From anything that is wicked, from anything that is evil, from anything that is impure, from anything that is not lovely, praiseworthy and of good report. He's separate from the filth and scour of the world. And so, Yahweh is holy. And there is no comparison to His holiness.
Exodus 15:11 - "Who [is] like You, O YAHWEH, among the gods? Who [is] like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
1Samuel 2:2 - "No one is holy like YAHWEH, For [there is] none besides You, Nor [is there] any rock like our Elohim.
Psalms 22:3 - But You [are] holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
Think about that for a moment - Yahweh is so, so holy, so "qadosh," so separate. And yet, He will dwell, He will live in our praises to Him.
If you want the presence of Yahweh to come, start praising Him. If you want Yahweh's presence to be among you, begin to praise Him and watch and you will sense it, if you're sincere in your prayer and praise to Him.
And so, even though Yahweh is so, so holy, so set apart, He will dwell in our praises. That's where He's enthroned by His Spirit.
Isaiah 63:15 - Look down from heaven, And see from Your habitation, holy and glorious. Where [are] Your zeal and Your strength, The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me? Are they restrained?
His habitation is holy and glorious. The place where He dwells is holy and glorious.
Deuteronomy 26:15 - `Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, "a land flowing with milk and honey."'
So Yahweh's dwelling place is holy:
2Chronicles 30:27 - Then the priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard; and their prayer came [up] to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.
So our prayers ascend like the incense on the alter, up to heaven and to the dwelling place of Yahweh.
His Name is holy:
Psalms 103:1 - <<[A Psalm] of David.>> Bless YAHWEH, O my soul; And all that is within me, [bless] His holy name!
Isaiah 57:15 - For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name [is] Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy [place], With him [who] has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Interesting. Read that... that Yahweh dwells in a holy place, and a holy place to Him, a holy place to Yahweh is where? With a person who has a contrite and humble spirit. That is a holy place. That's where He dwells. Someone who has a humble, contrite spirit - He will come and bring His Holy Spirit upon a person like that.
And it says here: He will "revive the spirit of the humble.. to revive the heart of the contrite ones."
Isaiah 57:16 - For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would fail before Me, And the souls [which] I have made.
So, if you want Yahweh's presence to be among you, humble yourself in the sight of Yahweh. He will lift you up. We have to be humble. We have to be contrite. And Yahweh will revive us with the joy of salvation.
So, His Name is holy and even though He dwells in a high and holy place, He will also dwell in a humble heart.
His Name is holy:
Psalms 33:21 - For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name.
Why do people think His Name doesn't matter today? Because they don't recognize the holiness of it, the blessing of it, the separateness of it. And we have to be careful ourselves, my brothers and sisters, because we are known by some people as those "Yahweh People over there."
What kind of impression are we leaving by our actions? Are people associating the name "Yahweh" with righteousness, with love, with goodness, with wisdom, with faithfulness, with humility? Is that what people are associating Yahweh's Name with when they see us, or are we profaning His Name by our actions?
Because we've chosen to do what the Scriptures say and call upon the Name of Yahweh, we have to do it. But when we do it, we have to handle His Name in a way that doesn't profane it by our actions. Yahweh help us!
Some people will put Yahweh's Name on the bumper sticker of their car. That's ok, as long as you're driving in a way that's, you know, becoming of holiness - that you're obeying the statutes and the laws of the land and not causing occasion for Yahweh's enemies to blaspheme His Name, or driving in a way that's not kind to your neighbor.
So we have to be careful about that. We want to keep the Name of Yahweh to be a place as esteemed and to regard it to be as holy among the nations.
I believe that is one reason why Yahweh, for the most part, when He sees people using His Name, He starts showing them His Laws, His Commandments, about the clean and the unclean, about the holiness of the Sabbath and the Torah and stuff, because He wants His Name to be associated with righteousness.
Very, very few do I ever see, people that are using Yahweh's Name, and yet, don't keep Torah or don't keep Sabbath. Very rare. It does happen, but He wants His Name to be associated with that which is good. He wants us to proclaim that Name unto our generations.
Now, Yahweh's Spirit is also holy. Psalm 51, verse 11 - some people don't think the Spirit is in the Old Testament, but here it is. David praised:
Psalms 51:11 - Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Isaiah 63:11 - Then he remembered the days of old, Moses [and] his people, [saying]: "Where [is] He who brought them up out of the sea With the shepherd of His flock? Where [is] He who put His Holy Spirit within them,
See, they had His Holy Spirit in those days. It wasn't missing. It wasn't missing in action. They had His Holy Spirit. It's not quite the same manifestation that we have today, but the Spirit was there.
Also, the Arm of Yahweh is holy. Yahushua is the Arm of Yahweh. We read about this, actually. I'm sorry, His angels are holy..
Matthew 25:31 - "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.
(angels - means messengers)
The angels of Yahweh are holy. Then there is also the unholy beings known as unclean spirits. That's why they're unholy, because they are unclean, walking in uncleanness.
Isaiah 53, verse 1, talking about the Arm of Yahweh:
Isaiah 53:1 - Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of YAHWEH been revealed?
Have you been revealed the Arm of Yahweh? You know, Yahushua is called the Arm of Yahweh.
Isaiah 53:2 - For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, [There is] no beauty that we should desire Him.
This is the Old Testament prophecy here about the Messiah. "He has no form or comeliness" means: He's not going to be a beautiful man - unlike you see in the paintings, you know, always a very beautiful looking man. He just looks like a regular person.
Isaiah 53:3 - He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, [our] faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Maybe that's why they did reject Him. He didn't look quite as glorious as they had hoped.
But Yahweh has revealed Messiah to us:
Isaiah 52:10 - YAHWEH has made bare His holy arm In the eyes of all the nations; And all the ends of the earth shall see The salvation of our Elohim.
That is Yahushua. HalleluYah!
Acts 4:27 - the disciples were talking, they said:
Acts 4:27 - "For truly against Your holy Servant Yahushua, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
Acts 4:28 - "to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.
He is holy. Yahushua is holy.
And then, we also see that Yahweh's Word is holy:
Romans 1:1 - Paul, a bondservant of Yahushua Messiah, called [to be] an apostle, separated to the gospel of Elohim
Romans 1:2 - which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,
2Timothy 3:15 - and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Messiah Yahushua.
So, the Scriptures are holy. That's why the Law is holy:
Romans 7:12 - Therefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
So, Yahweh's Word, His Torah, which people say is abolished nowadays - it's holy. It's a holy Word. It's a holy Scripture.
What was Timothy reading anyway when he was a child? (We're talking about Timothy here in 2 Timothy 3:15.) Was he reading Romans... 1 Corinthians and Thessalonians and the book of Revelation? No, he was reading the holy Scriptures - the Torah, the Law of Yahweh, which is holy and just and good.
So, there wasn't any codified New Testament in His day when he was a child. Not to say the New Testament... I mean, the New Testament is holy, also. It is good; it is holy; it is just. And the commandments that are there are holy. And so, we all recognize those things are holy. But here are some other things that are considered to be holy to Yahweh:
Deuteronomy 15:19 - "All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall sanctify to YAHWEH your Elohim; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.
Now, most of you reading this today, you probably don't have herds, you probably don't have flocks that you use to till land with or anything like that. But, do you know what? Until just 60, 70, years ago most people did have herds and flocks to till land and stuff.
And, actually, you can go even further back. Our culture was dominated by an agrarian lifestyle. In fact, most cultures were dominated by that kind of lifestyle. It was only the cosmopolitan Romanesque type cities where, you know, people started to live their life a little differently.
And so, when we look... where did Yahweh put man? Did He put him in a big city? No. He put man in a garden. When He created Adam, He put him in a garden to tend it and keep it. That's where He placed man, and really that's where he will be happiest. I really think that. But we don't always have that, do we?
We see here, you know, the first born of the flock are considered to be holy. The firstfruits of your harvest are considered to be holy. So, what do we do with them? We can't bring them to a priest to go wave them or whatever. But we can regard them as being holy and don't eat them, don't use them.
And we've tried to do that, you know, with the firstfruits of our garden. We don't eat that. Actually, I don't know what to do with it, but I want to honor Yahweh in some way with them, and so, I just lift them up to Yahweh and, you know, throw them in the air and lift them up to Him and let them go.
Another thing that's holy is this year of Jubilee. It's considered to be a holy year:
Leviticus 25:11 - `That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather [the grapes] of your untended vine.
Leviticus 25:12 - `For it [is] the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.
Sadly, I think, in our generation we've just disregarded the land Sabbath. The seventh year is a year when the land is supposed to rest and just let what grows of it's own accord grow there, rather than planting and harvesting. And every seventh year is a land Sabbath and most people disregard that. They don't think that's anything important.
But, you know, if our farmers today would practice that, they wouldn't have the problem with the soil just being overworked like it is.
And so, you know, we try to.. believe me, I'm not claiming perfection on this, either. I mean, I feel like I want to throw a few things out here to you, my brothers and sisters, and say, "Look at this. How can we kind of get in the spirit of this and try to implement these principles in our lives?"
It does say that sin is the transgression of the law. So we want to try to observe anything that we can observe from Yahweh's Law, otherwise we find ourselves walking in sin. And this is something that is considered to be dealing with holiness.
Again, our own culture, we don't think of it as being anything that important. It doesn't really matter; it seems so trivial and trite. But, Yahweh... are the things He talks about, is it trivial? Are the things He regards to be holiest considered - "oh, just common"?
Are we making a difference between the holy and the unholy? I'm talking about me and you. I think we have more to go. We have more to learn of the will of Yahweh.
Yahweh's Word is holy and also His promise to Abraham:
Psalms 105:42 - For He remembered His holy promise, [And] Abraham His servant.
Psalms 105:43 - He brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with gladness.
(talking about when He delivered the children of Israel from Egypt, as He delivered us from Egypt, too, right?)
Psalms 105:44 - He gave them the lands of the Gentiles, And they inherited the labor of the nations,
Psalms 105:45 - That they might observe His statutes And keep His laws. Praise YAHWEH!
That's why He brought them out - to bring them into a land where they would observe His statutes and His laws. And His holy promise, the promise that He made to Abraham, is a holy promise.
So, He has called us to the place of where we have been given stewardship, our land, our property that we happen to be in - whether it's a one bedroom studio apartment or 50 acres of land. We need to bring that place under the stewardship of our Elohim and make that a place that is in accordance with His statutes and His laws.
In Psalm 89, it says Yahweh swears by His own holiness:
Psalms 89:35 - Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David:
Psalms 89:36 - His seed shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me;
Also, Amos chapter 4, verse 2..
Amos 4:2 - The Master YAHWEH has sworn by His holiness: "Behold, the days shall come upon you When He will take you away with fishhooks, And your posterity with fishhooks.
Amos 4:3 - You will go out [through] broken [walls], Each one straight ahead of her, And you will be cast into Harmon," Says YAHWEH.
Do you know what Harmon is? You have to look that up sometime. His Temple is holy... I know what it is, I want you to look it up.
Psalms 5:7 - But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.
That's a place of holiness. For those of you who think, "Oh, the Holy Temple, that's back in yesteryear," that it is nothing significant today - well, His temple will be re-established. And when His temple is re-established, here in Zechariah 14:21, it says:
Zechariah 14:21 - Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to Yahweh of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of hosts.
Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in those pots, right? the holy pots? A Canaanite - that's a heathen, a merchant. Actually, some people interpret or translate that as "merchant." No more of this making merchandise of the way of Yahweh.
So, the items of His temple there are holy and He is saying every pot in Jerusalem shall be holy because there will be so many people coming and making offerings there and cooking in them. This is a future event. Read the whole chapter, there, of Zechariah 14, if you don't believe me. This is a future event. It has never taken place.
Now, as we spoke of earlier, Yahweh's Sabbath is holy:
Exodus 16:23 - Then he said to them, "This [is what] YAHWEH has said: `Tomorrow [is] a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to YAHWEH. Bake what you will bake [today], and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.'"
(Indicating that on the Sabbath day, we don't bake, we dont boil - we rest.) Don't worry about cooking on the Sabbath day because it is a holy day. We rest on that day. We don't focus on work that day. So we do our work ahead of time and we rest.
So He says:
Exodus 20:8 - "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Isn't that ironic, my brothers and sisters? The one commandment He told us to remember is the one that most people forget. It's a holy day, and yet, most people treat the Sabbath day as being common.
It's a day - "Oh, I'll go shopping,"... you know.. "go to work; just live your normal life; do the things you normally do," and treat it just like a common day.
But, Yahweh, His Word is written in stone there (Exodus 20, verse 8). That's a day He said, "That particular day is holy. That's a holy day."
And some people think, "Well, I can make my own holy day. I will make Tuesday my day of rest or Sunday my day of rest or this week it might be this day, another week it might be a different day." No point in making a day holy if it isn't holy to begin with. Yahweh decides what's holy, not you.
Yahweh decided that the Sabbath was holy on the seventh day of Creation. That's when He made that decision. It says He blessed the Sabbath day - He sanctified it, the seventh day. And yes, we can trace back the seventh day of the week in our modern week and trace that all the way back to Yahushua's day. That seven day week has never been broken.
And so, it's a Holy Day and it has no value to keep another day (it's not holy). And that's my point. To many people who are in Christianity, going to church every Sunday is treating Sunday as their day of rest. Well, that's nice, but that's not His day of rest.
His day of rest is the seventh day of the week. And we have to make a difference between the holy and the unholy, between the common and the holy. We have to make a difference because we are called to be a holy people, and there is no point in remembering something that is not even holy.
And so, Yahweh says, "Don't forget it. I meant what I said. It's a holy day. Don't forget it." And yet, that's the one everybody forgets - not everybody, but most people. And if you regard that day as being holy, oh, they will think you're strange, think you're some kind of a weirdo because you do something different than the multitudes.
Well, Yahushua was always doing something different than the multitudes. David, the King, seemed to always be doing something different than the multitudes. Abraham seemed to be doing something different than the multitudes. We're in good company. The disciples seemed to always be doing something different than the multitudes.
We are in good company if we are doing something different.
The priesthood of Yahweh is holy:
Leviticus 21:6 - `They shall be holy to their Elohim and not profane the name of their Elohim, for they offer the offerings of YAHWEH made by fire, [and] the bread of their Elohim; therefore they shall be holy.
That's the earthly priesthood. The Levites were called to be holy. And His apostles, also, are holy (Luke 1:68). In case you think, "Oh, that's just the priests. Only they had to be holy." No..
Luke 1:68 - "Blessed [is] YAHWEH Elohim of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people,
Luke 1:69 - And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David,
Luke 1:70 - As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who [have been] since the world began,
Revelation 18:20 - "Rejoice over her, O heaven, and [you] holy apostles and prophets, for Elohim has avenged you on her!"
Apostles and prophets are holy.
The New Jerusalem, the one that will be to come, yet - it has not yet come down out from heaven. That New Jerusalem will be holy:
Revelation 21:10 - And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from Elohim,
(The holy Yerushalayim, descending out of heaven from Elohim)
Revelation 21:11 - having the glory of Elohim. Her light [was] like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.
That is glorious! Can't wait to see it! How about you?
And because that's a holy place:
Revelation 21:27 - But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
So, do we want to be among those who enter this place, wherein nothing that defiles will enter, nothing that causes an abomination will enter, nothing that causes a lie will enter? Then we will flee from lies, we will flee from things that cause defilement and we will flee from abominations.
And so, we want to be holy, don't we? I hope so. I mean, Scripture tells us - we are called to be holy:
Leviticus 11:45 - `For I [am] YAHWEH who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your Elohim. You shall therefore be holy, for I [am] holy.
Yes! People of Israel(of which we are - we are Israel through Messiah Yahushua), we are called to be holy. Yahushua dwells in us. We are called to be holy.
Leviticus 19:2 - "Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: `You shall be holy, for I YAHWEH your Elohim [am] holy.
Leviticus 20:26 - `And you shall be holy to Me, for I YAHWEH [am] holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.
So, we're holy to Yahweh. We're separate from the common people that we should be His, that we should belong to Him. We're separate from the common people. We're not like the common people, and yet, there are too many of us who are too worried about being different... too worried about looking different... acting different... doing things different.
And yet, we're supposed to be different. We're supposed to be separate from what normal people do. And we can glory in it! We should glory in it because we are His. We're separated from among the peoples. Now, I don't mean to be prideful in it and say, "Oh, look at me. By my own power and my own righteousness I am holy." I'm not talking about that.
But don't be ashamed of it. Goodness! Don't be ashamed of being holy. Do you know what the word "saint" means? "Saint" is just a translation of the Hebrew word "qadosh" - holy. It's the same word. The word "saint" means "holy." If you're a saint, that means you're holy. You're different than the rest of the people.
And you can rejoice in it, that you're doing things different. You're regarding the difference between the holy and the unholy. You're rejecting the unrighteous things, which are unholy. You want to cleave to the righteous things, which are holy.
And so, we have to be holy in our conduct. We're going to do things that are different and people may laugh at. The unholy people may laugh at you if you do things that are holy, like this:
Numbers 15:38 - "Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners.
(Two commands - 1. Make tassels and 2. Put a blue thread upon it. It should actually say "upon" and not "in" - "upon it.")
Numbers 15:39 - "And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of YAHWEH and do them, and that you [may] not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined,
Numbers 15:40 - "and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your Elohim.
Put the tassels on and you will be doing one of the things that we need to do to be holy for our Elohim. And if you don't have any tassels, just visit EliYah.com, scroll down to the "Torah for Today" section there and read about tassels. There's a scriptural study on tassels.
At the bottom of that study, there will be a link where you can learn how to make them, and if you can't make them, I'll send you a set. Yes, I will send you a free set of tassels because we have volunteers who make them. I want to see people keep Yahweh's commands. And this is one of them.
Scripture says, 1 John 3:4 - "Sin is the transgression of the law." If I don't wear tassels, I'm transgressing the law. It's as simple as that. That's what sin is. "I had not known sin except by the law." "By the law is the knowledge of sin." Tassels are one of the commands, even though you may think it's silly. Yahweh's commandments are not silly.
Yahweh's commandments are commandments because they are commanded. They're not multiple choice. They're not suggestions. They're not "Helpful Hints" from Heloise. They're commandments. And this is one of them.
Yahushua obeyed this commandment, by the way. Whenever you read about... like the woman had the issue with blood, she reached out and touched the hem of His garment. That was a tassel. Look it up in your Greek Lexicon. That's a tassel He was wearing, and in one place it says, "And as many as touched His tassel were healed."
And someone might say, "Well, I don't need those tassels to remind me of the commandments." Well, Yahushua didn't need any reminders, either, did He? And yet, He wore them. And to me, that is an example of what a man who doesn't even need to have the reminder ought to do with that commandment about tassels. Wear them. He's our example.
He lives in us. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. And if He's the same yesterday, today and forever, then if He kept the commandment about the tassels yesterday, He wants to keep that commandment in you today and we will keep them, forever. There's some significance to it - maybe more than meets the eye.
Maybe there's something about it that empowers us to observe the commandments. So maybe there's something about it besides just looking at it and being reminded of it. Maybe we see there... there's healing that came out of the tassel.
I'm not talking about wearing a talisman here. But obviously Yahweh used it and He commanded it, and I'm not going to question Him.
Now if we keep His commandments, we are holy unto Him:
Deuteronomy 14:2 - "For you [are] a holy people to YAHWEH your Elohim, and YAHWEH has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who [are] on the face of the earth.
Do you believe that? Yahweh is calling you a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth because you are willing to listen to Him, because you're special to Him. Why? Why are you special to Him? Because you made Him special to you. When you consider Him to be special to you, then you will be special to Him.
And just in case you think, "Oh, that's just Old Testament stuff, EliYah. I don't need to hear that stuff." Pay attention:
1Peter 2:9 - But you [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
So, we are a priesthood. We are a chosen generation. We are a royal priesthood. You see, the priesthood in the Old Testament wasn't even royal. It wasn't kingly like the priesthood of the Messiah. We're a royal priesthood. We're a holy nation. We are a nation, my brothers and sisters. You and I are a nation. We're part of a great nation.
What is that nation, by the way? We're the nation of Israel. Those who are Messiah's are Abraham's seed (Galatians 3:29). And if you're part of Abraham's seed, then you're part of Israel and you're grafted into the olive tree, and we are now Israelites. You can think of yourself that way. Yahweh does.
You're a holy nation, a royal priesthood, after the order of Melchizedek. And so, we are called to be holy - a holy nation. What does it mean to be holy? What is our definition? How do we define what holiness is? How does Yahweh define what a holy nation is? We've got to find out what that means.
Exodus 19:6 - `And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These [are] the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."
See, it's the same words. Same thing. We're still that holy nation that Yahweh chose, as a seed of Abraham. We are the holy nation. And so, we are a holy congregation.
Ephesians 1:3 - Blessed [be] the Elohim and Father of our Master Yahushua Messiah, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Messiah,
Ephesians 1:4 - just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
Do you believe that? Before Yahweh even created the foundation of the world, He already chose you to be holy. Isn't that amazing? Before He ever created the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that's in them, He made you, and I, to be holy, to be without blame before Him in love through the Messiah. That's a spiritual blessing!
To be set apart, to be different... He chose you. Before the foundation of the world, before anything was ever created... He chose you to be different. He chose you to be set apart from the world, from the things that are common... He chose you. What a blessing! That's a spiritual blessing.
Colossians 3:12 - Therefore, as [the] elect of Elohim, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;
Put on tender mercies - don't walk around like "holier than thou." I mean, Yahushua bore the filth and the disgust and the "yuck" of this world and became among us unclean at times. He had to. Where did He come from? Out of the birth canal. So, He was unholy for different periods of time. Does that mean that He's not the Holy Son? No.
He is the Holy Son. He became unclean. Yeah, He was the Holy Son. And so, we might become unclean, but we do something about it. We don't just not care. I'm getting into things I haven't taught you, yet, so I shouldn't go there. But maybe you know it already, some of you.
My point is, we can't walk around like the Pharisees did in the first century Judaism and go, "Oh, I can't touch that person," because Yahushua touched the leper and the woman with the uncleanness. She touched His garment and He felt power go out from Him.
You know, we never use our desire to be clean as an excuse to not have tender mercies.
Colossians 3:13 - bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Messiah forgave you, so you also [must do].
Bearing with one another in love. Bearing with one another, forgiving one another - it's all part of holiness. Being forgiven and forgiving. It's all part of holiness, because Yahweh's that way and He's holy.
We were created in the image of Elohim. That image is a holy image. And so, we're called to be as He is - to be holy as He is holy.
1Thessalonians 4:7 - For Elohim did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.
1Thessalonians 5:27 - I charge you by YAHWEH that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren.
If we feel a little bit, I don't know... it almost seems prideful to call each other holy brothers, doesn't it? It almost seems like we're being arrogant or something to say, "I'm holy and you're holy," because of our cultural connotations with that.
But Scripture says you are. You are a holy brother or sister. You are a holy sister. We're a holy people. And we're not prideful in saying that. We're just stating the facts.
When Yahushua, when He was on the earth, He talked about Himself - "I am the way, the truth and the life." Was He boasting? Was He bragging on Himself? No. He's telling us the facts. He's the way, the truth and the life. And there is nothing boastful or arrogant about that.
And there is nothing boastful or arrogant for me to call all of you my holy brethren and for me to say, "Yes, I'm a holy brother, also." Not because of my own righteousness. Because Yahushua, the Holy Son, has cleansed me from all unholiness, from all filth. It's a glory to Him that we are holy, is it not?
Therefore:
1Peter 1:13 - Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest [your] hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Yahushua Messiah;
Put your hope in that. Put your hope in that completely - not your own righteousness, not your own efforts... but His holiness, His grace:
1Peter 1:14 - as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, [as] in your ignorance;
1Peter 1:15 - but as He who called you [is] holy, you also be holy in all [your] conduct,
1Peter 1:16 - because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."
What's He quoting from? He's quoting from the law, from the Torah. How many times do we see in Scripture, Yahweh wants us to be a holy people? We are called to be "qadosh," separated unto Yahweh. Dedicated to Yahweh we are to be. We're going to be different and not like the world.
We're going to have a different Spirit in us than the spirit that's in the world. The Spirit that's in us is going to be holy. The spirit that's in the world is an unclean spirit. I'm not making this up.
1Corinthians 2:12 - Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from Elohim, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by Elohim.
There is a spirit out there in the world. It's called the spirit of the world, here. And then, there's the Spirit of Yahweh. That's the Holy Spirit. There's an unclean spirit and there's a Holy Spirit. And we need to be people who are accustomed to discerning the difference between the two.
Because the world (as we've been sharing recently with it's thorns), can corrupt us and trap us. And we need to keep ourselves unspotted and unstained from corruption that is in the world.
Now I shared a study recently - the message of thorns. If you haven't seen that message, please watch it. I think you'll get a blessing out of it. I know I did.. studying the different nature of thorns and different things about thorns in the Bible, and that's the spirit of the world - the thorns.
They just grow around the good plant and just slowly intertwine and intertangle. Pretty soon, before you know it, you're being choked out by the spirit of the world. We need to recognize the spirit of the world when we see it.
It's a spirit that is contrary to the things of Yahweh, things that are at war with Yahweh, that war against our spirit and attract our flesh instead. And so, we want to be separated from that kind of spirit in our hearts.
It's all around us. We're not going to get away from it. But we can't let it influence us, and we certainly can't sit there and watch it and enjoy it. A lot of things that are on television today just make me sick. It's like a stain. You watch something that's worldly for a while and the stain is on you.
I don't know how to describe it, but it's like a filthiness. It's like a stain. It really is. Have you ever felt that? Sometimes after going to the stores or you read the news.. of course, obviously, Hollywood.. television.
You're used to feeling just close to Yahweh, in His presence and desirous of the spiritual things and desirous of wanting to pick up the Bible and learn more about the One that you've fallen in love with.
And I've had this happen, visiting people who have the TV going all the time and for some reason... just sucks out all desire for things that are spiritual and... lack of peace inside. And so, we have to be careful. I'm not saying that we're just so overly sensitive that we can't handle it.
But I'm not going to sit there and put it in front of my eyes on purpose. Because when you just go to Wal-Mart, you're going to get the same thing. But my point is, in my house... I don't want that kind of spirit flowing into my house, the spirit of the world.
So, we've got to be careful and course other ways:
James 1:27 - Pure and undefiled religion before Elohim and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, [and] to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
("Pure and undefiled religion" - that is holy religion, holy faith; "to visit orphans and widows in their trouble" - that's holy conduct; "unspotted" - that means unstained)
See, I'm not making this up. It's from the Scriptures. And I have felt that stain, that "yuckiness" inside. I can tell, there is a difference... after worldly music.. worldly television.. worldly movies.. anything worldly. It's constantly sending messages that are contrary to the will of Elohim.
You feel like you've been through a battle, unless you just give up and start enjoying it, and that's not right. So we should not be seeking or allowing defiling ways to enter our hearts. We have to be careful.
Again, I'm not saying we have to be weaklings, you know... some worldly thing comes to us and we just get overwhelmed by it and blown away... but that we are sensitive to what is from Yahweh and what is not from Yahweh, that we become accustomed to understanding: That is not clean; that is unclean..
... This is pure.. this is lovely.. this is praiseworthy.. this is of good report.. this is disgusting.. this is worldly.. this is fleshy; it's carnal - and be able to discern the difference, and reject the one and receive the other.
Those other things are traps, snares, thorn bushes - the things that are carnal, the worldly things that you may not be able to come right out and just start flipping out Scriptures against, but you know in your spirit are not right.
So, we need to lift up this holy standard that's in Messiah Yahushua, the One who kept all the Torah perfectly, completely, and is the true example of holiness to all of us because He is holy. The Son is holy. He that dwells in us is holy. It is no longer you who live. Give it up. It's not your life anymore.
It's Messiah that lives in you, if indeed you have the Spirit of Messiah, if indeed you have received Him and you have turned away from sin and you have received Him and got baptized in Yahushua's name that you might receive His Ruach HaKodesh, that public confession.
The One we serve, Yahushua, is holy, and He wants to live His life through us. Yahweh help us all! We're going to fail. We may fail from time to time. I'm not saying, "The standard is perfection or you're outta here, buddy."
I'm saying, this is what we should yearn for.. we should long for.. that we should chase.. that we should pursue.. because nothing defiled will enter the city above. The blessed City that comes down from Heaven and all holiness and the Glory of Yahweh - He will only allow what is holy to enter in.
So, Yahweh... we've got to pray He will open our hearts to hear His Word, that we might truly be and live as a chosen generation, as a set apart people unto Him, as a different people unto Him, as a peculiar people (we read that earlier - a peculiar people).
We're different. We're peculiar, that we should show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness, uncleanness, and wickedness and into the marvelous, awesome, blessed way of life - light, purity, righteousness. That's the difference between the holy things and the unholy things.
You know, it's like I said earlier. It's primarily holiness that the churches are rejecting today.
Let's start here... Psalm 103, verse 1 - His Holy Name. They don't want to even proclaim the Holy Name. They don't want to use the Holy Name. Actually, it's ironic, because it's a Jewish tradition they've picked up and they're so against Jewish things.
Psalms 103:1 - <<[A Psalm] of David.>> Bless YAHWEH, O my soul; And all that is within me, [bless] His holy name!
Do we do that? Do we bless His Name, His Holy Name? We're commanded to. We're expected to.
Do we glory in His Holy Name, or are we ashamed of it?
1Chronicles 16:10 - Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek YAHWEH!
Psalms 30:4 - Sing praise to YAHWEH, You saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
Let's give thanks to Him. He revealed His Name to us. Let's rejoice and give thanks to Him for it. We remember that. And His Name, by the way, is more than just the vocalization of "Yahweh." It's more than that. It is His character, His person of who He is - who He is to us. We glory in that. We bless that, too.
That's all part of it, and part of who He is, is what vocalization He chose to call Himself by.
Also, the Holy Sabbath the Church has rejected today. We are told:
Exodus 20:8 - "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exodus 20:9 - Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
Exodus 20:10 - but the seventh day [is] the Sabbath of YAHWEH your Elohim. [In it] you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who [is] within your gates.
(the seventh day... that is today)
And the Feast Days... the Feast Days are holy, too. Those are Sabbaths, also.
And the tassel commandment the Church has rejected today... is part of being holy for our Elohim... is wearing the tassels. Part of being holy.
And then, the holiness of not eating unclean things.. this is where we can see a connection here:
Leviticus 11:43 - `You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps; nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them.
"You shall not make yourselves abominable." Think about that. You make yourself an abomination by doing what?
Leviticus 11:44 - `For I [am] YAHWEH your Elohim. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I [am] holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
These are unclean things - unclean beasts, unclean rodents. You know, people go out and eat squirrels and things that are unclean, and yet claim to be holy as He is holy. We're supposed to be clean. Cleanliness and holiness go hand-in-hand. Not unclean.
And so, He says you will make yourself an abomination by eating these things. If you read this whole chapter, Leviticus 11, you'll see the entire chapter is about what is clean and what is not clean to eat. So, we're going to make a distinction between the clean and the unclean, I hope. You shall not make yourself abominable with these things.
And this is a New Testament idea, also. He is quoting from Isaiah here, but he says:
1Corinthians 6:17 - But he who is joined to the Master is one spirit [with Him].
1Corinthians 6:18 - Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
1Corinthians 17:1 -
What promises? These promises - "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says Yahweh Almighty." So, this is a promise that He has given us - that He will be a Father to us, so that we will be His sons and His daughters. But if we're going to be His sons and daughters, we've got to get away from things that are unclean.
He says, "Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you." We've got to separate ourselves from the unclean meats and different things this world has to put into our bodies. It says, "Do not touch the carcass of unclean animals." Do not even touch the carcass of it!
Would you believe they make Bibles, leather Bibles, out of pig - pig leather? If you have a leather Bible produced by Christians, the chances are it's pig. You can call the company and ask them, but most of the time - probably ninety percent of the time - it's pig. Isn't that awful? To me, it's awful.
He says, "Don't touch what is unclean," and some people will say, "Oh, that's the Old Testament, Tom. Oh, EliYah, that's the Old Testament." No.
Look at what he says next: "Therefore, having these promises, my beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness (of what?) of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of Elohim."
So, both things that will defile you spiritually and things that will defile us in our flesh - the broth of abominable meats we're called to be cleansing ourselves from and not coming into contact with.
So this is a New Testament ideal, also. And it's part of holiness - embracing the clean only... not embracing the unclean and defiled things, you know... names that are not even holy. Yahweh's Name is holy. Is there any other name that He said is holy? No. Only His Name "Yahweh" He says is holy. That's His Holy Name.
And cleaving to His Holy Feast Days and cleaving to His Holy Sabbath Day and cleaving to holiness through rejecting what is unclean, and not eating any unclean things and cleaving to the things that are clean, considered by Yahweh to be acceptable for us to eat
and not putting the broth of abominations into our bodies which are called to be the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
You know, Antiochus Epiphanes, on December 25th, went into the Temple and defiled it. He put pig fat all over the walls of the Temple of Yahweh and that's the day that everybody celebrates as Christmas, while they coat the inside of their blood vessels with the broth of abominable meats.
While they coat the Temple of Yahweh with the broth of abominable meats, they keep their Christmas, December 25th, and rejoice in it... and have pagan, idolatrous customs to go with it - the Christmas trees and gifts and different things. I'm not making this up. This is all history and Scripture. So, check it out. Prove me wrong, if I'm wrong.
I'm not trying to condemn anybody, either. I'm saying... this is like.. you've got to point it out. You've got to say something about it... let's not hide it from you.
So, we don't want to fill our bodies, which is suppose to be the Temple of Yahweh, with abominations and smear our blood vessels with lard. You know, it's Yahweh's Temple.
We want to "come out from among them and be separate" and be Yahweh's sons and daughters, and separate ourselves from things that are unholy and common and unclean and not intermingle ourselves spiritually, also.
Both of the spirit and the flesh, we want to perfect holiness in the fear of Elohim, seeking to become His sons and daughters and be holy as He is holy, seeking the ancient ways (the way Yahushua walked was the ancient ways), walking in holiness, showing forth the praises of Him and showing forth that which is going to be to come yet...
The Kingdom of Yahweh, when Yahushua dwells there... dwells among us.. and dwells on the earth. (Zechariah 14) Feast Days will be kept. (Isaiah 66) Sabbath days will be kept. New Moons will be kept. We see the priests will make a distinction between the common and the unclean, between the profane and the not profane.
And all the world will proclaim His Holy Name. This is all part of the Kingdom that we are supposed to be preaching about and proclaiming to all the world, and yet, these thing are a glaring hole in the Kingdom that is being preached today in mainstream religions. And we've got to include this. This is not all. This is not the end-all.
I mean, you start keeping Sabbath and the Feast Days and kosher and stuff, don't think you've got it made. You still have to walk the Yahushua walk. That means - love your enemies, pray for those who hate you and despitefully use you, walk in mercies and forgiveness and compassion to all while still cleaving to holiness. Can we do it? Yes, we can.
It's not one or the other, like most people think. It's not one or the other. We're called to walk in both - because the truth is, as we have read:
Revelation 21:27 - But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Don't make your body an abomination - anything that defiles, or causes an abomination, or causes a lie. Yahweh help us all! YAHWEH help us all! Have mercy on us all!
I'm convinced, brothers and sisters, there will be areas only found by Him where we may not be living up to holiness, but Yahweh is looking for a repentant heart that when we see these kinds of things in His Word, that we don't dismiss it and say, "Oh, I can't do that, so I'm not going to." That's rebellion.
No, when we see these things in His Word we repent, not rebel. We repent and we say, "Yahweh, I really want to live the way You want me to live. I want to be Your special treasure. I want to be a holy person unto You that glorifies You in my conduct. I failed You."
Because when you do that, as we read earlier, Yahweh will dwell with a humble and contrite person. His Holy Spirit will dwell in that place. And then, you will praise Him, and He will dwell in that, too.
Then, and only then, will we be found worthy to enter the good land - a land, which, unlike today, will again be holy and profane no more.
May we be worthy to enter that land, in Yahushua's Name. And may Yahweh bless you, and may Yahweh have mercy on us all.
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