One Torah for All
One Torah shall be to him that is home-born, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you. Exodus 12:49
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No Other Savior!
Among those who commonly walk in religious circles, one may respond with, “Of course there isn’t!” in response to the title of this article. However, those same people who would respond in such a way may be guilty of looking for salvation in other things, places, or people other than YHWH. How so? Please consider the following.
Hoshea 13:4
Yet I am YHWH your Elohim from the land of Egypt; and you shall know no god but Me, and besides Me there is no savior.
I can remember back in about 1994 coming across a very astonishing bit of information concerning the number of people in the USA alone who claimed to be “Jesus” or “Christ” or “God.” In that year there were over 1500 men, and even a few women, who openly made this claim. While I do not have any present statistics as to how many men and women today are making this claim, it seems that this number has dramatically increased.
In the passage above YHWH is speaking through His prophet Hoshea. It is a message primarily to the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel, but also includes a message to the southern kingdom of Judah as well; YHWH clearly states He is the only Savior of Israel, that is, all twelve tribes. There is no one else who can save Israel. Even though Israel has often gone out of her way to look for, and seek another god, the truth is that she has never really found one.
In fact, when looking closely at the passage above, one finds that YHWH has even warned His people that they are not to know any other god besides Him. Yet, this has been the exact downfall of Ephrayim throughout the last several millennia. It is time Ephrayim learns the message and lesson of this passage, that YHWH is the only Elohim and there is no other one to which to turn.
Please consider a few of the ways in which the northern kingdom has gone whoring after other gods. One of the primary ways, is that she has made politics her god. She has wrongly believed that she can set up a system of government that is contrary to Torah and YHWH’s commandments and somehow have it just as good and be blessed by YHWH. But the truth is that YHWH will only bless those whose hearts are fully and only towards Him.
In 2008 the USA had an election for a new president. Many of YHWH’s well-meaning people worked hard for the candidate of his or her choice. Now believe it or not, there were some of YHWH’s people on both sides of this election contest, each believing that his candidate was the anointed choice of the Almighty Creator. Now, it stands to reason that both cannot be correct! Nonetheless, what one should consider is that neither candidate was anointed by YHWH; i.e., neither party holds the answers to what ails the USA. So what ails the USA or any other country for that matter?
Sin.
Yep, you read that correctly!
However, to be even more specific about what the ailment is: it is breaking His Torah commandments. There are many who even do this and believe that YHWH will continue to bless them with all sorts of blessings. However, is this what Torah actually teaches? Please take a closer look what is found in the following passage.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 30:15-18
15 “See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil;
16 in that I command you this day to love YHWH your Elohim, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that YHWH your Elohim may bless you in the land where you are going in to possess it.
17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
18 I declare to you this day, that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land, where you pass over the Yarden to go in to possess it.”
It is time that each person looks himself squarely in the face and own up to the fact that YHWH is not pleased with the way he is living. Why not? Simply put, no person alive today is keeping and obeying all of His Torah.
Now, here is something I have heard from quite a few people, and quite frankly, I am totally befuddled by it. I have heard many say that Yeshua taught that He did not come to do away with the Torah, and as one of the references to this, they will point at Matthew 5:17. Then, in the very next breath, they will begin outlining the parts of Torah that are not for today and which have been done away with for various reasons. Now honestly, does that make any sense at all? Of course not! Unless, of course, the reader is one of those people who believes, and tries to get others to believe and follow, that people today do not have to keep His whole Torah; i.e., every single commandment.
Perhaps now would be a good time to go back up to the previous passage from Devarim 30:15-18 and reread it. YHWH clearly states, that if His people obey all of His commandments, all of His statutes, all of His ordinances, and walk in all of His ways, then, and only then, will He bless them. However, the flip side of that same coin, is that if one does not obey all of His commandments, all of His statutes, all of His ordinances, and walk in all of His ways, then what he can and should expect is to be cursed and to die. I do not know how YHWH could say it any plainer, but there are so many people today who are just not getting it here at this point. I witnessed this so very plainly with this past election with so very many people running to and fro trying to get votes for their candidate.
What part of the passage from Hoshea don’t we get? His people, as individuals or as a group, will find salvation in no one else except YHWH! When will we as His people stop looking for salvation in the political system of our respective countries? When will we stop looking for salvation from any man? When will we look to YHWH for our salvation?
When we do finally look to YHWH for our salvation, then we will find it in the Person of Yeshua our Mashiach.
Ma’aseh (Acts) 2:38
And Kepha said to them, “Repent, and be immersed every one of you in the name of Yeshua Mashiach because your sins have been forgiven; and you shall receive the gift of the Set-apart Spirit.”
There is no other name under heaven or in the earth whereby a man might be saved. It is in the name of Yeshua our Mashiach. When we as His people finally do call upon His name, then He will visit us with salvation as a nation. But if a person is always running after the latest fad in order to find deliverance from whatever it is they think they need to be delivered, then there is nothing Yeshua can do for him. Looking for, and seeking to find salvation and or deliverance through one’s respective political system, is a good indication that such a person is not to the place in his life where he is ready to depend totally upon YHWH for his deliverance and salvation. This deliverance and salvation is not just in the spiritual sense, but rather in every sense of the meaning.
Besides the political realm being a place where people put their hope falsely, another such place is in financial institutions, where they think deliverance will come when they are out of debt, or when they get that new house, car, boat, or whatever else it is they are seeking after. But the truth is that even when a person attains such things as these, salvation will not be found in them. Salvation or true deliverance only comes from YHWH. There is no other source for it.
Another common and growing place where His people are looking for deliverance is through the right spiritual leader. However, if the lessons of Scripture teach us anything at all, it should be that having the right leader, whether that be in the political realm or in the spiritual realm, will not bring that which we as His people truly need. Only YHWH the Elohim of Israel can bring that deliverance and salvation.
Then there are those who think that if they are in the right place at the right time, they will see salvation or deliverance.
Tehillim (Psalm) 121:1-2
1 A Song of Ascents.
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains:
From whence shall my help come?
2 My help comes from YHWH,
Who made heaven and earth.
The psalmist asks the question in this song if his help comes from the mountains. Then he answers his own question by clearly stating his help does not come from the mountains! His help comes from YHWH. Yet, in our world today, there is a vast number of people who believe that if they make it to the mountains of Petra, they will be saved. Those who have this mindset are looking for salvation in something other than YHWH. They will not find it. They will be disappointed!
Please read the rest of this wonderful Psalm to see that those who look to YHWH for their help will not be disappointed.
Tehillim (Psalm) 121:3-8
3 He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He that keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He that keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 YHWH is your Keeper;
YHWH is your shade upon your right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 YHWH will keep you from all evil;
He will keep your being.
8 YHWH will keep your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and for evermore.
When we prayerfully consider the message of this song, it would seem that the one who places his hope and trust in YHWH shall not be disappointed, and his deliverance will be complete with nothing lacking. Is there anything lacking in the salvation or deliverance you have received? Perhaps you have not looked for complete salvation from YHWH only?
ABBA YHWH, deliver us and save us as we have no hope but You; in the name of Yeshua our Mashiach. Amein.
Shabbat Shalom
Zerubbabel ben Emunah
www.onetorahforall.com
zerubbabel@onetorahforall.com
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