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 |
There’s a Great Winnowing Taking Place
Matithyah (Matthew) 3:12
“whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing-floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
There is a great winnowing that is presently taking place all across this world. YHWH is causing the wheat to be separated from the chaff. One of the problems is that, in some cases in which the wheat is not fully developed yet, the chaff does not separate easily or quickly from it. In fact, the wheat itself can be, and many times chooses to be, rather stubborn in this regard.
Tehillim (Psalm) 1:4
The wicked are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
There is nothing redeemable about chaff. The chaff is that thin shell which surrounds and protects the kernel of wheat while it is developing. Once the kernel of wheat is fully developed, then the wheat and chaff naturally separate. One could easily and rightly say that if a person is chaff, then all there is to that person is a thin shell or façade.
In this case, the thin shell which has protected the wheat while it developed was, and is, Christianity. Christianity is the thin shell which has protected the kernels of wheat while they have developed. But now is the time of separation. Now is the time in which the winnowing process has begun in which YHWH is bringing forth the wheat from out of the chaff. YHWH is removing the façade in order that it may be seen for what it is.
Gilyana (Revelation) 18:4
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her my people, that you have no fellowship with her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues:”
This is one of the ways in which the wheat and chaff will be able to be separated and distinguished, by the fact that the wheat will hear the call from YHWH and come out from the midst of the chaff. All the while that this process is taking place the chaff will deride and point fingers saying that it is the wheat which is the chaff for coming out of Christianity. But how can something that has its roots in paganism be wheat? It cannot be so. Wheat is pure, just as truth is pure. The more truth wheat has, the better off it will be and the more separated it will become from the chaff.
For some this is not going to be an easy thing to bear. The truth is that many will greatly resist this process that YHWH is taking us all through. In which group an individual ends up being will depend largely upon the choices that he personally makes.
Please note in the opening passage of Scripture the destiny of the chaff.
“… the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
In speaking through the prophet Yeshayah YHWH tells us this same thing.
Yeshayah (Isaiah) 66:24
“And they shall go forth, and look upon the dead bodies of the men that have rebelled against Me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh.”
Each and every person who knows what Scripture says but chooses not to do it, for whatever reason, will be burned with fire. There are so very many reasons an individual gives as to why he personally does not do as Scripture says. But the reality of it all is this: in the end it does not matter why a person has chosen to rebel and not obey His word; the result will be the same-- “… the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
There are those who use their childhoods as an excuse as to why they do not do as Scripture says. But you know what: not a single one of us grew up in a perfect home. Yes, some had more abuse heaped upon them as they grew up than others, but none of us grew up seeing the Scriptures obeyed. I don’t mean to sound harsh at this point, but get over it already!
Then there are those who have more recent hurt and pain inflicted upon them by others. Some use these hurts and pains caused by others as an excuse not to do as Scripture teaches us to do. It does not really matter when a person has been hurt and a wrong done to him; it is time to let go of the past and stop allowing Satan to control him through the past. It is time to do right in His eyes.
Philippians 3:13-14
13 Brethren, I do not count myself yet to have laid hold; but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
14 I press on toward the goal to the prize of the high calling of Elohim in Mashiach Yeshua.
Let us not allow Satan to capture our minds and replay over and over again past hurts and wrongs done to us. Let us learn the lessons that YHWH has for us in those times of tribulations and move on to what He has for us in the future. We need to forgive those who have hurt us and caused us harm, and then put them in the hands of YHWH our Elohim and move on with the life that YHWH has so graciously given us in Mashiach Yeshua.
Then there are those who do not do what Scripture says because of the traditions of man. This falls into two main categories. The first category is called “Christianity.” Now, mind you that not every person in Christianity is chaff, as there is a lot of wheat present there as well. But it is time for the wheat to come out of that chaff.
One of the main tenets of Christianity today is that Messiah fulfilled the Law; so therefore, we do not have to keep the commandments. Brothers and sisters in Mashiach, this is so twisted it is nearly unimaginable. Satan has done a real number with this one. This is such a stronghold in the minds of many people, that it is quite difficult and nigh unto impossible in some cases, to untwist or dislodge this untruth from a person’s mind who accepts this nonsense. Yes, it is true that Mashiach fulfilled the Law (Torah). That is absolutely true! But the conclusion of these unrighteous men whom Satan uses to put forth his agenda is completely wrong. Just because Mashiach Yeshua fulfilled the Law (Torah) does not make it void. In fact, it does just the opposite of this; it validates it. He has shown to us that it is possible to keep it. In fact, He shows us how to keep it. Then, because He is such a perfect Redeemer, He gives us His Spirit so that we may be able to keep it as well, which is actually just His keeping the Torah through us as we submit and yield to Him.
Please understand that when a person has the Spirit of Mashiach in Him, such a person must obey the Torah in its entirety. Now I realize that some of you are going to think that this is a pretty grand statement. How can such a thing be true? Please consider this passage.
Ivrim (Hebrews) 4:15
For we do not have a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that has been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
We find this same truth witnessed by two other writers (see Kepha Aleph 2:2; Yochanan Aleph 3:5). Yeshua in His earthly life was without sin. Do you think that He will give His Spirit to a person who will not yield to Him so that He may live without sin in this world? Do you think that the Spirit of Yeshua would lead a person to rebel against His Torah and completely disregard His commandments? Of course not! He gives His Spirit to those who choose to do their very best in hearing and obeying His Voice and keeping His Torah. Now mind you, this does not mean that we are going to get it right 100% of the time as we are still flawed humans. But what it does mean is that we are trying to please Him and follow Him, rather than following the rules and dictates and ideas of man.
The Spirit of Mashiach Yeshua is just as much without sin as He is. His Spirit cannot and will not lead a person into breaking Torah. It is not possible for His Spirit to do this! So, if a person is being led by a spirit to do something against Torah, this should cause a person to pause and test this spirit, as it is most likely not a spirit one should be following.
Those who refuse to let go of the error that the Law has been done away with, and who have been shown His truth by His Spirit, will pay a price that they cannot really afford to pay.
Marqos (Mark) 9:47-49
47 “And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of Elohim with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell;
48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.
49 For every one shall be salted with fire.”
The first group focuses upon Messiah but rejects the validity of keeping His commandments. The other group reverses this practice and focuses upon keeping His commandments while rejecting the validity of Yeshua being the Mashiach. However, in both cases the part that they focus upon is also rejected and something other than the real thing is put in its place. In Christianity, a substitute Messiah is used instead of the Scriptural Person of Yeshua. (The true Messiah did not come to do away with the Torah; whereas, the work of the replacement which Christ made for us, is so that a person who accepts Him does not have to obey the Law.)
In Judaism, instead of actually keeping the commandments of Torah that YHWH gave through Moshe, they substitute man-made traditions found in the Talmud and follow those instead of the actual commandments.
In both cases, if the actual Torah commandments or the real Mashiach were to be followed, it would lead one to the other. If one were to keep His Torah commandments this would lead one to the true Mashiach. If one were to follow the true Mashiach then this would lead one into keeping His Torah commandments. This cannot be helped because the written Torah tells us about the Mashiach to come and Yeshua is the Torah made flesh.
Yochanan (John) 5:46
“For if you believed Moshe, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me.”
Yochanan (John) 1:14
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.
So what we find in this present winnowing process is that those who have an appearance of Mashiach Yeshua are being refined and tested to see if they will in fact accept the one true Mashiach Yeshua and discard all the false ideas and man-made traditions that are not true. On the other hand, those who have a semblance of Torah are being refined and tested to see if they will accept the one true Torah and discard the traditions of man that cause one to violate the commandment of YHWH our Elohim.
This brings us to the question: How does one tell chaff from wheat? Or, even more to the point: How does one tell if he is chaff or wheat?
The first and foremost way in which this is determined is the place of truth in a person’s life. Truth must reign supreme – absolutely supreme – in a person’s life! If this is not true, then it is doubtful whether such a person is wheat. More likely he is chaff and will be discarded.
The truth reigning supreme is seen to be true in two main areas of a person’s life.
Yochanan (John) 14:6
Yeshua says to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me.”
Yeshua is the truth. Unless and until a person submits his life fully and completely to Mashiach Yeshua, then he will not be, and cannot be, wheat. When a person submits to Yeshua as Savoir, Redeemer, and Master, then He will require certain things from him. At the top of this list is that each person must hear and obey His Voice.
Yochanan (John) 10:3
“To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear His Voice; and He calls His own sheep by name, and leads them out.”
If a person cannot or does not hear His Voice, then he is not His. This is a very strong indication that something is amiss in a person’s life. If a person has a strong desire to be His, then he should immediately set out to rectify this by doing teshuva (true repentance) and get in a right relationship with our heavenly Father through Mashiach Yeshua.
The second area in which truth must reign supreme is in the area of the written word.
2nd Thessalonians 2:10
and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
When a person has a love of the truth, then when a new truth is revealed to him through the ministry of the Ruach Qodesh (Holy Spirit), he simply submits to this new truth and begins to live it as soon as possible.
If a person routinely rejects revealed truth, he typically does so by reasoning it away with things like:
Or any number of other such excuses to not submit and obey the leading of His Spirit. The number of excuses or variations of excuses that can be heard are as numerous as those who employ such unrighteous devices.
Yochanan (John) 8:47
“He that is of Elohim hears the words of Elohim; for this cause you do not hear them, because you are not of Elohim.”
If a person truly belongs to YHWH our Elohim, then he will hear and obey Him. He will hear His written word and submit to it. He will hear His Spirit speak to him and he will submit and obey. But those who do not hear cannot and will not obey.
Yochanan (John) 15:2
“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes it away; and every branch that bears fruit, He cleanses it, that it may bear more fruit.”
Part of this winnowing process is the purification of the wheat. Not only does this entail removing the chaff, but it also involves a pruning. This can be rather painful at times, but it is completely necessary. Each person needs to submit to this process and allow YHWH to remove whatever is not pleasing to Him. We cannot afford to have any sacred cows. We cannot afford to have things in our lives that we will not allow Him to touch. All must be surrendered to Him – no exceptions!
The reality of it all is this. We can give it all to Him and He will give back to us what is right and good and remove forever those things that are not right and good. This is as it should be. However, if we fail to give Him something, anything at all, then He will remove it without our permission and most likely will not give it back even if it is right and good. Why is this?
Shemot (Exodus) 20:3
“You shall have no other gods before Me.”
YHWH our Elohim is a jealous El. If a person places anything at all, regardless of how legitimate it might be, before or above YHWH, then if that person claims to follow YHWH and love Him with all his heart, YHWH will ask for that to be given to Him. If the person does not, then YHWH will take it from Him. If it is legitimate, and the person gives it to YHWH, then YHWH will give it back to him to be a steward over it. However, if the person does not give it to YHWH and YHWH has to take it from him, then YHWH most of the time will not return it. At least it will not be returned as long as there is an idolatrous attitude concerning that particular item. If the person repents and truly gives it to YHWH, then YHWH may relent and return it. But if an idolatrous spirit rises once again, then it will be removed again. YHWH does not and will not tolerate idolatry in His people.
Here is another passage that helps us to see where we are as individuals. There are those who claim to be a part of His people, but then separate themselves from His people. Does that make any sense to you? Can an individual or small group of people be so set-apart that they cannot have any fellowship with the rest of His people?
Yochanan Aleph (1st John) 2:19
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us.
The truth is that not a single one of us is perfect. In fact, we all have many flaws and shortcomings. No one is exempt from this. Should these flaws and shortcomings prevent us from having fellowship with one another? Of course not! But this is what Satan would do if we allowed him to do it, if and when we listen to him rather than to YHWH’s Voice.
Yochanan (John) 13:35
“By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another.”
We all need to learn how to walk in His Spirit in such a way that His Spirit is being manifested towards others at all times. This is not an easy task to do. Our emotions will often rise up, and if not put in check right away, they can easily get out of control and then the flesh takes over and we do not honor our Mashiach in this manner. Just because one says something that is hurtful to us does not give us the right to say something hurtful in return. Besides, there is always a possibility that what was said has been misunderstood and taken in a way that it was not intended. Satan loves to do this as he throws his fiery darts into one’s mind.
We must learn to walk in His Spirit and to put to death the deeds of the flesh. One of the deeds of the flesh is “outbursts of anger.” This is a tough one for many. But it can be controlled when a person submits to Him. This is part of the fruit of His Spirit -- self-control. Regardless of what one struggles with in the flesh, the answer lies in submitting to Him and walking in His Spirit. Satan will attempt to convince a person that he needs to get straightened up before submitting. But this is a lie and is not possible to do. The only way to be an overcomer is to submit to His Spirit and walk in His Spirit.
This winnowing process will come to a conclusion. There are actually two possible conclusions presented in Scripture.
Tehillim (Psalm) 103:9
He will not always strive;
Neither will He keep His anger forever.
There is a limit to His grace concerning those who reject it. Let us please remember Pharaoh who was given ten chances to repent and obey YHWH; after that there were no more chances. Even Esau who sold his birthright could not be restored even though he sought a blessing with tears. It is not a trite thing to play around with His grace and mercy towards us. One of the conclusions to this winnowing process is that a person shuts the door to His grace and there are no more chances for repentance. This is a very sad occurrence, but it does happen.
The other conclusion is when YHWH declares that all that are going to come in have come in, and then He shuts the door and the chaff is removed and cast into the eternal fires.
Matithyah (Matthew) 13:30
“Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather up the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into My barn.’ ”
Please note that in the time of the harvest when the final winnowing will take place, the unbelievers and disobedient as represented by the tares, are gathered first. One of the popular teachings of Christianity is that the believers are caught up in the rapture and taken out of this world before all the plagues and wrath of Elohim are poured out. But that teaching is in direct opposition to what Yeshua our Mashiach taught us. This is actually part of the winnowing process. What each person believes in this regard will help to determine whether he is part of the chaff that will be burned up or part of the wheat which will be gathered into His barn.
To help clarify this to His talmidim Yeshua gives a brief explanation of this truth.
Matithyah (Matthew) 13:40-43
40 “Therefore as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire; so shall it be in the end of the world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity,
42 and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He that has ears, let him hear.”
Yeshua ends with a statement that is one of the things that determines which group each person will be in. If a person has ears to hear then he will be part of the wheat. If a person does not have ears to hear then he will be part of the chaff and be burned up in the eternal fires.
Let us take note of the following passage that will further corroborate this truth concerning the winnowing process at the end of the age.
Luqa (Luke) 17:27
“They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noach entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.”
The only people left alive on the earth at the time of the flood were Noach and his family who were kept alive in the ark which YHWH had instructed him to build; everyone else was destroyed. Now mind you, many take the companion passage to this one found in Matthew and twist it to mean that it was the righteous taken in the rapture. But as we can plainly see in the above passage, it was the unrighteous taken in destruction.
Matithyah (Matthew) 24:38-39
38 “For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noach entered into the ark,
39 and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man.”
This is one of the pet doctrines of those who do not love the truth, but love to do according to what is right in their own eyes. Wheat accepts His truth as He taught it. Chaff twists His truth to say and mean something other than He intended it to mean.
The things of this world are all passing away. There is nothing in this world that is worth giving up one’s eternal well-being. This most certainly includes one’s family, one’s spouse, children, parents, friends or whomever. YHWH must be first place in one’s life at all times.
Luqa (Luke) 17:32-33
32 “Remember Lot's wife.
33 Whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”
Lot’s wife looked back with longing in her heart for the things of her past life even after being sternly warned not to look back. Likewise, we too are to press on, not looking back and longing for those things that were, or might have been.
The past is past and it cannot be changed.
There are many today who are crying out that the return of Yeshua is imminent and His setting up His kingdom here on earth is very soon. However, Yeshua gave His talmidim a parable to dispel this very idea. Let us learn from this parable as well.
Luqa (Luke) 19:11
And as they heard these things, He added and spoke a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of Elohim was immediately to appear.
One of the things that we must guard against is taking on the mindset that He will appear immediately or that His appearance is imminent. For when a person takes this mindset, then the nearly certain outcome will be that one stops building His kingdom in the here and now. He has called us to be kingdom builders. We must be found building and increasing His kingdom when He does appear. This is the general point of this parable; that we are to be found doing as He instructed us to do when He does return. So often those who believe that His return is imminent simply sit around and wait for it. This is shameful to us and does not bring any glory or honor to Him. Please note how Mashiach will react to those who are not doing His will when He returns. This is from the same parable above.
Luqa (Luke) 19:27
“But these enemies of mine that did not want Me to reign over them, bring them here, and slay them before Me.”
Yes, Mashiach will return one day. His return will be at exactly the right time. It will not be too soon. It will not be too late. It will be precisely in accordance with each and every prophecy ever given concerning His second coming. Of this we can be sure. In the meantime, we are to build His kingdom. Otherwise, He will see us as one of His enemies and act accordingly to what He sees us doing when He returns.
There are many things in a person’s life that indicates where he is in this winnowing process. But it will all boil down to how he views the truth and the place he gives it in his life. Let each one of us strive to be completely honest with ourselves so that if we are not where we should be in our relationship with YHWH and His Son Yeshua, then we can get where we need to be so that we can be included in the wheat.
Do not allow Satan to continue to fill your mind with things that are raised up in opposition to His Truth. Submit today to Him in all things. You will not regret it!
So as this great winnowing process goes forth throughout the whole earth, on which side are you? Are you on the side of the wheat or the chaff?
ABBA YHWH, please, we ask You in Your great mercy, to remove those things in us that are not pleasing to You. Fill us with Your Spirit and remove all error; in the name of Mashiach Yeshua. Amein and amein.
Zerubbabel ben Emunah
www.onetorahforall.com
zerubbabel@onetorahforall.com
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