We know the plan of salvation was established at the foundation of the world. This message shows how that is revealed through the Hebrew scriptures and how Torah, the commandments, show us how to be shown faithful when the Son of Man returns. This is the first in a series of messages intended to give believers a better insight into the plan through plain scriptures we have overlooked for too long.
Many people, if not most, start studying scripture because of prophecy. Whether they are returning to the faith or looking for the first time, a big motivator is that state of the planet. As things look bad, people look to God, which is good. This cycle of Christianity has been in high gear for the last 150 years. From the Civil War to the two World Wars to the Cold War and now with everything seeming to come unraveled all at once, people should be turning to Yahweh in great numbers. This message is the first in a series to help people understand the Plan of Salvation laid out at the foundation of the world and how this plan has been in plain sight for thousands of years. Through progressive revelation, we are able to see more of it revealed, but we need to look at scripture the way it was written and meant to be understood.
Slide 2 Explain PaRDeS – Peshat is plain, Remez is hints or deeper, Derash is analogical or metaphorical, Sod is hidden or yet to be revealed. This is the one most people are interested in and we will get to some revealing before long!
Understanding that scripture can have different levels of meaning is very enlightening. We always knew this was the case, but seeing the system kind of unlocks the scriptures. The different levels don’t take away from the literal meaning when a passage can be literal. Some passages are poetic or fantastical, so we know they are not to be taken literal. Hebrew has idioms, too. Like how when Americans say “superbowl”, we are not talking about a literal gigantic bowl. We’re talking about a game that’s played in a bowl shaped stadium. Giving with a clear eye is an idiom that exists to this day in Israel and it just means to be generous. It has nothing to do with an eye at all, but many Christians make a lot out of that verse when it was never meant to be taken literally.
Slide 3 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of YHVH and their faith in Yeshua. (Rev 14:12)
So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of YHVH and hold to the testimony of Yeshua. (Rev 12:17)
Keeping the commandments is a big part of salvation. Sinners will not make it into the kingdom, so we need to do our best to not sin. Sin is the transgression of Torah, so Torah we shall follow. The other part of salvation is to accept Yeshua as the Messiah, the Son of God, who followed Torah perfectly and died sinless. Following the commandments isn’t just the top ten list. It’s the whole Torah. Here’s a great big “sod”, a huge mystery, in the Torah. The plan of salvation is established on some specific commandments that most of Christianity isn’t even aware of! And we know about this plan based on the timing of the death and resurrection of Yeshua and when the Ruach was given.
Slide 4 YHVH spoke again to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘YHVH’S appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these: (Lev 23:1-2)
Some of the commandments are “thou shalt not” and some are “thou shalt”. These are the “thou shalt” variety. Yeshua asked about finding faith when He returns in the same chapter, He told us to come to God as a child. Coming as a child, to me, means to do just that. If your father tells you when church is, you believe him. If your father tells you when the Holidays are, you believe him. This is why most of us grew up keeping Sunday, Christmas, and Easter holy. We accepted what our biological parents told us as truth. We adopted their traditions like children because we were part of a family. But once we are born again, we need to learn the ways of our Father in heaven and adopt them. The observance of these days is a literal commandment. But there’s so much more to it than that!
Slide 5 YHVH spoke again to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘YHVH’S appointed times (moedim) which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these: (Lev 23:1-2)
Still Slide 5 Then Elohim said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons (moedim) and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. (Gen 1:14-15)
If we could read Hebrew, we would see the same word for appointed times as for seasons. That doesn’t mean the word has to mean the exact same thing. Hebrew doesn’t work that way. Concordances show many meanings for words because context is key and Hebrew doesn’t have a lot of words like English does. The point is that our Father, when He created the universe, did so as a clock to mark time. There are many reasons for this but the one I focus on today is to tell us when to assemble. If we come to Him as children, we realize that the earliest information our Father gives us is in Genesis 1 where He tells us how He created everything. Think of this as a bed time story being told to a baby. Genesis 1 is the start of all life and is the beginning of the Bible so it is the start of our spiritual lives.
Slide 6 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day Elohim completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then Elohim blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which Elohim had created and made. (Gen 2:1-3)
Also Slide 6 ‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to YHVH in all your dwellings. (Lev 23:3)
The creation week ends with the establishment of the Sabbath. This is when God sat back and enjoyed His Creation. What would we do if we came to God as a child? If we came to Him like He is really our Father? We would emulate Him, that’s what. We would do what our Father does. That’s what kids do. They learn behaviors from their parents.
And evening and a morning is one day. How was there an evening and a morning before there was a sun? We’ll find out some day. But for 6 evenings and mornings we work. That’s how we first show our faith. But emulating our Father and working 6 days just as He. And then we rest on the 7th, just as He did. This 7th day Sabbath is also the first of the appointed times in Leviticus 23. It’s the weekly Sabbath. And by observing it we show our faith.
As we come to God as a child, we learn by doing. By copying our Creator, we learn to live the way He wants us to live through example. Over time it becomes second nature. When we slip up, He nudges us back into the way we need to be. I started this series off with this information because, frankly, people might only listen to the first video. The most important thing for us in the plan of salvation is to be saved. Isn’t that why we study? In the book of Luke, Yeshua told the man exactly what he needed to do to enter eternal life – keep the commandments. Now we know that we need to repent, accept Yeshua as the Messiah, then be baptized, and then keep the commandments. This is the recipe for salvation and it will not change as we add knowledge. If we do these things, we begin to understand as a child. But we don’t have to stay children.
Slide 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. (2Pe 3:7-13)
Here we have some talk about the end of days. Today I’ve spoken about the middle of time (Yeshua’s day) the beginning of time (Genesis 1) and now words about the end of days. Yeshua will return like a thief, unexpectedly, and that God’s people need to be found living properly. We understand that to mean keeping God’s commandments and our faith in Yeshua. And we are looking for something new, something to come after the complete 7K year cycle. This newness comes after this flawed world and all the evil is destroyed in intense heat.
The bold sentence on the screen likely has a couple meanings. The first is that time is meaningless to Yahweh. He lives outside of time. He can be in a moment for 100 years or he can be in all of eternity in a moment. We are temporal beings and cannot imagine living outside of time, which is what it means to be eternal. But we also look at this as a sod, a deeper level of scripture, hinting at something else. If we look at history and apply the one day per thousand years idea, we see 7000 years for this era, a 1000 year break, and then the beginning of something else. This is where we get the idea of a 7000 year plan and how it ties into the creation and the holy days. Please understand this 7000 year plan is not exact, but an outline. It’s not like at exactly year 4000, Yeshua was crucified. Biblical time is nowhere near as precise as we in the 21st century are accustomed to. But the 7000 year plan does show us intervals and stages in the ultimate plan for bringing in the world to come. By emulating Yahweh and keeping His Sabbaths, we display our faith. This is the faith that we want Yeshua to see when He returns, us obeying our Father and His. And we come to it like a child but we learn more as we grow.
This outline aligns with the appointed times of Leviticus 23. The first appointed time is the Sabbath, which was made at the completion of the Creation. That seventh day aligns with the 1000 years of Revelation 20, when Satan is locked up. We look at the world as having 6000 years of bringing us to something then a 1000 year break, just like the first 6 days were brining us to perfection and then a 1 day break. Within the 6000 years, we see eras, or phases. The Passover marks some of these eras. Abraham and Isaac foreshadow the first Passover, where the firstborn of Egypt was killed and the Israelites freed. Those two events foreshadow the death of Yahweh’s firstborn Son on Passover, some 1900 years ago. And Yeshua said He would drink the cup new with us in the kingdom at some point, which means there could be another fulfillment of Passover. This is an example of the Holy Days outlining the Plan of Salvation, and I’ll keep covering that for the next few messages. Shalom!