Mark Huey of Outreach Israel Ministries delivers the following message, “Progressive Revelation,” as we consider how God’s revelation in the Tanakh providentially continues to His revelation in the New Covenant.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:9-11, NASU).
In the fervent pursuit of the Holy One of Israel, one is often reminded of human limitations. The above verses detail how the infinite God of Creation, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, has thoughts and ways which are so incalculably profound—versus the relative measurability of a finite orb, circling one of untold trillions of suns in the universe. This humbling reality should reduce every person who seeks to know the Creator to mere breath, as has been noted by previous pursuers of God in their words that have been preserved down through the ages:
“Remember that my life is but breath; my eye will not again see good” (Job 7:7, NASU).
“LORD, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; let me know how transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah” (Psalm 39:4-5, NASU).
“The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are a mere breath” (Psalm 94:11, NASU).
“O LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You think of him? Man is like a mere breath; his days are like a passing shadow” (Psalm 144:3-4, NASU).
“Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 4:14, NASU).
Simply stated, God is not overwhelmed with humanity’s meager, but heartfelt attempts, to do His work among the peoples and nations of the world. Just refer to His response to Job and his counselors, when they were trying to explain or even justify their actions (Job 38-41). However, because God has made Himself known to those called by His name, and communicated intimately with the likes of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, the Prophets—and taken on flesh via the Incarnation of Yeshua the Messiah—people have no excuses when it comes to seeking Him. Because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), He proved it by becoming a perfect sacrifice for the sin of humanity:
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Messiah died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:8-10, NASU).
Today’s born again Believers can trust that the words, which have been preserved down through the millennia, are essentially God’s love letter from Genesis to Revelation. The Holy Scriptures compose a written instruction manual for seekers to read, meditate upon, and search for ways to please Him. In so doing, the reciprocal love between the Creator and His human creatures should result in discovering more and more about Him, His wisdom, and His ways and thoughts:
“By me {wisdom} princes rule, and nobles, all who judge rightly. I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me” (Proverbs 8:16-17, NASU).
With finding the Holy One in mind, I am extremely encouraged—but patiently waiting upon the Lord for His timing—when it comes to people embracing and appreciating the entire Word of God and all that our Creator has communicated to us as humans. Based on a series of conversations with well meaning people, who love Jesus and are simply trying to do the work of the Kingdom through God inspired-activities with the good news of the gospel, God’s work continues despite limitations due to an over-emphasis on the Apostolic Writings (New Testament), with minimal regard for the Tanakh (Old Testament). These good works include: ministering the love of the Messiah to the impoverished, the homeless, the incarcerated, refugees and immigrants, abused women, vulnerable children, the hungry, the under-educated, and those with drug and alcohol abuse problems. Dialoguing with people guided to evangelize the downtrodden with a variety of methods that utilize modern technology and resources, have revealed some of the unique ways that the Lord is ministering to people around the world, and in particular, the region where we are located. It is a great blessing to witness the sincere desire of God’s servants to willingly lay down denominational barriers and theological differences, to do exactly what the Spirit of God has done and wants to continue to do. I have personally witnessed much of what is referenced in this description from the Prophet Isaiah, partially quoted by Yeshua in Luke 4:17-20:
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified” (Isaiah 61:1-3, NASU).
As a result of those interactions with Christians, an interesting confluence of events occurred as I was preparing for a mini-teaching on the weekly Torah portion at our local Messianic congregation (2016). The Torah portion happened to be Mishpatim or “Rulings” (Exodus 21:1-24:18), which providentially addressed a number of the issues which the people in the various ministry efforts noted above were trying to see serviced. As I read through the Torah portion and then the related Haftarah (Jeremiah 34:8-22; 33:25-26), I was struck by the fact that the predominantly Jewish followers of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were extremely limited in the revelation that they had at the time Jeremiah issued his prophecy. When you read the following, understand that Jeremiah prophesied about the disobedience to God’s word, particularly Exodus 21:2 regarding the seven-year release of servants:
“Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel, “I made a covenant with your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying, ‘At the end of seven years each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who has been sold to you and has served you six years, you shall send him out free from you; but your forefathers did not obey Me or incline their ear to Me. Although recently you had turned and done what is right in My sight, each man proclaiming release to his neighbor, and you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. Yet you turned and profaned My name, and each man took back his male servant and each man his female servant whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your male servants and female servants.’” ‘Therefore thus says the LORD, “You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming a release to you,” declares the LORD, “to the sword, to the pestilence and to the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts—the officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf—I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth”’” (Jeremiah 34:12-20, NASU).
Here in Jeremiah 34, one finds that the Prophet was simply admonishing the Southern Kingdom, because they had broken their vows to release their servants. As a result, the Lord was going to instead release the sword, pestilence, famine, and make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the Earth. They would be given into the hand of death, to be eaten by birds of prey and beasts. Of course, this is exactly what would happen in the Babylonian exile. The pattern of rejection of God and His ways is also something which would be seen with the fall of Jerusalem and the Temple to the Romans in 70 C.E.
Roughly forty years earlier, Yeshua had foretold the fall of Jerusalem in Luke 21:6, before He was been crucified, buried, and resurrected from the dead. Forty days after His resurrection, He returned to the Heavenly Father, and ten days later on Shavuot or the day of Pentecost, the prophesied New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-27) was inaugurated. From the explosion of the good news to the Jewish people in the Land of Israel and Diaspora, and the spread of the gospel to many Greeks and Romans and others in the Mediterranean—new revelation came forth, as transcribed in the Messianic or Apostolic Scriptures (more commonly called the “New Testament”). They include the Messiah’s fuller understanding of some of the referenced ordinances or rulings such as Exodus 21:24, found in Mishpatim, as noted in Matthew 5:38-42; 15:1-20; and Mark 7:1-23:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH’ [Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21]. But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two” (Matthew 5:38-41, NASU).
In Matthew 15:1-20 and Mark 7:1-23, Yeshua addresses various human traditions, and how a number of the religious leaders of His time had misconstrued what it meant to dishonor or curse father and mother (Exodus 20:12; 21:17). By the time the Apostle Paul’s ministry was in full bloom (Acts 23:1-11), there is a fuller Holy Spirit-led explanation on what it means to speak evil of a ruler of your people (Exodus 22:28).
In addition, as progressive revelation continues—when one reads various truths in the Epistle to the Hebrews—there is the profound explanation about what the Holy Spirit is conveying to the children of God about Exodus 24:8 (quoted below in capital letters), especially about the significance of the blood of the New Covenant, the blood of the Messiah Himself:
“And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed on the basis of the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a covenant is secure on the basis of dead bodies, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Torah, he took the blood of the calves, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, saying, ‘THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT WHICH GOD COMMANDED YOU’ [Exodus 24:8]. And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. And according to the Torah, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:15-22, PME).
There is an important summary in Hebrews 10:28-39, which describes that if rejection of the Torah or Law of Moses is severe, that rejecting the salvation provided in Yeshua the Messiah will be even more severe. In the case of the First Century Believers, and the trials and tribulations they had to endure, there were great rewards for their faith and perseverance:
“Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, ‘VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY’ [Deuteronomy 32:35]. And again, ‘THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE’ [Deuteronomy 32:36; Psalm 135:14]. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM [Habakkuk 2:3-4, LXX; cf. Isaiah 26:20, LXX]. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul” (Hebrews 10:28-39, NASU).
For those who trample under foot the Son of God, and regard His shed blood as utterly common—then all one has to anticipate is vengeance and judgment from the Holy and Righteous Judge of all. Obviously, this is not a good place to find oneself!
But what about those people who are still partially blinded to the truth of the Messiah’s cleansing blood? How are those clinging to the teachings of their predecessors to be dealt with in the days and years ahead? What about Jewish people, who have not built their lives upon the Cornerstone Yeshua, and do not have the indwelling Comforter Helper and Teacher of the Holy Spirit to instruct them? But in a similar regard, what about those in Christianity, who generally disregard the foundational building blocks of the faith found in the Torah or Moses’ Teaching, and the balance of the Tanakh (Old Testament)? How can a faith system succeed if it does not even know or study the very rules of engagement found in the instructions relayed from the experiences of Ancient Israel (1 Corinthians 10:11)? What might indeed happen to huge institutions, divided on many more issues than just the Messiahship of Yeshua, when the prophesied Tribulation comes to pass?
Personally, as I contemplated these realities in preparing to share on Mishpatim, I was struck by the great irony of how much work the Almighty has to do to bring Jewish non-Believers into an understanding of what the Spirit of God wants all of His children to do and be. I literally felt sorry for them, as I considered how they might still be stuck in Jeremiah’s dilemma, because they could not maintain by their human efforts the many vows that they have made to the Holy One of Israel. This is why on Yom Kippur during the Kol Nidre service, the confessions of broken vows is repeated over and over again. After all, when people are truly honest with themselves, they must confess that they have broken God’s commandments, if not by actions, certainly at times by words, and absolutely by thoughts.
On the other hand, as I reflected upon what my well-meaning Christian friends are doing to proclaim the gospel and perform many other good works, I could not help but think about how much more productive they would be if they understood the freedom and insight they could receive by simply knowing what God’s instructions are. When confronted with knowledge about having broken them, they should simply acknowledge it, confessing their ignorance and/or rebellion, ask and seek for forgiveness, and then repent of any ungodly actions, words, or thoughts. Any potentially open doors to the soul that the Adversary can exploit should be closed. How much more effective would the Body of Messiah be if we knew what the rules of engagement are, in order to be all that the Holy One has called us to be?
It is indeed a very complex set of circumstances which the Holy One has allowed to see transpire—from the time He created Adam, to this moment in history. Of course as I mentioned: His ways and thoughts are so high above ours that only He knows what He is doing. Our personal challenge is to figure out what He has created each and every one of us to do with the time He allows us to participate in His Kingdom’s work! I find it a privilege to be called unto Him, that we may relinquish our wills, so that His work can be done through each of us. But as stated earlier, in order for us to better understand what He is doing in and among us, it is imperative that we ask for wisdom, which He will freely bestow upon each who asks with faith.
In addition, it might be helpful to ask for an extra measure of faith (Romans 12:3)—and especially an even greater measure of patience (2 Corinthians 10:5)! After all, we are subject to His timeline, and as I have experienced far too often, He is really not that concerned about what my thoughts are regarding the timing of what He and He alone is accomplishing in His Creation. But He has given us some promises that we can take hold of, and patiently to materialize, as we work in love as unto Him:
“For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:10-12, NASU).
Therefore, since the Messianic community of faith is caught between the followers of the Tanakh and proponents of the New Covenant, further revelation predicates that we are most likely the saints referred to in Revelation 12:17; 14:12, who have a testimony of faith in Yeshua and obey His commandments. Our challenge is to persevere and love those from both sides of the Judeo-Christian spectrum. Perhaps the Holy One will use us to bridge the gap, as Jews come to faith in Yeshua and Christians discover the blessing of obedience to His commandments and avoidance of what results in curses (Deuteronomy 28). We can and should certainly work and pray to these ends!
Until the Messianic restoration of all things…
