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That I May Know Him |
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(Author’s Note: All Bible references are taken from the New King James Version – NKJV with the Holy Names inserted) |
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Man’s Ignorance of Yahweh Our age is witnessing the explosion of knowledge as prophesied in the book of Daniel. In the midst of such abundant knowledge there seems little excuse for ignorance. Yet, on the things that really matter, the world lacks authentic knowledge. With blinded eyes, they are still content to accept man’s theories of our origins and follow after man’s ways, instead of learning and accepting the truths of the Bible. In John 1:10 we learn that though the world was made by Yahweh the world did not know Him: He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. Yahshua, the Messiah, came and lived in the world as man, but they did not know Him, and in their ignorance condemned Him to death. If only the many persons who heard Him or heard of Him had drawn close to Him, spent time with Him, and got to know Him, they would have availed themselves of the historic opportunity to get to know Yahweh made flesh. In their ignorance they chose a robber in preference to their Saviour. The world today continues to make other choices in preference to Yahshua. Yahweh is everywhere, yet few recognize Him. He speaks loud and clear not only through the inspired words of the Bible, but all of creation is the expression and evidence of His greatness. Yet, many do not hear or know Him. The wisdom of Yahweh is like foolishness in their eyes. Instead of getting to know Him, they are constantly moving away from Him. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of Yahweh, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned, 1 Cor. 2:14. Even of greater consequence is the ignorance of many who claim to be His followers but are content to follow Him from a distance. They know of Him through scant reading of the Scriptures, and the teachings of others, but there is no personal commitment or motivation to know Him intimately and to be transformed by their close encounter with Him. They may be able to illustrate some of the qualities of Yahweh through His intervention in the lives of others, especially the heroes of the Bible, but they have not experienced for themselves the evidence of who Yahweh is in their own lives. There are many so called “believers” who believe only what Yahweh has done and can do, but seem to have difficulty in understanding that He will be to them today what He has been to others in the past. For I am Yahweh, I do not change, Mal. 3:6a. Persons with such mindset can think they know Yahweh when in fact they only know of Him. In such cases they are not enthused to seek for Yahweh with all their mind and strength. They may talk about Him in words of endearment, loving Him from a distance, but never allowing their hearts and lives to be saturated with Him in an intimate deep and meaningful relationship. They “...draw near with their mouths and honor [Him] with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from [Him]...,” Isa. 29:13. |
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Yahweh Wants Us to Know Him Since creation Yahweh has desired for His people to have a close relationship with Him. When Adam and Eve sinned, they broke that personal contact with their Maker, and man has continued to stray further from Him. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way, Isa. 53:6a. In the book of Jeremiah, Yahweh repeatedly said that His people did not know Him. The priests did not say, “Where is Yahweh?” And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me; The prophets prophesied by Baal, And walked after things that do not profit, Jer. 2:8. Those who should have known Him did not. They were ministering while in a state of ignorance or disobedience of Yahweh’s laws, not having a personal relationship and commitment with their heavenly Father. "Like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me,” says Yahweh, Jer. 9:3. Yahweh earnestly desired for them to draw closer to Him in a loving relationship. His loving heart would reach out to them even when they strayed, pleading to them to return to Him. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! (Luke 13:34b) They had clearly shown by their backslidings that they were incapable of keeping the Old Covenant. Therefore, He would make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and of Judah, not by annulling His laws, but by placing them into their minds and hearts, so that they would know Him. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know Yahweh,” for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahweh. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more, Jer. 31:34. Why did Yahweh want them to know Him? It was not for His benefit, but theirs. He wanted to give Himself to them, to change their direction and to lead and guide them into His right paths, which would bring them into the blessings He had intended for them to experience. Today, as in Bible days, there are many leaders who are causing their followers to stray from the truths and knowledge of Yahweh, by feeding them with fashionable watered-down doctrines, and Yahweh’s people “are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” Hos. 4:6. Yahweh does not want us to be severed from Him. His boundless love caused Him to send His only Son into the world that we might know Him better, be conformed into His image, and have the blessing and assurance of eternal life with Him. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of Yahweh! (1 John 3:1) Yahweh desires the best for His people, but we can only receive it when we know Yahweh intimately. The people who know their Elohim shall be strong, and carry out great exploits, Dan. 11:32. But, while we stay far from Him, we are in effect hindering His power from having full sway in our lives. It is no wonder that many of the so-called representatives of Yahweh in the earth are anemic and ineffective. The closer we are to Him, the more intimate our knowledge of Him becomes and the greater is the manifestation of His characteristics and power in our lives. Above all, in the end we shall have the richest blessing He could bestow upon us – that of immortality. |
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How Do We Get To Know Yahweh? You cannot get to know someone as long as you maintain a distance from that person. Getting to know someone is about drawing closer to that individual, sharing thoughts, working alongside him/her, gaining confidence to bare your innermost thoughts. It takes time. It does not happen in a first handshake or a hurried meeting. Even the desire to know someone well does not necessarily make it happen. In the case of marriage, it takes many years of effort, understanding and sacrifice for a couple to move from the initial casual acquaintance, to having a settled and satisfactory relationship, where each spouse really knows the other. If so much exertion is required in the case of persons we can see, touch and communicate with audibly, how much greater effort is required to really know Yahweh and Yahshua |
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Tools to help know Yahweh |
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who we cannot see, touch, or hear? | |||||||||||||
Getting to know Yahweh is a personal experience. It is by Yahweh’s Spirit and not by man’s manipulation that our eyes will be opened, and we shall see Him, know Him, and be changed into His likeness. We cannot cause that to happen. Nevertheless, the Scriptures give proof that those to whom Yahshua or Yahweh has been revealed played a vital part. Yahweh does not reveal Himself to all and sundry, but to a select few who seek after Him with all their heart. You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart, Jer. 29:13. David cried out to Yahweh when he was in the wilderness of Judah, O Yahweh, You are my El; Early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water, Ps. 63:1. If we are to know Yahweh, it will come in answer to our longing hearts as we thirst after Him. Yahshua is not in the business of casting His “pearls before swine.” For those who seek, He has promised they will find, but the seekers must show their earnestness. He demonstrated this in the narration of the friend seeking to borrow bread at midnight and only obtaining it as a result of his persistence (Mark 11:5-8). The teaching here is that whatever we seek after from Yahweh, we will obtain it only after incessantly seeking, knocking and asking. If we desire to have our spiritual eyes and ears opened and our touch sensitized that we may know Yahweh, it will not come from our first attempt or expressed desire. It will come when like a deer panting after water brooks, we leap expectantly and with determination never giving up until we find Him. But first, like the deer, we must be motivated by a thirst, to get to the Water of Life. No one can do this for you, or cause you to be thirsty. A make-belief thirst will not motivate you. You must feel from deep within, your own emptiness and inadequacy, long to know Yahweh to experience His sufficiency, and make the necessary adjustments in your daily life to let this happen. It is when we are motivated to seek after Yahweh more than anything else - more than our greatest ambition, passion or necessity - that we will find Him. He is ever present everywhere, yet He can only be found by those who draw near to Him. Draw near to Yahweh and He will draw near to you, James 4:8. Yahshua said we must abide in Him and be continually connected to Him just as a branch must remain connected to the vine if it will bear fruit (John 5: 1-7). One of the key pre-requisites to knowing Yahweh is to be joined to Him in heart and mind, endeavouring in all we do to preserve that inseparable bond with Him, that will bear fruit. By maintaining our union with Yahweh we will get to know Him and will really love Him, not merely with our lips or even our hearts but also with our lives. We will become living epistles of Yahshua, demonstrating all that He taught. Yahshua said, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him, John 14:23. |
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With Yahshua in the house of our hearts, changes will be made that will reflect His abiding presence. We cannot know Yahshua if we do not meditate upon and apply His words to our lives. Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock, Matt. 7:24-25. |
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House on Rock Foundation, 1 Cor. 10:4 |
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We would have great difficulty developing our physical relationships without at least one of the senses of hearing, touching or seeing, and it would be much easier if we were able to exercise all three. The physical senses on their own are inadequate tools for developing a relationship with our divine headship. We need the exercise of spiritual senses in order to get to know Yahweh and Yahshua. By drawing near to Yahweh, maintaining our connection with Him and meditating on His word, He will open our eyes. His revelation power will be at work causing us to see and understand things that were unclear before. We will learn to know and hear His voice. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, John 10:27. By His Spirit in us we will reach out in faith and touch Him. |
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Eyes But No Sight For persons who do not want an intimate knowledge of Yahshua, their eyes and ears are kept shut. After telling the multitude the parable of the sower, Yahshua was asked by some of those who were around Him, the meaning of the parable. He said to them To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of Yahweh; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, Mark 4:11- 12. We will never have our eyes and ears opened to know the inner secrets of Yahweh, while Yahshua considers us to be in the category of “those who are outside.” It is not your opinion of whether you are on the “inside” that matters. In most believers’ eyes they are on the inside and are the ones to whom Yahshua reveals His secrets, yet when faced with the challenges and stresses of life, they react in a similar manner as those who do not know Yahshua. They have not acquired, through intimacy with Yahweh, the faith and strength that He so freely imparts to those who know Him. When our spiritual eyes and ears are opened, we are able to absorb the deeper meanings behind the sayings in the Bible. The Word of Yahweh opens up before us in a deeper more meaningful way than before, and impact upon our lives. Revelation power is activated, unveiling to us “the mystery of the kingdom of Yahweh.” When this happens we will stop seeing everything through our natural senses and begin to have the mind of Yahshua, seeing the experiences and encounters of everyday living in the way that He would see them. This, however, will not be the experience of all believers, indeed not even of all long established pilgrims. There will be a long interval between finding Yahweh and getting to know Him, as it is in finding a spouse, and really getting to know him/her intimately, but in the end perseverance will bring its benefits. Our eyes will be opened, and He will reveal, as unto babes, the things that are hidden “from the wise and prudent,” Luke 10:21. There is so much that Yahweh wants us to know about Him, in order that we will no longer have a superficial knowledge of Him. Yahshua said to His disciples No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you, John 15:15. In like manner He wants to reveal “all things” to us. But first, as His disciples, we must daily invest our time and lives with Him and become His friends. |
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The Opening of Eyes The Blind Beggar As Yahshua was approaching Jericho, a blind beggar hearing the noise of the passing multitude, asked what it meant. He was told Yahshua was passing by. Immediately he cried out, saying, “Yahshua, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” So Yahshua stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, |
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Speak, See, Hear no Evil |
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He asked him, saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?” He said, “Rabbi, that I may receive my sight.” Then Yahshua said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying Yahweh. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to Yahweh, Luke 18:34-43 This man had obviously heard about Yahshua but had never met Him. One thing he knew is that he could not see. Getting his sight was paramount. He would not allow himself to be silenced by those who could already see. There was an irrepressible urgency in his shout: “Son of David, have mercy on me!” He maintained his piercing cry until finally he was brought to Yahshua. When Yahshua asked him what he required there was no hesitation in his reply: “that I may receive my sight.” His persistent faith in the Son of David caused his eyes to be opened. We will be blessed with opened eyes and the revelation of Yahshua if with indomitable passion we never cease to cry out to Yahshua to open our blinded eyes that we may see and know Him. After this man’s eyes were opened he followed Yahshua, glorifying Yahweh, and through him, others also praised Yahweh. This man could not have caused his eyes to be opened. It was not by his power or might, but by calling upon Yahshua and getting close to Him, he played a vital part in the opening of his blinded eyes. Yahweh wants to reveal Himself to us but we must earnestly desire Him and be willing to seek after Him with all of our heart and strength. With the experience of his eyes being opened, came his revelation of Yahshua. At that moment, like Job, he could have said, I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You, Job 42:5. Oh, that we would be determined to seek after Yahshua with all our strength, for our eyes to be opened and that we would become true followers of Yahshua. Like this blind beggar, our intense cry would be answered and from the depths of our appreciative hearts we could really praise and honour Yahweh, as we ought. |
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The Emmaus Experience Two men were walking along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus discussing the surprising events of Yahshua’s resurrection that had been discovered that day. While they conversed and reasoned, … Yahshua Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him, Luke 24:15-16. Yahshua spoke to them, discussing the fulfilment of the Scriptures to them, but they neither knew his voice nor recognised his physical features. These men were in the very presence of Yahshua, yet they could not recognise Him. As their hearts were stirred by what He had said and the daylight was almost gone, they invited Him to their home, and He broke bread with them. Then their eyes were opened, and they knew Him. These men did not cause their eyes to be opened, but it was during the time of extending Yahshua’s meeting with them, that they knew Him. If they had not invited Yahshua into their home, they would have missed this unique opportunity to witness the revelation of the resurrected Messiah. Like these men on the Emmaus road, we, too, will experience the awesome revelation of Yahshua when we are willing to take time out of our regular schedule and instead spend it with Yahshua, feasting upon “the bread of heaven.” Getting to know Him takes time. |
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How Well Do You Know Him? Philip How often have we not been surprised to find that we did not know someone as well as we had thought? Philip had this same problem when he said to Yahshua in John 14:8, “Rabbi, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Yahshua said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father‘?” Philip’s knowledge of Yahshua had not gone beyond what his physical eyes had seen and his ears had heard. Up to this point his mind had not comprehended the deeper things Yahshua had repeatedly said to His disciples about His relationship with His Father. So, too, we could be following Yahshua for some time, but fail to know Him. It is not merely the length of acquaintance that matters but the depth of understanding and the relationship that is developed in that time. |
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Job Yahweh said of Job, There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears Yahweh and shuns evil, Job 1:8. What high commendation from the highest authority in the universe! Yet, even a man of Job’s stature discovered to his utter amazement that he had not really known Yahweh as much as he had thought. Amid Job’s intense anguish of his depressed and troubled heart, Yahweh challenged Job, by revealing to him His awesome omnipotence. Job’s inner ‘eyes’ suddenly opened. |
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Open the Door, Rev. 3:20 |
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For the first time, Job understood Yahweh’s enormous unequalled power and confessed, I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes, Job 42:5-6. It is Yahweh’s desire that, like Job, we will no longer know of Him through hearsay. He wants us to move on from knowing of Him to really knowing firsthand for ourselves who He is. Will you require in your life, the depth of suffering that Job went through, for your eyes to be opened and that you may know Yahweh? It does not have to be that way. Yahshua pleads with you today, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me, Rev. 3:20 |
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The Pharisees The Pharisees, by their outward rigid adherence of the law, thought they knew and were pleasing Yahweh, yet when they met His Son they did not know Him. They disbelieved that Yahshua was from the Father, so with confidence in their knowledge, they said to Yahshua, “Where is Your Father?” Yahshua answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also,” John 8:19. Except we know the Son, we cannot know the Father. We may claim like the Pharisees to be repositories of the truths of Yahweh, and may try to adhere to His commands, yet fail to know Yahweh by not recognizing and giving the honour and glory to His Son as we ought. We know that the Son of Yahweh has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Yahshua the Messiah. This is the true Elohim and eternal life, 1 John 5:20. |
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Paul In Phil. 3:10, Paul expressed a deep longing for a more intimate and personal knowledge of the Messiah than anything He had experienced before: That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. Paul already knew a great deal about Yahshua, but the longing of his heart was not for knowledge of Him. Paul was referring to something far deeper than his conversion on the Damascus road, which was only an introduction to the Messiah. He wanted the full measure of the resurrected Messiah to be revealed to him, and for him to be conformed as fully as possible into the likeness of Yahshua, being willing even to be identified with Him through the experience of suffering. What deeper and more overwhelming desire could there be! He wanted more than head-knowledge. His desire was for experiential knowledge that would demonstrate his union with Yahshua. He was prepared to share in the pain as well as the gain. Getting to know Yahshua is like a long journey, over a variety of terrains and in different weather conditions. This is a hard lesson that Peter learned on the night he denied Yahshua. It is a harsh test that all of His ‘friends’ go through on their way to knowing Him. May we all have the strength and commitment to stay with Him to the journey’s end. |
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Yahweh’s Attributes The Bible tells us much about the attributes of Yahweh. He is incomparable, 2 Sam. 7:22; invisible , John 1:18; inscrutable, Isa. 40:28; unchangeable, Num. 23:19; unequalled, Isa. 40:13-25; unsearchable, Rom. 11:33, 34; infinite, 1 Kings 8:27; omnipotent, Jer. 32:17, 27; omnipresent, Ps. 139:7-12; omniscient, 1 John 3:20; foreknowing, Isa. 48:3, 5; and all-wise, Acts 15:18. The more we get to know Yahweh, the more we will trust in His ability to strengthen and help us in times of greatest need. But, there is much more to Yahweh than these attributes. He is the embodiment of the finest and best moral qualities. He is holy, Rev. 4:8; impartial, 1 Pet. 1:17; just, Ps. 89:14; longsuffering, Ex. 34:6,7; loving, 1 John 4:8,16; merciful, Lam. 3:22,23; Truth, Ps. 117:2; great, Ps. 31:19; enduring, Ps. 52:1; and satisfying, Ps. 65:4. As we get to know Yahweh for ourselves, we will become more confident that He will apply these qualities in His relationship with us, and we will desire to display them in our lives. We will also understand that He is not just the benevolent Elohim that many in their ignorance would like to think He is. He is too pure to tolerate sin. He will pour out His wrath and vengeance upon those who disobey Him, Deut. 32:22, 34-41. Knowing, therefore, the terror of Yahweh, we persuade men, 2 Cor. 5:11. It is good to know and exalt the mercy, love, kindness and forgiveness of Yahweh. But, those who truly know Yahweh will affirm that the day of reckoning is coming, when He will separate the wheat from the tares. When we know Yahweh we will declare the truths of Yahweh and not join the bandwagon of popular sentiments and traditions that are based on hearsay or an incomplete understanding of Yahweh. |
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Proof of Knowing Him Know His Name You cannot really know someone without knowing his or her name. Yahweh has a name, not the generic title that Christendom says is His name. What is more He wants His people to know and proclaim His name: |
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My people shall know my name, Isa. 52:6. Those who know Him do not call Him ‘Lord’ or ‘God’ but by the name that He had revealed to Moses. Our Father’s true name was erroneously removed from the Bible. Those who know Him do not walk in the traditional error. They walk in truth and not in ignorance. They are not children who do not even know their father’s name. Instead they are proud to bear His Name like a banner, waving it for the world to see, as they journey to that day when His Name will be written on their foreheads, Rev. 22:4 NIV. |
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Obey Him Yahshua said in John 15:14, You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. We will not know Yahshua except we are His friends, and we are not His friends if we do not obey Him. It is not the talking or the feelings that really matter but doing as He says and becoming more like Him. In Matt. 7:22-23 Yahshua said, Many will say to Me in that day, “Rabbi, Rabbi, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” 1 John 2:3 says the evidence of knowing Yahshua is to obey Him: Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. This is what makes our knowledge of Yahshua different from most other relationships. It involves not merely familiarity with Him, but conformity to what He says. The litmus test of those who claim to know Yahweh is simply this: “Do you do what He says?” Yahshua will not unveil the hidden mysteries so that we can look at them in amazement and marvel or spout our newly found knowledge. No, they are for our transformation. The more we learn from His words, the more we ought to apply them in our lives. This is the evidence that we have been sitting at His feet, and getting to know Him. 1 John 2:4 takes this a giant step further. It says: He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Keeping His commandments is not only a proof of knowing Him; it is also an indicator of your truthfulness. Your life cannot be inconsistent with your profession. It is dishonest to “profess to know Yahweh, but in works … deny Him,” Titus 1:16. Those who say Yahweh’s laws have been abolished with the death of Yahshua do not even believe the words of His Son. In Matt. 5:17-18 Yahshua said: Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. When we know Him, His words will be deeply planted in our hearts that we will not sin against Him. (Ps. 119:11) |
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Become like Him Children normally show the physical characteristics of their parents. Seldom are there short children where both parents are tall, or white children from a black couple, or children with no resemblance whatsoever to at least either parent. As they grow up, they begin to imitate their parents, and will learn more about family background and of their potential inheritance through their parents. When we get to know Him, we will develop more of His qualities. The more you discover of the height, depth and breadth of Yahweh’s unlimited nature, possessions and plans, the more you will find out who you are, in and through Him. You are not just anybody. You are a child of the Creator and King of the universe. He chose you for the purpose that you might be conformed into His image. For we are His workmanship, created in the Messiah Yahshua for good works, which Yahweh prepared beforehand that we should walk in them, Eph. 2:10. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked, 1 John 2:6. In a spiritual sense, our Father is too rich that we should be poor, too strong that we should be weak, too big that we should be small, too holy that we should be impure and too wise that we should be foolish. We are commanded to “be imitators of Yahweh as dear children” (Eph. 5:1) and to “be renewed in the spirit of (our) mind,” Eph. 4:23. Yahweh wants us to demonstrate in this life His transforming power that is at work in us. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of Yahweh, Rom. 12:2. Unless a change takes place in our lives, there is no evidence that we know Him. For instance, in 1 John 4:8 we are told that, He who does not love does not know Yahweh, for Yahweh is love. Those who know Yahweh must be the light on a hill shining forth His brilliant rays in this world of darkness, or as the salt of the earth, must add the essential missing ingredient to the unrighteous, blind and self-obsessed people who do not know or care to know Yahweh. O that we may know Him intimately, and be the human expression of who He is! |
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Does He Know You? Many will be shocked when they meet Yahshua and hear His words “I know you not,” Matt. 25:12. Like the five foolish virgins these will be persons who thought they knew Him, were known of Him and were ready to greet Him. They will be deluded believers who assumed that because of length of service, positions held, great things they had done, their knowledge of the Bible, their fellowship with saints, or their pretended ‘love’ of Yahweh, that they were qualified to spend eternity with Him. Knowing Yahshua is not optional, for knowledge of Yahshua is not to be only in our heads but also in our lives. Except our presumed knowledge of Yahshua impacts on our lives, we do not really know Him. There is a Great Examination coming where we cannot cheat by hiding behind some façade. The All seeing eye will compare what He sees in us with His standard, and if we do not measure up He will not know us. You need to make sure you know Him, but more importantly, that He knows you. Yahshua has said that the secret of Him knowing you on that day will be determined by whether or not you had kept His words. Many will say to Me in that day, “Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matt. 7:22-23) Many persons who believe they know Yahweh, underestimate the importance of obeying His words, and dismiss those who try obeying Him as being legalistic. Tragically, they will find out when it is too late that they were the deluded ones. If we will make it into the Kingdom, we must accept His sacrifice for us, know Him and know that He knows us. Like being fully prepared for an examination with the confidence that we cannot fail, even so we must be prepared to meet Him. We must know that we have done all that He required of us, that on that crucial day He will know us and from Him we will hear the welcoming words: Well done …enter into the joy of your Master, Matt. 25:21. Are you ready for that great day? Do you know Him, as you ought, and does He know you? |
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The Final Revelation The abundant knowledge that surrounds us is of little worth compared with the eternal benefits of knowing Yahweh. All knowledge originated and will be culminated in Him who is the Alpha and Omega. Therefore, Let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, Jer. 9:24. The day is coming when all other knowledge will be cast away like an unnecessary crutch and instead, The earth shall be full of the knowledge of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea, Isa. 11:9. For those of us who have known and obeyed Him, He will be fully unveiled in that day before our immortal eyes. Beloved, now we are children of Yahweh; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him (clearly) as He is, 1 John 3:2. Our vision will be no longer blurred and our imagination will suddenly become useless, when He is revealed in all of His splendour. All persons will not have this experience. It is reserved for the true and faithful - for those who drew near to and obeyed Yahweh and availed themselves of the privilege to get to know Him while in their human form. For such, their greatest goal would have been achieved, their grandest expectations realized, their thirsting souls quenched and their famishing hunger satisfied. At last our blinded eyes would have been fully opened, our ears would hear the voice we have always longed to hear, and we would know Him in all of His fullness and glory, HalleluYah! As a song says, “It will be worth it all when we see Yahshua.” Yahshua is coming again so that He can complete the work He began in bringing us to maturity and to the presence and full knowledge of the Father. There is so much Yahweh has in store for us if we would truly get to know Him personally in a Fatherand- son relationship. Come, Yahshua! Hasten that glorious day when we will “see (You) more clearly, love (You) more dearly, follow (You) more nearly” and know You more really, eternally. |
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-Elder Buel Hallpike |
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